Editor’s Selections: Italian dialects, Skin color decoded, Mayan tobacco use, Navajo diets, and Blood-borne diseases
January 12th, 2012 Editor's Selections 9 Comments
Krystal D’Costa selects notable ResearchBlogging.org posts in the social sciences, covering anthropology, research, and philosophy. She blogs about anthropology, technology, and urban life at Anthropology in Practice. Follow her on Twitter @krystaldcosta.
This week on ResearchBlogging.org:
- Is there a relationship between language density and habitat diversity? Tim DeChant explores this question at Per Square Mile with respect to Italian dialects.
- A post at EvoAnth reports that four genes for skin tones have been discovered, shedding further light on this variable physical trait.
- At Greg Laden’s blog, readers are treated to a bit of botany related to tobacco and we learn that physical evidence has been found linking the Maya to tobacco use.
- Navajos don’t eat fish, according to teofilo at Gambler’s House—and the taboo may apparently be traced linguistically.
- At Body Horrors, Rebecca Kreston discusses the dangers of unsanitary shaving practices linked to an important Hajj ritual that may be leaving devotees susceptible to a blood-borne disease.
I’ll be back next week with more from anthropology, philosophy, and research.
