john hawks weblog

paleoanthropology, genetics and evolution

Somebody else on "Avatar"

Mon, 2010-01-18 19:50 -- John Hawks

Mark in Spokane opines about Avatar:

I like a good story and all, but I also am a fan of humanity. If I see a movie and it's aliens vs. humans, I'm rooting for the humans.... And that goes for wood elves, replicants, Cyclons, whatever.

What's surprising to me is how many of his commenters are anti-human. It's like my undergraduates; they all seem to be convinced that humanity is evil. Hey, people! If you think we're evil, just wait until you run into an ecomaniacal alien species with some kind of telepathic dominion over their entire planet!

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.