Maciej Henneberg (Adelaide): Two Interpretations of Human Evolution: Essentialism and Darwinism. From Archeology, an interview with Richard Leakey on family and great discoveries. From American Scientist, a review of The Link: Uncovering Our Earliest Ancestor by Colin Tudge; a look at how Ardi redefines the branch between apes and hominins; and a review of Human: The Science Behind What Makes Us Unique by Michael Gazzaniga. New genetic findings suggest that early humans living about one million years ago were extremely close to extinction, and that the last Neanderthals died out 37,000 years ago south of the Cantabro-Pyrenean mountain chain. Should we clone Neanderthals? An article on the scientific, legal, and ethical obstacles. Is Homo floresiensis really that strange? Two bursts of human innovation in southern Africa during the Middle Stone Age may be linked to population growth and early migration off the continent. For the first time researchers have sequenced an ancient human genome (and more). The ancient population that gave rise to modern humans may have been nearly twice as genetically diverse than humans today. If we don't develop new genetic interventions, then the populations of industrialized societies will experience a substantial reduction in human fitness due to the rise of deleterious-mutation accumulation. Controlling your genes: The promise and the hype of changing your DNA through behavior (and a look at the 10 most destructive human behaviors). People may not be quite the humans they think they are, or so suggests new research showing that the human genome is part bornavirus. Immunology needs a major overhaul to remain relevant — it's time for a study of the immune system on a grand scale, something akin to the Human Genome Project.
