BREAKING NEWS: Science (2)

Pinterest Restricts Vaccine Search Results to Curb Spread of Misinformation

Sat, 23 Feb 2019 10:00:06 +0000

The digital platform is grappling with the proliferation of anti-vaccination content online, a problem also faced by Facebook, YouTube and Twitter.

Obsidian Trade in Poland Dates Back At Least 20,000 Years

Sat, 23 Feb 2019 04:03:52 +0000

WARSAW, POLAND—According to a Science in Poland report, obsidian was used for making tools and weapons in what is now Poland at least 20,000 years ago, even though volcanic glass is not known to occur naturally anywhere in the country. “People [have] always paid special attention to exotic products and raw materials from distant lands,” said Dagmara H. Werra of the Polish Academy of Sciences. “It must have been similar with shiny obsidian.” During the Paleolithic period, Werra explained, obsidian was probably imported in the form of finished tools from what is now Slovakia on the Vistula River, which extends from the western Carpathian Mountains across Poland to the Baltic Sea. And, analysis of obsidian samples revealed some of them originated as far away as southeastern Turkey. Obsidian tools were used to scrape leather and wood, and for processing meat. Marks on some of the blades suggest they were attached to wooden shafts with leather strips to make spears. Werra added that few obsidian processing sites have been found in Poland, but there is some evidence that raw obsidian may have been imported during the Neolithic period and fashioned into tools locally. For more, go to “Obsidian and Empire.”

New Ultima Thule Photos Were Made in a Flash

Sat, 23 Feb 2019 02:44:29 +0000

The images were recorded while the New Horizons spacecraft was moving at more than 32,000 miles per hour.

Additional Ardipithecus ramidus Fossils Studied

Sat, 23 Feb 2019 01:42:04 +0000

CLEVELAND, OHIO—Science News reports that a collection of Ardipithecus ramidus fossils, including 42 from the lower body, two jaw fragments, and a large number of teeth, have been discovered in Ethiopia’s Gona Project area, about 60 miles from the spot where 110 fossils from the same species were first discovered in the 1990s. At the time, an examination of the remains of one individual, who was dubbed “Ardi,” concluded that she walked with an upright gait. Among the recently discovered fossils, which are estimated to be between 4.8 and 4.3 million years old, Scott Simpson of Case Western Reserve University and his colleagues found the bones of an individual equipped with ankle bones that may have provided better support for its legs and trunk than Ardi is thought to have enjoyed. This hominin found at Gona also had a big toe that would have propelled its stride, Simpson explained. All of the A. ramidus individuals, however, are only thought to have been able to walk slowly over short distances. They also shared traits such as skeletal features that made them capable tree climbers, flat feet, and grasping, opposable toes. Simpson and his colleagues suggest the possible improvements in walking ability seen in the A. ramidus fossils could link them to the evolution of Australopithecus species, and the earliest known evidence of a human-like gait, some 4.2 million years ago. For more, go to “Cosmic Rays and Australopithecines.”

Medieval Terracotta Well Discovered in Southern India

Sat, 23 Feb 2019 01:40:02 +0000

TAMIL NADU, INDIA—The Times of India reports that an eleventh-century well has been discovered near a temple dedicated to Shiva located close to the Pambaru River in southwest India. The well was constructed with two terracotta rings measuring seven feet across and six inches tall that were placed one on top of the other and sealed with clay. Archaeologist V. Rajaguru of the Ramanathapuram Archaeological Research Foundation said the well was connected to a tank, and explained that when the tank was full, overflow would travel to the terracotta well. The excavation team also recovered pieces of Chinese pottery, a spout, iron ore, terracotta roof tiles, and pieces of conch shells. Some of the pottery dated to earlier than the rest of the Chola-period site, and may have been brought to the surface when the well was dug. To read about other recent excavations in Tamil Nadu, go to “India's Temple Island.”

NASA, SpaceX finish Crew Dragon review; March 2 launch date still targeted

Sat, 23 Feb 2019 00:50:39 +0000

NASA and SpaceX officials completed the flight readiness review ahead of the planned launch of an unmanned SpaceX capsule to the International Space Station.

Trump Administration Blocks Funds for Planned Parenthood and Others Over Abortion Referrals

Sat, 23 Feb 2019 00:35:59 +0000

The new rule would steer federal family planning funds under Title X to anti-abortion and faith based groups.

NASA clears SpaceX test flight to space station

Fri, 22 Feb 2019 23:41:23 +0000

NASA gave its final go-ahead on Friday to billionaire entrepreneur Elon Musk's SpaceX company to conduct its first unmanned test flight of a newly designed crew capsule to the International Space Station on March 2.

Virgin Galactic Sends a Rocket Plane to Space Again, in Its Highest Flight Yet

Fri, 22 Feb 2019 23:40:32 +0000

After sending pilots to the edge of space in December, the company moved a step closer to commercial space travel with another safe flight, this time carrying a test passenger.

UnitedHealth Loses Case to the Health Venture Begun by Amazon, Berkshire-Hathaway and JPMorgan Chase

Fri, 22 Feb 2019 23:13:09 +0000

A court battle over trade secrets highlighted how the Big Three corporations’ new unit is unnerving major insurers in the field.

On Chicago’s Ted Williams TV Talk Show, Human Zoos Sparks Discussion of Scientific Racism

Fri, 22 Feb 2019 22:55:25 +0000

Recently John West was on the Chicago TV program Change with Ted William III to talk about his documentary Human Zoos, which is out now on YouTube. Wow, this is very interesting.

Williams is chairman of the Social Science Department at Chicago’s Kennedy-King College. His other guest is a colleague in that department, Daniel Davis, who recognizes Human Zoos for “spreading the information” that “shockingly a lot of people don’t fully understand.” The nature of this conversation is, I think, a testament to the film’s power to stir fresh reflections. See it here:

They consider the “use and abuse” of science, the interest that led Dr. West to this subject in the first place, the question of whether Social Darwinism can be disentangled from the scientific theory of Darwinian evolution, the relationship between scientism and tyranny, Thomas Jefferson’s thoughts on racial inferiority, Christian resistance to such beliefs, Margaret Sanger and the Ku Klux Klan, race as a “biological myth,” and more. One takeaway is that, despite assurances to the contrary, modern evolutionary theory is not easily separated from malign currents in American history, currently exemplified by the Alt-right.

Dr. Davis offers a provocative view that long before Americans free ourselves from caustic racial stereotypes, poor whites and poor blacks will find themselves united by economics as they come to see themselves as equally exploited by a social and political elite. I wouldn’t deny that that is a possibility.

If you’ve already watched Human Zoos, you will recognize Dr. Williams for his role in a historical reenactment in the film. He leads a very thoughtful and wide-ranging discussion in just a half hour. Worth watching!

The post On Chicago’s Ted Williams TV Talk Show, <i>Human Zoos</i> Sparks Discussion of Scientific Racism appeared first on Evolution News.

Branson's Virgin Galactic takes another step toward space tourism

Fri, 22 Feb 2019 22:25:08 +0000

A Virgin Galactic rocket plane on Friday soared to the edge of space with a test passenger for the first time, nudging British billionaire Richard Branson’s company closer to its goal of suborbital flights for space tourists.

When Richard Lenski Is Finished Reviewing Darwin Devolves, Michael Behe Will Reply

Fri, 22 Feb 2019 21:59:57 +0000

At his blog, Richard Lenski continues his good work of reviewing Michael Behe’s forthcoming book, Darwin Devolves, in which Professor Lenski’s work features prominently. He’s up to two responses now, which are substantive and germane. He promises more.

Professor Behe is reading the review with interest as it unfolds. He asked me to let you know he will answer when Lenski has completed this serialized document, rather than doing so in a piecemeal fashion. Out of consideration for readers who want to judge the disagreements for themselves, that seems like the way to go.

Photo: Statue of Charles Darwin, Natural History Museum, London, by ddouk via Pixabay.

The post When Richard Lenski Is Finished Reviewing <i>Darwin Devolves</i>, Michael Behe Will Reply appeared first on Evolution News.

Florida's Toxic 'Red Tide' Algae Bloom Is Not Showing Up In Tests

Fri, 22 Feb 2019 20:35:10 +0000

The bloom had been tormenting Florida's coastline inhabitants for well over a year.

Japanese space probe touches down on asteroid to collect samples

Fri, 22 Feb 2019 20:22:02 +0000

A Japanese space probe named after a falcon, Hayabusa 2, has touched down on an asteroid more than 300 million km (186 million miles) from Earth on a mission to seek clues about the origins of life, Japan's space agency said on Friday.

Virgin Galactic Rocket Plane Reaches Edge of Space

Fri, 22 Feb 2019 20:11:13 +0000

This was Virgin Galactic’s fifth supersonic-powered test flight. The venture marked another step forward in a new kind of space race.

Virgin Galactic carries test passenger to space for the first time

Fri, 22 Feb 2019 19:52:51 +0000

Virgin Galactic's space plane carried three people to the edge of space and back for the first time on Friday.

Tiny T. rex relative among earliest Cretaceous tyrannosaurs in N. America

Fri, 22 Feb 2019 19:43:01 +0000

Scientists have discovered a new tyrannosaur species, a miniature {i:T. rex}, that roamed North America some 96 million years ago.

How Israel’s Moon Lander Got to the Launchpad

Fri, 22 Feb 2019 19:22:24 +0000

With $100 million and a lot of volunteer labor, SpaceIL’s Beresheet spacecraft could be the first privately built vessel to reach the lunar surface.

Nation Might Lift Ban on Elephant Hunting

Fri, 22 Feb 2019 19:18:17 +0000

A third of Africa's elephants—an estimated 130,000—are found in Botswana. That's one reason animal activists are alarmed to learn the country is considering lifting its four-year ban on hunting the giant animal, 87 of which were found slaughtered and stripped of their tusks in a "poaching frenzy"...

Map of Mangrove Height Reveals Carbon-rich Coastal Forests

Fri, 22 Feb 2019 19:11:02 +0000

Map of Mangrove Height Reveals Carbon-rich Coastal Forests

Critical ecosystem’s first global height measurement could aid climate change fight.

Mangrove_topNteaser.jpg

Scientist Laura Duncanson (University of Maryland/NASA GSFC) looking towards the top of a large mangrove tree to measure its height.

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Friday, February 22, 2019 - 14:00

Gabriel Popkin, Contributor

(Inside Science) -- Lola Fatoyinbo had studied mangroves -- the nearly impenetrable tangled-trunk forests that fringe warm coastlines worldwide -- for almost a decade, and was pretty sure that the trees topped out around 45 meters high -- roughly the height of the Statue of Liberty without her pedestal. So, when Fatoyinbo, an ecologist at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland, heard in 2011 about mangrove trees in the Central African nation of Gabon that were more than 10 meters taller, she knew she had to visit.

Mangroves pack away massive amounts of carbon, both in their woody trunks and in the soil where their roots decay. The trees and soil contain more carbon per acre than tropical rainforests. And because the stored carbon can stay out of the atmosphere for many decades, environmentalists have long hoped that protecting mangrove forests could help slow climate change while the world gets a handle on fossil fuel emissions.

Fatoyinbo got a grant to travel to Gabon to gather on-the-ground data about the ability of the mangroves there to store carbon. She and her colleagues hired a motorboat to take them up an estuary into Pongara National Park. Dense, crisscrossing roots emerged from the shallow brown water, which teemed with crabs and fish. When the tide rolled out, the scientists scrambled under roots that stuck 3 meters or more out of the exposed mud and aimed laser devices at the tops of the tallest trees they could find. Working in mangrove forests “is very challenging. It’s like a real-life jungle gym,” Fatoyinbo said. “Sometimes it’s scary. You don’t know what’s in the water.”

But the adventure was worth it. The trees she and her colleagues measured were up to 65 meters high -- taller than any tree in the U.S. east of the Mississippi River, and topping any mangrove tree ever reported in the scientific literature. “We couldn’t believe it,” Fatoyinbo said. Combining field measurements from the Gabon trip and others with satellite data, the researchers created the first global map of mangrove height and above-ground carbon.

Mangrove-inline.jpg

Marc Simard (Caltech/JPL), Lola Fatoyinbo (NASA GSFC) and Gabon National Park Ranger (ANPN) doing fieldwork in a Mangrove Channel in Pongara National Park, Gabon

NASA

The research will help identify conservation hotspots and provide long-needed data for climate change-fighting programs, said Jennifer Howard, a biologist at Conservation International in Washington, D.C. and cofounder of the Global Mangrove Alliance. “I’ve been very excited and waiting for it ever since Lola told me she was doing this research,” Howard said. “It’s a huge deal.”

Globally, mangroves occupy an area roughly equal to that of Bangladesh. In the past few decades, however, half the world’s original mangrove forests have been logged or destroyed to make way for fish farms and coastal development. During the 1990s, as much as one percent of the world’s mangroves were lost annually; that rate is down by half or more today, though still much higher in parts of Southeast Asia. While conservation groups have hoped to get the mangroves’ stored carbon included in climate-change fighting plans, which could provide funding for conserving and restoring the forests, they have been hindered by sparse data on how tall trees in different places are -- a crucial measure for determining a forest’s total mass and stored carbon.

To provide that data, Fatoyinbo and her colleague Marc Simard at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center led a team that used measurements from two satellites: the Shuttle Radar Topography Mission, which flew in 2000 and gathered elevation data globally using radar beams, and the Ice, Cloud and land Elevation Satellite (ICESat), which from 2003 to 2010 took more precise height measurements at certain points using lasers. To calibrate the satellites’ measurements, the researchers also measured tree heights from the ground at 14 sites in seven countries and used field data gathered by others.

They found that the tallest trees grow in Gabon and other Central African nations, and in Latin American countries such as Colombia and Venezuela. Mangroves’ carbon density varied dramatically, with an average of 244 metric tons of aboveground carbon per hectare in Gabon, versus less than 100 tons per hectare in Brazilian and Nigerian forests. The tallest mangroves grow where there is abundant freshwater and minimal human development, the researchers found.

“The numbers are really, truly exceptional,” said Robert Twilley, an ecologist at Louisiana State University in Baton Rouge who in 40 years in the field had never seen mangrove trees topping 60 meters.

The study “seems like a real significant improvement over anything that had been out there before” for aboveground mangrove carbon, said Jonathan Sanderman, a biogeochemist at Woods Hole Research Center in Falmouth, Massachusetts. Sanderman studies mangroves’ soil carbon, which outweighs aboveground carbon but cannot be directly measured via satellite. He welcomes the better number for aboveground carbon, but would have liked to see more field data from subtropical locales such as central and northern Florida.

The satellite data the team used are less accurate for the shorter mangroves that grow in such areas, added Daniel Friess, a geographer at the National University of Singapore. Two recently launched NASA laser instruments -- the Global Ecosystem Dynamics Investigation and ICESat-2 -- should aid in refining the map, both Friese and Fatoyinbo said; a German satellite, TanDEM-X, could also help her team update their dataset with more recent radar measurements, Fatoyinbo added.

Howard, at Conservation International, said even the current map will further her alliance’s goal of increasing global mangrove cover by 20 percent by 2030. Conservation groups might now prioritize protecting the mega-tall Central African forests, which have mostly escaped damage so far. And many countries that had argued that they lacked the data needed to get credit for the carbon stored in mangrove forests should now be able to meet part of their greenhouse gas reduction goals under the 2015 Paris climate agreement by conserving and restoring mangroves, Howard said.

“I can look at your country and talk to Lola and say, more accurately than we’ve been able to in the past, exactly how much carbon is there. This is something you should be including in your greenhouse gas inventory,” she said.

The paper was published in late December in Nature Geoscience.

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Gabriel Popkin

Gabriel Popkin is a Washington, D.C.-area science writer who writes mainly about physics, ecology and environment.

Judging The Value of Forensic Evidence

Fri, 22 Feb 2019 18:17:31 +0000

Judging The Value of Forensic Evidence

A New York district judge weighs in on using forensic science evidence in the courtroom.

Judging The Value of Forensic Evidence

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Culture

Friday, February 22, 2019 - 13:00

Chris Gorski, Editor

(Inside Science) -- According to Senior U.S. District Judge Jed Rakoff, at the Southern District of New York, "Forensic science continues to be routinely admitted by the courts, both state and federal, even though considerable doubts have now been raised as to whether forensic science really is science at all, and whether it is reliable and valid.”

As part of the National Commission on Forensic Science, Rakoff contributed to a 2016 report noting some serious flaws in the way the justice system uses forensic science. He says that times have changed, and science has changed, but some judges aren't changing as scientific understanding advances.

“DNA is, with very few exceptions, well-established as a science, but at the other extreme, things like bite mark analysis and hair testing analysis have been called severely into question and their error rates appear to be quite high,” said Rakoff.

“So, in 1993, the federal law was changed. And this was because the Supreme Court was concerned that too much so-called junk science was entering into the courtroom and that juries would not be able to evaluate it from their own experience,” Rakoff said.

When judges allow bad forensic science to enter the court, it can contribute to convicting the wrong person.

“There were forensic experts who testified and testified strongly that the defendant was guilty, as shown by science, and how can a jury disregard what science proves, and yet they were wrong. Flat wrong. So innocent people are being convicted,” said Rakoff.

Fingerprinting science has improved in the last 20 years, said Rakoff. But many other areas of forensic science, including bite mark analysis, tool marks, ballistics, and arson analysis are less accurate than many people realize.

"The notion that anything in science is so perfect that someone could testify that they were absolutely sure that it came from that person --that's not science at all. That's someone acting, in my view, in an unscientific way,” said Rakoff.

So, is it all a judge’s fault that imperfect science is getting into the courtroom?

“I think it's fair to say that judges all the time confront areas that they’re not familiar with, in patent cases, in complicated international commercial disputes and so forth. But they educate themselves. They get up to speed. They are, as they say, quick studies. And so, I don’t think it's that judges are intimidated by the fact that this is science,” said Rakoff.

Scientists might be able to help. As research reveals new information, they can help the courts evaluate it.

“Scientists are in a very good position to say, ‘This is good science. This is bad science. And this is unknown. We're not sure.’ And I think the courts would be very receptive to more input from scientific organizations. But I think the main reason why judges are allowing in forensic science is that they are too much influenced by old precedents,” said Rakoff.

Old guidelines that judges use have the potential to change with their decisions, and Rakoff says more training could help judges and the justice system be more fair.

“I think both for the narrow reason that we don’t want to convict innocent people, and the broader reason, we want to have a system that we can have confidence in, it's important to make a change here,” concluded Rakoff.

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Chris Gorski is an Editor for Inside Science and runs the Sports beat. Follow him on twitter at @c_gorski.

Japanese spacecraft touches down on asteroid, collects samples

Fri, 22 Feb 2019 17:35:00 +0000

A Japanese spacecraft touched down on a distant asteroid Friday on a mission to collect material that could provide clues to the origin of the solar system and life on Earth.

Workers at the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency control center applauded as a signal sent from the Hayabusa2 spacecraft...

Israel flying to moon after SpaceX launch: ‘This is Uber-style space exploration’

Fri, 22 Feb 2019 17:30:00 +0000

An Israeli spacecraft rocketed toward the moon for the country’s first attempted lunar landing following a launch Thursday night by SpaceX.

A communications satellite for Indonesia was the main cargo aboard the Falcon 9 rocket, which illuminated the sky as it took flight. But Israel’s privately...

Great Barrier Reef: One million tonnes of sludge to be dumped

Fri, 22 Feb 2019 17:22:59 +0000

Australia agrees to discard of one million tonnes of waste in world's largest coral reef.

Trilobites: The World’s Largest Bee Is Not Extinct

Fri, 22 Feb 2019 17:15:47 +0000

An expedition of conservationists found a living Wallace’s Giant Bee on remote islands in Indonesia. It hadn’t been seen since 1981.

Drug pollution in rivers reaching damaging levels for animals and ecosystems, scientists warn

Fri, 22 Feb 2019 17:12:00 +0000

The highest risk from pharmaceutical contaminants is in densely populated and dry areas such as the Middle East – yet 'those are precisely the areas where there is little data', researchers say

Earth's atmosphere is far bigger than we had realised, scientists announce

Fri, 22 Feb 2019 17:08:00 +0000

The gaseous layer reaches out far past the Moon

Gene-edited Chinese babies may be smarter by accident, scientists say

Fri, 22 Feb 2019 17:07:00 +0000

New research suggests changes to gene in twins may have had unintended consequences

Virgin's Unity plane rockets skyward

Fri, 22 Feb 2019 17:00:02 +0000

Scottish pilot Dave Mackay pushes Virgin Galactic's rocket plane towards the edge of space.

Weird Science: Is evolution to blame for phone distraction?

Fri, 22 Feb 2019 17:00:00 +0000

It's a cliché of modern society: a couple go out for a romantic dinner but instead spend the evening looking at their Twitter feed.Whether at the supermarket, in the doctor's office, or in bed at night, it can be tempting to pick...

Nanogirl Michelle Dickinson: How to avoid eating your clothes

Fri, 22 Feb 2019 17:00:00 +0000

COMMENT: We all know that plastics in our oceans are a danger not only to marine life but also to our food supply. Banning single-use plastic bags from our supermarkets and microbeads from our body wash has got New Zealand started...

Bees' waggle dance becomes nonsense in some human-influenced environs

Fri, 22 Feb 2019 16:51:56 +0000

New research into the benefits of honeybee waggle dancing suggests the communicative rump-shaking isn't always useful.

Gotcha: Japanese Spacecraft Shoots Asteroid, Takes Sample

Fri, 22 Feb 2019 16:44:00 +0000

In an audacious space success, a Japanese probe cruised to an asteroid 170 million miles away, fired a bullet into its surface, and collected samples from the bits that flew off. Around 6:30pm EST on Feb. 21, team members from the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency gave the order to...

Researchers engineer a tougher fiber

Fri, 22 Feb 2019 16:17:16 +0000

North Carolina State University researchers have developed a fiber that combines the elasticity of rubber with the strength of a metal, resulting in a tougher material that could be incorporated ...

Rising pharmaceutical levels in water sources pose ecological problems

Fri, 22 Feb 2019 15:49:39 +0000

Freshwater sources all over the planet continue to host greater and greater concentrations of pharmaceuticals, causing a variety of ecological problems.

It's Blast Off for Israel's Mission to the Moon

Fri, 22 Feb 2019 15:42:00 +0000

Israel launched the first private spacecraft to the moon late Thursday, in a takeoff from Florida's Cape Canaveral on the back of one of Space X's Falcon 9 rockets. An unmanned craft weighing in at 1,300 pounds, Beresheet's name is Hebrew for "in the beginning," the first few words...

Nasa finds new form of DNA in search for alien life

Fri, 22 Feb 2019 15:28:00 +0000

Discovery helps expand our understanding of what life might look like on other worlds

A quantum magnet with a topological twist

Fri, 22 Feb 2019 15:17:26 +0000

Taking their name from an intricate Japanese basket pattern, kagome magnets are thought to have electronic properties that could be valuable for future quantum devices and applications. Theories ...

Scientists sharpen their molecular scissors and expand the gene editing toolbox

Fri, 22 Feb 2019 14:17:43 +0000

Wake Forest Institute for Regenerative Medicine (WFIRM) scientists have figured out a better way to deliver a DNA editing tool to shorten the presence of the editor proteins in the cells in ...

Why Humanistic Anthropology Matters

Fri, 22 Feb 2019 14:00:13 +0000

Anthropology was a revelation. When I was an undergraduate at Stockholm University, Sweden, my world tumbled as I learned about the range of human diversity. After two weeks in the introductory course, I was hooked, and still am. But it would take many years before storytelling, literature and writing, and dance and visual culture came to the fore in my own research (Wulff 1998, 2007, 2016, 2017a, 2017b). That was the other turning point: when I realized that I could combine anthropology and the arts, my two inclinations—heart and mind—together. Today, writing as the newly elected president of the Society for Humanistic Anthropology (SHA), I’d like to share with you something of how I got here, and why I believe humanistic anthropology remains integral to the discipline.

So, how did an anthropologist from Sweden become the president of a section of the American Anthropological Association? My relationship with the United States goes a long way back. Like many other young Europeans, I traveled across the country by Greyhound bus and by car. I lived in New York City (for fieldwork), and in California for periods of time (Wulff 1998, 2017b). At the invitation of Virginia Dominguez and Jane Desmond, I was visiting professor at University of Illinois. I have family in the United States as well. American anthropology became a major point of reference, and I began participating in AAA annual meetings—first as a graduate student giving volunteered papers, then as a session organizer, and finally as discussant. I appreciated the opportunities for intellectual inspiration that AAA provided, its sizable membership, and its numerous and varied sessions. Still, the sheer scale of the AAA Annual Meeting can be intimidating. This is why active involvement in a section such as SHA is important: it allows one to navigate the breadth of the meetings. I became a member of SHA because I was drawn to its sessions. I felt an affinity there among colleagues and friends who shared my artistic sensibilities and values. We know that artistic understandings can contribute to social change, and that they are craved for—not only in happy times, but when personal and political distress hit, then both for comfort and social analysis.[pquote]SHA sponsors posters, individual papers, panels, and other expressive formats in the spirit of humanistic anthropology. In particular, we focus on papers and sessions that challenge the disciplinary boundaries of anthropology as a social science and apply alternative, humanistic approaches ranging from philosophy and history to creative writing and performance.[/pquote]

Now I am pleased and proud to be president of SHA. I wish to thank my predecessor, Jonathan Marion, for being such a committed and skilled president. Marion saw to it that SHA has a hospitality suite at the AAA Annual Meetings, where members and their friends can meet at organized events and spontaneous get-togethers. This I intend to continue. I also hope to work on the idea of organizing mid-year meetings, possibly as webinars. Let me also mention Julia Offen, SHA treasurer who is herself a treasure. Her long-term experience at SHA is invaluable.

SHA is a unique and lively section. It was founded in 1974 at an AAA meeting in Mexico City around Victor Turner and his work on ritual, performance, and theater that, of course, is a staple in the discipline of anthropology. SHA keeps developing these topics in relation to humanistic anthropology. As it says on our website: “Humanistic anthropology involves the recognition that professional inquiry takes places in a context of human value. The humanistic orientation is particularly concerned with the personal, ethical, and political choices facing humans.”

To this end, SHA sponsors posters, individual papers, panels, and other expressive formats in the spirit of humanistic anthropology. In particular, we focus on papers and sessions that challenge the disciplinary boundaries of anthropology as a social science and apply alternative, humanistic approaches ranging from philosophy and history to creative writing and performance. This includes our popular ethnographic writing workshops that are taught by renowned anthropologist-writers.

It is also in this spirit that SHA publishes the bi-annual journal, Anthropology and Humanism, excellently edited by David Syring and Jeffrey Ehrenreich. The journal includes academic articles and book reviews, as well as short stories, poetry, creative nonfiction, drama, and visual imagery.

An annual highlight of SHA are the three awards in writing that are presented at SHA’s business meeting at the AAA: the Victor Turner Prize in Ethnographic Writing, the Ethnographic Fiction and Nonfiction Prize, and the Poetry and Fiction Prize. The winners get to read a piece from their awarded work, which adds flavor to the event.

For the 2018 Victor Turner Prize in Ethnographic Writing, the committee evaluated over 75 ethnographies. Here are the winners:

1st Place: Katherine Verdery’s My Life as a Spy: Investigations in a Secret Police File

2nd Place: Piers Vitebsky’s Living without the Dead: Loss and Redemption in a Jungle Cosmos

3rd Place: Ellen Wiles’ The Invisible Crowd

Honorable Mention went to Susan Helen Ellison’s, Domesticating Democracy: The Politics of Conflict Resolution in Bolivia

Katherine Verdery receives her Victor Turner Prize for Ethnographic Writing, presented by Helena Wulff at AAA 2018. Jerome Crowder

The prize ceremony in 2018 concluded with an “open mic” for anyone to go up and read a short story or a poem. Perhaps some of what we heard there might be submitted to the writing contests for this year? For an update on deadlines for submitting work for 2019, and for a listing of the other 2018 awardees, see our website. I look forward to working for SHA, and to welcoming new members!

Helena Wulff (Helena.wulff@socant.su.se) is the President of the Society for Humanistic Anthropology. She is a professor of social anthropology at Stockholm University. Her research is in the anthropology of communication and aesthetics, based on a wide range of studies of the social worlds of literary production, dance, and visual arts, and currently, on migrant writing on Sweden.

Rose Wellman (wellmanr@umich.edu) is contributing section editor for the Society for Humanistic Anthropology and an assistant professor of anthropology at the University of Michigan-Dearborn.

Cite as: Wulff, Helena. 2019. “Why Humanistic Anthropology Matters.” Anthropology News website, February 22, 2019. DOI: 10.1111/AN.1098

Understanding high efficiency of deep ultraviolet LEDs

Fri, 22 Feb 2019 12:47:41 +0000

Deep ultraviolet light-emitting diodes (DUV-LEDs) made from aluminium gallium nitride (AlGaN) efficiently transfer electrical energy to optical energy due to the growth of one of its bottom ...

Finding keyholes in metals 3-D printing

Fri, 22 Feb 2019 12:18:08 +0000

Additive manufacturing's promise to revolutionize industry is constrained by a widespread problem: tiny gas pockets in the final product, which can lead to cracks and other failures.

Botswana mulls lifting elephant hunting ban

Fri, 22 Feb 2019 11:22:06 +0000

A government report recommends lifting a four-year ban on hunting elephants.

Freezing upon heating: Formation of dynamical glass

Fri, 22 Feb 2019 10:47:18 +0000

The discovery of superconductivity and its experimental realization are two of the most important advancements in physics and engineering of the past century. Nevertheless, their statistical ...

World's biggest bee found alive

Fri, 22 Feb 2019 09:41:52 +0000

A giant bee, thought lost to science decades ago, has been re-discovered on an Indonesian island.

Israeli Spacecraft Rockets To The Moon For The Country's First Attempted Lunar Landing

Fri, 22 Feb 2019 08:30:30 +0000

The spacecraft — called Beresheet, Hebrew for Genesis or “In The Beginning” — will take nearly two months to reach the moon.

Hayabusa 2: Japanese space agency successfully lands spacecraft on asteroid nearly 200 million miles away

Fri, 22 Feb 2019 08:26:00 +0000

Probe will scrabble on the surface looking for the origins of life

Nasa 'well on its way' to finding alien life with Mars project, says boss

Fri, 22 Feb 2019 08:10:00 +0000

Head of space agency made remarks as he said goodbye to Mars Opportunity rover

Killer Whale Head-Butts Scientist's Camera And She's Just Thrilled

Fri, 22 Feb 2019 08:03:34 +0000

Marine mammal expert Regina Eisert said she thinks the whale wanted to share its dinner with her.