john hawks weblog

paleoanthropology, genetics and evolution

Quote: Henry Fairfield Osborn's incomprehensibles

Sun, 2010-07-04 01:06 -- John Hawks

From Henry Fairfield Osborn (1927, Proc Am Phil Soc 66:373) "Recent discoveries relating to the origin and antiquity of man."

Of all incomprehensible things in the universe man stands in the front rank, and of all incomprehensible things in man the supreme difficulty centers in the human brain, intelligence, memory, aspriations, and powers of discovery, research and the conquest of obstacles.

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.