Julian reports on discussions at the Australasian Society for Human Biology at the Flores “Hobbits” and the possibility that they were microcephalic. Extraordinary claims often generate strident counterclaims. I am not totally convinced about one model of what or who the Flores Hobbits were, and their supposed use of advanced tools leaves me puzzled, but if I had to bet money I would bet against microcephaly. Unless that is I found out that the researchers who published the original Flores paper were morons who didn’t do their homework. Here are some numbers I found:
In the general population, microcephaly due to genetic factors occurs in 1 in 30,000 to 50,000 live births, and in 1 per 10,000 births due to other causes. In some populations, frequency may be as high as 1 in 2,000 births.
Posted by razib at 02:54 AM