john hawks weblog

paleoanthropology, genetics and evolution

National Geographic

  • "The Human Family Tree"

    Mon, 2009-08-31 16:01 -- John Hawks

    We flipped the TV to the National Geographic Channel last night to watch "The Human Family Tree" special. I like the premise of testing the relations of people from one mixed location -- they picked Queens, NY. And having Kevin Bacon tell us how closely connected we all are -- that's what I call a genius casting choice.

    So I'm interested, but as the show started, it gave a scary warning about "cultural situations" and the narration started talking about "more than sex". It wasn't great kids bedtime material for us yesterday. Maybe I'll catch a rebroadcast.

    Tags: 
    genetic ancestry
    National Geographic
    tv
    Genographic Project
    testing
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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.