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Reposted by Dr. Abigail Desmond

The Conversation U.S. @us.theconversation.com · 10d

What do you know about Louis Pasteur who developed the first effective rabies vaccine back in 1885?

One of the most brilliant minds and scientists of all time, writes Rodney E. Rohde. Pasteur died on this day in 1995, and #WorldRabiesDay is marked on the anniversary.

buff.ly/56EB92l

Louis Pasteur’s scientific discoveries in the 19th century revolutionized medicine and continue to save the lives of millions today

On World Rabies Day – which is also the anniversary of French microbiologist Louis Pasteur’s death – a virologist reflects on the achievements of this visionary scientist.

theconversation.com

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Dr. Abigail Desmond @abigaildesmond.bsky.social · 12d

Yunxian 2, is that you?! 💀

Michael Haslam @twigtechnology.bsky.social · 13d

This is the way it was 🏺

Promotional poster for the 1966 film One Million Years BC, in honour of the finding announced today that the Homo sapiens lineage may have been around for that long. The poster features Raquel Welch, some dinosaurs, and the tag line ‘This is the way it was’

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Dr. Abigail Desmond @abigaildesmond.bsky.social · Sep 5

I’m sure they’re fondly remembering a previous joke

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Dr. Abigail Desmond @abigaildesmond.bsky.social · Sep 4

First day of my lecture course on the evolution of human technology, and my students just voted to have a laptop-free class. Sometimes, all is right with the world.

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Reposted by Dr. Abigail Desmond

Gerrit Dusseldorp 🟥 @dussel.bsky.social · Aug 27

Prehistoric stone tools were often hafted, but we only find the lithics not the wood/bone part of tools. So it is not always clear how stones were hafted.

We tested two ways of hafting the same type of arrow tip, shooting into ballistics gel. Very mythbusters!

www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

Experimental evidence for the efficacy of transversal hafting of backed segments as arrowheads

Backed segments in quartz from the Howiesons Poort industry of Southern Africa (65–60 ka) have been interpreted as tips of arrows. Nevertheless, sever…

www.sciencedirect.com

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Dr. Abigail Desmond @abigaildesmond.bsky.social · Aug 9

Yes!

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Dr. Abigail Desmond @abigaildesmond.bsky.social · Aug 9

Always a pleasure to see hominin graffiti. Tbilisi, Georgia.

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Reposted by Dr. Abigail Desmond

Kristina Killgrove @killgrove.bsky.social · Jul 22

"It was early in the morning of a sunny day, with perfect light for checking tracks," Neto de Carvalho told Live Science in an email. 🏺🧪

78,000-year-old footprints from Neanderthal man, child and toddler discovered on beach in Portugal

A Neanderthal trackway discovered in Portugal shows how an adult male and two children hunted for food 78,000 years ago.

www.livescience.com

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Dr. Abigail Desmond @abigaildesmond.bsky.social · Jul 16

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Dr. Abigail Desmond @abigaildesmond.bsky.social · Jul 15

Are you kept awake at night, wondering whence your bags of archaeological bone fragments? Is your child ZooMS curious? Check out this mMass-ively cool AMA where we address your pressing proteomic problems. youtu.be/loAgeUuK08g?...

IZAZ 'Ask Us Anything' Online Forum June 2025

YouTube video by Integrating ZooMS and Zooarchaeology (IZAZ)

youtu.be

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Dr. Abigail Desmond @abigaildesmond.bsky.social · Jun 29

What can we tell about Stone Age strategies by identifying critters’ bones? Join me online tomorrow for an archaeological ZooMS AMA!

Palaeoanthropology CDF @palaeocdf.bsky.social · May 15

We are hosting a free online ‘Ask Us Anything’ event as part of the Integrating ZooMS and Zooarchaeology workshop series. For more info and to submit questions: docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1F...

📅 Date: June 30, 2025
🕒 Time: 15:00 CET
📍 Location: Online (link: univ-tlse2.zoom.us/j/9775805212...)

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Dr. Abigail Desmond @abigaildesmond.bsky.social · Jun 11

True for the individual, and true for evolution.

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Dr. Abigail Desmond @abigaildesmond.bsky.social · May 16

Super happy to be a panelist at this upcoming ZooMS webinar - join us on June 30 for a fun archaeological AMA!

Palaeoanthropology CDF @palaeocdf.bsky.social · May 15

We are hosting a free online ‘Ask Us Anything’ event as part of the Integrating ZooMS and Zooarchaeology workshop series. For more info and to submit questions: docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1F...

📅 Date: June 30, 2025
🕒 Time: 15:00 CET
📍 Location: Online (link: univ-tlse2.zoom.us/j/9775805212...)

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Reposted by Dr. Abigail Desmond

Evan Irving-Pease @evanirvingpease.bsky.social · May 8

Delighted to see our paper on the evolutionary history of the CCR5Δ32 deletion published this week in @cellpress.bsky.social. Work led by @ravnkirstine.bsky.social, Leonardo Cobuccio and Rasa Muktupavela, and co-supervised by me and @simorasmu.bsky.social. See 🧵 for main findings...

Graphical abstract: The chemokine receptor variant CCR5delta32 is linked to HIV-1 resistance and other conditions. Its evolutionary history and allele frequency (10%–16%) in European populations have been extensively debated. We provide a detailed perspective of the evolutionary history of the deletion through time and space. We discovered that the CCR5delta32 allele arose on a pre-existing haplotype consisting of 84 variants. Using this information, we developed a haplotype-aware probabilistic model to screen 934 low-coverage ancient genomes and traced the origin of the CCR5delta32 deletion to at least 6,700 years before the present (BP) in the Western Eurasian Steppe region. Furthermore, we present strong evidence for positive selection acting upon the CCR5delta32 haplotype between 8,000 and 2,000 years BP in Western Eurasia and show that the presence of the haplotype in Latin America can be explained by post-Columbian genetic exchanges. Finally, we point to complex CCR5delta32 genotype-haplotype-phenotype relationships, which demand consideration when targeting the CCR5 receptor for therapeutic strategies.

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Dr. Abigail Desmond @abigaildesmond.bsky.social · May 9

Amazing, congratulations Evan!

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Reposted by Dr. Abigail Desmond

Danny Lavery @dannymlavery.bsky.social · Apr 30

"He takes a pledge from me and vexes my goose-herd."

"The letter you wrote to Menon about Kallikon's money has been eaten by mice."

"We find that 6 jugs of the wine are missing."

What To Read Next If You Liked the Complaint Tablet to Ea-Nasir

www.thechatner.com/p/he-vexes-m...

"He vexes my goose-herd": What To Read Next If You Liked the Complaint Tablet to Ea-Nasir

Everybody loves the complaint tablet to Ea-Nasir – the question is, what will you read next, after you’ve finished the original series?

www.thechatner.com

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Reposted by Dr. Abigail Desmond

Science Magazine @science.org · Apr 10

A fossil Pleistocene-age hominin jawbone discovered in Taiwan has now been identified as belonging to a Denisovan, finds a new study in Science.

The results provide direct molecular evidence that Denisovans occupied diverse climates and offer new insights into this hominin lineage. scim.ag/4joSUBh

Molecular analysis of a hominin mandible from Taiwan reveals the lineage and sex of the individual.

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Dr. Abigail Desmond @abigaildesmond.bsky.social · Apr 3

Laughed out loud reading archaeologists characterized - by a physical anthropologist - as “… the senile playboys of science rooting in the rubbish heaps of antiquity.” Subtitle: If Earnest Hooton is insulting you, you must be cool. From Trigger’s “A History of Archaeological Thought”.

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Reposted by Dr. Abigail Desmond

Javier Lazaro - illustration @lazaroillustration.bsky.social · Apr 1

I could not wait any longer to share the finished illustration of bonobos.
Commissioned by @mpi-animalbehav.bsky.social
#SciArt #mammals #apes #primates #art

Illustration of bonobos walking and climbing

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Reposted by Dr. Abigail Desmond

Mathilde Tahar @drmathildetahar.bsky.social · Mar 28

I am very happy to share this piece with you, exploring the link between inventiveness and play in nonhuman animals. It was written with care and a sincere desire to convey what science and philosophy can teach us about this fascinating topic.
I hope you enjoy reading it!

aeon.co/essays/how-e...

How evolution favoured costly and frivolous animal play | Aeon Essays

Here’s a puzzle: how could evolution favour such a costly, frivolous and fun activity as animal play?

aeon.co

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Reposted by Dr. Abigail Desmond

Sarah Andersen @sarahseeandersen.bsky.social · Mar 21

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Dr. Abigail Desmond @abigaildesmond.bsky.social · Mar 21

Leslie White (1942) on human tool use. Simply breathtaking.

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Dr. Abigail Desmond @abigaildesmond.bsky.social · Mar 20

So pumped to announce this fabulous conspiracy-in-progress 📖

Michael Haslam @twigtechnology.bsky.social · Mar 20

BOOK BOOK BOOK!! 🐣

Our (me + @abigaildesmond.bsky.social) new book defines #intelligence in a practical way and explains why others have found the idea so slippery. By showing what intelligence is and isn't, we open up new avenues for seeing success in non-humans of all kinds 📚

An announcement that says: 'Publishers Marketplace
Deal Report
Category: Non-fiction: Science/Technology
February 17, 2025
INTELLIGENCE HALLUCINATED By Michael Haslam, Abigail Desmond
Imprint: Harvard University Press
Ethologist Michael Haslam and archaeologist Abigail Desmond's
INTELLIGENCE HALLUCINATED, on the fundamental shortcomings of the concept of intelligence and how it obscures our understanding of living things and machines, to Asaf Shtull-Trauring at Harvard University Press (world). Rights: karen_pelaez@harvard.edu

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Dr. Abigail Desmond @abigaildesmond.bsky.social · Mar 2

Tools - as manifestations of human strategic thinking - can tell us a lot about the people that made them. My new paper (out today!) offers some interpretive frameworks for ancient bone tool analysis.
www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

Strategy and Ideology through ZooMS: Insights from Palaeolithic and prehistoric bone tools

ZooMS (Zooarchaeoology by Mass Spectrometry) is a biomolecular technique for determining the taxon of origin for archaeological bone and osseous tool …

www.sciencedirect.com

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Reposted by Dr. Abigail Desmond

Roberto Sáez @robertosaezm.bsky.social · Feb 24

Diversos taxones vegetales en herramientas de percusión de 780 ka: Gesher Benot Ya'aqov, Israel: alimentos de distintos paisajes, estaciones y modos de trabajo.
Starch-rich plant foods 780,000 y ago: Evidence from Acheulian percussive stone tools https://buff.ly/3X1ThZB

buff.ly

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