To those of you just signing up for Friday’s Elk, welcome! I generally send this newsletter out each Friday, as the name suggests, but sometimes life gets in the way. You can peruse back issues of the newsletter for free in this archive. There you’ll find links to stories I’ve written, videos of talks I’ve given, podcasts and radio shows I’ve spoken on, details on upcoming events, and updates about my next book, She Has Her Mother’s Laugh, coming out in May. On March 15, my publisher and I will randomly pick five Friday’s Elk subscribers to receive free early copies of the book. Continue reading “Friday’s Elk, February 16, 2018”
Some good news for loyal readers of Friday’s Elk: to celebrate the coming publication of She Has Her Mother’s Laugh, my publisher is going to give away free copies of the book to five randomly chosen subscribers. We’ll make the pick on March 15 and be in touch! Continue reading “Friday’s Elk, February 13, 2018”
The New York Times, February 7, 2018
LONDON — He had dark skin, brown curly hair and blue eyes, DNA tests suggest, upending a common assumption that Britain’s indigenous populations were all pale skinned with fair features.
He is “Cheddar Man,” Britain’s oldest complete skeleton, which was discovered in 1903 in Gough’s Cave near the village of Cheddar in Somerset, in southwest England. He lived about 10,000 years ago in the Mesolithic period, the middle part of the Stone Age.
Scientists have now reconstructed his features, demonstrating that he was part of a population of ancient Western Europeans that, scientists have shown in recent years, had dark skin.
Continue reading “‘Cheddar Man,’ Britain’s Oldest Skeleton, Had Dark Skin, DNA Shows”
Greetings! Here are some things I’ve been up to…
Charles Darwin warned that studying the origin of species wouldn’t be easy. When we look around at distinct species alive today, we’re looking at the tips of evolutionary branches that reach back thousands or millions of years. But sometimes scientists catch a break. Today in the New York Times, I write about a species of crayfish that leaped into existence thanks to a single mutation about 25 years ago. And ever since, it’s been spreading like wildfire. Continue reading “Friday’s Elk, February 5, 2018”
The New York Times, February 5, 2018
Frank Lyko, a biologist at the German Cancer Research Center, studies the six-inch-long marbled crayfish. Finding specimens is easy: Dr. Lyko can buy the crayfish at pet stores in Germany, or he can head with colleagues to a nearby lake.
Wait till dark, switch on head lamps, and wander into the shallows. The marbled crayfish will emerge from hiding and begin swarming around your ankles.
“It’s extremely impressive,” said Dr. Lyko. “Three of us once caught 150 animals within one hour, just with our hands.”
Continue reading “This Mutant Crayfish Clones Itself, and It’s Taking Over Europe”