Anthropology posts
- February 13, 2013
- 11:32 AM
- 233 views
Friends Without Benefits: A Guest Post
by Miss Behavior in The Scorpion and the Frog
By Joseph McDonaldDo you want to avoid the friend zone? Photo by freedigitalphotos.net.Guys DREAD the friend zone. That heart-aching moment when the girl you’ve been fawning over for years says you’re the best listener, the sister she never had, or so much better than a diary! You’ve been so nice to her and her friends, listening to all their drama. But that’s just the problem... you’re too nice to too many people. Research performed by Aaron Lukaszewski and Jim Roney at the Universit........ Read more »
Lukaszewski, A., & Roney, J. (2010) Kind toward whom? Mate preferences for personality traits are target specific. Evolution and Human Behavior, 31(1), 29-38. DOI: 10.1016/j.evolhumbehav.2009.06.008
- February 13, 2013
- 08:17 AM
- 105 views
New: A Time Machine for Language
by Katja Keuchenius in United Academics
What did our ancestors sound like, and how will our great-grandchildren talk to each other? Linguists used to spend a lifetime working on answering these questions, but now a computer can do it for them in just a few days.... Read more »
Bouchard-Côté A, Hall D, Griffiths TL, & Klein D. (2013) Automated reconstruction of ancient languages using probabilistic models of sound change. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America. PMID: 23401532
- February 12, 2013
- 10:44 PM
- 133 views
A “Deep Human History” of Polyandry
by Stephanie Zvan in Almost Diamonds II
It will be interesting to see whether the evolutionary psychology community incorporates this observation going forward.... Read more »
Starkweather KE, & Hames R. (2012) A survey of non-classical polyandry. Human nature (Hawthorne, N.Y.), 23(2), 149-72. PMID: 22688804
- February 12, 2013
- 07:39 AM
- 216 views
The Shivering Ship of Sailors with Scurvy
by Katy Meyers in Bones Don't Lie
In May 1845, Sir John Franklin of the Royal Navy, set out with two ships, the HMS Erebus and HMS Terror, from England. Sir John was a naval officer with experience in failed polar expeditions. In 1818 he began a voyage to reach the North Pole, which failed. In 1819 and 1823, he made overland … Continue reading »... Read more »
Bayliss, R. (2002) Sir John Franklin's last arctic expedition: a medical disaster. JRSM, 95(3), 151-153. DOI: 10.1258/jrsm.95.3.151
Mays, S., Maat, G., & de Boer, H. (2013) Scurvy as a factor in the loss of the 1845 Franklin expedition to the Arctic: a reconsideration. International Journal of Osteoarchaeology. DOI: 10.1002/oa.2305
- February 8, 2013
- 05:38 PM
- 207 views
Mardi Gras at the Leprosarium
by Rebecca Kreston in BODY HORRORS
Just as residents of Louisiana don masks and costumes to watch and revel in the sights of the parades, so too would the quarantined residents of the leprosarium. Concealing their identity and disfigurements, the leprosarium's residents could have their own day to celebrate Mardi Gras, liberated socially and psychologically from their disfiguring disease.... Read more »
Gaudet, M. (1998) The World Downside Up: Mardi Gras at Carville. The Journal of American Folklore, 111(439), 23. DOI: 10.2307/541318
- February 8, 2013
- 01:07 PM
- 209 views
These feet were made for walking
by sedeer in Inspiring Science
While popular imagination may be fascinated by when our ancestors first began to walk upright, scientific debate has focused on …Continue reading »... Read more »
Venkataraman, V., Kraft, T., & Dominy, N. (2012) Tree climbing and human evolution. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 110(4), 1237-1242. DOI: 10.1073/pnas.1208717110
- February 8, 2013
- 11:07 AM
- 268 views
Aging Makes People Colon-Close-Parenthesis
by Elizabeth Preston in Inkfish
Getting older is not a recipe for crotchetiness. Although those two cranky Muppets will always be up in their balcony, Americans in general don't become less happy with age. If anything, they get happier.
The trajectory of people's happiness over a lifetime is tricky to study, because in a given year you're capturing not only your subject's age but also the current events. You need to follow a large group of people over many years, and you need them to be all different ages when the study st........ Read more »
Sutin, A., Terracciano, A., Milaneschi, Y., An, Y., Ferrucci, L., & Zonderman, A. (2013) The Effect of Birth Cohort on Well-Being: The Legacy of Economic Hard Times. Psychological Science. DOI: 10.1177/0956797612459658
- February 7, 2013
- 06:34 PM
- 89 views
New Morbid Terminology: Immurement
by Katy Meyers in Bones Don't Lie
“It was now midnight, and my task was drawing to a close. I had completed the eighth, the ninth and the tenth tier [of bricks]. I had finished a portion of the last and the eleventh; there remained but a single stone to be fitted and plastered in. I struggled with its weight; I placed … Continue reading »... Read more »
MacDonald, K. (2012) “The least of their inhabited villages are fortified”: the walled settlements of Segou. Azania: Archaeological Research in Africa, 47(3), 343-364. DOI: 10.1080/0067270X.2012.707478
- February 4, 2013
- 11:35 PM
- 208 views
Respect for Arab Crowds
by Winston Sieck in Head Smart
Direct displays of respect can reduce conflict in Arab protests, where a premium is placed on honor. Such displays enable people in potentially volatile crowd situations to accrue honor while avoiding risks associated with violent confrontation. These conclusions are based … Continue reading →... Read more »
Sieck, W., Smith, J., Grome, A., Veinott, E., & Mueller, S. (2013) Violent and peaceful crowd reactions in the Middle East: cultural experiences and expectations. Behavioral Sciences of Terrorism and Political Aggression, 5(1), 20-44. DOI: 10.1080/19434472.2011.616668
- February 4, 2013
- 05:29 PM
- 231 views
7,000 years of cheese!
by sedeer in Inspiring Science
Cheese may be a gourmet’s delight and a major industry these days, but it was probably originally just a good …Continue reading »... Read more »
Salque, M., Bogucki, P., Pyzel, J., Sobkowiak-Tabaka, I., Grygiel, R., Szmyt, M., & Evershed, R. (2012) Earliest evidence for cheese making in the sixth millennium bc in northern Europe. Nature, 493(7433), 522-525. DOI: 10.1038/nature11698
Evershed, R., Payne, S., Sherratt, A., Copley, M., Coolidge, J., Urem-Kotsu, D., Kotsakis, K., Özdoğan, M., Özdoğan, A., Nieuwenhuyse, O.... (2008) Earliest date for milk use in the Near East and southeastern Europe linked to cattle herding. Nature, 455(7212), 528-531. DOI: 10.1038/nature07180
- February 2, 2013
- 12:04 AM
- 110 views
The "human" genome?
by zacharoo in Lawn Chair Anthropology
The topic this week in my Intro to Bioanthro course is genetics, with the subtheme being the mechanisms getting us from a genotype to "the" human phenotype (next week is variation and population genetics). Of course we talked about things like DNA, simple Mendelian inheritance (even though many traits/diseases probably aren't really Mendelian), and even epigenetics and genomic imprinting. But I also wanted to point out the many ways that our very existence relies of life extrinsic to that encode........ Read more »
Gilbert, S., Sapp, J., & Tauber, A. (2012) A Symbiotic View of Life: We Have Never Been Individuals. The Quarterly Review of Biology, 87(4), 325-341. DOI: 10.1086/668166
Smith MI, Yatsunenko T, Manary MJ, Trehan I, Mkakosya R, Cheng J, Kau AL, Rich SS, Concannon P, Mychaleckyj JC.... (2013) Gut Microbiomes of Malawian Twin Pairs Discordant for Kwashiorkor. Science. PMID: 23363771
van Nood E, Vrieze A, Nieuwdorp M, Fuentes S, Zoetendal EG, de Vos WM, Visser CE, Kuijper EJ, Bartelsman JF, Tijssen JG.... (2013) Duodenal infusion of donor feces for recurrent Clostridium difficile. The New England Journal of Medicine, 368(5), 407-15. PMID: 23323867
Yatsunenko T, Rey FE, Manary MJ, Trehan I, Dominguez-Bello MG, Contreras M, Magris M, Hidalgo G, Baldassano RN, Anokhin AP.... (2012) Human gut microbiome viewed across age and geography. Nature, 486(7402), 222-7. PMID: 22699611
Zhang L, Hou D, Chen X, Li D, Zhu L, Zhang Y, Li J, Bian Z, Liang X, Cai X.... (2012) Exogenous plant MIR168a specifically targets mammalian LDLRAP1: evidence of cross-kingdom regulation by microRNA. Cell Research, 22(1), 107-26. PMID: 21931358
- February 1, 2013
- 12:31 PM
- 2 views
Predatory Prawns
by Emarkham in GeneticCuckoo
A new ecological method of control for an African parasitic disease, an analysis of the benefits and limitations of this approach. ... Read more »
E Markham. (2013) Predatory Prawns. Blogspot. info:/
- February 1, 2013
- 07:17 AM
- 148 views
Scientists Amazed by Mass Grave in Field
by Katja Keuchenius in United Academics
The skulls have very different forms, they lay in a seemingly insignificant location, and some of them have fingers in their eyes. What happened here?... Read more »
Morehart, C., Peñaloza, A., Sánchez, C., de Tapia, E., & Morales, E. (2012) Human Sacrifice During the Epiclassic Period in the Northern Basin of Mexico. Latin American Antiquity, 23(4), 426-448. DOI: 10.7183/1045-6635.23.4.426
- January 31, 2013
- 03:37 PM
- 163 views
Is English improving lives in a remote Indonesian village?
by Ingrid Piller in Language on the Move
In a recent post, I reviewed language policy research that shows how compulsory English in China has given rise to new inequities and is far from being a means to fair development. In that context, compulsory English language learning is … Continue reading →... Read more »
Pasassung, Nikolaus. (2003) Teaching English in an "Acquisition-Poor Environment": An Ethnographic Example of a Remote Indonesian EFL Classroom. Unpublished PhD Dissertation, University of Sydney. info:/
- January 31, 2013
- 01:42 PM
- 133 views
Money and Mortality: Shifts in Commemoration due to Economic Change
by Katy Meyers in Bones Don't Lie
Money not only shapes the way that you live, it also can determine the manner of your death. From cemeteries we can infer social status and wealth based on the presence of exotic artifacts and more grave goods than other individuals. For example, the Viking boat burials that consist of entire ships being buried in … Continue reading »... Read more »
Mallios, S., & Caterino, D. (2011) Mortality, Money, and Commemoration: Social and Economic Factors in Southern California Grave-Marker Change During the Nineteenth and Twentieth Centuries. International Journal of Historical Archaeology, 15(3), 429-460. DOI: 10.1007/s10761-011-0152-z
- January 29, 2013
- 01:43 PM
- 20 views
Horse Burgers and Other Strange Eating Habits
by Pia Spry-Marques in Bones and Skulls
A couple of weeks ago Britain woke up to the news that horse DNA had been found in what supposedly were beef burgers sold at several big-chain supermarkets across the country. Understandably people were upset that they had been sold something different…Read more ›... Read more »
Meyer-Rochow, V. (2009) Food taboos: their origins and purposes. Journal of Ethnobiology and Ethnomedicine, 5(1), 18. DOI: 10.1186/1746-4269-5-18
- January 29, 2013
- 01:38 PM
- 117 views
Two Interesting Paleopathology Case Studies
by Katy Meyers in Bones Don't Lie
Paleopathology is the study of ancient diseases in human or animal remains. Usually this means analysis of the skeleton. Paleopathology is not a straightforward science. Many diseases do not even appear on bone, and when they do they can present very similar manifestations. For example, periostitis is a non-specific infection of the bone that causes … Continue reading »... Read more »
Armentano, N., Subirana, M., Isidro, A., Escala, O., & Malgosa, A. (2012) An ovarian teratoma of late Roman age. International Journal of Paleopathology, 2(4), 236-239. DOI: 10.1016/j.ijpp.2012.11.003
Cope, D., & Dupras, T. (2011) Osteogenesis imperfecta in the archeological record: An example from the Dakhleh Oasis, Egypt. International Journal of Paleopathology, 1(3-4), 188-199. DOI: 10.1016/j.ijpp.2012.02.001
- January 28, 2013
- 10:32 PM
- 136 views
Open wide for open access: chimpanzee tooth eruption
by zacharoo in Lawn Chair Anthropology
Two anthropology papers came out yesterday in advance print at the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. I'd like first to draw your attention to the fact that they're open access - normally such scientific papers are behind a paywall, but these two can be obtained by anyone (well, anyone with internet). One is about the chronology and nature of Acheulean technology at the 1.7-1.0 mya site of Konso in Ethiopia. The other, and the subject of this post, is about life history in wild chi........ Read more »
Smith BH, & Boesch C. (2011) Mortality and the magnitude of the "wild effect" in chimpanzee tooth emergence. Journal of human evolution, 60(1), 34-46. PMID: 21071064
Smith TM, Smith BH, Reid DJ, Siedel H, Vigilant L, Hublin JJ, & Boesch C. (2010) Dental development of the Taï Forest chimpanzees revisited. Journal of human evolution, 58(5), 363-73. PMID: 20416929
Smith, T., Machanda, Z., Bernard, A., Donovan, R., Papakyrikos, A., Muller, M., & Wrangham, R. (2013) First molar eruption, weaning, and life history in living wild chimpanzees. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. DOI: 10.1073/pnas.1218746110
Zihlman A, Bolter D, & Boesch C. (2004) Wild chimpanzee dentition and its implications for assessing life history in immature hominin fossils. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 101(29), 10541-3. PMID: 15243156
- January 24, 2013
- 07:00 AM
- 136 views
Mobility and Mortality: Migration in a Black Death Cemetery
by Katy Meyers in Bones Don't Lie
The 14th century was a tumultuous time in Great Britain: there were severely erratic weather patterns including an usually warm period, which led to a famine from 1315-1322, the Scottish were fighting for their independence in 1298-1328 and again from 1332-1357, and the Hundred Year war was being waged against France from 1337-1453. All of … Continue reading »... Read more »
Kendall, E., Montgomery, J., Evans, J., Stantis, C., & Mueller, V. (2013) Mobility, mortality, and the middle ages: Identification of migrant individuals in a 14th century black death cemetery population. American Journal of Physical Anthropology, 150(2), 210-222. DOI: 10.1002/ajpa.22194
- January 22, 2013
- 07:41 PM
- 136 views
Cell phones track human migration
by Jes in Biogeography Bits
Here’s a question every scientist at some point asks themselves: does this data that I can easily and (relatively) inexpensively collect reasonably approximate the data that I would collect in an ideal world where I had bucket loads of money and an infinite amount of time? It may not be apparent from science news coverage, but a lot of science involves routinely checking that the methods we are... Read more »
Wesolowski, A., Buckee, C., Pindolia, D., Eagle, N., Smith, D., Garcia, A., & Tatem, A. (2013) The Use of Census Migration Data to Approximate Human Movement Patterns across Temporal Scales. PLoS ONE, 8(1). DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0052971
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