Monthly Archives: April 2018

Can you dismiss an argument because the originator is a bad person? Obviously not. But if the originator lies a lot, or simply doesn’t know jack about anything, the probability that the argument is worth anything can be low, so … Continue reading →

Genetic analysis indicates that the vast majority of people in India today are descended from two populations that Reich dubbed Ancient North Indians (ANI) and Ancient South Indians (ASI). Different populations have different mixes of ancestry from ANI and ASI, … Continue reading →

What language was spoken in Hungary before the Magyar conquest?

There’s a new article in Cell about adaptation to diving in a population of ‘sea nomads’. Sledmen? Race is real, but it’s only 70 meters deep. You should expect significant local adaptation in any population that is effectively endogamous and … Continue reading →

Epstein-Barr causes mono, but it also causes a goodly fraction of lymphomas (Hodgkins, Non-Hodgkins; Burkitt’s lymphoma) and nasopharyngeal cancer (common in south China), while dramatically increasing the risk for a host of autoimmune diseases (multiple sclerosis, rheumatoid arthritis, type 1 … Continue reading →

A while ago, I wondered if modern stallions are a male morph adapted to domestication, one in which the strategy is mediated via the Y chromosome. Looks as if I was right*. Check out “Decline of genetic diversity in ancient … Continue reading →

Now they’re talking 18,500 years BP. That’s too old. Unless….

David Reich’s professional path must have shaped his perspective on the social sciences. Look at the record. He starts his professional career examining the role of genetics in the elevated prostate cancer risk seen in African-American men. Various social-science fruitcakes … Continue reading →

The African story is complicated, and getting steadily more so. But some of the big picture – involving relatively recent events – is fairly simple. The biggest African language family is Niger-Kordofanian, which was probably spoken by most people in … Continue reading →

In the Pre-Columbian settling of the Americas, there were early layers and late layers. Let’s talk first about the early layers. Some of this is from archaeology, some from genetics (including ancient genetics), a little from linguistics. The Reich lab … Continue reading →