john hawks weblog

paleoanthropology, genetics and evolution

Pandas

Sat, 2008-08-09 17:15 -- John Hawks

Finally, a panda story I can get on board with:

Pandas: Evolution's big fat (adorable) mistake?

Their unlikely perseverance seems to argue against 'survival of the fittest'

Oh, well -- despite the encouraging headline, it's mainly an article about how the panda really isn't as maladapted as it may seem.

Tags: 
pandas
humor

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.