the paleo diet moves from the gym to doctor’s office By now the paleo diet and lifestyle has inched from the fringe a little closer to the mainstream, thanks to some very passionate followers sold on the notion that our Paleolithic hunter-gatherer ancestors avoided modern day ailments like obesity and diabetes because they ate what some consider an “ideal” diet of meat, fruit and vegetables. Maybe you’ve met paleo dieters through CrossFit, or seen them organizing MeetUpsonline, and been amazed that they’ve managed to swear off sugar, dairy, grains and beans. But the paleo way is now moving beyond the gym and Web to an entirely new space — the doctor’s office. There the somewhat amorphous idea of “evolutionary medicine” is taking shape. One of the founders of the paleo movement, Loren Cordain, a professor at Colorado State University with a doctorate in exercise science, is the author of a must-read book for paleo followers, The Paleo Diet. Recently, he co-founded the Paleo Physicians Network. Its goal: connect consumers with “medical professionals who practice Darwinian/Evolutionary Medicine.” The network lists hundreds of them around the country (53 in California alone). Except there’s a small problem, according to one of the people who helped coin the term evolutionary medicine: No one actually practices evolutionary medicine because it’s only a theory. read further at npr
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the paleo diet moves from the gym to doctor’s office

By now the paleo diet and lifestyle has inched from the fringe a little closer to the mainstream, thanks to some very passionate followers sold on the notion that our Paleolithic hunter-gatherer ancestors avoided modern day ailments like obesity and diabetes because they ate what some consider an “ideal” diet of meat, fruit and vegetables.

Maybe you’ve met paleo dieters through CrossFit, or seen them organizing MeetUpsonline, and been amazed that they’ve managed to swear off sugar, dairy, grains and beans.

But the paleo way is now moving beyond the gym and Web to an entirely new space — the doctor’s office. There the somewhat amorphous idea of “evolutionary medicine” is taking shape.

One of the founders of the paleo movement, Loren Cordain, a professor at Colorado State University with a doctorate in exercise science, is the author of a must-read book for paleo followers, The Paleo Diet. Recently, he co-founded the Paleo Physicians Network. Its goal: connect consumers with “medical professionals who practice Darwinian/Evolutionary Medicine.” The network lists hundreds of them around the country (53 in California alone).

Except there’s a small problem, according to one of the people who helped coin the term evolutionary medicine: No one actually practices evolutionary medicine because it’s only a theory.

read further at npr

Bones of early American disappear from underwater cave

tlatollotl:

One of the first humans to inhabit the Americas has been stolen – and archaeologists want it back.

The skeleton, which is probably at least 10,000 years old, has disappeared from a cenote, or underground water reservoir, in Mexico’s Yucatán Peninsula.

In response, the National Institute of Anthropology and History (INAH) in Mexico City has placed “wanted” posters in supermarkets, bakeries and dive shops in and around the nearby town of Tulum. They are also considering legal action to recover the remains.

The missing bones belong to a skeleton dubbed Young Man of Chan Hol II, discovered in 2010. The cenote in which it was found had previously yielded another 10,000-year-old skeleton – the Young Man of Chan Hol, discovered in 2006.

The earlier find has anatomical features suggesting shared heritage with Indonesians and south Asians. Other skeletons found in cenotes in the area with similar features may date to around 14,000 years ago. Such finds imply that not all early Americans came from north Asia. This deals yet another blow to the idea that the Clovis people crossing an ancient land bridge between Siberia and Alaska were the first to colonise the Americas. Clovis culture dates to around 13,000 years ago.

Both skeletons were laid to rest at a time when sea level was much lower than it is today and the cenote, now about 8 metres below the water, was dry. Archaeologists have also found the remains of elephants, giant sloths and other animals in the caves, giving an indication of what the ancient humans ate.

INAH researchers have been aware of creeping theft of specimens from cenotes, but they lack the resources to guard the hundreds of sites that dot the peninsula.

so he gave me these sounds…

A powerful video, music driving an awakening and Oliver Sacks there of course. Part of a new documentary, Alive Inside.

I was touched by how close to anthropology this video is, a story, an ethnographic vignette, rich with the voices and views of the different actors. I wish more anthropologists would do this sort of work, and that this sort of work would count at least as much as just one more peer-reviewed article.

I encourage neuroanthropologists to think of the important applied dimensions of our work represented in this video – that a simple cultural intervention has such a powerful impact on someone’s brain. And then showing that impact through a video that already has 3,000,000 views on YouTube.

The vignette is also full of theoretical implications, that what anthropologists describe as culture does not intersect equally with our varied brains, young and old, and that matters. That a cultural context of care – this woman doing her work – is powerfully motivating. That music and God and nursing home mean and do things, and we can see and document and show that. And that part of why music and God and care have their impact is how our brains light up, or not, and that process of lighting up is both individual and encultured, the joy and skills and experiences of this man from his youth.

posted by neuroanthropology

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bff?: cell phone study shows evolving lifetime relationships in men and women. The calling patterns of three million cell phone users support a theory that female relationships change with shifting biological priorities, suggesting that women drive the evolutionary fitness of humans. posted in scientific american, c’mon its just two pages.
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bff?: cell phone study shows evolving lifetime relationships in men and women.

The calling patterns of three million cell phone users support a theory that female relationships change with shifting biological priorities, suggesting that women drive the evolutionary fitness of humans.

posted in scientific american, c’mon its just two pages.

Digging out the real archaeological experience

“Digging Out: Archaeology Makes a Comeback in Iraq” is a wonderful recent report/documentary by Four Corners Media on the December 2011 excavation season by American and Iraqi archaeologists in southern Iraq just outside the ancient city of Ur.

I love this video not only because it is a hopeful message of renewed collaboration between American and Iraqi archaeologists, but it also perfectly captures the day-to-day activities on a typical archaeological excavation in the Middle East. The 5:00AM rush to the site for another day of work, communal meals around the kitchen table, laboratory time in the afternoon washing pottery or running the flotation tank—all of these things are part of the daily rhythm of a project, and things that I miss dearly about fieldwork.

It’s been 4 years since I was out and my eye is beginning to twitch for it, especially now that spring has come around and most archaeologists are looking for the light at the end of the semester-tunnel: that light being the bright sun on a clear day out on the tell, nothing but me, my trench, my trowel, and ancient history.

Other than the physical enjoyment I find in working with my hands outside in the dirt, there is the mental aspects of fieldwork. The lack of sleep is a bummer, but Professor Stone really hits the nail on the head when she says there is a certain camaraderie and sense of community that develops on a dig that is very different than what we experience here at home. It really is something special, and the folks I have excavated with I consider some of my closest friends.

posted by diggirl

human fossils hint at new species. The bones, which represent at least five individuals, have been dated to between 11,500 and 14,500 years ago. But scientists are calling them simply the Red Deer Cave people, after one of the sites where they were unearthed. The team has told the PLoS One journal that far more detailed analysis of the fossils is required before they can be ascribed to a new human lineage. “We’re trying to be very careful at this stage about definitely classifying them,” said study co-leader Darren Curnoe from the University of New South Wales, Australia. “One of the reasons for that is that in the science of human evolution or palaeoanthropology, we presently don’t have a generally agreed, biological definition for our own species (Homo sapiens), believe it or not. And so this is a highly contentious area,” he told BBC News. follow the link to read on
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human fossils hint at new species.

The bones, which represent at least five individuals, have been dated to between 11,500 and 14,500 years ago.

But scientists are calling them simply the Red Deer Cave people, after one of the sites where they were unearthed.

The team has told the PLoS One journal that far more detailed analysis of the fossils is required before they can be ascribed to a new human lineage.

“We’re trying to be very careful at this stage about definitely classifying them,” said study co-leader Darren Curnoe from the University of New South Wales, Australia.

“One of the reasons for that is that in the science of human evolution or palaeoanthropology, we presently don’t have a generally agreed, biological definition for our own species (Homo sapiens), believe it or not. And so this is a highly contentious area,” he told BBC News.

follow the link to read on

an object is rotated to cast three distinct images of human evolution.

peanut butter disproves evolution.

findingpersephone: Yay new nerd shirt
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findingpersephone:

Yay new nerd shirt

(via bellaesprita)

so many of the posted pics tagged as “anthropology” present images that are “exotic” to western culture. fact is almost any pic posted could be tagged “anthropology” which is what is so cool about the discipline. repeatedly selecting that which is “exotic” to western culture to represent anthropology is an example of a rudimentary understanding of anthropological principles. papa boas didn’t just post a pic and slap a tag on it. there is a lot more to anthropology than that. if one is going to post a pic of a mobali woman or a lakota dancer and add #anthropology be honest and replace it with #novelty, cause thats the extent of it. if you post a pic and tag it “anthropology” one should provide some context, add a caption, provide a link, ask yourself “why the hell am i posting this?” and then explain. put forth some effort for the respect of the people presented and the discipline itself. done ranting, now i’m going to search my archive to make sure i’m not a hypocrite…
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so many of the posted pics tagged as “anthropology” present images that are “exotic” to western culture. fact is almost any pic posted could be tagged “anthropology” which is what is so cool about the discipline. repeatedly selecting that which is “exotic” to western culture to represent anthropology is an example of a rudimentary understanding of anthropological principles. papa boas didn’t just post a pic and slap a tag on it. there is a lot more to anthropology than that. if one is going to post a pic of a mobali woman or a lakota dancer and add #anthropology be honest and replace it with #novelty, cause thats the extent of it. if you post a pic and tag it “anthropology” one should provide some context, add a caption, provide a link, ask yourself “why the hell am i posting this?” and then explain. put forth some effort for the respect of the people presented and the discipline itself.

done ranting, now i’m going to search my archive to make sure i’m not a hypocrite…

discovery of well preserved human remains at dig turns out to be a napping archaeology prof.
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discovery of well preserved human remains at dig turns out to be a napping archaeology prof.

they’re, like, way ahead of the linguistic curve. From Valley Girls to the Kardashians, young women have long been mocked for the way they talk. Whether it be uptalk (pronouncing statements as if they were questions? Like this?), creating slang words like “bitchin’ ” and “ridic,” or the incessant use of “like” as a conversation filler, vocal trends associated with young women are often seen as markers of immaturity or even stupidity. Right? But linguists — many of whom once promoted theories consistent with that attitude — now say such thinking is outmoded. Girls and women in their teens and 20s deserve credit for pioneering vocal trends and popular slang, they say, adding that young women use these embellishments in much more sophisticated ways than people tend to realize. you’ve read this far, now finish this nytimes article 
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they’re, like, way ahead of the linguistic curve.

From Valley Girls to the Kardashians, young women have long been mocked for the way they talk.

Whether it be uptalk (pronouncing statements as if they were questions? Like this?), creating slang words like “bitchin’ ” and “ridic,” or the incessant use of “like” as a conversation filler, vocal trends associated with young women are often seen as markers of immaturity or even stupidity.

Right?

But linguists — many of whom once promoted theories consistent with that attitude — now say such thinking is outmoded. Girls and women in their teens and 20s deserve credit for pioneering vocal trends and popular slang, they say, adding that young women use these embellishments in much more sophisticated ways than people tend to realize.

you’ve read this far, now finish this nytimes article 

that is not the chart i had to memorize. creationtips.com
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that is not the chart i had to memorize.

creationtips.com

anthropology and development: a feel good essay

Given this swiftly changing context, the world of development is increasingly fertile ground for anthropologists seeking to engage with the public sphere in creative ways. Here are two ways that we think anthropology can be put to good use:
1) As new development regimes change people’s lives in unexpected directions, anthropology can help us understand how this situation creates opportunities for positive social change. Many anthropologists will argue that they should remain as skeptical and critical of these neo-imperial projects as they were of the older ones. If nothing else, the shifts in the development field are sure to bring about a host of new problems.
But there are also new possibilities. Ethnographic fieldwork is ideally situated to capture not only the harmful aspects of new development regimes but also the opportunities for social creativity that may arise as the “ancient régime” crumbles. Fieldwork lets us delve into the cracks and work at the interstices, revealing how development creates new aspects of social life as much as it destroys and dominates others…

2) Based on the ethnographic record, we should use our knowledge to propose alternative solutions to persistent social problems. If we extend the case of anthropology’s selective appropriation of Foucault to the anthropological project as a whole, we might say that simply denouncing and lambasting development actually cuts anthropology short of its full potential. Tellingly, Harry Walker recently observed in a review of anarchist anthropology that, “anthropology has an important role to play in revealing the diversity of existing worlds in the service of conceiving alternatives”. Some of the most stunning discoveries that anthropologists have made are stunning not simply because they’re theoretically sophisticated, but also because people in this world actually do them. In other words, we are all capable of leading different lives and creating different societies.