Popular Science

Researchers reveal that a 1.2 million-year-old female pelvis they found in Ethiopia in 2001 suggests our predecessors were larger-brained than previously thought

The story of evolution got bigger last week when researchers revealed in the journal Science that they had discovered a wide-hipped pelvis, suggesting our ancestors were larger-brained than formerly thought. The first of its kind, the 1.2 million-year-old, near-complete female pelvis is from the now-extinct Homo erectus species, believed to be our first human-like relative to leave Africa.

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“John was always into the military,” says Brian Hart. He and his wife, Alma, were hoping their son would go to college, “but when 9/11 happened, he was sure,” Hart recalls. “He wanted to serve.” John enlisted in September 2002 at age 19, drawing a place in the 173rd Airborne Brigade. By July, he was on the front line in Iraq and quickly realized that the Army had come to war unprepared. “He called me and said, ‘Dad, we need body armor. Can you help?’” The next week, October 18, 2003, John and his commanding officer were killed in their unarmored humvee during a roadside ambush.

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The South Korean air force showcased its new aircraft testing and evaluation center on opening day, September 8, by coating this F-4 Phantom fighter jet with ice. In the facility, engineers simulate conditions that a plane might encounter at 40,000 feet to determine if the craft’s composite structure—particularly in its wings—can endure the freezing temperatures without cracking.

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At the New York WhiskyFest this week, nobody wanted to talk much about technological innovations in the industry. Most of the whisky professionals I asked assured me that there was no such thing as innovation at their tradition-steeped distillery -- they were doing everything the same way it had been done for generations, thank you very much. Some distillers seemed put out that their companies had recently embraced such cutting-edge twentieth-century technology as labelling barrels with bar codes. The marketing side of the business is innovating to beat the band -- look for a new Irish whiskey called Feckin and a new rye called (rī)¹ coming soon to bars near you -- but the production side remains defiantly old-fangled.

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As part of my ongoing, personal economic bailout plan, this week I began tinkering around with a couple of the free, online office suites that are available. After all, why shell out a few hundred clams for Microsoft Office when others are giving it away for free? Unfortunately, after a week of getting to know Google Docs and Zoho Writer, here I am typing this week’s column from the comfort and safety of a bought-and-paid-for copy of Microsoft Word. Why? Because I came to realize something about myself over the course of this week: At 30 years old, I’m already an old fart.

More on that later.

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