Homo rudolfensis muscles into a better place at the big, noisy hominid family table

Reconstruction of Homo habilis at the Westfälisches Museum für Archäologie, Herne, courtesy of the Wikipedia.

At one time the proposed hominid line taught to new anthropology students was pretty simple. It went something like Australopithicus to Homo habilis, habilis to H. erectus, erectus to us. This was debated, but it was a basic view the fossil evidence supported.

It’s more complicated now, that tree is bushy, but the good news is some details have been filled in. One of the details is or was Homo rudolfensis, henceforth called Rudy here, a proposed subspecies that lived about 2 MYA. But Rudy was only represented by a handful of teeth, bone scraps, and one beautifully preserved, fairly complete skull dubbed KNM-ER 1470 found by none other than Richard and Meave Leakey at Koobo Fora, Kenya, in 1972. That may have changed this week: [Read more…]

It’s a healthcare scandal!

This ad appeared yesterday showing a man who was laid off from his job of many years after a Bain managed buy out and bankruptcy. He eventually found a job as a janitor at half his previous pay, but without health benefits. You know how this day story ends, those of us living from shitty paycheck to shitty paycheck see it all too often. His wife developed undetected cancer, it progressed, until the symptoms were so pronounced he had to take her to an ER. It was too late, she died 24 days later from stage 4 metastatic cancer. The Romney campaign was quick to point what would have saved her though! [Read more…]

Your fluffy house kitty may be a Killer Kat when you’re not around

As has been noted, domestic cats descend from predators well honed by evolution to be killers. Not since the days of raptors have such well-engineered killing machines silently stalked and taken down prey. House cats have been bred by humans for traits we find appealing for a lot less time than dogs (Sorry, cat vs dog lovers), so they’re a bit, more, well, raw might be the word in terms of evolutionary modifications. Now we can prove it! [Read more…]

Mars Curiosity: Countdown!

Update 11:08 Central: Curiosity now reported inside orbit of Martian satellite Deimos, about 14,000 miles away.

The moment of truth is close at hand. As the countdown clock shows, Curiosity will soon enter the Martian stratosphere. The Internet is buzz with excitement and no small amount of anxiety. The seven minutes of terror are about to begin for real. There’s a lot riding on it, both literally and figuratively. Some good links to keep tabs on are Mars Google Hangout (This has been a lot of fun tonight), NASA interactive event schedule, JPL TV, and NASA TV.

To understand the importance of this mission – and Curiosity is about as important a science experiment as we’ve ever created – here’s a quick peek at the fascinating history of our solar system’s most hospitable world, outside of the one we call home. Afterall, you have this much time to kill…

Domestic terrorist attack in progress

There’s been multiple shootings at a Sikh temple in Wisconsin with fatalities. It’s being called a domestic terrorist situation. Events are fluid and developing. Live coverage here. Apparently at least one guman entered the temple during a Saturday morning service and started blasting. Cops arrived and there was a shootout — the gunman and chief suspect was killed, at least one officer was injured. It’s unclear if this thing is completely over though. Police are actively clearing out entire neighborhoods.