Quickies

Skepchick Quickies 12.23

  • Siberian fossils were Neanderthals’ eastern cousins, DNA reveals –  “An international team of scientists has identified a previously shadowy human group known as the Denisovans as cousins to Neanderthals who lived in Asia from roughly 400,000 to 50,000 years ago and interbred with the ancestors of today’s inhabitants of New Guinea.”
  • Alternative medicines sometimes dangerous for kids – “Australian researchers monitored reports from pediatricians in Australia from 2001 to 2003 looking for suspected side effects from alternative medicines like herbal treatments, vitamin supplements or naturopathic pills. They found 39 reports of side effects including four deaths.” From Michael.
  • Countdown to backpedaling – This should make it a little less galling to see those “May 21 2011 will be the second coming of Christ!” billboards. From Taylor.
  • 8-year-olds publish scientific bee study – “In a new paper in Biology Letters, 25 8- to 10-year-old children from Blackawton Primary School report that buff-tailed bumblebees can learn to recognize nourishing flowers based on colors and patterns.” From cerberus40.

Amanda

Amanda works in healthcare, is a loudmouthed feminist, and proud supporter of the Oxford comma.

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6 Comments

  1. The story about the Denisovans is amazing. The human family tree keeps getting more and more branches. I love stories like this.

  2. I’m glad to see research proving that alt-med can be not only dangerous but potentially fatal.

    The kids doing science and getting it published by the Royal Society is fantastic. I wonder what the world would be like if we had teachers that were this inspiring.

  3. I will be interested in what the group who put up the billboards, “We Can Know”, will say on 12 May 2011 when the “rapture” doesn’t happen on may 11

  4. Some journals didn’t want to take the kid’s bee paper because it didn’t cite any references… Einstein’s first paper on relativity didn’t cite any references, either. They’re in good company.

  5. @Buzz Parsec: Sorry to change the subject – but have you read the Einstein paper you cited? Reading it is like listening to Mozart…It just flows so naturally, and yet, it is groundbreaking science that had (up until that time) never been considered. It gives me chills to read it.

  6. @DataJack: Many years ago… I just skimmed it this time, but should definitely go back and re-read it. 1905 was an amazing year!

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