The latest joy from the Discovery Institute: an attempt to make dodos look scary.
Originally published February 7, 2007. Copyright 2007 Carl Zimmer.
Author: Lori Jia
There are six and a half billion human stomachs on this little planet of ours, and over half of them are home to a microbe called Helicobacter pylori. Scientists have known about the bacteria since the late 1800s, but it wasn’t until the 1980s that Australian doctors noticed that H. pylori was in the stomachs of just about everyone with an ulcer. A swig of antibiotics turned out to be a great way to make ulcers disappear.
In celebration of Darwin’s 198th birthday, there will be lots of events–talks, etc.–going on around the world next week. I’ll be doing my part, heading to the Rockies to talk at Western State College in Gunnison, Colorado. My talk is entitled, “The Descent of Man, From Darwin to DNA.” I’ll be speaking at 7 on Tuesday, February 13, in the Kebler Ballroom at the College Union Building. It’s free and open to the public. (Map)
Speaking of hobbits, the paperback edition of my human evolution book is just about to come out, and you can order it now on Amazon. And if you prefer the resounding thwack of hard covers, the hardback edition is still available. For information on the innards of the book, see this post from last year.
Originally published January 31, 2007. Copyright 2007 Carl Zimmer.
Could 2007 see some new hobbits? I certainly hope so.
In October 2004, a team of scientists announced they had found bones of a hominid from the Indonesian island of Flores. They came to the astonishing conclusion that the bones belonged to a new species, which they called Homo floresiensis, which stood only three feet tall, lived as recently as 12,000 years ago, had a chimp-sized brain, and could use stone tools to hunt.
Continue reading “On My Fossil Wish List: Homo sulawesiensis”