Anthropology posts
- April 26, 2016
- 08:57 AM
- 339 views
Human sacrifice, inequality, and cycles of political power
by gdw in FictionalFieldwork
Human sacrifice to preserve inequality Statistically speaking (wait, wait, don’t click away, I know this is not the most enticing opening, but bear with me), you and me, we are not part of the 1%, or the 0.01%, that in most Western societies holds a disproportionate amount of influence and resources. Secretly, though, we want […]... Read more »
Watts J, Sheehan O, Atkinson QD, Bulbulia J, & Gray RD. (2016) Ritual human sacrifice promoted and sustained the evolution of stratified societies. Nature, 532(7598), 228-31. PMID: 27042932
- April 24, 2016
- 11:47 AM
- 317 views
Mate Retention Tactics Decline with Age of Men
by Farid Pazhoohi in Epistemophil
Physical attractiveness influences mate selection across cultures, and youthfulness of women is associated with their future reproductive value and fertility. Men attribute importance to youthful features in females such as large eyes, small nose, higher pitched voice, and full lips and perceive these neotenous features as attractive. More feminine women report more frequently being guarded […]... Read more »
Pazhoohi, F., Jahromi, A., & Doyle, J. (2016) Mate Retention Tactics Decline with Age of Iranian Men. Evolutionary Psychological Science. DOI: 10.1007/s40806-016-0046-8
- April 21, 2016
- 08:12 AM
- 382 views
Death Comes to Stonehenge: The Burned Remains
by Katy Meyers Emery in Bones Don't Lie
There is something mysterious about Stonehenge. I have a very distinct memory of visiting Stonehenge as a child, seeing the standing rocks in the distance Perhaps it was the fog and grey […]... Read more »
Willis, C., Marshall, P., McKinley, J., Pitts, M., Pollard, J., Richards, C., Richards, J., Thomas, J., Waldron, T., Welham, K.... (2016) The dead of Stonehenge. Antiquity, 90(350), 337-356. DOI: 10.15184/aqy.2016.26
Pearson, M., Chamberlain, A., Jay, M., Marshall, P., Pollard, J., Richards, C., Thomas, J., Tilley, C., & Welham, K. (2015) Who was buried at Stonehenge?. Antiquity, 83(319), 23-39. DOI: 10.1017/S0003598X00098069
- April 19, 2016
- 07:05 PM
- 197 views
Neural stem cell transplants aid traumatic brain injury recovery
by Dr. Jekyll in Lunatic Laboratories
No one knows Traumatic brain injuries (TBI) quite like veterans. Unfortunately, it is a major cause of mortality and morbidity, often causing lifelong disability for those who survive. There is simply no treatment, jut care, but a new study might change that. Stem cell therapy has recently been receiving attention as a way to promote […]... Read more »
Junling Gao, Raymond J. Grill, Tiffany J. Dunn, Supinder Bedi, Javier Allende Labastida, Robert A. Hetz, Hasen Xue, Jason R. Thonhoff, Douglas S. DeWitt, Donald S. Prough.... (2016) Human Neural Stem Cell Transplantation-Mediated Alteration of Microglial/Macrophage Phenotypes after Traumatic Brain Injury. Cell Transplantation. DOI: 10.3727/096368916X691150
- April 17, 2016
- 03:00 AM
- 484 views
Week 15 In Review: Open-Access Science | 11 to 17 April
by TakFurTheKaffe in Tak Fur The Kaffe
Swarming Red Crabs, 11,000-year-old shaman headdress, 'superfast' wing muscles, slowdown of giant airstreams, and sexually transmitted infections in Neanderthals. Here are five of the latest scientific studies published open-access this week, ... Read more »
Pineda, J., Cho, W., Starczak, V., Govindarajan, A., Guzman, H., Girdhar, Y., Holleman, R., Churchill, J., Singh, H., & Ralston, D. (2016) A crab swarm at an ecological hotspot: patchiness and population density from AUV observations at a coastal, tropical seamount. PeerJ. DOI: 10.7717/peerj.1770
Little, A., Elliott, B., Conneller, C., Pomstra, D., Evans, A., Fitton, L., Holland, A., Davis, R., Kershaw, R., O’Connor, S.... (2016) Technological Analysis of the World’s Earliest Shamanic Costume: A Multi-Scalar, Experimental Study of a Red Deer Headdress from the Early Holocene Site of Star Carr, North Yorkshire, UK. PLOS ONE, 11(4). DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0152136
Fuxjager, M., Goller, F., Dirkse, A., Sanin, G., & Garcia, S. (2016) Select forelimb muscles have evolved superfast contractile speed to support acrobatic social displays. eLife. DOI: 10.7554/eLife.13544
Stadtherr, L., Coumou, D., Petoukhov, V., Petri, S., & Rahmstorf, S. (2016) Record Balkan floods of 2014 linked to planetary wave resonance. Science Advances, 2(4). DOI: 10.1126/sciadv.1501428
Houldcroft, C., & Underdown, S. (2016) Neanderthal genomics suggests a pleistocene time frame for the first epidemiologic transition. American Journal of Physical Anthropology. DOI: 10.1002/ajpa.22985
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- April 12, 2016
- 06:11 PM
- 361 views
Cleaning work: a stepping-stone or a dead-end job for migrants?
by Maiju Strommer in Language on the Move
Let me at once introduce you to the main character of this blog post: Kifibin. He is a Ugandan man...... Read more »
Strömmer, M. (2015) Affordances and constraints: Second language learning in cleaning work. Multilingua. DOI: 10.1515/multi-2014-0113
- April 6, 2016
- 06:23 AM
- 434 views
The language that cannot speak its name
by Ingrid Piller in Language on the Move
Our understanding of the role of language in social life suffers from a particularly intractable problem: the terms we use...... Read more »
Piller, I. (2016) Linguistic Diversity and Social Justice. Oxford University Press. DOI: 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199937240.003.0005
Vathi, Z., Duci, V., & Dhembo, E. (2016) Homeland (dis)integrations: Educational Experience, Children and Return Migration to Albania. International Migration. DOI: 10.1111/imig.12230
- April 5, 2016
- 05:17 PM
- 343 views
Suicidal thinking and US veterans
by Dr. Jekyll in Lunatic Laboratories
Something very personal about me, the thought of suicide is never too far behind. It is to the point that I need to qualify it to my counselor when I am asked if I have thoughts of suicide, I always do. A new study shows that I am far from alone Nearly 14 percent of military veterans reported suicidal thinking at one or both phases of a two-year Veterans Affairs (VA) study.... Read more »
Smith, N., Mota, N., Tsai, J., Monteith, L., Harpaz-Rotem, I., Southwick, S., & Pietrzak, R. (2016) Nature and determinants of suicidal ideation among U.S. veterans: Results from the national health and resilience in veterans study. Journal of Affective Disorders, 66-73. DOI: 10.1016/j.jad.2016.02.069
- April 3, 2016
- 03:25 PM
- 370 views
Debunking the Myth of the Sole Genious
by Paco Jariego in Mind the Post
Innovations don’t require heroic geniuses any more than your thoughts hinge on a particular neuron.... Read more »
Muthukrishna, M., & Henrich, J. (2016) Innovation in the collective brain. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences, 371(1690), 20150192. DOI: 10.1098/rstb.2015.0192
- April 3, 2016
- 03:17 PM
- 322 views
Early detection of dementia in Parkinson’s disease might be key to treatment
by Dr. Jekyll in Lunatic Laboratories
If Parkinson’s disease wasn’t bad enough for families to have to learn to deal with, about 80% of patients also develop dementia. That’s the problem with the brain; while it has the amazing ability to adapt to just about anything, it can’t fix everything. There are no particularly good solutions to Parkinson’s or dementia, however, early detection of dementia is key to keeping it at bay and a new study may have a way to do just that.
... Read more »
Bertrand, J., McIntosh, A., Postuma, R., Kovacevic, N., Latreille, V., Panisset, M., Chouinard, S., & Gagnon, J. (2016) Brain Connectivity Alterations Are Associated with the Development of Dementia in Parkinson's Disease. Brain Connectivity, 6(3), 216-224. DOI: 10.1089/brain.2015.0390
- April 2, 2016
- 04:43 PM
- 317 views
Born to run? Love of exercise may start in the womb
by Dr. Jekyll in Lunatic Laboratories
If you see me on the street and I am running, there is a good chance you should be running as well, because something dangerous is coming. I don’t run, I hate to run, I loathe running, did I mention I don’t like to run? Maybe it’s all the running I did in the military, or if a new study is correct, it may have to do with my mother. Which is good, because now I can blame someone else for my hatred of running.
... Read more »
Eclarinal, J., Zhu, S., Baker, M., Piyarathna, D., Coarfa, C., Fiorotto, M., & Waterland, R. (2016) Maternal exercise during pregnancy promotes physical activity in adult offspring. The FASEB Journal. DOI: 10.1096/fj.201500018R
- April 1, 2016
- 03:32 PM
- 246 views
Stopping organ rejection: An end to the medication
by Dr. Jekyll in Lunatic Laboratories
If you’re a transplant recipient you know that transplant organs are a veritable ticking time bomb waiting to be rejected by your well-meaning (but stupid) body. Not only can you do everything right and still have the organs rejected, you have to take a steady stream of expensive pills to inhibit the immune system and stop the body from launching its attack. Don’t throw your pill organizers away just yet, but soon.
... Read more »
MacDonald, K., Hoeppli, R., Huang, Q., Gillies, J., Luciani, D., Orban, P., Broady, R., & Levings, M. (2016) Alloantigen-specific regulatory T cells generated with a chimeric antigen receptor. Journal of Clinical Investigation, 126(4), 1413-1424. DOI: 10.1172/JCI82771
- March 30, 2016
- 05:11 PM
- 410 views
What is a good death?
by Dr. Jekyll in Lunatic Laboratories
Food for the worms, a dirt nap, kicking the bucket, maybe there are so many euphemisms for death because it is still a taboo in certain cultures. Not so fun fact, my Uncle committed suicide some years back. I’m not going to go into details, but because suicide is looked down on, was his death still considered a “good death”? Trying to qualitatively and quantitatively define a good death, researchers have published a new paper offering help in defining the idea of a good death and have ulti........ Read more »
Meier, E., Gallegos, J., Thomas, L., Depp, C., Irwin, S., & Jeste, D. (2016) Defining a Good Death (Successful Dying): Literature Review and a Call for Research and Public Dialogue. The American Journal of Geriatric Psychiatry, 24(4), 261-271. DOI: 10.1016/j.jagp.2016.01.135
- March 30, 2016
- 03:19 AM
- 419 views
The real problem with linguistic shirkers
by Ingrid Piller in Language on the Move
Germany has discovered a new social type that is causing grieve in modern diverse societies: the “Integrationsverweigerer;” literally someone who...... Read more »
Piller, I. (2016) Linguistic diversity and social justice. Oxford University Press. DOI: 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199937240.003.0003
- March 29, 2016
- 04:31 PM
- 404 views
Carb-loading and your heart, you may want to put the pasta down…
by Dr. Jekyll in Lunatic Laboratories
So if you are one of the bodybuilders, powerlifters, marathon runners, or just people who like to binge-eat every now and then — no judgment all you can eat pizza day is a thing I’m told telling myself — there is some bad news. If you like to preload carbs like they are the magic bullet to your workout woes, you may want to rethink it because according to a new study, it can have an acute and detrimental effect on heart function.
... Read more »
Arora, P., Wu, C., Hamid, T., Arora, G., Agha, O., Allen, K., Tainsh, R., Hu, D., Ryan, R., Domian, I.... (2016) Acute Metabolic Influences on the Natriuretic Peptide System in Humans. Journal of the American College of Cardiology, 67(7), 804-812. DOI: 10.1016/j.jacc.2015.11.049
- March 29, 2016
- 11:30 AM
- 407 views
Do you wanna be in my clan? Moralising gods encourage long-distance sharing with co-religionists
Most gods that have been invented don’t give a damn about what us mortals get up to. Researchers think that belief in the few that do, the ones that can be thought of as moralising gods, might have a significant effect on behaviour. For example, more complex societies are more likely to believe in moralising [Read More...]... Read more »
Purzycki, B., Apicella, C., Atkinson, Q., Cohen, E., McNamara, R., Willard, A., Xygalatas, D., Norenzayan, A., & Henrich, J. (2016) Moralistic gods, supernatural punishment and the expansion of human sociality. Nature. DOI: 10.1038/nature16980
- March 29, 2016
- 10:01 AM
- 531 views
Nostalgia is a Muse
by Jalees Rehman in The Next Regeneration
This view has been challenged by the University of Southampton researchers Constantine Sedikides and Tim Wildschut, who have spent the past decade studying the benefits of nostalgia. Not only do they disavow its disease status, they have conducted numerous studies which suggest that nostalgia can make us more creative, open-minded and charitable. The definition of nostalgia used by Sedikides and Wildschut as a "sentimental longing for one's past" is based on the contemporary usage........ Read more »
van Tilburg, W., Sedikides, C., & Wildschut, T. (2015) The mnemonic muse: Nostalgia fosters creativity through openness to experience. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 1-7. DOI: 10.1016/j.jesp.2015.02.002
- March 29, 2016
- 06:53 AM
- 343 views
Fairness In Science: What For?
by Francisco Azuaje in United Academics
Why is the quest for fairness in science still relevant today?... Read more »
Holtz, B., & Harold, C. (2010) Interpersonal Justice and Deviance: The Moderating Effects of Interpersonal Justice Values and Justice Orientation. Journal of Management, 39(2), 339-365. DOI: 10.1177/0149206310390049
- March 28, 2016
- 03:03 PM
- 442 views
Spoiler alert: Water bears do not have extensive foreign DNA
by Dr. Jekyll in Lunatic Laboratories
Tardigrades, they are cute and cuddly — okay maybe not cuddly — but they have earned their nicknames, such as as moss piglets or water bears. Mostly because they look like, well bears (although I don’t see a piglet personally). These guys are eight-legged microscopic animals that have long fascinated scientists for their ability to survive extremes of temperature, pressure, lack of oxygen, and even radiation exposure. Talk about a thrill seeker they can even survive in space, without a sui........ Read more »
Georgios Koutsovoulosa, Sujai Kumara, Dominik R. Laetsch, Lewis Stevens, Jennifer Daub Claire Conlon, Habib Maroon, Fran Thomasa, Aziz A. Aboobakerc, and Mark Blaxter. (2016) No evidence for extensive horizontal gene transfer in the genome of the tardigrade Hypsibius dujardini. PNAS. DOI: 10.1101/033464
- March 27, 2016
- 10:24 AM
- 367 views
Responses to Typos and Personality: "Grammar Nazis" Confirmed?
by Neuroskeptic in Neuroskeptic_Discover
Do you haet typos? If you spot a grammo (a grammatical error), does your blood boil?
Some people are more offended by these kinds of linguistic errors than others, but why? Ann Arbor psychologists Julie E. Boland and Robin Queen examine this in a new PLOS ONE paper called If You’re House Is Still Available, Send Me an Email: Personality Influences Reactions to Written Errors in Email Messages
The authors recruited 83 volunteers (on MTurk) and asked them to imagine that they'd placed an... Read more »
Boland JE, & Queen R. (2016) If You're House Is Still Available, Send Me an Email: Personality Influences Reactions to Written Errors in Email Messages. PloS one, 11(3). PMID: 26959823
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