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John Hawks
Personal blog · johnhawks.netsciencehistory
John Hawks's personal blog at johnhawks.net covers science and history. Since 2009, 54 different Hacker News readers have linked it 86 times, most often “Did humans approach the southern tip of South America more than 18k years ago?”. It is still writing: the last post was on 2026-10-24, and you can follow it by feed.
Our origins shape our future. Click to read John Hawks, a Substack publication.
Most-linked posts?
- /weblog/reviews/brain/development/ten_percent_brain_myth_2007.html3 people · 4 mentions · first linked 2016-04-24
- /weblog/reviews/life_history/aging_evolution/hill_2007_hiwi_mortality.html2 people · 2 mentions · first linked 2017-03-14
- Did humans approach the southern tip of South America more than 18k years ago?2 people · 2 mentions · first linked 2015-11-20
- Earlier mixture from modern humans into Neandertal populations2 people · 2 mentions · first linked 2016-02-28
- Ardipithecus FAQ2 people · 2 mentions · first linked 2009-10-01
- The Denisova Genome FAQ2 people · 2 mentions · first linked 2011-01-28
- Genomes of straight-tusked elephants2 people · 2 mentions · first linked 2017-06-26
- Features of the Grecian ape raise questions about early hominins2 people · 2 mentions · first linked 2017-05-23
- Somebody was on Sulawesi before 118,000 years ago2 people · 2 mentions · first linked 2016-01-24
- What the recent neandertal genome sequencing means to us2 people · 2 mentions · first linked 2010-05-07
What Hacker News says?
Job interviews aren't for the purpose of predicting future achievement? Say again? there's a lot of ugly historical baggage where science has met race in the past. There is indeed: http://johnhawks.net/weblog/topics/meta/gould-morton-lewis-2... If that isn't ugly, what is?
Comment linking /weblog/topics/meta/gould-morton-lewis-2011.html
on “A Woman’s Story”Submitted How many bathrooms have Neanderthals in the tile? as a story · 543 points
HN discussionAdult mortality was still quite a lot higher than it is today. There have been some attempts to study hunter gatherers that existed in recent times: http://johnhawks.net/weblog/reviews/life_history/aging_evolu... The group there isn't necessarily going to be representative, but mortality for young adults was ~2% per year. In the US it is something like 0.1%.
Comment linking /weblog/reviews/life_history/aging_evolution/hill_2007_hiwi_mortality.html
on “Facebook Australia allowed advertisers to target teens’ emotional states”Submitted Should we move to a system where every scientist gives grant money away? as a story · 108 points
HN discussionWe aren't apes or monkeys. http://johnhawks.net/weblog/topics/phylogeny/taxonomy/humans...
Comment linking /weblog/topics/phylogeny/taxonomy/humans-arent-apes-2012.html
on “Pugs are anatomical disasters. Vets must speak out–even if it’s bad for business”Submitted The evolutionary mystery of the German cockroach as a story · 96 points
HN discussionFor a somewhat skeptical take: http://johnhawks.net/weblog/fossils/miocene/graecopithecus/g...
Comment linking /weblog/fossils/miocene/graecopithecus/graecopithecus-fuss-2017.html
on “Scientists find 7.2M-year-old pre-human remains in the Balkans”Submitted Top discoveries about ancient people from DNA in 2023 as a story · 91 points
HN discussionThis kingpin story is not likely to be true. http://johnhawks.net/weblog/topics/urban_legends/henry_fords...
Comment linking /weblog/topics/urban_legends/henry_fords_king_pins.html
on “Why are bones not made of steel? (2010)”Submitted A Visit to the Museo Nacional de Antropología, Mexico City (2023) as a story · 75 points
HN discussionI can see two very clear trends when it comes to where new jobs are created. One is the shift from industry jobs to service jobs. Did you know that globally, farming has been the most common profession since basically the dawn of civilization up until about a decade ago? [1] Now it's service jobs. Humans helping other humans, this is a type of jobs that will never go away because humans have qualities that machines…
Comment linking /weblog/topics/social/farming_bypassed_as_leading_industry_2007.html
on “It’s Not China; It’s Efficiency That Is Killing Our Jobs”Submitted Somebody was on Sulawesi before 118,000 years ago as a story · 52 points
HN discussionI'm reminded of the story about Henry Ford asking which part never broke down, and then using that to cut costs -- maybe evolution is like that too, and once we fix one problem we'll find the next isn't far behind? Except now that I've searched for a link for that, one of the first results actually questions that story, ha! https://johnhawks.net/weblog/topics/urban_legends/henry_ford...
Comment linking /weblog/topics/urban_legends/henry_fords_king_pins.html
on “The field of longevity biotech is a mess”Submitted Brain-body allometry revisited across mammals as a story · 50 points
HN discussionhttp://johnhawks.net/weblog/reviews/behavior/game_theoretic/... Playing chicken with an opponent who time after time demonstrates highly rational, self-dealing behavior is the opposite of insane.
Comment linking /weblog/reviews/behavior/game_theoretic/game_theory_intro_2007.html
on “Jack Ma: 'If trade stops, war starts'”Submitted Features of the Grecian ape raise questions about early hominins as a story · 40 points
HN discussionhttp://blogs.discovermagazine.com/gnxp/2011/03/your-genes-yo... ^ Watch that video. You don't even need to postulate insurance as the hidden hand behind this. In the span of four short minutes, FDA head honcho Jeffrey Shuren manages to commit perjury before Congress while explaining that "traditional manufacturers" will be helped by the new regulations. Who woulda thunk? Truly blood boiling clip. The entire genomics…
Comment linking /weblog/topics/biotech/testing/fda-dtc-meeting-proceedings-2011.html
on “Last chance: let the FDA know why you want direct access to your own genome ”Submitted Homo naledi was chipping its teeth amazingly often as a story · 37 points
HN discussionI've read this report before, mainly it was used as a reference doc when debating others about the 10% brain myth. See here, as it directly references the 126 IQ example under "John Lorber and hydrocephalus": http://johnhawks.net/weblog/reviews/brain/development/ten_pe... It appears the amount of white matter in the brain can vary wildly without having a large effect on cognition (as with the 126 IQ example). Usuall…
Comment linking /weblog/reviews/brain/development/ten_percent_brain_myth_2007.html
on “The Paradox of the Elephant Brain”Submitted Is Homo naledi just a primitive version of Homo erectus? as a story · 36 points
HN discussionIn 2007, John Hawks criticized[1] Lorber's claim. [1]: http://johnhawks.net/weblog/reviews/brain/development/ten_pe...
Comment linking /weblog/reviews/brain/development/ten_percent_brain_myth_2007.html
on “Bigger brains are not always better”Submitted Mushroom-munching poplar-popping Neandertals as a story · 33 points
HN discussionCitation needed. I found the following after a quick search: http://johnhawks.net/weblog/reviews/life_history/age-specifi... That seems to indicate that age specific mortality rates _have_ decreased across the board, not just infant mortality. And it also backs up that our in-city lifespans used to be ~30-35 after juveniles. To be clear, that's exactly the figure I'm interested in, not maximum lifespan. If, on avera…
Comment linking /weblog/reviews/life_history/age-specific-mortality-lifespan-bad-science-2009.html
on “Chemists Were Wrong About Splenda”Submitted What the recent neandertal genome sequencing means to us as a story · 33 points
HN discussionthe scans are actually of a retarded person with hydrocephalus, and are not scans of the near-mythical never-verified anecdote from Lorber ( https://www.gwern.net/docs/iq/1980-lewin.pdf ) of the 126 IQ guy (Hawks gives a couple reasons why that might not have been as impressive as it seems: http://johnhawks.net/weblog/reviews/brain/development/ten_pe... ). So the best example doesn't have hard fMRI scan evidence, an…
Comment linking /weblog/reviews/brain/development/ten_percent_brain_myth_2007.html
on “No Brainer (2015)”Submitted Killing it: From handaxes to spears, no difference in hunting (2020) as a story · 32 points
HN discussionLeft-out of this article is that the Denisovans seem to be one of the ancestors of the Melanesian peoples living in and near Papua New Guinea: http://johnhawks.net/weblog/reviews/neandertals/neandertal_d... . More about the Melanesians: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Melanesians
Comment linking /weblog/reviews/neandertals/neandertal_dna/denisova-nuclear-genome-reich-2010.html
on “The Case of the Missing Human Ancestor”Submitted Culture, mathematical models, and Neandertal extinction as a story · 31 points
HN discussionNo, there isn't such evidence. My comment was mostly based off DNA left by interbreeding between Neanderthal and Sapiens. Modern humans do carry a small but significant share of DNA inherited from our Neanderthal ancestors [1]. My point was that Genes left by these ancestors were heavily filtered by natural selection for brain-related regions. That being said, loking it up again now, it seems that more recent public…
Comment linking /p/many-people-have-a-little-neandertal-in-the-brain
on “Why Is the Kiwi's Egg So Big?”Submitted Did humans approach the southern tip of South America more than 18k years ago? as a story · 30 points
HN discussion
