February 9, 2012

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

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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.

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

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