Anthropology posts
- June 11, 2012
- 03:36 AM
- 463 views
The crayola-fication of the world: How we gave colors names, and it messed with our brains (part II)
by aatishb in Empirical Zeal
Lately, I’ve got colors on the brain. In part I of this post I talked about the common roads that different cultures travel down as they name the colors in their world. And I came across the idea that color names are, … Continue reading →... Read more »
Regier, T., & Kay, P. (2009) Language, thought, and color: Whorf was half right. Trends in Cognitive Sciences, 13(10), 439-446. DOI: 10.1016/j.tics.2009.07.001
Gilbert AL, Regier T, Kay P, & Ivry RB. (2006) Whorf hypothesis is supported in the right visual field but not the left. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 103(2), 489-94. PMID: 16387848
Franklin A, Drivonikou GV, Clifford A, Kay P, Regier T, & Davies IR. (2008) Lateralization of categorical perception of color changes with color term acquisition. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 105(47), 18221-5. PMID: 19015521
- June 10, 2012
- 01:20 AM
- 428 views
Achtman on Plague Evolution
by Michelle Ziegler in Contagions
Mark Achtman who led the international team that assembled the phylogenetic tree for Yersinia pestis participated in a Royal Society meeting on ‘Immunity, infection, migration and human evolution’ in June 2011. Achtman’s contribution placed plague evolution within the context of other ‘monomorphic’ pathogens. Here are some of my notes from his published contribution: Monomorphic pathogens [...]... Read more »
Achtman, M. (2012) Insights from genomic comparisons of genetically monomorphic bacterial pathogens. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences, 367(1590), 860-867. DOI: 10.1098/rstb.2011.0303
Morelli G, Song Y, Mazzoni CJ, Eppinger M, Roumagnac P, Wagner DM, Feldkamp M, Kusecek B, Vogler AJ, Li Y.... (2010) Yersinia pestis genome sequencing identifies patterns of global phylogenetic diversity. Nature genetics, 42(12), 1140-3. PMID: 21037571
Haensch S, Bianucci R, Signoli M, Rajerison M, Schultz M, Kacki S, Vermunt M, Weston DA, Hurst D, Achtman M.... (2010) Distinct clones of Yersinia pestis caused the black death. PLoS pathogens, 6(10). PMID: 20949072
- June 8, 2012
- 02:00 PM
- 161 views
Sexual selection in humans: some interesting recent work
by Joel Adamson in Sexual Selection and Life History Evolution
Researchers have found sexual selection important in the evolutionary history of humans, and a lot of researchers are focusing on the roles of mate choice and life history in major transitions in human evolution. I find the transition from hunter-gatherer to agricultural civilization the most interesting. This week I’ve read three interesting papers on three interesting facets of human sexual selection. These studies also did things in three different ways: there is a study of psychologica........ Read more »
Zietsch BP, Verweij KJ, & Burri AV. (2012) Heritability of preferences for multiple cues of mate quality in humans. Evolution; international journal of organic evolution, 66(6), 1762-72. PMID: 22671545
Alexandre Courtiol,, Jenni E. Pettayd,, Markus Jokelae,, Anna Rotkirchf, and, & Virpi Lummaaa,b. (2012) Natural and sexual selection in a monogamous historical human population. PNAS. DOI: 10.1073/pnas.1118174109
Sergey Gavrilets. (2012) Human origins and the transition from promiscuity to pair-bonding. PNAS. DOI: 10.1073/pnas.1200717109
- June 7, 2012
- 02:55 AM
- 333 views
Ten Thousand Smokes, One Hundred Years
by teofilo in Gambler's House
One hundred years ago today, one of the biggest volcanic eruptions in recorded history took place in southwestern Alaska. The volcano, known as Novarupta, is located in what is now Katmai National Park, which was established in 1918 as a direct result of the eruption and its effects on the landscape. As a result, this [...]... Read more »
Dailey, I. (1912) Report of the Eruption of Katmai Volcano. Bulletin of the American Geographical Society, 44(9), 641. DOI: 10.2307/200811
- June 6, 2012
- 12:29 PM
- 423 views
Etched in Bone: Uncovering information about immigrants to Rome
by Kristina Killgrove in Powered By Osteons
I just returned from Holland, where I spent a lovely few days talking to all manner of experts on ancient Rome during the Moving Romans conference and thanatouring Leiden's excellent Museum Boerhaave and the Rijksmuseum van Oudheden.
My own contribution to the conference was called "Etched in Bone," and I both summarized some of my recent research on identifying immigrants to Rome (which I've previously blogged about here, here, here, and here - whew!) and expanded on that work by including som........ Read more »
Montgomery, J., Evans, J.A., Chenery, S.R., Pashley, V., & Killgrove, K. (2010) 'Gleaming, white and deadly' : using lead to track human exposure and geographic origins in the Roman period in Britain. Journal of Roman Archaeology, 199-226. info:/
Turner BL, & Armelagos GJ. (2012) Diet, residential origin, and pathology at Machu Picchu, Peru. American journal of physical anthropology. PMID: 22639369
- June 5, 2012
- 04:06 PM
- 380 views
The crayola-fication of the world: How we gave colors names, and it messed with our brains (part I)
by aatishb in Empirical Zeal
“Who in the rainbow can draw the line where the violet tint ends and the orange tint begins? Distinctly we see the difference of the colors, but where exactly does the one first blendingly enter into the other? So with … Continue reading →... Read more »
Regier T, Kay P, & Khetarpal N. (2007) Color naming reflects optimal partitions of color space. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 104(4), 1436-41. PMID: 17229840
Kay, P., & Maffi, L. (1999) Color Appearance and the Emergence and Evolution of Basic Color Lexicons. American Anthropologist, 101(4), 743-760. DOI: 10.1525/aa.1999.101.4.743
Brent Berlin, & Paul Kay. (1991) Basic Color Terms: Their Universality and Evolution 1969 (Reprint). Center for the Study of Language and Information. info:/http://www.amazon.com/Basic-Color-Terms-Universality-Evolution/dp/1575861623/ref
- June 5, 2012
- 01:58 AM
- 277 views
How does your body affect your feelings of efficacy and esteem?
by Farid Pazhoohi in Epistemophil
Waist-to-chest (WCR) and waist-to-shoulder (WSR) ratios are good predictors of male physical attractiveness and women have been shown to prefer higher waist-to-hip ratios (WHR) in men. This study addresses relationships between men’s body shapes and their feelings about appearance, weight and how others perceive them. The experimental results reported here demonstrate relationships between Iranian men’s shoulder-to-hip ratio (SHR) and WHR on self-reported body esteem and self-efficacy. Incre........ Read more »
Pazhoohi, F., Hosseinchari, M., and Doyle J. F. (2012) Iranian men’s waist-to-hip ratios, shoulder-to-hip ratios, body esteem and self-efficacy. Journal of Evolutionary Psychology, 10(2), 61-67. info:/10.1556/JEP.10.2012.2.2
- June 4, 2012
- 11:58 AM
- 292 views
Identical Twins, Different Lives
by Neuroskeptic in Neuroskeptic
Virginia psychiatrists Kendler and Halberstadt describe a neat "natural experiment" into what causes depression - The road not taken: life experiences in monozygotic twin pairs discordant for major depressionThey interviewed 14 pairs of identical twins. One of each pair had reported a history of depression while the other hadn't. The twins were interviewed together, and asked to describe their lives, in particular any differences between their experiences.It's well worth reading, for the human i........ Read more »
Kendler, K., & Halberstadt, L. (2012) The road not taken: life experiences in monozygotic twin pairs discordant for major depression. Molecular Psychiatry. DOI: 10.1038/mp.2012.55
- June 3, 2012
- 05:40 PM
- 416 views
Gay men, English and desire in Bangkok
by Shih-Wei Cheng in Language on the Move
I have recently begun working on my MA thesis on sexuality and second language learning at the Graduate School of English, Assumption University of Thailand, under the supervision of Kimie Takahashi. She has encouraged me to share my experience in … Continue reading →... Read more »
King, B. (2008) “Being Gay Guy, That is the Advantage”: Queer Korean Language Learning and Identity Construction. Journal of Language, Identity , 7(3-4), 230-252. DOI: 10.1080/15348450802237855
- June 2, 2012
- 01:23 AM
- 300 views
Is that a male or a female?
by Farid Pazhoohi in Epistemophil
How accurate is our perception of body forms? How do we identify the gender of a body? Do we have any cue?
In our recent paper, we showed that men and women accurately identify the genders on the basis of the waist to hip ratio. It is shown that as the waist to hip ratio increased, the frequency of “male” identifications increased and as this ratio decreased, the frequency of “female” identifications increased.
For more discussion, check the paper out.
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Pazhoohi, ........ Read more »
Pazhoohi, F., . (2012) Identifying feminine and masculine ranges for Waist-to-Hip ratio. Journal of Social, Evolutionary, and Cultural Psychology, 6(2), 227-232. info:/
- June 1, 2012
- 10:26 AM
- 474 views
The Earliest Evidence of Status Differentiation
by Katy Meyers in Bones Don't Lie
As far as our narrative of the rise of social differentiation goes, archaeologists posit that the earliest pre-agricultural communities were for the most part egalitarian. With the rise of agriculture comes the increase in social differentiation. However, how and when this occurred is not well understood. In order to determine status differentiation there has been … Continue reading »... Read more »
Bentley, R., Bickle, P., Fibiger, L., Nowell, G., Dale, C., Hedges, R., Hamilton, J., Wahl, J., Francken, M., Grupe, G.... (2012) Community differentiation and kinship among Europe's first farmers. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. DOI: 10.1073/pnas.1113710109
- May 30, 2012
- 01:44 PM
- 242 views
ADHD: Unhappy Birthday?
by Neuroskeptic in Neuroskeptic
Earlier this year a major study of almost one million Canadian children found that rates of diagnosed ADHD - as well as use of ADHD medications like Ritalin - were higher in kids born later in the year.This is strong support for the "immaturity hypothesis" - the idea that some children get a diagnosis of ADHD because they're younger than their classmates at school, and their relative immaturity is wrongly ascribed to an illness. In British Columbia, where the study happened, the cut-off for scho........ Read more »
Biederman, J., Petty, C., Fried, R., Woodworth, K., & Faraone, S. (2012) Is the Diagnosis of ADHD Influenced by Time of Entry to School? An Examination of Clinical, Familial, and Functional Correlates in Children at Early and Late Entry Points. Journal of Attention Disorders. DOI: 10.1177/1087054712445061
Morrow, R., Garland, E., Wright, J., Maclure, M., Taylor, S., & Dormuth, C. (2012) Influence of relative age on diagnosis and treatment of attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder in children. Canadian Medical Association Journal, 184(7), 755-762. DOI: 10.1503/cmaj.111619
- May 28, 2012
- 07:19 PM
- 416 views
Group Selectionists Make Basic Errors (Again)
by Jesse Marczyk in Pop Psychology
In my last post, I wrote about a basic error most people seem to make when thinking about evolutionary psychology: they confuse the ultimate adaptive function of a psychological module with the proximate functioning of said module. Put briefly, the … Continue reading →... Read more »
Gintis, H., Bowles, S., Boyd, R., & Fehr, E. (2003) Explaining altruistic behavior in humans. Evolution and Human Behavior, 24(3), 153-172. DOI: 10.1016/S1090-5138(02)00157-5
- May 27, 2012
- 04:25 PM
- 391 views
Fear & Spirit Loathing in Melanesia (2)
by Cris Campbell in Genealogy of Religion
Now that we have some background on Melanesian ethnography and animism, let’s look at Theodore Schwartz’s “Cult and Context: The Paranoid Ethos in Melanesia” (1973). It begins with a statement so out of place, or out of date, that one wonders whether the article is even worth reading:
“The paranoid ethos may have been prevalent throughout [...]... Read more »
Schwartz, Theodore. (1973) Cult and Context: The Paranoid Ethos in Melanesia. Ethos, 1(2), 153-174. DOI: 10.1525/eth.1973.1.2.02a00020
- May 27, 2012
- 01:03 PM
- 61 views
Earliest musical instrument found?
by Henkjan Honing in Music Matters
Flute fashioned from mammoth ivory[Based on a BBC news item released yesterday:] Researchers have identified what they say are the oldest-known musical instruments in the world. The flutes, made from bird bone and mammoth ivory, come from a cave in southern Germany which contains early evidence for the occupation of Europe by modern humans - Homo sapiens. Scientists used carbon dating to show that the flutes were between 42,000 and 43,000 years old.A team led by Tom Higham at Oxford University........ Read more »
Higham, T., Basell, L., Jacobi, R., Wood, R., Ramsey, C., & Conard, N. (2012) Τesting models for the beginnings of the Aurignacian and the advent of figurative art and music: The radiocarbon chronology of Geißenklösterle. Journal of Human Evolution. DOI: 10.1016/j.jhevol.2012.03.003
- May 27, 2012
- 11:23 AM
- 397 views
Earliest musical instrument found?
by Henkjan Honing in Music Matters
Researchers have identified what they say are the oldest-known musical instruments in the world. The flutes, made from bird bone and mammoth ivory, come from a cave in southern Germany which contains early evidence for the occupation of Europe by modern humans - Homo sapiens. ... Read more »
Higham, T., Basell, L., Jacobi, R., Wood, R., Ramsey, C., & Conard, N. (2012) Τesting models for the beginnings of the Aurignacian and the advent of figurative art and music: The radiocarbon chronology of Geißenklösterle. Journal of Human Evolution. DOI: 10.1016/j.jhevol.2012.03.003
- May 25, 2012
- 03:04 AM
- 422 views
An Aboriginal Australian genome reveals separate human dispersals into Asia
by mrr in genome ecology evolution etc
This blog section concerns a trendy debate in science, the human population history, which has extensions into daily life, as it can constitutes a topic of general public curiosity. Therefore, let’s see what is contribution described herein.BackgroundModern human populations seems to be derived from a single African ancestral population, under the well supported “out of Africa” hypothesis (1). Particularly, for eastern Asian colonization a “single-dispersal” model have been hypothesiz........ Read more »
Rasmussen, M., Guo, X., Wang, Y., Lohmueller, K., Rasmussen, S., Albrechtsen, A., Skotte, L., Lindgreen, S., Metspalu, M., Jombart, T.... (2011) An Aboriginal Australian Genome Reveals Separate Human Dispersals into Asia. Science, 334(6052), 94-98. DOI: 10.1126/science.1211177
- May 24, 2012
- 06:25 PM
- 183 views
Latin spice, make it nice
by Kathryn Turner in Alien Plantation
Think of the geographic origins of all your favorite spicy food cultures. What do these places have in common? Warm tropical breezes? Afternoon siestas? As little clothing as culturally acceptable? Sure. But also PATHOGEN LOAD. If you think about the … Continue reading →... Read more »
Sherman, P., & Hash, G. (2001) Why vegetable recipes are not very spicy. Evolution and Human Behavior, 22(3), 147-163. DOI: 10.1016/S1090-5138(00)00068-4
- May 23, 2012
- 05:50 PM
- 337 views
Is the influence of classic writers on modern ones diminishing?
by Callum Hackett in Callum J Hackett
Late last year, some researchers in the U.S. conducted a study that tried to determine the changing literary influences on writers, and the story seemed to be making the rounds on the news last week. The essential thesis is this: the influence of classic writers on our contemporaries is not what it used to be. Put in those terms, it sounds rather condemning, as though today’s writers are not reading up on their Chaucer and Milton and so are less culturally informed. That’s certainly ........ Read more »
Hughes JM, Foti NJ, Krakauer DC, & Rockmore DN. (2012) 'Quantitative patterns of stylistic influence in the evolution of literature'. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 109(20), 7682-6. PMID: 22547796
- May 23, 2012
- 02:47 PM
- 332 views
Rich People May Not Be So Unethical
by Neuroskeptic in Neuroskeptic
There was quite the stir a few weeks back about a psychology paper claiming that rich people aren't very nice: Higher social class predicts increased unethical behavior. The article, in PNAS, reported that upper class individuals were more likely to lie, cheat, and break traffic laws.However, these results have been branded "unbelievable" in a Letter to PNAS just published. Psychologist Gregory Francis notes that the paper contains the results of 7 seperate experiments, and they all found statis........ Read more »
Francis, G. (2012) Evidence that publication bias contaminated studies relating social class and unethical behavior. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. DOI: 10.1073/pnas.1203591109
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