john hawks weblog

paleoanthropology, genetics and evolution

Neanderate yourself

Tue, 2010-05-11 23:20 -- John Hawks

If you want to give yourself a caveman (or cavewoman) makeover, well, now there's an app for that:

The MEanderthal app (a combination of "me" and "Neanderthal") just released by the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History for the iPhone or Android, is grounded in science. It relies on what is known about the appearance of our closest extinct relatives, the Neanderthals, to transform your face into the face of an early human.

The art is based on John Gurche's reconstructions, so I guess you'll be Gurchelating yourself. Gurchetizing?

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.