Greg Laden's Blog

The "Swine Flu" does not have a name?

Category: H1N1 Novel Swine Flu

Effect Measure has an interesting take-down of a post on The Global Language Monitor (GLM), which brings up an interesting point or two. The GLM is a very strange site which has, as Revere points out, declared itself to be an important go-to place to...

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Posted by Greg Laden at 9:56 AM • 5 Comments • 0 TrackBacks

My sister in law just got Abwrackpraemie

Category: Anthropology

Don't worry, it is not as bad as it sounds, but it is somewhat contagious....

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Posted by Greg Laden at 6:51 PM • 5 Comments • 0 TrackBacks

Memetics of Meaning, Memory and Me: The minefield of the annoying or endearing mannerism

Category: Anthropology

... she twirled the single braid of brilliantly red hair that came down from her feathered head dress, which complemented her shamanistic necklace and her home made little black dress ... I thought ... wow. Lizzie has no mannerisms ...

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Posted by Greg Laden at 2:03 PM • 34 Comments • 0 TrackBacks

Knowing More Languages = Good

Category: Anthropology

American politicians, some parents, and a few others have previously expressed the concern that learning more than one language muddles the mind. This is, of course, absurd, and it is hard to believe why anyone really thought this. In fact, it could be said that...

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Posted by Greg Laden at 10:51 AM • 10 Comments • 0 TrackBacks

Framing the Language Gene: FOXP2

Category: Language

You can now read the Krause et al (2007) paper from Current Biology regarding the FOXP2 variant found in Neanderthals in an open-access on-line form at Current Biology Online. Here is the summary of the article: Although many animals communicate vocally, no extant creature rivals...

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Posted by Greg Laden at 8:39 PM • 0 Comments • 0 TrackBacks

Precarious Pettiness of Sexual Politics In the Blogosphere: An uppity response to the perspicacious Dr. Isis and an appeal to get serious about sexual aggression and exploitation

Category: Anthropology

Dr. Isis at On Becoming a Domestic and Laboratory Goddess has written an open letter to our sister, Zuska, regarding (in part) the exchanges between my Sbling and myself. Dr. Isis points out that she has had a long term academic interests in breasts, which...

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Posted by Greg Laden at 9:10 AM • 54 Comments • 0 TrackBacks

The Magpie in the Mirror

A typical adult human recognizes that the image one sees in a mirror is oneself. We do not know how much training a mirror-naive adult requires to do this, but we think very little. When a typical adult macaque (a species of monkey) looks in...

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Posted by Greg Laden at 1:00 PM • 26 Comments • 0 TrackBacks

A Portrait of The Brain by Adam Zeman

Published by Yale University Press A Portrait of the Brain by Adam Zeman is a new book describing how the brain works (and does not work) in something of an Oliver Sack's experiential manner, but with a twist. Zeman is a Professor of Cognitive...

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Posted by Greg Laden at 6:51 PM • 1 Comments • 0 TrackBacks

Evolution: The Mind's Big Bang

Evolution: The Mind's Big Bang I've known Shea for years ... since before grad school. Going out drinking with this guy was a little dangerous. Almost as dangerous as going out drinking with me....

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Posted by Greg Laden at 5:48 PM • 2 Comments • 0 TrackBacks

Crazy Anthropologist Links Food, Sex

Can you believe this guy? Check it out: The French anthropologist Claude Levi-Strauss once proposed that humanity began with cooking. [a Twin Cities anthropologist] says love may have begun with cooking, as well. ... The earliest human ancestors, some kind of chimp-like apes, were living...

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Posted by Greg Laden at 3:43 PM • 5 Comments • 0 TrackBacks