Afarensis is a 3.5-2.8 million year old hominin from the Kada Hadar member of the Hadar formation in the Middle Awash, Ethiopia. He is approximately 41 inches tall, weighs approximately 60 pounds and has a cranial capacity of a whopping 410 cc (approximately). Afarensis is currently considered to be transitional between apes and humans and displays some traits of both. Since he spends a lot of time on the couch watching monster movies, some observers question whether he is an obligate biped (although no one has observed him climbing a tree). He also has a blog called 
There are a couple of interesting news items relating to forensic anthropology. First, this short piece on Beth Murray and forensic anthropology in high schools.
Second, this story about Sue Black:
Unlike forensic pathology, forensic anthropology is dominated by women. "My student intake is 95% female," she says. "Boys tend to do the CSI stuff, in the laboratory. Maybe it is because women are better at people-based subjects."Has Black ever faced obstacles on account of her gender? Laughing, she tells me a favourite story. While she was working at St Thomas's hospital, London, early in her career, some bones were discovered in a rubbish tip. Police needed to check whether they were human or animal. "As soon as I looked at them I knew they weren't human, but the policeman who brought them in was a miserable son-of-a-bitch," says Black. "I could tell he was looking me up and down thinking, 'What can this girl know?'"
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