February 9, 2012

Editor s Selections: Family Medical Histories, A Grave In The Bahamas, Medieval Malaria, And Macaques

Join Our Community of Science Lovers!

This article was published in Scientific American’s former blog network and reflects the views of the author, not necessarily those of Scientific American

Part of my online life includes editorial duties at ResearchBlogging.org, where I serve as the Social Sciences Editor. Each Thursday, I pick notable posts on research in anthropology, philosophy, social science, and research to share on the ResearchBlogging.org News site. To help highlight this writing, I also share my selections here on AiP.

This week:

Neuroskeptic isn’t quite sold on a study suggesting that family history of neurological and psychiatric disorders may be a predictive factor in the major college students choose.
Context is king. Katy Meyers demonstrates how skeletal information, burial context, grave goods, and ethnographic information combine to reveal details about lives long gone in the Bahamas.
For more on using skeletal information, Michelle Ziegler traces evidence from a few types of sources to gain a better understanding of malaria in medieval England.
Social cues are most influential from people we know and trust. A new blog calledThe Scorpion and the Frog by Sarah Jane Alger discusses a study on eye gazes between macaques, finding that the same appears to be true for them as well.

On supporting science journalism

If you're enjoying this article, consider supporting our award-winning journalism by subscribing. By purchasing a subscription you are helping to ensure the future of impactful stories about the discoveries and ideas shaping our world today.

I’ll be back next week with more from anthropology, philosophy, and research.

Subscribe to Support Independent Journalism

Great science journalism requires human expertise, time, effort and creativity. And it costs money. That’s why I and the journalists here at Scientific American hope you’ll join our community.

When you subscribe, you are supporting staff and freelance journalists who are passionate about telling science stories that are true, important and compelling. Our editors and reporters are often experts in their fields, which means they understand the nuances of big discoveries and can untangle the breakthroughs from the hype. With a subscription, you are also supporting rigorous fact-checking to ensure the words we publish are precise and accurate. And you’re supporting original illustrations, graphics and photos that bring you closer to an advanced laboratory, an ice sheet in Antarctica or a space mission in orbit. You’re helping us craft other types of high-quality journalism as well: Our newsletters are carefully written, edited and curated by staffers you have or will come to know and love. Our Science Quickly podcast is based on original reporting, collaboration with editors and scientists and exacting production.

Subscriptions keep this engine running so we can continue to deliver thoughtful, rigorous and independent science journalism to you. In an era of viral misinformation, this work is crucial. If you value what we do, I hope you’ll consider joining us as a subscriber

Thank you,

Jeanna Bryner, Editor in Chief, Scientific American