The Domesticated Hominin
“I do not think any spectacle can be more interesting, than the first sight of Man in his primitive wildness.” —Charles Darwin, letter to J.S. Henslow, April 11,…
Tag: Biology
Racial Realities
When I tell my students that there is no such thing as “race” (meaning biological race), I wait for the blowback. I know it is coming. “Well if…
When Sperm Compete, Nature’s Call Leads to Bigger … Testicles
[In humans, the testes] are from an inch and a half to two inches long, about an inch and a quarter from the anterior to the posterior border,…
Why We Must Talk About Race
I grew up a black woman in urban Los Angeles during the age of the civil rights movement. “Race” was all around me, woven into the fabric of…
I’ve Got the Neanderthal Blues
I have pale skin, red hair, and freckles; my skin shows signs of permanent sun damage even though I’m not yet 40; I’ve had bouts of depression; I…
What Is an Animal?
What is an animal? Take a moment to think about it. Without doubt your dog and cat are animals, as are the birds singing out your window. What…
Homo erectus: The Winnie-the-Pooh of Fossil Hominins?
A baby displays his eating prowess with only a few teeth. Holly Dunsworth Did you hear about the Homo erectus who lost all but one of his teeth?…
Monkeys All the Way Down
Everyone’s likely heard it or seen it written on a protest sign: “I didn’t evolve from a monkey.” It’s a well-worn refrain of those who resist the evolutionary…
Building Research Partnerships with Physicians and Patients
“At the last medical conference I attended, we were all told to find an anthropologist to work with on our research.” These were the opening words of a…
The Bodies Exhibit
I recently visited the Bodies exhibit at Atlantic Station which features anatomical presentations of preserved human corpses. They kind of ease you in. The exhibit opens tamely with…
An anthropology beyond nature and culture? Tim Ingold and Gisli Palsson’s edited volume, Biosocial Becomings. by Perig Pitrou
Biosocial Becomings: Integrating Social and Biological Anthropology Cambridge University Press, 2013, 288 pages. This essay originally appeared in Portuguese in the journal Mana. Translation provide…
Rice and Beans: Shaping the Customer’s Choice
As more cultural commodities enter the market, cultural distinctions will become muted to suit the appetites of a wider clientele — Read more on ScientificAmerican.com
Rice and Beans: The Private Role of Food
The signfiicance of selling a personal substance in the public market. — Read more on ScientificAmerican.com
Santa Traditions Around the World
Earlier this week, I shared a link on Twitter to a piece on Brain Pickings on how anthropologist Margaret Mead suggested we talk to children about Santa Claus:…
Why do we need to have so many meetings?
These days my calendar is a source of stress. My morning routine of reviewing my appointments for the day during my commute often leaves me dreading the coming…
Tuberculosis: more anthropologists wanted
Nhat preparing a sample to be tested in the GeneXpert system If tuberculosis (TB) is so often described as the quintessential social disease, why aren’t more researchers in the…
Are we Neandermans or Neandumans?
Science and Nature have just published research that supports a hypothesis about Neanderthal-human hybridisation that I published with Professor Roger Valentine Short in 2011. The recent popularity o…
‘HBD’
There is a small but rather vocal group of people variously associated with the human sciences who declare that almost everything humans do is related to and primarily…