john hawks weblog

paleoanthropology, genetics and evolution

Hot, hot, hot

Fri, 2012-06-29 16:45 -- John Hawks

My hometown made the news yesterday:

On Thursday, Norton, Kan., was the hottest spot in the nation, topping out at 118 degrees, according to the National Climatic Data Center. Over the previous five days, another Kansas town, Hill City, held that spot, reaching 115 degrees on Wednesday.

Hill City and Norton don't really have a strong rivalry, so I don't imagine either of them would mind giving up this title to the other.

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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.