Neandertal Learning Materials and Scholarly articles

Neandertal Learning Materials:

Scholarly articles on Neandertal:

The robust composite skeleton of a Neandertal (left) is unmistakably different from that of a modern human (right). G.J. Sawyer and Blaine Maley

Credit: Ken Mowbray and Blaine Maley, American Museum of Natural History.

Staff completing sequencing projects at the 454 Sequencing Center located in Branford, CT. Source: 454 Life Sciences.

Due to sample contamination, the task of sequencing the Neandertal genome is much more extensive than the task of sequencing the human genome. 454 Life Sciences' Genome Sequencer 20 System makes such an endeavor feasible by allowing approximately a quarter of a million single DNA strands from small amounts of bone to be sequenced in only about five hours by a single machine.

Source: 454 Life Sciences.

Exploring the Genetic Code of the Neanderthal

Listen to this story...

Talk of the Nation, November 17, 2006 ·
Scientists have sequenced DNA from one of humans' closest relatives, the Neanderthal.
Guests examine what that prehistoric genetic code might tell us about how these early hominids lived, and why they became extinct.
Can the genetic code also answer the question of whether Neanderthals and modern humans interbred?


The Trap

The Trap
A BBC documentary:
The Trap, directed by Adam Curtis.

Game TheoryGame Theory studies strategic interactions between agents. In strategic games, agents choose strategies which will maximize their return, given the strategies the other agents choose.
The essential feature is that it provides a formal modeling approach to social situations in which decision makers interact with other agents.

Game theory has played, and continues to play a large role in the social sciences, and is now also used in many diverse academic fields. Beginning in the 1970s, game theory has been applied to animal behavior, including evolutionary theory.

Many games, especially the prisoner's dilemma, are used to illustrate ideas in political science and ethics. Game theory has recently drawn attention from computer scientists because of its use in artificial intelligence and cybernetics.

Although some game theoretic analyses appear similar to decision theory, game theory studies decisions made in an environment in which players interact. In other words, game theory studies choice of optimal behavior when costs and benefits of each option depend upon the choices of other individuals.

But bear in mind that John Forbes, whose works on the theory were later applied to many social and political schemes was a schizophrenic.

"Liberty? Why, it doesn't exist. There is no liberty in this world, just gilded cages."
Aldous Huxley, Antic Hay, 1923

Rafa Minuesa