Monthly Archives: June 2013

Entering the online teaching universe

Posted on June 27, 2013 by Adam Van Arsdale

I have been in radio blackout mode the past week busily getting materials ready for my tenure review. But I have also been deep in preparations for my Introduction to Human Evolution course coming up this Fall, which is notable … Continue reading →

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Breaking: SCOTUS releases Myriad decision (gene patent case)

Posted on June 13, 2013 by Adam Van Arsdale

Full text of decision here (pdf), more thoughts from me later… Background on Association for Molecular Pathology v. Myriad Genetics, Inc. (SCOTUSblog) From the opinion (Justice Thomas writing for the unanimous decision, with Justice Scalia concurring, in part, and writing … Continue reading →

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New biocultural evolution blog

Posted on June 13, 2013 by Adam Van Arsdale

Aaron Stutz, an associate professor of Anthropology at Oxford College, Emory University, has a wonderful new blog focused on biocultural evolution. I have added it to the blogroll on the side (which needs to be updated further), but you should … Continue reading →

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Privacy is a societal issue, not a personal one

Posted on June 12, 2013 by Adam Van Arsdale

The recent SCOTUS decision in the Maryland v. King case has produced a lot of interesting follow-up commentaries. A sampling of a few of them are linked below: Panopticon, keep your eyes on the word (Ronald Collins, SCOTUSBlog) DNA Fingerprinting … Continue reading →

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Room for Debate: Gene patents

Posted on June 7, 2013 by Adam Van Arsdale

This week’s NY Times “Room for Debate” segment is focused on gene patents. With a SCOTUS ruling expected any day on the issue in the Myriad case, this is something that will likely be in the news. Check it out.

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New site header…

Posted on June 7, 2013 by Adam Van Arsdale

As summer begins, it is time to change the site banner. The old picture was of the Medieval/Bronze Age/Lower Paleolithic site of Dmanisi. The new image comes from my recent field trip to Kazakhstan, and features several members of our … Continue reading →

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Maryland v. King: Another step towards a DNA age

Posted on June 5, 2013 by Adam Van Arsdale

I am not a legal expert. What follows is in no way intended to be a legal exegesis of the arguments at stake in the recently decided Maryland v King supreme court case. However, I do know something about genomics … Continue reading →

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Breaking: Supreme court rules against DNA privacy

Posted on June 3, 2013 by Adam Van Arsdale

With June here, the Supreme Court is beginning to release their opinions on this term’s cases. One of the first announced this morning is the case of Maryland v. King (I wrote about the case earlier). At stake is whether … Continue reading →

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One last shot from Almaty…

Posted on June 1, 2013 by Adam Van Arsdale

Fieldwork is done for the time being, the only tasks that remain are gift shopping, packing and departing. Prof. Zhaken Taimagambetov (Al-Farabi Kazakhstan National University) was a wonderful host during my stay.

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