China
Gene Expression
Tag archives for China
I see white people (in China)
Posted by Razib Khan on March 16, 2010 There’s an article in The New York Times on the recent paper which extracted genetic material from remains in Xinjiang dated to 4,000 years ago. Remember that these remains exhibited male lineages which were west Eurasian, specifically R1a1, while the female lineages (mtDNA) were more heterogeneous, both eastern and western. This particular twist in history…
Walking & racing to modernity
Posted by Razib Khan on March 10, 2010 Two quantitative facts of note from When China Rules the World: The End of the Western World and the Birth of a New Global Order: From page 33: Although the passage to modernity universally involves the transition from an agrarian to service-based society via an industrial one, here we find another instance of European exceptionalism.…
The warfare state
Posted by Razib Khan on February 15, 2010 A few weeks ago I remarked on the relatively high current defense spending for the United States. In hindsight I think this was somewhat unfair, the proportion of the budget that the United States spends on defense is rather small in a world-historical context. I was reminded of this by a datum in The Age…
Rice, alcohol and genes
Posted by Razib Khan on January 25, 2010 Changes in human diet driven by cultural evolution seem to be at the root of many relatively recently emerged patterns of genetic variation. In particular, lactase persistence and varied production of amylase are two well known cases. Both of these new evolutionary genetic developments are responses to the shift toward carbohydrates over the last 10,000…
Are Chinese subsets of Southeast Asians?
Posted by Razib Khan on December 15, 2009 That’s probably the big takeaway of a new paper on the genetics of Asians, a set which includes South Asians, but in the new research mostly focuses on the people of East Asia. In a global context this work is important. The backstory is that there are disagreements about the exact process of the “Out…
Population substructure within China
Posted by Razib Khan on November 25, 2009 The state of China has 1/5 of humanity within its borders, so it’s genetic structure is of interest. It is obviously important for medical reasons to clarify issues of population structure so that disease susceptibility among the Han is well characterized, in particular with the heightened medical needs of an aging population in the coming…
Hu Jintao vs. Barack Obama
Posted by Razib Khan on November 23, 2009 I found this SNL sketch about an Obama/Jintao press conference very funny.
The genetics of your kids; know thyself
Posted by Razib Khan on August 6, 2009 Genetic Future says basically what I was going to say about report about genetic testing for abilities in China. Dan MacArthur notes: Unlike a lot of commentators on this story, I’ve got nothing fundamentally against the idea of using genetics to make predictions about a child’s future, and on guiding the activities a child engages…
Missing Productive Woman
Posted by Razib Khan on July 29, 2009 News story, brought to you by the same people responsible for China Strong.
China’s 2 child policy
Posted by Razib Khan on July 24, 2009 Shanghai urges ‘two-child policy’: Officials in Shanghai are urging parents to have a second child, the first time in decades the government has actively encouraged procreation. A public information campaign has been launched to highlight exemptions to the country’s one-child policy. H/T Aziz