john hawks weblog

paleoanthropology, genetics and evolution

Neandertal headlines

Wed, 2010-10-06 17:29 -- John Hawks

For two weeks I've been reading news feeds about how volcanoes killed the Neandertals. I mean, seriously:

USA Today: "Volcanoes wiped out the Neanderthals?"

National Geographic: "Volcanoes Killed Off Neanderthals, Study Suggests"

NY Times: "Neanderthals’ Big Loss in Battle of the Elements"

UPI: "Volcanic Winter Blamed for Neanderthal Extinction"

The other stories of the last couple of weeks are some variant of "Neanderthals Were Not So Stupid After All". They make quite a juxtaposition.

I think they could save some print by combining the stories: "No Longer Rock-Brained, Neandertals Kiss Ash Goodbye". Or "Neandertals Outwit Ice, Die By Fire."

Oooh, oooh! "Misunderstood Neandertals Pursue Morose Creator To North Pole".

Tags: 
science writing
Neandertals
climate change
humor
media

Neandertals

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Denisova

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Acceleration

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Malapa

Just outside Johannesburg, the Malapa site is producing some of the most exciting finds in human evolution. This site is the headquarters of the Malapa Soft Tissue Project.