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Viewpoint: The ‘culture wars’ infection of anthropology and archaeology grows

Genetic Literacy Project | 
In 1941, at the height of World War 2, troops stationed on Hoy in the remote Scottish Orkney Islands made ...
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‘Warrior gene’: Some people may be genetically wired for aggressiveness. Can we—should we—do something about it?

Genetic Literacy Project | 
“Some people have real problems right out of the starting block. We can't dodge the responsibility for social action." ...
Why it’s so critical to move beyond liberal rejectionism of human biodiversity

Why it’s so critical to move beyond liberal rejectionism of human biodiversity

Genetic Literacy Project | 
The way in which evolutionary explanations can be so readily applied to apparent differences in human psychology does highlight the ...
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Blame human evolution for corporate jargon and thick academic prose

Genetic Literacy Project | 
For anyone who’s ever worked in a large organization, this kind of message will be depressingly familiar: “Do you have ...
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How to argue about ‘race’: Charles Murray and Adam Rutherford are not so far apart

Genetic Literacy Project | 
Shortly before the killing of George Floyd by a white Minneapolis police officer in May this year, two (now tragically ...
Confronting the elephant in the human biodiversity room — the explosive issue of IQ

Confronting the elephant in the human biodiversity room — the explosive issue of IQ

Genetic Literacy Project | 
Here’s a thought experiment. Imagine two widely separated human groups living for thousands of years in different cultural and ecological ...
Science vs spirituality: The case of the severed head

Science vs spirituality: The case of the severed head

Genetic Literacy Project | 
There’s a ghastly severed head in St Robert’s Roman Catholic church, just down the road from me in Catforth, northern ...
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Is biology sexist and racist? The escalating battle over ‘inclusive terminology’ and the language of science 

Genetic Literacy Project | 
Science, biology in particular, is rife with racism and other egregious forms of prejudice and bigotry. That’s the belief now ...
De-extinction: The Second Coming

De-extinction: The Second Coming

Genetic Literacy Project | 
Ten years ago it burst into mainstream popular life: the possibility of resurrecting extinct species ...
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Part II: Nature is complex — Rewilding offers promising ecological benefits, but it is not the panacea its proponents contend — and can cause harm

Nature can be unpredictable, often foiling the best of intentions. And rewilding experiments gone awry are only a fraction of ...
Part I: Europe’s rewilding movement — A victory for environmentalism or a romantic, scientifically-debatable notion that does not revive ancient ecosystems? Or both?

Part I: Europe’s rewilding movement — A victory for environmentalism or a romantic, scientifically-debatable notion that does not revive ancient ecosystems? Or both?

It’s less than half a mile from the crowded marina to the site of cannibalistic excess — at least, that’s ...
Part II: Jewish skeletal remains in a Norwich well — Do they undermine the controversial theory of ‘Jewish IQ’?

Part II: Jewish skeletal remains in a Norwich well — Do they undermine the controversial theory of ‘Jewish IQ’?

Gregory Cochran, Jason Hardy and Henry Harpending, co-authors of “Natural History of Ashkenazi Intelligence”, did not clearly address how disease ...
Part I: Intelligence, disease, prejudice — and Jewish skeletal remains in a Norwich well

Part I: Intelligence, disease, prejudice — and Jewish skeletal remains in a Norwich well

Who would have thought that bones found at the bottom of a medieval well in England could stir up such ...
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How germs and ancient migrations help explain our world of ‘haves’ and ‘have nots’

Genetic Literacy Project | 
The Gökhem graves provide hard evidence for the ancient community's demise: genetic traces of the plague bacterium, Yersinia pestis ...
Is science racist? Genetics, evolutionary human differences and ‘critical race theory’

Is science racist? Genetics, evolutionary human differences and ‘critical race theory’

The killing of George Floyd at the knee of a policeman last May ignited a global wave of protest. Almost ...
Part II: How COVID upended the taboo on limiting constructive discussion about human biodiversity

Part II: How COVID upended the taboo on limiting constructive discussion about human biodiversity

Genetic Literacy Project | 
The coronavirus crisis has brought to light the societal downside of ignoring patterned, population-based differences. Consider the latest research findings ...
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Part I: Viewpoint—Many people believe ‘human biodiversity’ is alt-right code for embracing racism. Here’s why they are dangerously wrong

Why do some people equate the phrase “human biodiversity” with racism? And what does it really mean? HBD, as its ...
Genetics and race: An awkward conversation during volatile times

Genetics and race: An awkward conversation during volatile times

Genetic Literacy Project | 
Discussing inter-group divergence is largely taboo. So do we just ignore the deluge of data? ...
Part 2: How anti-biotechnology activists came to embrace COVID vaccine hesitancy

Part 2: How anti-biotechnology activists came to embrace COVID vaccine hesitancy

Genetic Literacy Project | 
Even as many progressives champion the various COVID vaccines, many Democrats in the US and leftists in other countries remain ...
Part 1: How much responsibility for COVID vaccine rejectionism rests with the progressive Left?

Part 1: How much responsibility for COVID vaccine rejectionism rests with the progressive Left?

Genetic Literacy Project | 
Twenty-five years ago, in 1996, physicist Alan Sokal pulled off a now notorious academic hoax by submitting a spoof article, ...
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Taboo: Why has Africa emerged as the global coronavirus ‘Cold Spot’ — and why are we afraid to talk about it?

Genetic Literacy Project | 
The first COVID-19 case in Africa was confirmed on February 14th, 2020, in Egypt. The first in sub-Saharan Africa appeared ...
Cloned ferret Elizabeth Ann and the future of conservation: The promises and perils of biotechnology

Cloned ferret Elizabeth Ann and the future of conservation: The promises and perils of biotechnology

From Borneo to Britain, it’s the scientific breakthrough that captured the world’s attention. No, not the Perseverance rover landing on ...
Part 2: Why is Africa the global COVID-19 'cold spot'? — The historical challenge of disentangling genes and environment

Part 2: Why is Africa the global COVID-19 ‘cold spot’? — The historical challenge of disentangling genes and environment

Genetic Literacy Project | 
Does greater prior exposure to pathogens, including other recent coronaviruses, help explain why Africa is a COVID-19 cold spot, despite ...
Part 1: Defying all predictions, Africa is the global COVID-19 ‘cold spot’. How come health officials and the media are not honestly exploring why?

Part 1: Defying all predictions, Africa is the global COVID-19 ‘cold spot’. How come health officials and the media are not honestly exploring why?

Genetic Literacy Project | 
The first confirmed COVID-19 case in Africa was on February 14, 2020 in Egypt. The first in sub-Saharan Africa appeared ...
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Can we have an open debate about IQ, genes, and group differences? Reassessing the legacy of James Flynn

Genetic Literacy Project | 
I once spoke to a human geneticist who declared that the notion of intelligence was quite meaningless, so I tried ...
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Revisiting the Kon-Tiki hypothesis: Did ancient Americans really settle the Pacific?

Genetic Literacy Project | 
An eccentric theory of human seagoing migration—made famous by one of the most insanely suicidal ‘scientific’ experiments ever undertaken—has recently ...
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How a rare bird and the coronavirus remind us that our safety depends on science—not wishful thinking

Genetic Literacy Project | 
There are worse places to spend a COVID-19 lockdown than next to a sanctuary with one of the world’s rarest ...
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What’s ‘race’ got to do with it? Sub-Saharan Africa emerges as coronavirus ‘cold spot’, offering clues to develop COVID-19 vaccines

Genetic Literacy Project | 
Do diseases discriminate on the basis of 'race'—or their genetic population, using more precise terminology? On the surface, this may ...
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