Anthropology.net has gone platinum. With the help of guest bloggers and regular contributors, I have hosted 1,000,000 unique visitors since March of 2007. For a highly specialized niche site with no advertisement campaign I consider this milestone a success.
But, I’m going to bid blogging adieu because I have been accepted to medical school. Once I [...]
Entries from November 2008
November 28, 2008
1 Million Unique Visitors To Anthropology.net!
November 15, 2008
Attending “Humanity’s Genes and the Human Condition” Symposium
I’m on my way to this symposium, “Humanity’s Genes and the Human Condition,” at UC Berkeley. It should be a day of interesting and relevant talks, especially since the American Society of Human Genetics had their annual meeting this week, and lots of discussions were held about genetic ancestry testing. I’m looking forward to hearing [...]
November 13, 2008
Breaking News: The Most Intact Homo erectus Female Pelvis
The upcoming issue of Science will be publishing the announcement of a newly discovered 1.2 million-year-old female Homo erectus pelvis. The fossil was found in 2001 at the Gona Study Area in the Afar region Ethiopia. Excavations were completed in 2003.
Sileshi Semaw, the leader of the Gona Project, said that the birth canal of this [...]
November 12, 2008
A Quick Review Of NOVA’s “Alien From Earth”
I watched that NOVA special on Homo floresiensis last night. It was extremely well done. The producers covered a lot of angles, interviewed many key players, presented the information in a clear manner and kept it entertaining. I wish more anthropology related documentaries would use this show as a template.
In lieu of resonating more noise [...]
November 10, 2008
Check Out the Pritchard Lab’s Human Genome Diversity Project Selection Browser
The Pritchard lab has put up an awesome new interface to query the data from the Human Genome Diversity Project, the HDGP Selection Browser. This is browser is phenomenal. You may have known about a previous iteration, Haplotter, also made by the Pritchard lab, which isn’t too user friendly and restricted to only data from [...]
November 10, 2008
Watch NOVA’s “Alien From Earth,” premiering tomorrow Tuesday, November 11 at 8pm on PBS
You may have gotten a heads up from John Hawks that a new documentary on Homo floresiensis is around the bend. It is actually going to air tomorrow and you should catch it. It is titled “Alien From Earth,” premiering tomorrow Tuesday, November 11 at 8pm. I’ll definately be watching.
You’ll be seeing clips from Mike [...]
November 7, 2008
Comparing Copy Number Variations Between Humans & Chimpanzees
The role of copy number variations (CNVs) has been explained before. In 2006 I discussed the identification of 355 CNVs in the chimpanzee genome, later in 2007 a study fished out human lineage-specific CNVs by comparing them to ones found in chimpanzees, and lastly, this year, another study suggested that CNVs may account for [...]
November 6, 2008
National Human Genome Research Institute Debates Race
One of the pieces to appear in the latest Science is Constance Holden’s synopsis of the core issues discussed at last week’s meeting of the National Human Genome Research Institute: defining geographic populations, handling interpretations of race (especially as as a sociopolitical term), and phrasing results of population genetic studies.
I paid cursory attention to the [...]
November 6, 2008
A Weak Sun Possibly Brought Down The Tang Dynasty & Mayan Civilization
Tomorrow’s issue of Science hosts lots of interesting papers, one of which is titled, “A Test of Climate, Sun, and Culture Relationships from an 1810-Year Chinese Cave Record,” and reports on the analysis of a 1.2-meter-long stalagmite from Wanxiang Cave in northern China. The analysis tells us that the rock holds records of waning Asian [...]
November 6, 2008
CNTNAP2 Variant Linked To Language Impairment
Today’s issue of Nature has a brief essay on the role of language in cultural evolution. The authors touch up on a lot basics, such as anatomical localization of brain activity related to language and tool making, FOXP2, and how language has helped humans pass on cultural information more effectively than any other form of [...]
