🔴 Leveraging ancient DNA to uncover signals of natural selection in Europe lost due to admixture or drift

"Our findings suggest that selective events in European prehistory, including from the onset of animal domestication, have been obscured by neutral processes like genetic drift and demographic shifts such as admixture."

Pandey, D., Harris, M., Garud, N.R. et al. Leveraging ancient DNA to uncover signals of natural selection in Europe lost due to admixture or drift. Nat Commun 15, 9772 (2024). doi.org/10.1038/s41467-024-538.

@science @biology

🔴 🇯🇵 J. R. Seeley And Japan's Pacific Expansion

"Korhonen's essay began with a striking claim:

The first person ever to use the term Pacific Age was the Japanese political economist Inagaki Manjirō. Inagaki studied the history of Great Britain's expansionary policies under the guidance of the British historian John Robert Seeley at Cambridge University during the late 1880s. Seeley had been influenced by the German geographer Carl Ritter. Through Inagaki a certain style of European nineteenth-century visionary rhetoric was introduced into discussions about the Pacific future. That is an interesting point in itself, but even more interesting are the shifts in perspective that resulted from this transference of concepts into a different context."

DUSINBERRE, M. (2021) ‘J. R. SEELEY AND JAPAN’S PACIFIC EXPANSION’, The Historical Journal, 64(1), pp. 70–97. doi: doi.org/10.1017/S0018246X19000.

@histodon @histodons

🔴 No Nazis in Valhalla: Understanding the Use (and Misuse) of Nordic Cultural Markers in Third Reich Era Germany

"Through the appropriation of medieval Old Norse imagery and mythology, as well as the construction of the idea of a pure Nordic race and the spread of propaganda through media by artists like Richard Wagner, the Nazi Party was able to utilize the newfound elevation of Nordic culture to legitimize its own ideas of racial purity and culture."

Nighswander, Lena (2020) "No Nazis in Valhalla: Understanding the Use (and Misuse) of Nordic Cultural Markers in Third Reich Era Germany," International ResearchScape Journal: Vol. 7, Article 6. DOI: doi.org/10.25035/irj.07.01.06

@histodon @histodons @medievodons

🔴 Putting Phoenicia on the Map. From the Greeks to Ernest Renan’s Mission

"This imaginary Phoenicia entered historiography and
cartography as a reality, not only in France but also in the
Ottoman Realm, then the sovereign entity over the Levant.
The toponym was used, anachronistically, for Biblical
maps to refer to the Sidonians and the Tyrians of the Ancient Testament. Already, in the popular Van Dyck-Smith Arabic translation of the Bible, the versions illustrated with maps showed a “Phoenicia” in the time of David and Solomon."

Keilo, J.: Putting Phoenicia on the Map. From the Greeks to Ernest Renan’s Mission, Proc. Int. Cartogr. Assoc., 3, 9, doi.org/10.5194/ica-proc-3-9-2, 2021.

@histodon @histodons

🔴 Sentinelese contacts: anthropologically revisiting the most reclusive masters of the terra incognita North Sentinel Island

"In terms of similarities, genomic studies reveal that the ancestors of the Asian clade migrated from Africa through India, entering Australia around 48,000 years ago (Sasikumar, 2023). Subsequent sub-clades, such as M31, migrated to the Andaman & Nicobar Islands around 37,000 years ago (Palanichamy et al., 2006; Barik et al., 2008), showing genetic affinity with the Burmese populace (Sasikumar, 2023)."

Paul, S., Justin, A. & Chatterjee, S. Sentinelese contacts: anthropologically revisiting the most reclusive masters of the terra incognita North Sentinel Island. Humanit Soc Sci Commun 11, 1512 (2024). doi.org/10.1057/s41599-024-039

@anthropology

🔴 📖 Plutarch's Science of Natural Problems

"By providing a thorough study of and commentary on this generally neglected text, written by one of the most influential and prolific writers from Antiquity, this book contributes to our better understanding of Plutarch’s natural scientific programme and the condition and role of ancient natural science in the Roman Imperial Era in general."

Meeusen, M. (2017) Plutarch’s Science of Natural Problems. doi.org/10.2307/j.ctt1pwtcsk.

@philosophy @histodon @histodons @bookstodon (92)

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🔴 Fertility in High-Income Countries: Trends, Patterns, Determinants, and Consequences

"The macroeconomic consequences of fertility decline and low fertility are manifold. Many predominantly affect the supply side of the economy (e.g., labor shortages), and some predominantly affect the demand side (e.g., reductions in consumption expenditure growth and the associated repercussions on investment)."

Bloom, D.E., Kuhn, M. and Prettner, K. (2024) 'Fertility in High-Income Countries: Trends, Patterns, Determinants, and consequences,' Annual Review of Economics. doi.org/10.1146/annurev-econom.

@economics

🔴 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 🇮🇪 From Kingdom to Colony: Framing the English Conquest of Ireland

"English colonialism meant replacing one type of kingdom with another, and thus bringing the pre-existing Gaelic kingdom of Ireland into conformity with an English model. In this way, Ireland was transformed from a kingdom to a colony."

Colin Veach, From Kingdom to Colony: Framing the English Conquest of Ireland , The English Historical Review, 2024;, ceae210, doi.org/10.1093/ehr/ceae210.

@histodon @histodons

🔴 Nepotism vs. intergenerational transmission of human capital in Academia (1088–1800)

"From the Bernoullis to the Eulers, families of scholars have been common in academia since the foundation of the first university in 1088. In this paper, we have shown that this was the result of two factors: Initially, scholars’ sons benefited from their fathers’ connections to get jobs at their fathers’ university. Between 1088 and 1543, about one in two scholars’ sons benefited from nepotism. They became academics even when their underlying human capital was lower than that of marginal first-generation scholar. After the Scientific Revolution, nepotism faded but families remained in academia."

Croix, D.d.l., Goñi, M. Nepotism vs. intergenerational transmission of human capital in Academia (1088–1800). J Econ Growth 29, 469–514 (2024). doi.org/10.1007/s10887-024-092

@histodon @histodons @economics

🔴 A numerical evaluation of the Finite Monkeys Theorem

"From this, we can see that all but the most trivial of phrases will, in fact, almost certainly never be produced during the lifespan of our universe. There are many orders of magnitude difference between the expected numbers of keys to be randomly pressed before Shakespeare's works are reproduced and the number of keystrokes until the universe collapses into thermodynamic equilibrium..."

Woodcock, S. and Falletta, J. (2024) 'A numerical evaluation of the Finite Monkeys Theorem,' Franklin Open, p. 100171. doi.org/10.1016/j.fraope.2024..

🔴 🇺🇸 Quantifying the uniqueness and divisiveness of presidential discourse

"In nearly all of our analyses, Donald Trump appears as a clear outlier. On the campaign trail, in presidential debates, and in official presidential addresses, we find, Trump’s speech patterns routinely differ from those of all recent presidents —lending credence to Kurt Anderson’s observation that, “The version of English [Trump] speaks amounts to its own patois, with a special vocabulary and syntax and psychological substrate” (4)."

Karen Zhou, Alexander A Meitus, Milo Chase, Grace Wang, Anne Mykland, William Howell, Chenhao Tan, Quantifying the uniqueness and divisiveness of presidential discourse, PNAS Nexus, Volume 3, Issue 10, October 2024, pgae431, doi.org/10.1093/pnasnexus/pgae

@politicalscience

🔴 Quantifying the uniqueness and divisiveness of presidential discourse

"In nearly all of our analyses, Donald Trump appears as a clear outlier. On the campaign trail, in presidential debates, and in official presidential addresses, we find, Trump’s speech patterns routinely differ from those of all recent presidents —lending credence to Kurt Anderson’s observation that, “The version of English [Trump] speaks amounts to its own patois, with a special vocabulary and syntax and psychological substrate” (4)."

Karen Zhou, Alexander A Meitus, Milo Chase, Grace Wang, Anne Mykland, William Howell, Chenhao Tan, Quantifying the uniqueness and divisiveness of presidential discourse, PNAS Nexus, Volume 3, Issue 10, October 2024, pgae431, doi.org/10.1093/pnasnexus/pgae

@politicalscience

🔴 The rise and transformation of Bronze Age pastoralists in the Caucasus

"For two millennia, mobile pastoralism dominated lifeways on the great expanses of steppe extending northwards from the Caucasus mountains. Fuelled by technological innovations such as wheeled transport and dairy pastoralism, as well as emerging horse husbandry, steppe populations from the Caucasus–Steppe interface exerted a large influence on the Eurasian landmass, leaving far-flung genetic and cultural footprints that remain even today. Understanding the dynamic and complex population interactions that shaped the region’s most influential BA groups, such as the Maykop, Yamnaya and Kura–Araxes, is key to reconstructing the population history of both Europe and Asia."

Ghalichi, A., Reinhold, S., Rohrlach, A.B. et al. The rise and transformation of Bronze Age pastoralists in the Caucasus. Nature (2024). doi.org/10.1038/s41586-024-081.

@archaeodons @science

🔴 A Bronze Age town in the Khaybar walled oasis: Debating early urbanization in Northwestern Arabia

"Alongside this local economy, the site was part of a wider regional exchange network, at a time when trans-Arabian travel by donkey was on the increase ([29, 61]). The microfabrics of a few rare sherds of Red Burnished Ware found during surveys and excavations seems to come from outside the oasis (perhaps Qurayyah or Tayma). Sourcing analyses of arsenic copper at Tayma and Qurayyah have shown a regional provenance, either from Oman or the Arabian Shield ([60]: 141, [64])."

Charloux G, Shabo S, Depreux B, Colin S, Guadagnini K, et al. (2024) A Bronze Age town in the Khaybar walled oasis: Debating early urbanization in Northwestern Arabia. PLOS ONE 19(10): e0309963. doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0.

@archaedons @anthropology

🔴 Mortality burden attributed to anthropogenic warming during Europe’s 2022 record-breaking summer

"Our findings highlight that human-induced climate change poses a risk beyond vulnerable populations, extreme temperatures, heatwaves, or Southern regions characterized by high summer temperatures. However, we also find that population groups more susceptible to heat, i.e. women and the elderly, are more adversely affected by anthropogenic warming than the general population."

Beck, T.M., Schumacher, D.L., Achebak, H. et al. Mortality burden attributed to anthropogenic warming during Europe’s 2022 record-breaking summer. npj Clim Atmos Sci 7, 245 (2024). doi.org/10.1038/s41612-024-007

@science @climatechange

🔴 🇺🇸 American imperial exceptionalism? Texas secondary World History depictions of American empire, 1925–2016

_After describing American imperial activity in the late nineteenth century, the authors of the 1961 text Men and Nations: A World History claimed that by establishing “an empire of colonies and protectorates in the Caribbean and the Pacific” the United States “had taken its place as one of the great powers of the world”. [63] The authors claimed that the United States possessed a humane and civilising empire: “Probably the countries were never better governed or enjoyed greater freedom from wars, revolutions, financial crises, and national bankruptcies. Yet these benefits were not always welcomed by the Latin Americans”._

Jackson, S. (2024) ‘American imperial exceptionalism? Texas secondary World History depictions of American empire, 1925–2016’, Paedagogica Historica, pp. 1–21. doi: doi.org/10.1080/00309230.2024..

@histodon @histodons

🔴 🇺🇸 American imperial exceptionalism? Texas secondary World History depictions of American empire, 1925–2016

_After describing American imperial activity in the late nineteenth century, the authors of the 1961 text Men and Nations: A World History claimed that by establishing “an empire of colonies and protectorates in the Caribbean and the Pacific” the United States “had taken its place as one of the great powers of the world”. [63] The authors claimed that the United States possessed a humane and civilising empire: “Probably the countries were never better governed or enjoyed greater freedom from wars, revolutions, financial crises, and national bankruptcies. Yet these benefits were not always welcomed by the Latin Americans”._

Jackson, S. (2024) ‘American imperial exceptionalism? Texas secondary World History depictions of American empire, 1925–2016’, Paedagogica Historica, pp. 1–21. doi: doi.org/10.1080/00309230.2024..

@histodon @histodons

🔴 🇳🇴 Corroborating written history with ancient DNA: The case of the Well-man described in an Old Norse saga

"Here we apply palaeogenomic analysis to human remains excavated from a medieval well at the ruins of Sverresborg Castle in central Norway. In Sverris Saga, the Old Norse saga of King Sverre Sigurdsson, one passage details a 1197-CE raid on the castle and mentions a dead man thrown into the well. Radiocarbon dating supports that these are that individual’s remains."

Ellegaard, M.R. et al. (2024) 'Corroborating written history with ancient DNA: The case of the Well-man described in an Old Norse saga,' iScience, p. 111076. doi.org/10.1016/j.isci.2024.11.

@science @anthropology @archaeodons

🔴 Too many numbers and worse word choice: Why readers find data-driven news articles produced with automation harder to understand

"Overall, this study showed that although news stories produced with automation were perceived equally to those produced without regarding sentence and paragraph length and writing style, they were evaluated as less comprehensible overall and with regard to the presentation of numbers and statistics."

Thäsler-Kordonouri, S., Thurman, N., Schwertberger, U., & Stalph, F. (2024). Too many numbers and worse word choice: Why readers find data-driven news articles produced with automation harder to understand. Journalism, 0(0). doi.org/10.1177/14648849241262.

@ai @journalism

🔴 📖 Yahwism under the Achaemenid Empire

"...brings together scholars of Achaemenid history, literature and religion, Iranian linguistics, historians of the Ancient Near East, archeologists, biblical scholars and Semiticists. The goal is to better understand the interchange of ideas, expressions and concepts as well as the experience of historical events between Yahwists and the empire that ruled over them for over two centuries."

Barnea, G. and Kratz, R. 2024. Yahwism under the Achaemenid Empire: Professor Shaul Shaked in Memoriam. Berlin, Boston: De Gruyter. doi.org/10.1515/9783111018638.

@histodon @histodons @bookstodon (91)

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