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More on Scientific Reductionism–this time from a conservative columnist

Y-haplogroup I and cardiovascular risk

Arteriosclerosis, Thrombosis, and Vascular Biology. 2013; 33: 1722-1727 Male-Specific Region of the Y Chromosome and Cardiovascular Risk Phylogenetic Analysis and Gene Expression Studies Lisa D.S. Bloomer et al. Abstract Objective—Haplogroup...Show More Summary

Kotahi Mano Kaika, Kotahi Mano Wawata (Learning an Endangered Language Part 7)

In part six of this series I complained about how Taiwanese indigenous languages are being taught more like dead languages than living ones. This point was really hit home to me when I was discussing with another student that I would like to have better communicative competence. It took a long time for me to […]

Interesting commentary on the Morton/Gould affair

Interesting commentary by the author of a 1988 undergraduate thesis that revolved around re-measuring part of Morton's skulls and concluding (contra Gould) that Morton's measurements were accurate. I haven't read it fully (it is in four...Show More Summary

The Adventures of Liberal Humanitarianism in Africa: Bombing Libya to Freedom

For those readers in the Toronto and Hamilton areas, two events in the coming days may be of interest, both related to NATO’s war against Libya, “humanitarian intervention,” the “responsibility to protect,” and Canada’s participation in such warfare. Just in time, Media Lens just published coverage of the book, Slouching Towards Sirte, in “ ‘Limited […]

The “Global War on Terror” Is Not Endless? A Pan-African View

The planned winding down of the global war on terror has major implications for the peace movement internationally and cannot be carried out without vigorous engagement from all. First published as: “War on terror not endless? A pan-Africa view” By Horace G. Campbell Pambazuka, Issue 609, 2012-12-06 INTRODUCTION After September 11, 2001, the President of […]

Good News for the State of Nevada!

How the pacification of Europe came to an end

John Locke: “every man, in the state of nature, has a power to kill a murderer […] such men are not under the ties of the common law of reason, have no other rule, but that of force and violence, and so may be treated as beasts of prey...Show More Summary

Healing Secular Life — Book Review

Savage Minds would like to welcome back guest blogger Ayla Samli and thank her for contributing this review of  Healing Secular Life: Loss and Devotion in Modern Turkey by Christopher Dole, a 2012 publication from the University of Pennsylvania Press. While at Rice U. Samli completed her dissertation field research in Turkey and currently is […]

Vale Ward Goodenough

As some readers out there may know, Ward Goodenough passed away this week. A Micronesianist who had done a little work on Papua New Guinea, his death prompted an spate of remembrances on the Pacific Anthropology list I belong to. By any account he was a remarkable man — a prolific author, a careful fieldworker, a mentor […]

Menopause is caused by male preference for younger women (or is it?)

My own half-baked idea is that because humans have longer childhoods and are very dependent on their mothers during their childhoods, there's an advantage to live past their reproductive years. If a couple of women cease reproduction...Show More Summary

Prince William's Indian matrilineage?

William has a hint of Indian in his DNA, find British researchers Researchers have sourced William’s Indian ancestry to Eliza Kewark, his great-great-great-great-great grandmother, who was assumed to be Armenian, but now has been revealed...Show More Summary

General Carter Ham’s Case for Dismantling AFRICOM

There is enough evidence that the US Africa Command has increased resource exploitation and imperial expansion, instigated more violence, intensified regional conflicts and undermined the authority of regional organizations and the African Union. Show More Summary

Links I find interesting (Reboot)

Been quite busy these past few months. Which does not mean that I haven’t been reading a lot of great articles that are worthy of sharing, or even that I haven’t been sharing quite a bit of  them. I’ve been sharing, but mostly on FB (‘friend’ me if you use [...]

Analysis of multi-merge dataset of human autosomal microsatellite variation

Microsatellites may be a little "retro" in the age of million-SNP arrays and whole genome sequencing, but one has to admit that the following figure, resulting from a merge of multiple microsatellite datasets, is pretty impressive. G3:...Show More Summary

The Possibility Of Full Protection For Chimpanzees Under The Endangered Species Act

For as long as I’ve been alive, wild chimpanzees have been “endangered” under the Endangered Species Act (ESA). Captive-born chimps, … Continue reading »

Militarizing Africa and African Studies and the U.S. Africanist Response

By David Wiley [First published as: Wiley, David. (2012). "Militarizing Africa and African Studies and the U.S. Africanist Response." African Studies Review, 24(2) September, pp. 147-161.] There was an ironic and troubling confluence...Show More Summary

~60-50 thousand coastal migration to Asia from Africa affirmed

My own opinions on this matter have been repeated ad nauseam in this blog, so I will only briefly touch on a couple of points in this new article. Contrary to the authors' claim that: "The size of the mtDNA database is very substantial:...Show More Summary

What is making me happy today – an afrobeat interpretation of Marley’s redemption song

by lagbaja

mtDNA from Late Bronze Age West Siberia (Stary Sad)

From the paper: All of the samples studied have a different sequence of mitochondrial DNA HVR I (Table). An analysis of haplotype structure enabled its attribution to five mitochondrial DNA haplogroups: western Eurasian U2e, U5a, T and eastern Eurasian C and A10. Show More Summary