I was asked by the Notre Dame media folks to write up an OpEd on the recent World Anti-Doping Agency ruling against Russia. The Hill picked it up, and here it is, complete with a Rocky IV reference right off the bat. This likely won’t be a popular opinion, but I think it is a good conversation starter about the current sports culture both nationally and globally. It also hits on how much popular media shapes our views.
I put together this fun in-class activity to explore some of concepts on the evolution of the human diet. Students had a lot of fun with this one, and it was relaxed and fun class, which students needed at the end of the semester.
I will be giving the Research Uncorked talk next Tuesday titled: Let It Snow: Human Performance in Extreme Conditions!
When: Tuesday, December 10 @ 6pm
Where: Ironhand Vineyard’s Wine Bar
1025 Northside Blvd.
South Bend, IN 46615
Come see how many Star Wars Hoth-related references I can make in under 45 minutes.
Have a listen to the latest installment of #Hackademics, our special series within the Sausage of Science podcast. In this episode we talk about the importance of science communication, how to go about it (especially if you are new to the field), and why you should pitch your science story to folks like our guest Scientific American journalist, Kate Wong.
I had my students do a fossil hominin dating profile for one of their larger assignments. See the assignment here: Assignment #4.
Much to my delight, a few decided to make their profile on old fashioned poster board! Here are a couple…
This was a sobering, but insightful interview with Adam Johnson.
We at the Sausage of Science are incredibly grateful to him for taking the time to talk about the issues of school shootings and toxic masculinity.
I put together some materials Early & Late Archaic and early modern H. sapiens. It is similar to what I did with early genus Homo. Please go to activity #10 on my teaching page.
I have additional materials on Neanderthal culture, early modern human culture, and human dispersal models (replacement, multiregionalism, and assimilation). If you would like those, please email me directly. I will also lead a class discussion on the recent (and highly problematic see here, here, and here) paper that suggests the earliest modern humans originated from Botswana.
I put together a map based activity and a trends chart for H. habilis and H. erectus. You can find it here as activity #9, and I hope you find it helpful!
Check out this fantastic Sausage of Science episode where the amazing Tina Lasisi discusses hair evolution and variation!
There is a lot to cover in the Plio-Pleistocene when it comes to hominin evolution. So, I put together 4 activities that will hopefully help students determine how one might identify an early hominin, assess the bipedal ability of the current earliest hominin contenders, critically assess competing hypotheses for why bipedality evolved, examine the wide range of Australopithecine variation during the Plio-Pleistocene.
You can find all four under #8 of my Teaching Activities Page.
