Blog articles
Our new paper on why human evolution accelerated
I run through our 2007 work on evidence for recent natural selection across the human genome.
HIV susceptibility locus protects against an extinct virus
The TRIM5α protein in humans doesn't resist HIV very well but may have once protected us from another ape virus.
Why did some Polynesian island societies lose their pigs?
Some island peoples extirpated their pigs after establishing them. Was it planned due to competition for plant foods with humans?
Darwin witnessing the plagues of European colonization
He described the destruction of Indigenous peoples as the result of a “mysterious agency” but saw the evidence of infectious disease firsthand.
For Linnaeus, classification followed from the new idea that species were fixed
A recent book by Ronald Amundson discusses the philosophical shift in the way that eighteenth-century naturalists viewed species.
High adult mortality in some contemporary hunter-gatherers
A brief review of a paper describing the causes of high mortality among young adults of the Hiwi people.
How research into the causes of health disparities matters to cancer
Science writer Jennifer Couzin has an important profile [https://dx.doi.org/10.1126/science.315.5812.592] of cancer researcher Olufunmilayo Olopade. I say it's important because the profile really presents a nuanced view of the relationship of biology, race, and health outcomes: > It's
Ninety percent of your brain is (not) useless
A close look at the idea that most of the brain is superfluous space, with a review of people who get by with extraordinarily small brain mass.
The legend of Henry Ford's kingpins in evolutionary biology
Looking critically at a story used to illustrate the process of natural selection.
A case study of race and medicine: the BiDil trial
I review news coverage of a drug marketed to African-American cardiology patients, and think about the impact of ancestry on health.