Eric Michael Johnson at The Primate Diaries has a beautifully crafted (and very witty) post taking apart the gender bias in a recent paper on Ardipithecus ramidus and human origins. The post has lots to say about the stupid, leering headlines generated by work on meat provisioning in chimpanzees. I particularly loved this bit of prose:
The "meat-for-sex" hypothesis appeared to be flaccid. And yet, strangely, there were few sensationalist news reports touting evidence of bromance among our evolutionary cousins.
Go read the whole post. It is so well done, no wonder it was a Finalist in the 2009 Quark Prize in Science.
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On October 1, 2009 paleontologists announced the discovery of the oldest known primitive hominid fossil, Ardipithecus ramidus dubbed "Ardi," after 17 years of quietly studying its significance. Nearly a month after its grand unveiling to the media, biologists, paleontologists, and evolutionary…
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