An Open Letter to Rep. Alan Grayson in Defense of Neanderthals

Dear Rep. Grayson, Although I applaud your stand on health care and you efforts to take the offensive against the Republicans, I do have to take exception to your characterization of Republicans as “…foot-dragging, knuckle-dragging Neanderthals…” This is a gross mischaracterization of Neanderthals on several levels. First, Neanderthals did not drag their feet or knuckles. [...]

Like Sands Through the Hourglass, These Are the Taxonomic Assessments of the Hobbit

The Journal of Human Evolution is going to have a special issue devoted to Homo floresiensis and word is leaking out on one of the articles in it. The Australian has the best article so far. I say that because it inspired a Homer Simpson like D’OH moment on my part. Here is why:

Cooperation in Spotted Hyenas

PhysOrg.Com has an interesting item on problem solving and cooperation in spotted hyenas. The item concerns recent research published in Animal Behavior. From PhysOrg.Com: Drea’s research, published online in the October issue of Animal Behavior, shows that social carnivores like spotted hyenas that hunt in packs may be good models for investigating cooperative problem solving [...]

Saturday Great White Shark Blogging

Just because… Great white 

Saturday Ring-Tailed Lemur Blogging

What could possibly be cooler than Ring-Tailed Lemurs (other than Aye-Ayes, that is)? Ring tailed Lemurs  Ring-tailed Lemurs 2  Sounds of lemurs ,more sounds here . Interesting links here and here.

Charles Darwin and The Gibraltar Skull

Science has an interesting entry in its Origins: A History of Beginnings series. The entry concerns Charles Darwin and the Gibraltar Neanderthal skull

I Love The Internet Archive

Been looking for a copy of The Stone Age of Mt. Carmel for a long, long time. Also Phillip Tobias’ The Brain in Hominid Evolution…

Four Stone Hearth Volume #76

Welcome to volume # 76 of the Four Stone Hearth. There are some interesting items in this issue, so let’s get started.

Pandering To The Wicked: ACORN And The Law Of Unintended Consquences

So, Congress has passed a law against ACORN. Apparently, they can no longer get federal funding. Republicans are jubilant and elated in such. Then some smart ass read the bill.

Begging for PNAS Neanderthal Articles

Can someone send me these two articles: Human origins: Out of Africa and The meaning of Neandertal skeletal morphology? Thanks in advance!

Four Stone Hearth: Call for Submissions

I will be hosting the Four Stone Hearth on the 23rd which means submissions are due no later than tomorrow evening. I will, of course be scouring the web for interesting anthropology items, as well. In the meantime send your submissions to be at the email address listed under the “About” tab above.

Revisionism at The Texas Board of Education Hearings on Social Studies Curriculum

Did you know that Republicans are responsible for the civil rights legislation of the 1960′s?

Design Inference! ID Proponents Will Love This! Extraterrestrials Involved!

The Daily Mail has the story of a design inference that should make an ID proponent’s heart burst with warm fuzzies:

Can Someone Snag Me One of These?

Comfort and Kirk are going to be passing out copies of the Origin of Species complete with an introduction by Ray Comfort. I really, really, want a copy. I’ll even pay the shipping and handling to get it here. So, on 11/19/09 if you happen to see some fundy wackanoodle handing them out, don’t just [...]

Global History of Health Project

I know I have mentioned this before (unfortunately, I can’t find where) but Richard Steckel and Jerome Rose (among others) are working on a fascinating project called the Global History of Health Project. One of the reasons that I brought this up is because the Jewish World review has a fascinating overview of the project: