john hawks weblog

paleoanthropology, genetics and evolution

Quote: Discovering the laws of science

Tue, 2009-04-14 12:26 -- John Hawks

In a discussion about space travel, I ran across a great quote from physicist Friedwardt Winterberg (emphasis added):

...I have little taste to speculate about the surprises the physics of tomorrow might bring. It is possible that big surprises still wait for us, but the opposite is possible as well. Discovering the laws of nature is like discovering America. It may happen just once. I therefore like to think what is possible with what we know now.

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.