How ancient DNA illuminated the dark cave
Unfortunately, we do not have a time machine, nor is there any likely possibility of any such thing in the near future. The laws of physics are what they are. That is why those of us who are interested in the human past must make recourse to discipline…
The Insight Show Notes — Season 2, Episode 12: The New York Times takes on Ancient DNA
The Insight Show Notes — Season 2, Episode 12: The New York Times takes on Ancient DNAThis week on The Insight (Apple Podcasts, Stitcher and Google Podcasts)we discussed the controversy that has erupted over a 12,000-word piece in The New York Times Ma…
The New York Times takes on Ancient DNA
This week Razib and Spencer talk to Bastien Llamas, a researcher at the University of Adelaide, about the recent expose about ancient DNA in The New York Times Magazine. Show notes: https://pxlme.me/4OULrz6S
Millennials turn away from Creationism
When I was younger dealing with Creationists was something I had to do as a matter of course. Like many members of “Generation X” I haunted Usenet groups in the 1990s where the “evolution-creation” debate raged, always defending…
Open Thread – Brown Pundits
Please keep the other posts on topic. Use this for talking about whatever you want to talk about.
Open Thread, 01/28/2019
If I haven’t made it clear, I highly recommend The First Farmers of Europe: An Evolutionary Perspective. A very readable book. One thing I haven’t emphasized is that the early European farmers seem to have been big consumers of cheese. This…
Brown Pundits BrownCast episode 10, with Josiah Neeley
The latest BP Podcast is up. You can listen on Libsyn, iTunes and Stitcher. Probably the easiest way to keep up the podcast since we don’t have a regular schedule is to subscribe at one of the links above. You can also support the podcast as a patron (the primary benefit now is that you …
Continue reading “Brown Pundits BrownCast episode 10, with Josiah Neeley”
Notes on Brown Pundits “BrownCast”
I’ll be interviewing my friend Josiah Neeley tomorrow about politics and policy in Trump’s America. Since this is Brown Pundits my outline has a lot of brown-themed questions, but we’ll range. If you are reading this before ~2 PM PDT feel free to drop-in questions. Josiah’s podcast, Urbane Cowboys, has had several brown people on. … Continue reading “Notes on Brown Pundits “BrownCast””
The diverse origins of the Bengali gentry
I’ve been rather busy with other things and the South Asian Genotype Project has fallen a bit by the wayside. But, I plan on allocating a day on a weekend soon to getting through the backlog. But, before that, I thought I would submit something t…
The European Neolithic, in fits and starts
On this week’s episode of The Insight I discussed the field of cultural evolution with Richard McElreath. The author of Mathematical Models of Social Evolution, he was in a good place to explain why the field is relatively formal. This is in cont…
The Insight Show Notes — Season 2, Episode 11: Cultural Evolution
The Insight Show Notes — Season 2, Episode 11: Cultural EvolutionThis week on The Insight (Apple Podcasts, Stitcher and Google Podcasts)we discussed the field of cultural evolution with Richard McElreath of Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthrop…
Cultural Evolution
This week Razib discusses cultural evolution with anthropologist Richard McElreath. Show notes: https://pxlme.me/HCVcxcZh
Humanity is smarter than the sum of its individuals
We live in a world of wonders. Airplanes take us across the world, computers connect us digitally, and antibiotics cure us of infections. But how does any of this work? Do you know? Does your neighbor know? Billions of humans beings use mobile telephon…
Open Thread – Brown Pundits
Please keep the other posts on topic. Use this for talking about whatever you want to talk about. One thing, thanks to everyone who has donated to the Patreon. Weirdly it makes me feel a little more appreciated when I’m editing these podcasts late at night after my work and family are over 😉 Since … Continue reading “Open Thread – Brown Pundits”
David Reich strikes back!
David Reich submits Five Corrections to The New York Times. As you know, in the fact-checking process I was sent more than 100 statements of which a very high proportion (more than half) were incorrect. For example, as I mentioned to you in my letter o…
Open Thread, 01/20/2019
Peter Turchin recommended The First Farmers of Europe: An Evolutionary Perspective. It’s dry. But good. It is also one of those academic books where the cost of the Kindle version is $50 less than the hardcover version. Two for Tea is a good podc…
David Reich drops the mic
Didn’t mean to post so much about that crappy piece in The New York Tines Magazine. But there’s so much tendentious crap in it. That being said, I am probably not going to post much more on this, because David Reich’s response is up: …
On “big science”, ancient DNA, and David Reich
A lot has happened in the last few days in backchannel conversations and social media in relation to the piece in The New York Times Magazine which put the spotlight on ancient DNA, and David Reich, for the general audience. Unlike Carl Zimmer’s …
The hammer of the All-Father
Unless you have been sleeping under a rock, a mildly slanderous piece in The New York Times Magazine has taken aim at David Reich and his band of paleogeneticists, Is Ancient DNA Research Revealing New Truths — or Falling Into Old Traps? I address this piece at my other weblog. One of the major themes … Continue reading “The hammer of the All-Father”