Synopsis: Europe has a touch more Neandertal than East Asia; Tuscans have more than any other European sampleLast December I began writing about an analysis of introgression in the 1000 Genomes Project samples ("Neandertal introgression, 1000... read more

'The oldest work of art ever': 42,000-year-old paintings of seals found in Spanish cave The world's oldest works of art have been found in a cave on Spain's Costa del Sol, scientists believe. Six paintings of seals are at least 42,000 years old a... read more

This Guardian review by Alberto Manguel makes Perlmann's Silence by Pascal Mercier sound like something I'd enjoy:Throughout the days preceding the conference, Perlmann has with him a paper by a Russian linguistic, Vassily Leskov, on how memory is... read more

Weird, eh? an MRA saying something stupid. Yet here it is: Why are atheists so religious?The problem I have with atheists is that they are too religious. Yes, I mean that literally. For when you wipe away all the bombastic bellowing about empiric... read more

Pepper spray and tasers are in increasing use by both police and military, and more exotic non-lethal weapons such as heat rays are in the works. At TEDxCanberra, ethicist Stephen Coleman explores the unexpected consequences of their introduction ... read more