Author: Matt Kristoffersen

Friday’s Elk, February 19, 2016

Posted on by Matt Kristoffersen

Greetings–

A great week for gene flow…
 

Humans and Neanderthals Get More Intimate

Over the past few years, I’ve written several pieces for The New York Times about how our ancestors interbred with Neanderthals and other extinct human populations (in 2010, 2013, 2015, and again in 2015). Now comes a cool study that appears to uncover even more gene flow–not going from extinct humans into our own gene pool, but in the other direction. I don’t know how many more of these big insights we will get in years to come. But it’s clear that our understanding about human evolution is becoming profoundly different from what you would have read in the textbooks twenty years ago. Continue reading “Friday’s Elk, February 19, 2016” →

Friday’s Elk, February 12, 2016

Posted on by Matt Kristoffersen

Greetings–

My first cold of the season slowed down this week’s newsletter. Between the sniffles, here we go:
 

Viruses and Birth Defects

As Zika virus spreads through the Western Hemisphere, scientists are investigating whether it’s responsible for a burst of birth defects in Brazil, known as microcephaly. In this week’s Science Times section of the New York Times, I wrote about other viruses, like rubella and cytomegalovirus, that can also harm a fetusif they infect a pregnant woman. Those lesser-known are providing a guide for research on Zika–but we still don’t understand a lot of their biology. Continue reading “Friday’s Elk, February 12, 2016” →

Friday’s Elk, February 5, 2016

Posted on by Matt Kristoffersen

Greetings–

Happy February! I hope that you, unlike me, aren’t greeting the new month with a rather unpleasant, unexpected snowstorm. If you need a little distraction between the roof-raking and snow-shoveling, here are a couple items:
 

An Ancient Genome And A Skipped Bit of Software

Last October, I wrote a column for the New York Times about the first ancient human genome recovered from Africa. Last week, however, I discovered that the scientists had made a small oversight in their analysis that led to a big problem in their conclusions. Continue reading “Friday’s Elk, February 5, 2016” →

Friday’s Elk, January 22, 2016

Posted on by Matt Kristoffersen

Greetings–

In advance of the blizzard coming to my part of the world (and maybe yours), here are a couple stories, a video, and even a podcast for your wintry enjoyment:
 

Obama’s Three Big Science Plays

The cancer “moonshot” that Obama announced at his State of the Union address last week was the last of three high-profile projects in biomedicine he’s personally unveiled over the past three years. At Stat, I get some prominent scientists to gaze into their crystal ball and figure out what kind of legacy Obama is leaving behind with these trio of initiatives. One important lesson: actual moonshots are really expensive.
 

Continue reading “Friday’s Elk, January 22, 2016” →