MetaFilter posts tagged with human

Prometheus In The Kitchen

The Whelk — Tue, 13 Oct 2009 07:48:07 -0800

"Good, big ideas about evolution are rare." Simon Ings of the Independent reviews "Catching Fire: How Cooking Made Us Human" by Richard Wrangham. (via)

The Walled Cities: Keeping Out The Joneses

Effigy2000 — Sat, 18 Jul 2009 22:30:02 -0800

The first human settlements... before the bronze age, before the iron age and even probably before the stone age, didn’t happen because people liked each other’s company. "As the old saying goes, there's safety in numbers... and fortifications. "If you have any doubt about how wood, stone and later even steel walls helped shape human civilization, all you need to do is take a close look at most of our cities, especially the older ones."

This is the hairiest type for both beard and body hair.

desjardins — Fri, 08 May 2009 21:21:37 -0800

An Artist's Guide to Human Types "If I needed to draw someone from [a] specific part of the world, what would I need to know about his or her physical characteristics?" The author, a well-traveled Lebanese artist, also has a graphic novel online.

Secrets Of The Phallus

hippybear — Tue, 05 May 2009 16:33:08 -0800

Why is the penis shaped like that? [T]he human penis is actually an impressive “tool” in the truest sense of the word, one manufactured by nature over hundreds of thousands of years of human evolution. You may be surprised to discover just how highly specialized a tool it is. Furthermore, you’d be amazed at what its appearance can tell us about the nature of our sexuality.

Anthropology Goes to War, and Bad Things Happen

fourcheesemac — Fri, 09 Jan 2009 05:36:26 -0800

Paula Loyd, a 36 year old anthropologist and US Army reservist, is the third social scientist to be killed within the last 8 months while working for the US Army's controversial Human Terrain System project in Afghanistan. The circumstances of her death were gruesome. Her death was then brutally avenged by a fellow HTS worker and military contractor, Don Ayala, now awaiting trial for murder. HTS, has been controversial from the start (NY Times). The American Anthropological Association has opposed the project in no uncertain terms, recognizing a long history of anthropologists' complicity with military and colonial power. Loyd herself had been critical of the role of US military contractors in Afghanistan (YouTube video, 2006).

The Human Marvels: Presenting Peculiar People

parudox — Sat, 03 Jan 2009 09:52:52 -0800

J. Tithonus Pednaud herein presents for your edification and enlightenment a curious collection of human marvels. You may call them oddities, freaks or monstrosities—whatever you will—but I call them incredible, persevering, resourceful and marvelous human beings. I chronicle their inspirational stories of triumph over nature, fate and the judgment of man. [Previously seen here. See also.]

IMPASSE

pwedza — Thu, 11 Dec 2008 01:46:50 -0800

Bram Schouw's short IMPASSE A human rights story produced by Art for the World for the 60th Anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, with the support of the European Union and other donors. In images. ..and posted a day late : )

How to Toilet Train Your Cat

thbt — Wed, 10 Dec 2008 08:50:58 -0800

Don't like scooping cat litter? Toilet train your cat.

Universal Declaration of Human Rights 60th Anniversary

Fiasco da Gama — Tue, 09 Dec 2008 15:44:32 -0800

Sixty years ago on December 10, fifty eight nations created the UN Declaration of Human Rights. There are extensive commentaries, and critical alternatives. Most of all there are predecessors. Do you know your rights? Previously, previously.

Data-Driven Enhancement of Facial Attractiveness

phrontist — Mon, 08 Sep 2008 08:44:37 -0800

Data-Driven Enhancement of Facial Attractiveness

Music and the Brain

binturong — Tue, 19 Aug 2008 19:18:30 -0800

Cockatoos are much better dancers than macaws. Well that was my clear conclusion after watching the first two vid clips linked to why animals dance in this Guardian feature. And since this is from a serious researcher I don't think they are faked. For those with much more time, this site has an interesting podcast on the topic of music and the brain.

Le Cerveau á Tous Les Niveaux. The Brain from Top to Bottom

ThusSpakeZarathustra — Tue, 19 Aug 2008 15:27:57 -0800

Get your learn on. 180+ ways of investigating the human brain = hours of fun for the whole family. Thanks to an innocuous question by a 5 year old, my entire evening is now being spent investigating and discussing the structure and workings of the human brain. This flash site lets you explore the workings of the brain according to 12 subject areas (each with subtopics which are not included in the "180" count), within each of which are 5 levels of organization from social to molecular, within each of which are three levels of explanation (beginner, intermediate, and advanced.) discovered via Wikipedia.

3D renderings of the inner workings of human body

Surfin' Bird — Wed, 09 Jul 2008 11:20:17 -0800

Fascinating 3D renderings of different processes inside of a human body. Yes, the style is quite similar to The Inner Life of The Cell, but this one is different. Dissolving of the pills was definitely entertaining. It would be great if a doctor could comment on the other processes that are displayed.

"Why not put the girls to work?"

weston — Wed, 02 Jul 2008 14:00:12 -0800

The Solar Bra really doesn't make sense if your undergarments are going to stay under. Adrienne So examines the kinetic angle. Or, maybe this is as simple as breathing.

Kids? Who'd have 'em?

muthecow — Tue, 20 May 2008 10:42:22 -0800

Ze Frank asks when the first time you saw your parents as just being human was.

That's just insane!

msaleem — Sun, 18 May 2008 11:26:51 -0800

Some of the most insane journeys in recent time include Harry Lee 'The Hawk' McGinnis' walk around the world, Helen Thayer's 4,000-mile trek across the Sahara, Andrew Thompson's speedwalk across the Appalachian Trail (2000 miles), and others. These along with some of the other world records (epic journeys) should give you an idea of the limits of physical human endeavor.

"For starters, I can drive that loader."

Guy_Inamonkeysuit — Tue, 06 May 2008 12:06:36 -0800

You know you want one. It's closer to being a reality than ever before. But how close exactly is that? Maybe closer than we think. The Japanese have been working exo-skeletons for years... and so have the boffins at Berkeley. Robert Heinlein talked about them in Starship Troopers (not the movie). Extant versions are not free standing but seem to be of great assistance to the physically impaired, such as people with ALS. Or to marauding penguins...

The Countertraffickers

fourcheesemac — Thu, 01 May 2008 03:59:32 -0800

William Finnegan reports on rescuing the victims of the global sex trade. You can also listen to Finnegan talking about the research for the article. (New Yorker)

Neanderthal-Human Babies

wantwit — Thu, 20 Mar 2008 16:24:42 -0800

Any admixture would have to be driven by male Neanderthals. Two years ago we discussed morphological evidence of nontrivial interbreeding. Since then Neanderthal DNA has been examined for genetic support for this model of human evolution, largely contradicting the belief in Neanderthal contribution to modern humanity. Indeed any contribution from the Neanderthal gene pool to the evolution of modern humans might be very rare and indeed it appears that the best candidate gene thus (MC1R) far likely was a result of convergent evolution. EXCERPT: It is now clear that the level of interbreeding between the two populations, if any, was so low that we are unlikely to find any neutrally evolving Neanderthal alleles in modern populations. However, it is possible that low levels of interbreeding could have led to the adaptive transfer of some alleles between species (introgression). Beneficial alleles can persist in interspecific hybrids even when the hybrids are less fit than either parent population as long as the hybrids are fertile [37]. As hybrids back-cross to a parent population, most introduced alleles will be lost to drift or to negative selection; some beneficial alleles, however, may be maintained in subsequent generations. Claims have been made for adaptive introgression from Neanderthals into populations of modern humans at the microcephalin [38] and the tau [39] loci. Some proponents of the multiregional model have gone so far as to suggest that adaptive introgression was a primary source of beneficial alleles during the evolution of modern humans [40]. While we regard this latter idea as unsupported by the available Neanderthal and human genome sequences, it is worth considering the possibility that a very limited amount of adaptive introgression has occurred. MC1R is a good a priori candidate for adaptive introgression. It is thought that light skin is favored in Europe as a compromise between the need for vitamin D synthesis and the need to prevent folate photolysis, both caused by UV radiation [41]. Several genes affecting skin color are known to have been positively selected in European populations [21,22], though studies of MC1R evolution have come to different conclusions [22,42,43]. Jolly has pointed out that the easiest way for early modern humans entering Europe to evolve light skin would be to acquire the necessary genes from Neanderthals rather than to evolve them de novo [44]. If the low-activity MC1R variant is positively selected in Europe, then MC1R presents a good opportunity to test for evidence of adaptive introgression from Neanderthals to modern humans. However, although Neanderthals and modern Europeans share a low-activity MC1R phenotype, the genotype is different (see above), which argues against significant adaptive introgression. The hypothesis could be tested more rigorously using Neanderthal sequence from other loci affecting skin color with a clearer signal of positive selection in Europeans.

Umm, sorry about the genocide

fourcheesemac — Tue, 12 Feb 2008 07:54:57 -0800

A Nation Apologizes. (Sydney Morning Herald.) Prime Minister Kevin Rudd's apology to the Stolen Generations of Aboriginal children. Here the history told from an Aboriginal perspective in Archie Roach's great song "Took The Children Away." (Youtube) (song lyrics).

"Hey, my Cheetah could paint that!"

maudlin — Sat, 09 Feb 2008 10:39:24 -0800

Human artist or ape artist? Six paintings, six chances to show your expertise or just guess correctly. (Previously) Hint inside. All the ape paintings are by the same primate; all the human paintings are by different famous humans.

Human tetris. Of course.

yhbc — Tue, 01 Jan 2008 18:03:46 -0800

Human Tetris. Plus d'info. (more information, mostly en Francais). Previously on MeFi: Space Invaders.

How To Be A Good Host

humannaire — Fri, 14 Dec 2007 19:53:38 -0800

Bot flies are large, stout bodied, hairy flies that resemble bumblebees. But how they reproduce is what makes them interesting: 1) An egg-laden female botfly captures a night-flying female mosquito and glues her eggs on to it. 2) When the mosquito is released and bites a victim, the host's body heat triggers an egg to hatch. 3) It falls off and burrows in. Even more interesting is that sometimes, this happens on humans! [YouTube/NSFSqueamish] And on humans sometimes, this happens in the most inconvenient [pdf] of places.

Rendering the female figure

desjardins — Fri, 30 Nov 2007 11:32:34 -0800

How to draw a female in proportion. If you're a cartoonist. If you're a manga artist. If you're a traditional artist. Divine proportions (NSFW) Idealized Proportions (artistic nudity) Historic Proportions.

Fancy a bit of tail?

Devonian — Fri, 28 Sep 2007 07:05:24 -0800

We all had one in the womb. For most of us, that's as far as it goes. Now and again, it hangs around until birth, when the surgeon's natural instinct is to hack it off - although sometimes things aren't quite what they seem. Not everyone has the surgery. In some cases, the vestigial tail remains surprisingly active(video), And unsurprisingly in these bodymod furrified days, some who don't have tails would like one, although getting there and learning to use one will not be without its problems.