razib
Posts by this author
July 22, 2009
BMC Evolutionary Biology has a new paper which will be up soon (not on site), Reconstructing Indian-Australian phylogenetic link. ScienceDaily has a preview:
Dr Raghavendra Rao worked with a team of researchers from the Anthropological Survey of India to sequence 966 complete mitochondrial DNA…
July 21, 2009
We know that dogs can read human faces, it turns out that babies can infer the meaning of different dog barks:
New research shows babies have a handle on the meaning of different dog barks - despite little or no previous exposure to dogs.
Infants just 6 months old can match the sounds of an angry…
July 21, 2009
I just listened to a radio segment on public sentiments toward the Apollo space program expenditures in hindsight. The polling had a small N, 3 people in Los Angeles on the street. But it got me wondering: who supports the space program? There is a variable in the GSS, NATSPAC, with a large sample…
July 21, 2009
I was mentioning to a friend that Whoopi Goldberg is apparently a semi-moon landing denialist. At least Goldberg isn't a Creationist like fellow View co-host Sherri Shepard. In fact Goldberg took issue with Shepard's stance when it came up. Rather disappointing when it comes to the moon landings…
July 20, 2009
Shanidar 3 Neandertal rib puncture wound and paleolithic weaponry:
Since its discovery and initial description in the 1960s, the penetrating lesion to the left ninth rib of the Shanidar 3 Neandertal has been a focus for discussion about interpersonal violence and weapon technology in the Middle…
July 20, 2009
Derek Thompson at The Atlantic passes on this awesome chart:
OK, OK, obesity is more complex than that. But check out The Big Max:
Using New York's calorie-disclosure regulation to get the most for your money.
July 20, 2009
Felix Salmon has been at the center of a discussion on the merits and value-add of financial innovation. He notes:
Then there's the more purely financial innovation. There are good things here too -- fractional reserve banking, factoring, common-stock limited-liability companies, tradable fungible…
July 20, 2009
Genotyping of five single nucleotide polymorphisms in the OCA2 and HERC2 genes associated with blue-brown eye color in the Japanese population:
Human eye color is a polymorphic phenotype influenced by multiple genes. It has recently been reported that three single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs)…
July 20, 2009
Perceptual variation in umami taste and polymorphisms in TAS1R taste receptor genes:
A subset of subjects displays extremes of sensitivity, and a battery of different psychophysical tests validated this observation. Statistical analysis showed that the rare T allele of single nucleotide…
July 19, 2009
Moon astronauts urge Mars mission:
At a rare public reunion of the Apollo 11 crew, Buzz Aldrin and Michael Collins said Mars instead of the Moon should be the focus of exploration.
Neil Armstrong, the first man on the Moon, said the race to get to the Moon had been the ultimate peaceful contest.
He…
July 19, 2009
Tyler Cowen gives a positive review of Your Religion is False:
In addition to its humor, I prefer the content of this book to the better-known "new atheist" tracts. Grus yields many of the strongest arguments. For instance the biographical and sociological correlates with belief (most people…
July 18, 2009
Tom Rees has a blog post, Religion and marital infidelity, which shows that religious attendance, but not belief, correlate with a tendency to not have affairs. I think the critical point here is that religion is a complex phenomenon, and we condense many separate dimensions or parameters into one…
July 18, 2009
Alex Tabarrok points me to a new paper on the effects of Toxoplasma gondii, Increased incidence of traffic accidents in Toxoplasma-infected military drivers and protective effect RhD molecule revealed by a large-scale prospective cohort study:
We confirmed, using for the first time a prospective…
July 17, 2009
There's a new paper on ancient DNA out, Targeted Retrieval and Analysis of Five Neandertal mtDNA Genomes:
Analysis of Neandertal DNA holds great potential for investigating the population history of this group of hominins, but progress has been limited due to the rarity of samples and damaged state…
July 15, 2009
FuturePundit points me to an article about an older woman who had IVF treatment who has died, Spanish woman who gave birth through IVF at 66 dies:
A Spanish woman who became the world's oldest mother at the age of 66 has died of cancer just two-and-a-half years after giving birth to twins, raising…
July 15, 2009
Sunday Function
Imaging a Superior Mnemonist
The Last 100 Years: 1998 and the accelerating Universe!
Swearing increases pain tolerance
Swoopo
July 15, 2009
Too big a bill:
Josh Muszynski, 22, of Manchester, New Hampshire, was one Visa customer aghast to find the 17-digit charge on his bill. Adding insult to injury, he had also been hit with a $15 overdraft fee.
He noticed that his debt exceeded the world GDP while making a routine balance inquiry on…
July 15, 2009
Hawaii Looks to Space Tourism to Aid Recession Woes:
According to the Honolulu Advertiser, the state would start by spending up to a million dollars developing a spaceport.
But Hawaii isn't alone: The state is already facing heady competition from states including Florida, Okalahoma and New Mexico…
July 14, 2009
Wired had a long piece on Facebook's attempt to challenge Google. The gist seems to be that just as Google revolutionized the way search was done via PageRank, so Facebook will revolutionize search though results generated via one's personal "Social Graph." I'm generally skeptical of this idea in…
July 14, 2009
Steve points me to a new genetic genealogical study on a super-male lineage, 7 Million People Direct Descendants:
"This is one of the largest diasporas known to have descended from a single progenitor," said head researcher Lawrence Ghilcrest, adding that DNA evidence now corroborates stories about…
July 13, 2009
Update: See Ed Yong.
Randall Parker points me to a new paper from Joshua Greene which describes the neurological responses of individuals when do, or don't, lie, when lying might be in their self-interest. From EurekaAlert:
The research was designed to test two theories about the nature of honesty…
July 13, 2009
Back in the early 1990s I remember stories about the incredible reduction in size and volume of the Aral Sea. With the collapse of the Soviet Union the environmental disasters caused by state "planning" were exposed for all to see, and the command system of the USSR was as good at managing…
July 13, 2009
Conor Clarke and Conor Friedersdorf are guest blogging at Andrew Sullivan's. They also did a Bloggingheads.tv recently. Names matter, that's for sure. I also think that Clarke looked somewhat like the "Gigolo Joe" character from A.I. in the diavlog.
July 13, 2009
Anil Dash has an essay up, Google's Microsoft Moment, (H/T, Charles Iliya Krempeaux) which will be roughly correct at some point in the future if not now. Organizations go through changes in a predictable manner, and Google is unlikely to defy the inevitable laws of corporate evolution. On a…
July 13, 2009
Interesting Q & A on the "shadow banking" system over at The Atlantic. The last answer is illustrative of a major distinction between physical and social systems:
I use the term "Credit Insurer of Last Resort." And here's the idea: The Bagehot Rule - lend freely, at a high rate, in a crisis -…
July 12, 2009
Wired has a piece up To Run Better, Start by Ditching Your Nikes, which discusses the controversy over the utility of running shoes. Of course the "support" that typical athletic shoes provide is real. when I switch to flip-flops in warm weather it takes a few days to get comfortable walking up or…
July 11, 2009
Onion News, really funny. Below the fold....
New Live Poll Allows Pundits To Pander To Viewers In Real Time