Greg Laden is a biological anthropologist and science communicator. His research has covered North American prehistoric and historic archaeology and African archaeology and human ecology. He is an OpenSource and OpenAccess advocate. Greg's wife, Amanda, is a High School biology teacher, his daughter Julia is a world traveler and his son Huxley is 2.
From Indiana University's Press Room:
Resting in less than 10 feet of Caribbean seawater, the wreckage of Quedagh Merchant, the ship abandoned by the scandalous 17th century pirate Captain William Kidd as he raced to New York in an ill-fated attempt to clear his name, has escaped discovery -- until…
The Foja Mountains have been the subject of investigation for a couple of years now, and new species are being found there on a regular basis. The lastest, from last June, is the discovery of a possum and a rat.
The Foja Mountains are in Paupa, Indonesia, and form part of the norther ridge of the…
I get email... In this case, virus-like but funny email. Pass it on...
COSTELLO CALLS TO BUY A COMPUTER FROM ABBOTT
ABBOTT: Super Duper computer store. Can I help you?
COSTELLO: Thanks. I'm setting up an office in my den and I'm thinking about buying a computer.
ABBOTT: Mac?
COSTELLO: No, the name…
But fails to recognize it. Again.
Just moments ago, the Discovery Institute posted a commentary on a paper that came out some time ago on dog evolution. I wrote about that paper because it made me laugh out loud (LOL). Indeed, I wanted to share this again, so I reposted my earlier post just…
St. Bernard Dog
I woke up this morning to see headlines such as the following in my newsreader:
Study Casts Doubt on Creationism ... and St. Bernard Study Casts Doubt on Creationism....
It turns out that the shape of the dog's head has evolved over time, and that this can only be explained by…
NYT: Google Gets Ready to Rumble With Microsoft
The growing confrontation between Google and Microsoft promises to be an epic business battle. It is likely to shape the prosperity and progress of both companies, and also inform how consumers and corporations work, shop, communicate and go about…
Wikileaks busts Gitmo propaganda team
The US detention facility at Guantanamo Bay has been caught conducting covert propaganda attacks on the internet. The attacks, exposed this week in a report by the government transparency group Wikileaks, include deleting detainee ID numbers from Wikipedia…
Warning to Mac Users: Security Flaw with .Mac:
"The de facto online connectivity software sold along with many Apple computers, .Mac, has a Web interface through which users can check their 'iDisk' while away from their own computer. However, there is no Log-Out button in this Web interface, so…
Warning: This site opens with a video in play mode, and it is a bit noisy. Normally, I would not link to such as site because I think that is obnoxious. But it is an interesting site.
Welcome to the Computer History Museum on YouTube. We're committed to preserving and presenting the history and…
Today, in conjunction with the Creative Commons 5th Birthday celebration, Science Commons announces the Protocol for Implementing Open Access Data ("the Protocol").
The Protocol is a method for ensuring that scientific databases can be legally integrated with one another. The Protocol is built on…
The Cost of twenty years of Reagan and Bushes has been very high. In about 1991, I wrote an article for a monthly newspaper in which I summarized the available data for Global Warming, and was very easily able to conclude that it was a real phenomenon with consequences already felt in a number of…
Every few years a paper comes out "explaining" short stature in one or more Pygmy groups. Most of the time the new work ads new information and new ideas but fails to be convincing. This is the case with the recent PNAS paper by Migliano et al.
From the abstract:
Every few years a paper comes…
Dec 16
Constitution Day in Nepal
Dec 16
National Day in Bahrain
Dec 16
Victory Day in Bangladesh
Dec 16
Day of Reconciliation in South Africa
Dec 16
Don McLean's "American Pie" is released, 1971
Dec 16
Ludwig van Beethoven christened in Bonn, Germany, 1770
Dec 16
N'oubliez pas les…
Creationists plan British theme park
The latest salvo in creationism's increasingly ferocious battle with evolution is about to be fired in Lancashire. Not in a fiery sermon preached from the pulpit, but in the form of a giant Christian theme park that will champion the book of Genesis and make a…
In New York City, a group of Jews were beaten by Christians, as an expression of Christmas Holiday cheer. One of the assailants was previously convicted of anti-black hate crime.
Bill O'Reilly has some strong supporters in New York City....
A group of people exchanging holiday greetings on a…
I am amazed at the giddiness amongst Christian Fundamentalists that has fomented from the mere utterance of a holiday greeting by Richard Dawkins. The counter-insurgents in the War on Christmas ... the Red White and Blue, squeaky-faced smirking shits that call themselves commentators or preachers…
Fins into Limbs: Evolution, Development, and Transformation by Brian K. Hall, Ed., University of Chicago Press, Chicago, 2007. 459 pp.
Reptile and mammal limbs and bird wings are all modifications of the original tetrapod limb that, in turn, arose from the fins of earlier fish. That original…
This is actually a pretty good video.
The video concludes, unabashedly:
The positive impact of Darwin:
-Science became a respectable profession.
-Freed science from theological influence.
-Established evolution as a valid theory.
Negative impacts:
-Darwinism misused by eugenicists.
-…
The Four Stone Hearth Blog Carnival will be at The Greenbelt on December 19th. You should send your posts in any area of anthropology to host@fourstonehearth.net ...
The current Four Stone Hearth is at remote central.
Google is building its own version of communally-constructed online encyclopedia Wikipedia, which consistently ranks among the most visited websites in the world.
The Internet search powerhouse is inviting chosen people to test a free service dubbed "knol," to indicate a unit of knowledge, vice…
