MetaFilter posts tagged with Archaeology and biology

Neolithic Grog!

zarq — Sun, 26 Jun 2011 07:51:54 -0800

The Beer Archaeologist. "Biomolecular archaeologist" Dr. Patrick McGovern has unearthed millennia-old alcohol recipes and ancient medicinals, "by analyzing residues in ancient pottery. Now he's working with brewer Sam Calagione, (of Discovery Channel's Brew Masters, (autoplaying video)) whose pub Dogfish Head serves up beers based on recipes that are thousands of years old." (Via) Mr. Calagione: previously on MeFi. Interview with Dr. McGovern (2009). Did a thirst for beer spark civilization? Dr. McGovern's bio. He is "Scientific Director of the Biomolecular Archaeology Laboratory for Cuisine, Fermented Beverages, and Health at the University of Pennsylvania Museum in Philadelphia, where he is also an Adjunct Professor of Anthropology. In the popular imagination, he is known as the "Indiana Jones of Ancient Ales, Wines, and Extreme Beverages." Also see: "The Origins and Ancient History of Wine."

Adaptation to High Altitude in Tibet

homunculus — Fri, 02 Jul 2010 15:17:17 -0800

Tibetans May Be Fastest Evolutionary Adapters Ever. "A group of scientists in China, Denmark and the U.S. recently documented the fastest genetic change observed in humans. According to their findings, Tibetan adaption to high altitude might have taken just 3,000 years. That's a flash, in terms of evolutionary time, but it's one that's in dispute."

I'm sure this'll end well....

zarq — Mon, 22 Feb 2010 09:48:15 -0800

We may soon be able to clone Neanderthals. But should we? An essay from Archaeology Magazine examines the ethical, scientific and legal ramifications. (Via Heather Pringle's Time Machine blog, where essay author Zach Zorich posted a reply and elicited a response.) Background: Last year, a team of researchers led by geneticist Svante Pääbo at the Max Planck Institute announced that they had completed a draft sequence of the Neanderthal genome. The project was begun in 2006. William Saletan covered some of the same ground in Slate in 2008, as did Reason.com last year: One science fiction trope says that it is impossible for two intelligent species to evolve simultaneously on the same planet since one would inevitably out-compete the other. This may have happened on our planet. Neanderthals disappeared around the same time that modern humans began to move into their territory. New research suggests that our ancestors killed them off. Perhaps we should use modern science to resurrect Neanderthals in order to right an ancestral wrong.

New peer-reviewed Creationist Research Journal

Rumple — Sat, 02 Feb 2008 14:07:48 -0800

Answers Research Journal is a new "professional peer-reviewed technical journal for the publication of interdisciplinary scientific and other relevant research from the perspective of the recent Creation and the global Flood within a biblical framework." Current Volume. Call for Papers.