Exploring the human condition.
This week on ResearchBlogging.org: The female orgasm apparently mystifies a fair number of people—men and scientists alike (though those two groups may not be wholly unrelated).
Ed Note: "On My Shelf" is my review series, covering notable books and events. For more notables, please see the reviews still housed at the old home of Anthropology in Practice.
Unfurling the flag at CitiField September 11, 2011. Credit: KDCosta Don't tell me about the world. Not today. It's springtime and they're knocking baseball around fields where the grass is damp and green in the morning and the kids are trying to hit the curve ball.
Courtesy of Steven Churchill, Duke University. Few things remain as mysterious—or controversial—as our own history as a species. However, a series of papers released in Science may add another piece to the puzzle: Four papers draw back the curtain on Australopithecus sediba, announced earlier this year, detailing morphological features of the hand, foot, pelvis, and skull that may establish this species within the ancestral lineage of modern humans.In a subterranean cave at Malapa, South Africa, approximately 25 miles (40km) from Johannesburg, the remains of numerous hominins identified as Australopithecus sediba have lain between layers of flowstone—a type of rock that forms in caves, similar in composition to stalagmites and stalactites, except as the name implies, this rock forms in a layer that “flows” across the surface.
'Tis but thy name that is my enemy;Thou art thyself, though not a Montague.What's Montague? it is nor hand, nor foot,Nor arm, nor face, nor any other partBelonging to a man.
I've watched this video several times since @PetiteSam first shared it, and each time I'm struck by the simple message that we're never quite satisfied.
Hurricane Irene over the Bahamas. For two days Hurricane Irene pounded the coast of the Eastern United States. Though she was ultimately downgraded to a tropical storm, the damage from flooding and downed branches left no doubt as to the power she commanded: washed out roads and rail lines, flooded homes, and widespread power failures left millions trying to pick up the pieces.Not surprisingly, New Yorkers were skeptical of Irene's impact ahead of her arrival.
This week from ResearchBlogging.org: With breaking news about our evolutionary history, Zach of Lawn Chair Anthropology delivers a nice summary concerning reports of what may be the oldest Acheulian tools found, and questions the ways stone tools have been assigned to particular taxonomies given the histories we do know (or think we do).
As an anthropologist, I realize I’m sometimes hyper-aware of social norms—particular those that I find offensive—so I work to ensure that my responses are as balanced as they can be.
If you've been the path of earthquakes or the hurricanes this week, hope you're safe! Here are this week's picks: Should you or shouldn't you take your husband's last name after marriage?
STAFFBehind the scenes at Scientific American
Read
STAFF
Read
Exploring the human condition.
Read
Insights into intelligence, creativity, and the mind
Read
Everything you always wanted to know about raising science-literate kids
Read
Critical views of science in the news
Read
STAFF
Read
Explore the science behind the dog in your bed
Read
News and research about endangered species from around the world
Read
Science by and for kids ages 8-15
Read
Commentary invited by editors of Scientific American
Read
Illusions, Delusions, and Everyday Deceptions
Read
Discussion and news about planets, exoplanets, and astrobiology
Read
Commentary invited by editors of Scientific American Mind
Read
New discoveries in animal behavior and cognition
Read
Opinion, arguments & analyses from guest experts and from the editors of Scientific American
Read
More than wires - exploring the connections between energy, environment, and our lives
Read
Mathematics: learning it, doing it, celebrating it.
Read
Adventures in the good science of rock-breaking.
Read
STAFFIllustrating science since 1845
Read
STAFFA science blog, sans blague
Read
Amphibians, reptiles, birds and mammals - living and extinct
Read
A Blog About the Weird Wonderfulness of Life on Earth
Read
Exploring and celebrating diversity in science.
Read