john hawks weblog

paleoanthropology, genetics and evolution

Lucy Seattle review

Fri, 2009-03-13 07:51 -- John Hawks

The NY Times has a review of the Pacific Science Center's Lucy experience, which came to an end this week. They're blaming the financial loss on Obama:

But the sour economy does not seem to explain all of Lucy’s troubles. A rare December snowstorm played a role, and Bryce Seidl, the center’s president and chief executive, has suggested less intuitive reasons like the feverish focus this liberal city had on the election of President Obama and his transition to office.

Yep. That's gotta be it. Meanwhile,

“This is going to be a big thing,” [Ethiopian honorary consul] Mr. Kebede said. Next year, he said, he hopes Lucy will travel to China for an exposition in Shanghai.

Neandertals

For years, I've worked on their bones. Now I'm working on their genes. Read more about the science studying these ancient people.

Denisova

From a finger bone of an ancient human came the record of a completely unexpected population. My lab is working on the science of the Denisova genome.

Acceleration

The advent of agriculture caused natural selection to speed up greatly in humans. We're uncovering some of the ways that populations have rapidly changed during the last 10,000 years.

Malapa

Just outside Johannesburg, the Malapa site is producing some of the most exciting finds in human evolution. This site is the headquarters of the Malapa Soft Tissue Project.