Tuesday, March 22, 2005

Web site alert We just became aware of a site called Science in Africa, devoted to research taking place in Africa, often by African researchers. And it's free!

We found a few archaeology-related articles:
-- The Earliest Human Ancestors: New Finds, New Interpretations
-- CHEMISTRY AND HOMINID FOSSILS
-- Sudan uncovered

Some other stories of note:

Corking honeywine: natural or synthetic?

Mead is the Cinderella of the fermented beverage world. Made from honey by most ancient peoples, mead is currently only consumed in large volumes in Africa. The decline in consumption of mead globally has been attributed to the high price of honey for the last 1000 years. But the trend is changing with a small mead industry now existing in countries outside Africa and currently growing at 12% per annum. If the trend continues, it means that soon, mead makers world wide will be at the same cross roads as wine makers – to cork it or cap it?


Evolution comes with a twist

Among the forces said to have shaped human evolution over the past six million years, natural selection has long been reckoned as the alpha mover and shaker.

And for good reason. The bedrock of Charles Darwin's revolutionary theories on evolution, natural selection handpicks and passes on from generation to generation those genetic traits that best help humans - or organisms - survive their environments.

. . .

But natural selection may not be the be-all of human evolution, say Dr Rebecca Ackermann, a paleoanthropologist based in UCT's Department of Archaeology, and Dr James Cheverud, of Washington University in the US, in a paper published online in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS) at the end of 2004.


Well, we doubt few biologists have ever argued that natural selection is the be-all and end-all of human, or any other, evolution. The primary factor, perhaps, but not the only one.

Oh, and don't forget to Learn Science with Granny!