This piece reports that many residents of Easter Island are getting fed up with the disruption of archaeologists working on their island. They resent the resources that are being devoted to restoring the moai, the iconic prehistoric statues that Easter Island is known for, and land set aside to preserve prehistoric sites. As the article …
Where the Buffalo Roam
Well the gist of this NY Times piece is that they’ve been roaming around so much that they have interbred with cattle. The Times says that there are estimates that of the 300,000 bison in the US, only about 10,000 are genetically “pure” – don’t carry genes from cattle. The Times makes this out to …
More on Neanderthal – Modern Human Interbreeding
You may recall a post I put up in October that discussed a 30,000 year old cranium recovered from a cave in Romania that was purported to have both modern human and Neanderthal features. Now the same researcher, Erik Trinkhaus, has a second cranium from a different Romanian cave that he believes shows the same …
Out of Africa
The NY Times has a piece on a fossil human cranium found in South Africa that seems to confirm DNA evidence about the initial spread of modern humans out of Africa into Eurasia and later Europe. Roughly 50,000 years ago, DNA evidence (a good run-down of this is in Before the Dawn) indicates that a …
Doggie Downers
If this makes the Doom and Gloom column, then at least it suggests a way to feel better. Reid found this LAT piece entitled “Fido’s Little Helper,” a reference to the growing trend in giving psychoactive medications to pets. Laugh, but we do buy them sweaters. And last week I saw a commercial for a …
Adrift
When I took my first historical geology course at Tulane, back in the day, we of course studied plate techtonics and continental drift. It was a revelation to me to adjust my time sense and think about large land masses gliding along our planet’s surface, splitting up or colliding. I pored over maps that geologists …
Skin
The New York Times has an interesting interview with anthropologist Nina Jablonski of Penn State. Jablonski discusses her recent book on that understudied but largest human organ – the skin. I was particularly struck by her observation that “humans are the self-decorating ape.” Even those of us who haven’t had ink done rely on some …
Killer Hounds
For those that appreciate such things; granddogs Pearl the lurcher and six- month old Maty, the tazi, with Maty’s first hare. It WILL be eaten. By humans.
Nuclear Tourism
Reid sent this piece from the NYT on “nuclear tourism”, where the tourist visits such things as the Trinity site and a missile silo in Arizona. On some bizarre principle of confronting one’s nightmares such things have always appealed to me. I have been to Trinity site, twice.. I also used to see the little …
Giant Cryptozoological Flying Squirrels
You should always read Darren, but I have always had a soft spot for Asia’s giant flying squirrels, and hope to see one one day.