Begging for articles

Can someone send me these two articles? Craniosynostosis in the Middle Pleistocene human Cranium 14 from the Sima de los Huesos, Atapuerca, Spain Published online before print March 30, 2009, doi: 10.1073/pnas.0900965106 http://www.pnas.org/content/early/2009/03/27/0900965106.abstract and: TAIL SHEDDING IN ISLAND LIZARDS [LACERTIDAE, REPTILIA]: DECLINE OF ANTIPREDATOR DEFENSES IN RELAXED PREDATION ENVIRONMENTS http://www3.interscience.wiley.com/journal/121675178/abstract?CRETRY=1&SRETRY=0 Evolution, online ahead of print [...]

Hush-hush Archaeology: An Update

The other day I wrote about a fascinating piece of salvage archaeology. Via Southwest Archaeology today I learned that there is an update/correction to the story:

Help Stamp Out YouTube In Our LifetIme

Seriously, they suck worse than Disco! They suspended the account of the James Randi Educational Foundation. Life must be tough for YouTube, what with having to exist without a spine and all… PZ has more on the story.

Chimps, Dogs, Or Ants: Which is a Better Model For Human Sociality

Over at UD Denyse O’Leary is all twitterpated over this news story. The news item concerns a paper accepted for publication in the journal Advances in the Study of Behavior. The paper hasn’t been published yet, so we are dependent on MSNBC for details: Lead author Jozsef Topal explained to Discovery News “that shared environment [...]

Darwin Quote On Ascidians And A Request For Help

I am currently rereading Darwin’s The Descent of Man: and Selection in Relation to Sex and found an interesting statement.

2,700 Year Old Cannabis sativa Discovered

An interesting paper in the Journal of Experimental Botany published back in December discusses the discovery of 2,700 Year Old Cannabis sativa. The discovery was made in the Yanghai tombs in China.

Interesting Evolutionary Research

There are are couple of interesting pieces of research in the news. The first concerns tail shedding in island lizards. PhysOrg has the story:

Coup In Madagascar Creates Danger for Lemurs

National Geographic has the story: With Madagascar’s government paralyzed after a recent coup, looters are invading the African island country’s protected wildlife sanctuaries, harvesting trees and threatening critically endangered lemurs and other species, conservationists said this week. Marojejy National Park in northern Madagascar has been closed to tourism. In other parks, rangers are abandoning their [...]

Stupid Creationist Quote Of The Day

This one comes to us courtesy of Casey Luskin at Evolution News and Views. In a post discussing the NCSE’s views on the supernatural Casey says: Eugenie Scott better reign in her staff members or the NCSE will not only lose its religion-friendly image–it may land some school districts or state boards of education in [...]

Pathology of Chimpanzee Skeletons At Kibale

Paleopathology, for all practical purposes, is the study of the diseases and traumas that affect humans in the past. Necessarily, it is restricted to the study of the skeleton which severely limits the scope of what diseases can be studied. Even with that restriction a wide variety of questions can be addressed. We can, for [...]

Interesting Fossil Picture: Oligocene Frog Larva

The picture below is of a frog larva dating to the Oligocene. It comes from Larval development in Oligocene palaeobatrachid frogs.

Huh, I Wonder If All Math Geeks Pay Their Bills This Way?

see more pwn and owned pictures

NCSE On YouTube!

The National Center for Science Education has a YouTube Channel!

Who Are You Going To Believe? Me Or Your Lying Eyes?

Duane asks a really good question. In discussing the video below he says: Do you see a process for the continuance of rituals among Homo sapiens in this little experiment? I do. Please notice that I didn’t ask about the origin of rituals. That’s another question. I do think this experiment also puts question of [...]

Interesting Chimpanzee Videos

The recent chimp hissy fit thrown by the residents at UD reminded me of some videos I wanted to post…