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A new high-coverage Neandertal genome
Today, Svante Pääbo's group at the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology released high-coverage sequence data from a toe bone from Denisova Cave. The new genome comes a year after the...
View ArticleWhat should be the shape of the science journal landscape?
Michael Eisen, one of the founders of the Public Library of Science, has thought a lot about how to make the system of scientific publishing better. He has posted the text of a presentation he recently...
View ArticleAnthropology's online ecology
Jason Antrosio has composed a short report on the "Anthropology Blogosphere 2013 – Ecology of Online Anthropology". I appreciate his kind words about my work here, and love how he has connected the new...
View ArticleOpen 3-d archive of Kromdraai
A new paper in the Journal of Human Evolution by Matthew Skinner and colleagues [1] announces the new availability of an open archive of microCT data from the site of Kromdraai, South Africa, with a...
View ArticleWhite House to recognize open science
The White House is looking to recognize people who are leading in open science efforts, either by providing free access to data or by using data that is already publicly available. I imagine that...
View ArticleMOOCs and disabilities
The Coursera blog today relates a remarkable story: "Not Impossible: The Story of Daniel, a 17 Year Old with Severe Autism & His 6 Completed Coursera Courses". He even had a moment of stardom. We...
View ArticleQuote: Stephen Downes on the value of open courses
Stephen Downes, widely recognized as one of the original inventors of the "MOOC" concept, on why courses should be open: "MOOC - The Resurgence of Community in Online Learning". Why make our courses...
View ArticleBig data, little data
Jacquelyn Gill is a paleoecologist who writes at her blog, The Contemplative Mammoth. Today she ponders a paradox: at the same time that pollen data are more and more in demand for meta-analyses,...
View ArticleHistory dissertations under wraps
Via a reader, this article in the New York Times about the American Historical Association's vote to recommend that newly-minted PhDs be allowed to hide their dissertations away: "Historians Seek a...
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Marapo Stones and Bones project
I was on the road when this announcement came out, but now that I'm back to regular blogging I want to share it more broadly: Marapo Stones & BonesThe Marapo Stones & Bones Casting Project – a...
View ArticleTextbook troubles
A link from a reader: "'Required reading': As textbook prices soar, students try to cope".The College Board found that the average student at a four-year public college spends $1,200 on “books and...
View Article"Open access spam" and how journals sell scientific reputation
John Bohannon is a reporter for science magazine, who has been engaged in an investigative report for the last year about "open access" journals: "Who's afraid of peer review?". Bohannon's project was...
View ArticleTime to trash anonymous peer review?
This week's Science magazine is organized on the theme of science communication. In addition to the John Bohannon "sting" operation I discussed in the last post ("'Open access spam' and how journals...
View ArticleRising Star: In the hot seat
My first Rising Star Expedition update has been posted on the expedition blog: "In the hot seat". I’ve had an extraordinary number of new fossils pass through my hands in the last four days. But here’s...
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Rising Star: What we know and don't know
Today's blog post on the Rising Star Expedition blog provides an FAQ about the expedition's results so far: "What We Know and Don’t Know So Far". I tackle questions about the dating of the site, the...
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