New Directions in Evolutionary Studies -- Online

If you are interested in the subject of human evolution you should know that the entire field is currently being shaken up by new discoveries, the most important of which derive from the study of human genomics. It turns out that our evolutionary history is a lot more complicated than was assumed just a few years ago. One of the leading, perhaps the most important, figure among the traditionalists who are fighting to retain as much as possible of the old model is Christopher Stringer. At this site he talks at length about recent discoveries and their implications as he sees them. You can listen to his talk or read a transcript. Check it out and be informed.

Then go to this site. John Hawks is one of the young anthropologists, an expert on genomics, who is shaking up the field. He is placing the lectures in his introductory anthropology class at the University of Wisconsin [Anthropology 105] on line for anyone to view. It's one of the best introductions to the field you are going to find anywhere. Check it out.

Journalistic Incompetence

Once again ignorant journalists screw up a science story. Newsweek has a feature article on human evolution. It's a cover article, so you would think that they would try to get it right, but you would be wrong.

John Hawks systematically dismantles the Newsweek story, showing that it contains a number of basic errors both of fact and interpretation.

You might think that the editors would catch some of these, but apparently they are just as ignorant as the staffers who wrote the story.

Read it here. It's devastating!

Here's the point. There is a continuing controversy, much of it focusing specifically on the subject of human evolution, as to the reliability of scientific authority. But how is the public to be informed on this matter if mainstream organs like Newsweek cannot be bothered to get basic facts and interpretations right? And, if the magazine screws up this badly on this subject, how can it be trusted on other, more important, matters?