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Thanks to all the link followers
This is the time of year that a lot of people are buying gifts for friends and family. Some of my readers have long been in the habit of using my Amazon purchase links, which pay my server and domain...
View ArticleOrangutan dynamics of Borneo
Bornean and Sumatran orangutans are the most highly divergent subspecies within any of the living species of great apes. The two farther apart even than chimpanzees and bonobos, which are good...
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Sketchbook
Today's sketchbook: Predmost 1, an early Upper Paleolithic skull from Moravia (Czech Republic). UPDATE (2010-11-24): I mistakenly had 3 when this is Predmost 1. Sorry!
View ArticleDivergent MHC alleles in domesticated sheep
I know, what an exciting headline! I've written quite a bit about the origins of domesticated cattle and introgression among the species of wild cattle giving rise to the current pattern of genetic...
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Monkey escapades
The Guardian runs a strange story from its 1925 archives: Another capture in monkey hunt ... According to one report from Rugby, the captured monkey travelled to Rugby by train, and was seen to jump...
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Toba "cut down to size"
Thanks to a reader: Science last week carried a news article by Naomi Lubick, describing a new model for the climatic effects of the Toba volcanic eruption, around 74,000 years ago. The simulation...
View ArticleMaking monitors
The Guardian reports on scientist Ian Shanks' legal battle to get some financial reward from his work developing the technology that underlies glucose sensors. I thought it quite an interesting story...
View ArticleThe paleolakes of Egypt
A paper in the December issue of Geology, by Ted Maxwell and colleagues [1], describes evidence for a "Lake Erie-sized" paleolake in southwestern Egypt. The existence of a large ancient lake has been...
View ArticleDoodling during class
Nothing makes quite as good a time-waster as the comment threads to posts where professors complain about students. Especially students using computers. Janet Stemwedel: "Things observed while sitting...
View ArticleNeandertal stories on parade
Long-time science journalist Robin McKie has a long article in The Observer about the Neandertals this weekend: "Neanderthals: how needles and skins gave us the edge on our kissing cousins". The...
View ArticleAlien biology hype
Rosie Redfield begins to disassemble the NASA-sponsored "alien life forms" story: There's a difference between controls done to genuinely test your hypothesis and those done when you just want to show...
View ArticleNeandertal anti-defamation files, 7
On tonight's Hawaii Five-O: MCGARRETT: (kicks in door) DANNO: Whoa, whoa, whoa, you Neanderthal animal! What are you doing? MCGARRETT: I thought you said 'cry for help, probable cause'? DANNO: I meant...
View ArticleRewilding Siberia
The Associated Press ran an article last week about Sergey Zimov and his attempts to "rewild" a small corner of Siberia: Of his first herd [of Yakutian horses], Zimov said 15 were killed by wolves and...
View ArticleArsenate redux
I wrote a short post about the arsenate-bacteria story last weekend; in the meantime the story has developed. Carl Zimmer ran a long story early this week, reflecting many scientists' criticisms of the...
View ArticleAnthropology in transition
My Wisconsin colleague Herb Lewis wrote a piece in 2005 about the development of anthropology across the 1960's, as academics became more politically radicalized and increasingly committed to a...
View ArticleThe eyes have it
Mark Brown in Wired describes some psychology research showing that people change their behavior in response to posters that bear images of staring eyes: Psychology researchers at Newcastle University...
View ArticleLanding your capsule
Vintage Space is a blog written by a historian of spaceflight, which has lately been focusing on the development of landing systems in the Mercury, Gemini and Apollo programs. The posts are just...
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