laelaps | November 1, 2008It's a little dated, but here's an episode of the old TLC show PaleoWorld about hominid posture and bipedalism;
laelaps | November 1, 2008
I forgot to put this up yesterday, but better late than never, right? It's Charlotte (the big fat one) and Vlad (the little one) cuddled up as a ball of furry dark matter on the couch.
laelaps | November 1, 2008
A juvenile Western gorilla (Gorilla gorilla), photographed at the Bronx Zoo.
laelaps | October 31, 2008
This past February I wrote about a new giant sengi (or elephant shrew) described in the Journal of Zoology. When attempts to capture live animals failed, researchers used camera traps to get a better look at these previously undescribed creatures. A new paper in the Journal of Mammalogy has announced the discovery of another (although smaller) species of elephant shrew, but it wasn't so easy to spot.
The new species of sengi (bottom, EPI), compared with Elephantulus edwardii (EED), and E. rupestris (ERU). From Smit et al., 2008.
In the Western and Northern Cape Provinces of South Africa,…
laelaps | October 30, 2008
From Woman Triumphant.
When I don't know what else to write about, I usually pick a phrase off the top of my head into Google Books and see what turns up. Today I chose "ape-man," and the usual parade of popular books and scientific articles showed up. I was looking for something a bit different, though, and the title Woman Triumphant: The Story of Her Struggles for Freedom, Education and Political Rights caught my eye. What would such a book have to say about "ape-men"?
The reference to early human ancestors in Woman Triumphant is fleeting, and fairly typical for a popular book. The…
laelaps | October 30, 2008
A red-eared slider (Trachemys scripta elegans), photographed at the Bronx Zoo.
laelaps | October 29, 2008The 25th edition of The Boneyard is coming up next Tuesday over at The Big Dinosaur Lie. You can send your submissions directly to me (evogeek AT gmail DOT com) or to the blog where they will be posted, and let's try to get some of the new paleo-bloggers in on this one!
laelaps | October 29, 2008
From Garfield Minus Garfield.
In high school, I always felt like the dullest of the bright kids. Even though I made it into a number of AP and honors classes and held my own, I always felt like I didn't quite belong. "I'm not as smart as these people; what am I doing here?"
By 2001 I had my diploma in hand, indicating that I had survived high school, and I headed off to college. It was a struggle almost from the very start, and now that I am reaching the end of my tortuous university experience I realize that I never shook that old feeling from the days of my secondary education. I still…
laelaps | October 28, 2008
As explained in Narratives of Human Evolution (and outlined in an early chapter of Bones of Contention), scientific descriptions of human evolution have often been shaped by a belief in progress and our* superiority. Even today, when descriptions are often more objective on the surface, there are subtexts in which fossils are arranged this way or that to reflect certain values and expectations.
*[Whose superiority, however, differs depending on who is speaking. This could range from our species, Homo sapiens, to just one "race" of humans (I bet you can guess which).]
Today it requires a bit…
laelaps | October 28, 2008The Richard Gilder Graduate School, housed at the American Museum of Natural History, is now taking applications for Fall 2009 enrollment. It's an accelerated, 4-year Ph.D. program which places the vast collections of the AMNH at grad student's fingertips, but if you're interested you have to act fast. The deadline for Fall 2009 admission is December 15, 2008. (I would apply myself, but I have every confidence that I would be rejected almost immediately.) You can find all the information you need on how to apply here.
[Hat-tip to Kevin Z]
laelaps | October 27, 2008
Two down, one to go. Sort of. Even though it took longer than I thought, I am setting aside the dinosaurs and birds chapter for a bit to work on the section on human evolution. To get myself in the spirit of things I picked up Bones of Contention yesterday, although I also have a stack of academic resources to go through to try and make sure what I write is up to date.
When I first started seriously writing this book, I thought it was going to be a relatively easy project. I was at least somewhat familiar with each of the subjects I wanted to tackle, and I knew I could do a better job than…
laelaps | October 26, 2008
A California sea lion pup (Zalophus californianus), photographed at the Bronx Zoo.
laelaps | October 25, 2008
From ZooBorns (the only site I know of that regularly causes cute overload).
[Coincidentally, I'm heading to the Bronx Zoo today, in spite of the weather, so I should return with some new photographs.]
laelaps | October 25, 2008
A white-breasted nuthatch (Sitta carolinensis), photographed at a friend's residence in New Jersey.
laelaps | October 24, 2008There's now one week left before the end of this year's DonorsChoose Challenge here at ScienceBlogs, and those of us involved this year just got some good news. SEED has generously donated $15,000 (or $715 for each participating blogger) for us to distribute among the projects as we see fit.
That means that this morning I was able to fully fund two proposals ("Yuck... Hey... That is Pretty Cool!" and "No Bones About It"), all thanks to SEED. There are still two other rather substantial projects that need funding, though, one asking for a disarticulated horse skeleton and the other for a model…
laelaps | October 24, 2008Now this is some pretty cool news. The HMS Beagle Project announced yesterday that NASA has agreed to track the progress of the reconstructed HMS Beagle as she makes her way around the globe. According to a press release issued about the joint venture, this partnership will not only benefit the scientific mission of those on board the ship, but also help students all around the world keep track of the ship's journey;
Using satellite link-ups, students in classrooms and laboratories will be able to follow the voyage, and interact with scientists as they apply the tools and techniques of modern…