Old Weblog Archive - December 2002

Fresh debate over human origins #
The theory that we are all descended from early humans who left Africa about 100,000 years ago has again been called into question. US researchers sifting through data from the human genome project say they have uncovered evidence in support of a rival theory.
BBC: 24-Dec-02
Warning: Contains the BBC's full-frontal early hominid nudity stock image.

Utah Dinos May Have Been Killed by Drought #
Drought - not the perils of a muddy bog - may explain why millions of years ago hundreds of large, lumbering meat-eating cousins to Tyrannosaurus rex perished in what is now a dusty, rocky desert in southern Utah.
National Geographic: 20-Dec-02
Lumbering? And there was me thinking Jurassic Park had dispelled the myth of lumbering dinosaurs years ago.

Colour 'no guide to ancestry' #
Physical characteristics associated with race - such as skin or hair colour - do not necessarily reflect a person's genetic ancestry, a new study suggests. A group of scientists have found that people who appear white may genetically be mainly African, while people who look black may genetically be European or Amerindian.
BBC: 18-Dec-02

'Fear gene' could unlock mental illness #
The discovery of a gene in mice that plays a role in learning to be afraid could provide clues to the origins of severe mental illness, say researchers.
BBC: 15-Dec-02
Another misleading 'gene' headline: they find a gene that 'plays a role in learning to be afraid', and the next thing you know, they've dubbed it a 'fear gene'.

Life 'began on the ocean floor' #
A new and controversial theory on the origin of life on Earth is causing a stir among scientists. And one of the implications is that life could be more likely on planets where it was previously thought unlikely to flourish. The theory claims that living systems originated in so-called "inorganic incubators" - small compartments in iron sulphide rocks.
BBC: 04-Dec-02

Survival of the Slickest #
How anti-evolutionists are mutating their message.
The American Prospect: 02-Dec-02
"Intelligent Design" shenanigans.

Darwin's voyage commemorated #
A small wooden box, about to go on display at the National Maritime Museum for the first time, is probably all that remains of a tubby little ship which changed our understanding of the world. A handwritten label, in faded Victorian ink, identifies the source of the timber, and the unique importance of the box): the tiny letters read "from the keel of the Beagle".
Guardian: 02-Dec-02