Continuing the feeling of my last post

I present without comment:

Everything you always wanted to know about female ejaculation (but were afraid to ask)

and

Six things science has revealed about the female orgasm

Thank you - you're welcome. Grow into these trousers... >>

Indus script, language or not?

The Indus script, dating from around 2500 to 1900 BC, has long been thought not to be a true written language. Just mere imagery relating to religion and/or politics.

The Indus Valley Civilization (think modern Pakistan) was very formative in the development of humankind. At that period they were unprecedented in making measurements, particularly of weight and scale. This leads me to guess they were trading widely and were very shrewd in business deals. Their spoken language however, is unknown. As are any writings other than a few symbols, often just 4 or 5 (the longest has 26), grouped together.

But a new study reveals tantalising hints of a true written language. Rajesh Rao et al from the University of Washington in Seattle, compared the Indus script to known languages and non linguistic forms with a computer analysis of randomness, or as they call it, 'conditional entropy'. This relies on the fact that the positioning of letters in words, or words in phrases, has an underlying structure. ie in English the letter 't' can be followed by the vowels plus some letters like 'h' or 'r' but not 'b' or 'd'. Similarly, in a short phrase, 'the cat sat on the...' could be followed by 'mat' or 'wall' but never 'learn'. It's nonsensical ('the cat sat on the green' made me think though).

Rao's analysis also included DNA and protein sequences, the computer language FORTRAN and simulated scripts for controls; one totally random, one totally ordered.

As you may have expected FORTRAN code was very highly ordered, it's got to be unambiguous. Known languages had more disorder, whilst DNA and protein had the highest randomness.

The Indus script fell into line with other languages.

No translations yet, no Rosetta stone, just more evidence that our ancient cousins were not the illiterate barbarians many people imagine. Grow into these trousers... >>

Monuments of unageing intellect

That line comes from the first verse of a poem by W.B. Yeats:

That is no country for old men. The young
In one another’s arms, birds in the trees -
Those dying generations - at their song,
The salmon-falls, the mackerel-crowded seas,
Fish, flesh, or fowl, commend all summer long
Whatever is begotten, born, and dies.
Caught in that sensual music all neglect
Monuments of unageing intellect.

Sailing to Byzantium (1927)

I paraphrase - don't get so caught up in the immediate, in the satisfaction of desire, as to miss the true wonder of the world around you and the achievements of humanity.

Yeats' words, as true today as when first written, were used by Jacob Bronowski in the introduction to his awesome series on mankind's cultural evolution The Ascent Of Man (1973).

Although filmed long ago this still remains one of the best TV documentaries of all time. If you've never seen it, I urge you to set aside the time. If you have seen it you will know it is well worth seeing over and again.

PART ONE - Lower than the Angels [51:17]


Now head over to Online Documentaries 4 U for the next 12 episodes of this 'Monument of unageing intellect'. Grow into these trousers... >>

Where did I leave my stash?

Testing 2,700-year-old pot for THC concentration. Credit: Fox News.

Archaeologists in China have unearthed the oldest ever stash of marijuana. 2,700 years old and weighing an impressive 789 grams it was described as still being green "though it had lost its distinctive odour". It was found at the burial site of a Caucasian male, along with other items indicating high social status, in the Turpan region of northwestern China.

Thought to be a shaman by the grave goods, he was likely to have been a member of the Gushi culture.

Sadly, after 10 months wrangling to import an 11g sample into the UK for analysis,

The marijuana was found to have a relatively high content of THC, the main active ingredient in cannabis, but the sample was too old to determine a precise percentage.

It should read 'might have had a relatively high content' because the estimate of THC is based on measurements of remaining precursors and breakdown products. The recorded level of THC was 0.007% by weight.

So be careful where you stash your stash 'coz it will go off eventually.
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Refs: Stonepages, check out their archaeology podcast with this news.
The Canadian Press.
Phytochemical and genetic analyses of ancient cannabis from Central Asia, Ethan B. Russo et al, Journal of Experimental Botany 2008 59(15):4171-4182; doi:10.1093/jxb/ern260 Grow into these trousers... >>

Human Ancestry - cartoon style

Here's a gentle introduction to human origins from 23andMe on YouTube.

Ancestry 101: Prologue


I guess there's more to come.

Via Atheist Media Blog and Wired Science who rated it highly in their Top 10 Amazing Biology Videos. Grow into these trousers... >>

Update - Female evolution

In my post on female evolution I thought that Afarensis would have more to say. So click through for an update. Grow into these trousers... >>

Sad, but somehow beautiful

Imagine 4600 years ago near Eulau, Germany. A tribe or a settlement was viciously attacked and many were killed. Men, women, children. The survivors returned to bury the dead, these were the people they had lived alongside and maybe grown up among. Thirteen individuals have been found buried so far, interred with social knowledge and respect. One woman has a flint arrow head embedded in her back. Another has two huge blows to the top of her head, either one would have been fatal. Many have arm wounds, an indication they were trying to defend themselves but were unarmed or surprised. We will never know what happened, but the researchers* themselves describe it as "a strong indicator of lethal aggression".


Photo credit: PNAS

The remains have been analysed for DNA and for levels of the element Strontium. Specifically reported are mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) and Y-chromosome DNA.

mtDNA is passed on from mother to child, both boys and girls, but only the girls can be mothers to pass it on again. The Y-chromosome is passed only from father to son.

In one grave are three children and one female adult. This was the lady who had her head smashed twice, but by mtDNA she is not the mother of two of the youngsters, the lineage of the third is currently unknown. What happened here and why bury them together? A paternal aunt maybe? A childminder with her charges?

The family unit is below the belt. It reminds me of this discovery.

Credit: Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences/PNAS

At the top is an impression of how the bodies were laid out. The square symbols denote males, the circle is a female. The colours show blue for the male (Y-DNA) and pink or orange for the female (mtDNA) lineages. So the father and mother were definitely unrelated. His mtDNA (orange) comes from his mother's line, hers (pink) from her different maternal history.

The two male children are without question this couple's offspring, they carry their mother's mtDNA (pink) and their father's Y-DNA (blue), but the deliberate placing of the bodies says much. Daddy's favorite son, mom's little soldier, who knows? The people who buried them I suppose, but there would have been a reason.

Ah strontium and you thought I had forgotten. I always associate strontium with red fireworks and, in its radioactive form together with caesium, a nutritional hazard post Chernobyl but that's the point. From Wikipedia:

Since Strontium is so similar to calcium, it is incorporated in the bone. All four isotopes are incorporated, in roughly similar proportions as they are found in nature... However the actual distribution of the isotopes tends to vary greatly from one geographical location to another. Thus analyzing the bone of an individual can help determine the region it came from. This approach helps to identify the ancient migration patterns as well as the origin of commingled human remains in battlefield burial sites. Strontium thus helps forensic scientists too.

By measuring strontium isotope ratios, in this case from teeth which are laid down in childhood, the research shows that the men and women were raised in different places. This implies inter-tribal contact for the purpose of choosing a spouse, and further implies an understanding of the problems associated with inbreeding.

A fascinating study.

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*Reference:
PNAS doi: 10.1073/pnas.0807592105
"Ancient DNA, Strontium isotopes, and osteological analyses shed light on social and kinship organization of the Later Stone Age", Haaka et al, PNAS, Nov 2008.

Supporting information.

Grow into these trousers... >>

Female evolution

A new fossil find in Northern Ethiopia from 1.2 million years ago gives an insight into human evolution and specifically the female of our species.

A fossil pelvic bone from the aptly named Homo erectus (it means walking upright), shows that the females were physically adapting to the larger brains of their offspring. A larger brain needs a bigger head and the mother has to accommodate this . The birth canal of the fossil is described as bigger than previously anticipated based upon a male fossil pelvis (err?).

It had been thought that H. erectus was a slender species, an adaption to aid heat loss in the hot African sun, but it was known to have had a large brain. Clearly a narrow pelvis would limit the brain size of the newborn so this discovery may herald the beginnings of more a human-like foetal development, another aspect of the link between mother and child.

My 'below the belt' thoughts continue below the belt.

A wider pelvis is what gives the ladies that alluring sway of the hips. Sure it has a place in human evolution, it's the wiggle in the walk. It beats the magic-apple-eating rib-woman theory anyway.

The Big Bopper - Chantilly Lace - 45rpm

Note: I'll be watching for an update at Afarensis.
Grow into these trousers... >>