Monthly Archives: July 2014

Biology and Human Capital

Posted on July 31, 2014 by gcochran9

I don’t pretend to be an economist.  If I had been, I’m sure that I too would have been unable to see the big real-estate bubble back in 2008, even though crazed Californians  were flipping houses all around my neighborhood. … Continue reading →

Posted in Economics, Education | 194 Comments

Washukanni

Posted on July 24, 2014 by gcochran9

Mitanni, controlling northern Syria and southeastern Anatolia, was a major player in the Bronze Age Near East from 1500 BC-1300 BC.  They contended and negotiated with the Hittites and the Egyptian New Kingdom. Most of the population seems to have … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | 32 Comments

Secondary Crops

Posted on July 23, 2014 by gcochran9

There are weeds that gradually came to resemble the crop they infested.  When they were recognizably different  from the crop species, people pulled them up or separated out their seeds – automatically selecting for weeds that loo0ked more and more … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | 23 Comments

501 (c)(3) : The Adventure Begins

Posted on July 16, 2014 by gcochran9

The Dark Lords of the IRS have proclaimed that West Hunter Incorporated has Federal tax-exempt status. Contributions, including various forms of real property,  are deductible.  For details, write gcochran9@comcast.net. West Hunter’s purpose is the advancement of education and science in … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | 87 Comments

Last Survivor

Posted on July 11, 2014 by gcochran9

Over about 2500 years, the Middle Eastern farmers occupied almost all of Europe. That migration seem to have a single origin:  genetically they seem quite similar, even as far as north as southern Sweden. The indigenous foragers didn’t disappear instantly, … Continue reading →

Posted in European Prehistory, Linguistics | 88 Comments

Let No New Thing Arise

Posted on July 5, 2014 by gcochran9

Thinking about it, it seems that disease burden for Europeans got worse and worse with time.  Some have said that the first farmers in the Middle East wouldn’t had any increase at all in infectious disease over foragers.   That’s … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | 61 Comments

Old Europe’s Remnants

Posted on July 3, 2014 by gcochran9

Although we know quite a bit about the artifacts, ways of making a living, and recently even the DNA of  Europe’s first farmers, we don’t know anything about their language or much about what they thought or believed in.  Old Europe was … Continue reading →

Posted in European Prehistory, Indo-European | 39 Comments

Rasmus Nielsen

Posted on July 3, 2014 by gcochran9

The paper on the Denisovan origin of one of the key altitude-adaptation genes (EPAS1) in Tibetans is now out (lead author Emilia Huerta-Sanchez,  senior author Rasmus Nielsen). It’s on a Denisovan haplotype.   Likely Denisovans occupied a lot of East … Continue reading →

Posted in Altitude adaptations, Denisovans, Genetics | 22 Comments

The Veeck Effect

Posted on July 1, 2014 by gcochran9

Once upon a time, I wrote about the Veeck effect of the first kind. I suppose that I owe the world an essay on the Veeck effect of the second kind, which corresponds to putting a midget up to bat. … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | 21 Comments