I’m glad Steve posted on Patrick Leigh Fermor who he and Robert D. Kaplan introduced me to recently. Kaplan tells of a memorable luncheon he had with Sir PLF at the conclusion of his excellent book Mediterranean Winter. After reading “A Time of Gifts” and “Between the Woods and the Water” he is rapidly becoming …
Author: Reid Farmer
Botox Injections Lighten Depression
A preliminary study shows that botox injections to erase “frown lines” may actually alleviate depression. If there was ever a city newspaper appropriate to carry this story it is the LA Times. A study of ten women had positive results and researchers are calling for full protocol clinical trials. I really liked the subtitle in …
A Posse of Scientists
The LA Times has an interesting piece on how the police in Mammoth Lakes, California have enlisted some physical anthropologists using cutting edge analysis techniques to try to solve a murder. I was particularly intrigued by the study of trace elements in the teeth to figure out diet, and the use of oxygen isotopes to …
Brazilian Stonehenge
A 2000 year-old site in the northern Amazon Basin in Brazil has large stone structures that seem to follow astronomical alignments. In the shorthand way that news organizations have it is now the Brazilian Stonehenge. Amazonian archaeology is in the midst of revolution that is well described in Charles Mann’s 1491. The earliest European explorers …
Those Aggressive Brits
The BBC tells us that a study of skeletons recovered from Neolithic sites in Britain shows that 5% of them display evidence of blunt force trauma to the cranium. I theorize that the advent of agriculture during the Neolithic allowed the brewing of beer which led to this sad situation. It seems the roots of …
Interpretations of Flores Fossil Questioned
The famous “Hobbit” fossil from the Indonesian island of Flores, was a sensation when it was announced last year. This 18,000 year old specimen was thought to represent a subspecies (or possibly separate species) of humans of diminutive size. Now some scientists believe that this may represent only a single microcephalic individual coming from a …
Another “Living Fossil”
French scientists working in the Coral Sea have discovered another “living fossil” – a species of crustacean thought to have gone extinct 60 million years ago. There’s always something else to find if you just keep looking!
Poles Will Wander II
A recent study has shown that the planet’s magnetic field has weakened almost 40% over the last 2500 years or so. The rate of decline has increased over the last 250 years after a relatively stable period for the 250 years before that. You may recall that I posted on polar reversals back in December. …
Peruvian Mummy
Another interesting find from Peru. The mummy of a high-status woman from the Moche culture (ca. AD 450) was buried with weaving tools and needles, but also war clubs and atlatls. Like Xena the Warrior Princess, maybe. RTWT
Preclassic Maya Finds
These two pictures come from the NY Times today telling of exciting new finds from Guatemala. Opinions of the Maya Preclassic Period are being revised based on this new information which is showing that people of this era were much more developed and sophisticated than thought. The origins of Maya glyph writing are being pushed …