john hawks weblog

paleoanthropology, genetics and evolution

Worms do calculus

Wed, 2008-07-23 19:56 -- John Hawks

Another sign I'm not expecting enough of my students: "Worms do calculus to find food":

Worms calculate how much the strength of different tastes is changing -- equivalent to the process of taking a derivative in calculus -- to figure out if they are on their way toward food or should change direction and look elsewhere, says University of Oregon biologist Shawn Lockery, who thinks humans and other animals do the same thing.

Neandertals

For years, I've worked on their bones. Now I'm working on their genes. Read more about the science studying these ancient people.

Denisova

From a finger bone of an ancient human came the record of a completely unexpected population. My lab is working on the science of the Denisova genome.

Acceleration

The advent of agriculture caused natural selection to speed up greatly in humans. We're uncovering some of the ways that populations have rapidly changed during the last 10,000 years.

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.