“Very few pathogens come from a single origin followed by slow coevolution with humans as they dispersed around the world. Most generated chaotic series of dispersals that took advantage of new human patterns of interaction.”

johnhawks.net/weblog/pathoge…

Academia is where pretentious mediocrity flourishes.

In this interview, I explicitly discussed the genocide unfolding in Gaza and how DEI convos and spotlights cannot and should not continue without mentioning the on-going genocide and ethnic cleaning in occupied Palestine.

None of that is in here.

Thank you so much everyone, for your kind words. So many of you have advocated for me over the past years and I am eternally grateful. I'll try to reply everyone, but sharing this piece I wrote years ago as a placeholder.
theguardian.com/commentisfree/…

Saw the glittering Zimingzhong exhibition at the Science Museum and joined the Grand Yaji symposium, part of the Communicating Time & Culture project. Grateful for the chance to give a quick talk (and glean interesting insights) on the astronomical clock here at Durham University Collections.

Avocados are a ‘green gold’ export for Mexico, but growing them is harming forests and waters (by ⁦Viridiana Hernández Fernández⁩) theconversation.com/avocados-are-a…

“If larger-brained animals use their intelligence to more efficiently visit fruit trees, we would expect the big-brained primates in our study to have more efficient foraging routes.”

“That’s not what we found.”

The Conversation

theconversation.com/why-did-primat…

I've got a new publication out at Epoiesen - its about video games, archaeology, and how misrepresentations of the field for the sake of gameplay can lead to the proliferation of pseudoarchaeology.

epoiesen.carleton.ca/2024/05/20/sid…

#archaeology #archaeogaming #pseudoarchaeology

Sample fun! Diverse and dense #archaeobotany #seeds from a site in the Ganges, #India dating to the early historic periods. Fruits, beans, cereals and fibre crops all identified so far, and some dung and food lumps.
#archaeology #archaeologicalscience SNUArchaeology BHU Official

I don't know who needs to hear this, but your lived experience IS expertise.

Again, bell hooks said, “It is not simply a question of finding time to write—one also writes against time, knowing that life is short…that life is not promised—that it is crucial for a writer to respect time.”

Slowing things down isn’t always taking it easy. Indeed, it’s sometimes when some of the hardest and most honest work is done.

As the strength trainers say, speed can mask instabilities. And slowing things down can better reveal what needs work so we can feel and move better.

Brain endocasts of small Homo erectus vs. Homo naledi, both with brain sizes ~600 cubic cm. The small Homo erectus is from 1.5 million years ago, Homo naledi around only 300 thousand years ago #FossilFriday

Belated #fieldworkfriday and non #flintfriday

Here is an example of a diminutive cleaver!

The edges are still sharp! So fresh!

Such diminutive bifaces are commonly observed in Indian Middle Palaeolithic assemblages.

#Humanorigins #India

In Killing the Black Body (1997), I wrote about proposals within the medical profession to sterilize Black women with sickle cell disease. This must-read article exposes how this eugenicist legacy of racism, entangled with sexism & ableism, continues today. #ReproductiveJustice

First time I’ve been able to physically hold one of my publications in my hands.

part of being an academic of color is discerning what advice is just meant for white people

Feature: History shows Hong Kong as harbour for political reformers
Once upon a time, the city under British rule tolerated the goings-on surrounding Sun Yat Sen, Ho Chi Minh and other revolutionaries
by Ilaria Maria Sala hongkonger.world/2024/05/22/his…

Ostrich eggshell beads may hold key to uncovering social connections across eastern & southern #Africa 50,000 years ago.

Read more from HERI researchers Amy Hatton and @BenRCollins here: bit.ly/3LVyC1w

Also jazzed that a review piece I wrote on importance of robustly considering impacts of religion & spirituality in human biology research with Lawrence Schell for a special AJBH issue on same topic is now out for early view! onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/aj…