Thanks to your support, She Has Her Mother’s Laugh is now a finalist for a Goodreads Choice Award! I’m writing to ask for your vote one last time, this time for all the marbles. You can make your pick till November 26. Here’s where you can cast your vote. Thanks again!
Continue reading “Friday’s Elk, November 19, 2018: The One More Final Vote Edition!”
The New York Times, November 8, 2018
Nearly 11,000 years ago, a man died in what is now Nevada. Wrapped in a rabbit-skin blanket and reed mats, he was buried in a place called Spirit Cave.
Now scientists have recovered and analyzed his DNA, along with that of 70 other ancient people whose remains were discovered throughout the Americas. The findings lend astonishing detail to a story once lost to prehistory: how and when humans spread across the Western Hemisphere.
The earliest known arrivals from Asia were already splitting into recognizably distinct groups, the research suggests. Some of these populations thrived, becoming the ancestors of indigenous peoples throughout the hemisphere.
Continue reading “Crossing From Asia, the First Americans Rushed Into the Unknown”
The New York Times, November 7, 2018
On the wall of a cave deep in the jungles of Borneo, there is an image of a thick-bodied, spindly-legged animal, drawn in reddish ocher.
It may be a crude image. But it also is more than 40,000 years old, scientists reported on Wednesday, making this the oldest figurative art in the world.
Until now, the oldest known human-made figures were ivory sculptures found in Germany. Scientists have estimated that those figurines — of horses, birds and people — were at most 40,000 years old.
Continue reading “In Cave in Borneo Jungle, Scientists Find Oldest Figurative Painting in the World”
The New York Times, November 1, 2018
The oncoming flu season has claimed its first lives, among them a child in Florida who had not gotten a flu shot.
This year’s vaccine significantly reduces the odds of getting sick — and you should get one now if you haven’t already — but it’s far from perfect.
For one thing, its effectiveness fluctuates from year to year. At best, the vaccine may reduce the risk of illness by about 60 percent. Last year, during one of the worst flu epidemics in recent memory, that figure was just 40 percent.
Continue reading “How to Turbocharge Flu Protection (Llamas Required)”
I’m sending this newsletter out a couple days early because of some late-breaking developments. She Has Her Mother’s Laugh has been nominated for the Goodreads Choice Award in the Science & Technology category. This is a wonderful honor, because the award is the only book prize out there entirely determined by readers, rather than a judging panel made of critics, media, etc. (Not that those aren’t great, too!) You can now vote for your favorite nominees in each category. The opening voting round ends on November 4. Here’s the link. Thanks! Continue reading “Friday’s Elk, October 31, 2018 [Get Out the Goodreads Vote Edition!]”