Did not know this: Still, these platonic tickle sessions appear to be rare. Based on a survey he conducted for his fascinating book Laughter, neuroscientist Robert Provine notes that adults and adolescents are seven times more likely to be tickled by members of the opposite sex. When asked whom they would most like to be […]

I’ve already linked to this blog on ScienceBlogs, but I thought I might as well point to it from here. Check out The Oscillator, every entry is dense with science. The focus in synthetic biology. I wanted to see if there’d been a mention of Craig Venter’s synthetic bacteria project, but the the search box […]

One of the major shifts in thinking about language came in 1990, when Steven Pinker and Paul Bloom published their groundbreaking paper: Natural language and natural selection. In it, they argue natural selection was the central process in shaping the biological structures underpinning language. Since then, the field of language evolution has blossomed into a […]

Given this is my first post on GNXP I guess the first place to start is with a brief background: my main areas of study are focused on language, evolution and anything else unfortunate enough to find itself in between. Over the last year much of my time was spent at Edinburgh University, where I […]

According to this survey done by Zogby International. The numbers: 42% Muslim 9% Christian 6% Jews 5% Zoroastrian 7% Bahai 31% “Other” (the pollsters presume this is mostly those with “No religion”) The sample size was small, only around 400. And it seems really strange that there was a religious option for “Other” but not […]

Interesting post, Culture and the human genome: a synthesis of genetics and the human sciences, at Replicated Typo. Looks like an interesting blog, not updated that often, but the posts have value-add. Definitely adding to my RSS reader. My main complaint about the weblog are the annoying little Snap div pops. Is there anyone out […]

The lta4h Locus Modulates Susceptibility to Mycobacterial Infection in Zebrafish and Humans: Exposure to Mycobacterium tuberculosis produces varied early outcomes, ranging from resistance to infection to progressive disease. Here we report results from a forward genetic screen in zebrafish larvae that identify multiple mutant classes with distinct patterns of innate susceptibility to Mycobacterium marinum. A […]

I’m hearing about rumblings at 23andMe, and not in a good way. The company made a big splash a few years ago, and came highly recommended by friends (e.g., “They know their science, and have a bottomless pool of money”). This story at BNET got my attention though, and confirmed what many have been hinting […]

Aziz points me to a Newsweek article, History in the Remaking, on the Göbekli Tepe temple complex. The piece is a bit breathless: Standing on the hill at dawn, overseeing a team of 40 Kurdish diggers, the German-born archeologist waves a hand over his discovery here, a revolution in the story of human origins. Schmidt […]

The ideas of gene-culture coevolution have percolated all the way to the foodie-sphere, over at Epi-Log at Epicurious, The Health Trend of the Future: The Ethnic-Group Diet?: So, maybe at some point in the future, a visit to the doctor will involve a full genetic workup followed by a prescribed diet tailored to our individual […]

PNAS has a new study out on the “modest” association between GABRA2 and “alcohol dependence.” The odds ratios pretty weak. But what struck me is that the populations they looked at was mostly European and African American. I wonder why these research programs just don’t focus on Native Ameicans; who are operationally an admixed population […]

Nicholas Wade has an article in The New York Times, Human Culture, an Evolutionary Force. One point to highlight: By this criterion, many of the genes under selection seem to be responding to conventional pressures. Some are involved in the immune system, and presumably became more common because of the protection they provided against disease. […]

There’s a new paper in PNAS reviewing the tradition of etching on ostrich shells. Since it’s PNAS, the paper isn’t on the website, but Edward Edmund Yong is able to cover the major points thanks to his access. This stuff is of interest because there was a long time lag between the emergence of anatomically […]