Patagonian Maras

Two Patagonian maras (Dolichotis patagonum) at London Zoo.  Large rodents from South America.

Neanderthal Language

John Hawks commenting on this account of a talk by Francesco D'Errico:

Given the confluence of the recent evidence from genetics, archaeology, and anatomy, I do not see how anyone can maintain the hypothesis that Neandertals (and presumably, other Late Pleistocene humans) did not have language.

Update on Sun 2008-03-16 by Tristram Brelstaff

There is a very good interview with John Hawks here which provides a nice introduction to his work on the evolution of the human genome.

Abdim's Stork

Today I took Zoe on a trip in to London. First we went to Foyle's where I bought a few books, then to London Zoo where I took a few photos, including this one.  It is an Abdim's Stork (Ciconia abdimii).

Getting the Job Done

Chris Okasaki is probably best known in the programming world for his book Purely Functional Data Structures but he also happens to be a thoughtful and perceptive teacher, as the following two posts from his blog show:

• Why I don't use PowerPoint for Teaching
• Get the job done, but what is the job?

Scientific Press Peleases

From a post by Henry Gee on the publicizing of scientific results:

The problem, in my experience, is an attitude that whereas it might take years of training and a certain skill to write a scientific paper, any half-baked twit can write a press release, irrespective of experience. Writing press releases is often delegated to the most junior member of staff, when crafting an effective press release is extremely hard, requires a certain authorial skill and, if it is about science, the scientific knowledge equal to that of any science journalist.