john hawks weblog

paleoanthropology, genetics and evolution

Quote: Jerry Hall genetics

Mon, 2009-07-27 11:32 -- John Hawks

There was a really stupid article in the Times (UK) yesterday: "Women are getting more beautiful". You know I don't say that lightly. But I had to quote what passes for a demonstration of heritability these days:

The heritability of attractiveness is widely accepted. When Elizabeth Jagger became a model, her mother, the former model Jerry Hall, said: “It’s in her genes.”

Wouldn't it make life easier if we could just rely on celebrities for all these things? Er, maybe not....

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.