Third molar agenesis: a puzzling case of recent human evolution
One of the most obvious cases of recent human evolution is the increasing frequency with which individuals don’t develop third molars, what is called “M3 age...
All posts tagged with recent
My essay in The Scientist covers recent natural selection in humans
The Scientist has published a current essay I wrote about the evidence for recent and ongoing natural selection in humans: “Humans Never Stopped Evolving”.
Link: Artifacts melting out of Norwegian glaciers
An interesting short article in ScienceNordic reports on ancient items melting out of Scandinavian glaciers: “Items lost in the Stone Age are found in meltin...
Notable: Ancestry matters to ecogeography
Notable paper: Roseman, CC, Auerbach BM. 2015. Ecogeography, genetics, and the evolution of human body form. Journal of Human Evolution 78: 80-90. doi:10.101...
Profile of Nina Jablonski and skin pigmentation
Ann Gibbons has a very nice profile of biological anthropologist Nina Jablonski in last week’s Science: “Shedding light on skin color”. Jablonski is well-kno...
Selection and lactase persistence
I received a letter about lactase persistence that motivated me to a fairly long reply; I thought I would share the question and answer:
Upcoming events: Wisconsin Science Festival
I’ve had a very busy and interesting week at the European Society for Human Evolution meetings, and haven’t had a chance to update, and I’m on my way to Chic...
Mailbag: Genetics of schizophrenia
Re: Schizophrenia
HLA class-I loci in Neandertals and Denisova
With draft sequences of genomes from several Neandertals and from Denisova, we can begin to investigate known human variations that affect phenotypes. In pra...
Y chronology awry
Dienekes links to and discusses a current paper by George Busby and colleagues Busby:peopling:2011 on the Y chromosome chronology for the settlement of Europ...
Mailbag: Could autism genes be adaptive?
I have always wondered if autism could be an adaptive mutation. However, since I myself have autism, and specifically one of the more fortunate types of auti...
Did Denisovans have genetic adaptations to high altitude?
We don’t really know the extent of territory that might have been occupied by the population represented by the Denisova genome. The signs of mixture into th...
Rats in the radiocarbon (or vice versa)
The story of the New Zealand rat bones is a bit deeper than the press reports (e.g., this AP report). The main idea is that the rat radiocarbon dates support...