Violent metaphors

Thoughts from the intersection of science, literature, and conflict

[jenniferraff]

On Race, Genetics, and Pseudoscience

On Race, Genetics, and Pseudoscience

How do scientists talk about race? For quite some time a small group of geneticists have been engaged in deep conversations about how best to convey the complexities of, and the relationship between race, DNA, and human variation to the general public. We come from different backgrounds—Ewan is the director of the European Bioinformatics Institute, Adam is a geneticist and science writer, Aylwyn…

View On WordPress

[jenniferraff]

Happy new year!

I hope that everyone has a wonderful holiday. If you’d like to read something about science, I have a new-ish post up at Forbes to close the year out: “Five Amazing Things We Learned About History From Ancient DNA In 2018“.

Every year ancient DNA research deepens our understanding of history a bit more, and 2018 was truly a remarkable year for ancient DNA research. By February the total…

View On WordPress

[jenniferraff]

Some archaeology reading to kick off this week

Some archaeology reading to kick off this week

My latest for Forbes discusses the new paper by Rascovan and colleagues, “Emergence and Spread of Basal Lineages of Yersinia pestis during the Neolithic Decline.”

Researchers investigated the hypothesis that the so-called “Neolithic Decline”—population decreases throughout Europe—was caused at least in part by pandemics. To do this, they cleverly made use of one feature of paleogenomics that…

View On WordPress

[jenniferraff]

Round up of Forbes blogs

Round up of Forbes blogs

I am absolutely terrible at promoting my writing. I’m going to try to remedy that by posting links to my Forbes blogs regularly here.

I didn’t write very much last month (I was extremely busy with academic stuff and drafting the first chapter of my book), but usually I aim for about 5 pieces a month, covering topics in genetics and anthropology.

Here’s my latest, on the origins of milk…

View On WordPress

[jenniferraff]

Exciting news!

For the last year, alongside learning about the joys and challenges of new motherhood and doing my academic work, I’ve also been quietly working on a new project. That new project is finally in a place where I can share it with people: I’m thrilled to announce that last week I signed a book contract with Twelve Books !

My book (which is tentatively titled “Origin”) will be a history of the…

View On WordPress

[jenniferraff]

Book review: What does heredity mean these days?

Book review: What does heredity mean these days?

I don’t do very many book reviews, but I jumped at the opportunity when the New York Times recently asked me to review Carl Zimmer’s new book “She has her mother’s laugh: The powers, perversions, and potential of heredity.”* As I was very familiar with Carl’s science writing, I had high expectations as I began reading, and he definitely exceeded them. This is a delightful monster of a book; 500+…

View On WordPress

[jenniferraff]

In the wake of Wakefield

In the Wake of Wakefield: 20 years later.

Colin and I were just interviewed on BBC Radio 4 for a commemoration of sorts. It’s been 20 years since Andrew Wakefield published his infamous paper, “Ileal-lymphoid-nodular hyperplasia, non-specific colitis, and pervasive developmental disorder in children” alleging an MMR vaccine/colitis/autism link. This paper was retracted after Brian Deer’s and the Lancet’s investigations revealed: -severe…

View On WordPress

[jenniferraff]

Updates: writing, radio, and podcasts!

Updates: writing, radio, and podcasts!

It’s been a little while since I’ve updated this blog! I’ve spent all summer working extremely hard to get some academic writing done before our new baby arrives (he’s doing great, and due on Monday!). But although I’ve been fairly quiet here at Violent Metaphors, I’ve been doing some things elsewhere and I thought I should do a quick end-of-summer roundup of everything in one place. I’ve been…

View On WordPress

[jenniferraff]

What Napoleon’s army ate I have a new blog on archaeology out over at The Guardian's science page, where I'm contributing a piece about once a month on archaeology and biological anthropology.

[jenniferraff]

Having a baby doesn't change the facts on vaccines.

Having a baby doesn’t change the facts on vaccines.

I normally avoid sharing personal details and information about my family publicly on social media. This post is going to be one of the rare exceptions. When my Dear parents post went viral a few years ago, I heard from a lot of people who opposed vaccines demanding to know whether I had children, and insisting that if/when I did, I would come to understand how evil vaccination was. I found this…

View On WordPress

[jenniferraff]

Debunking pseudogenetics at Skepticon

Debunking pseudogenetics: My talk at Skepticon!

A few weeks ago I gave a talk at Skepticon 9 about pseudoscience, specifically the use of genetics to promote ideas like genetic astrology, “Nephilim DNA” from the Paracas skulls, and genetic determinism (with a special emphasis on “Rutherford’s law”). The conference organizers filmed it and uploaded it to Youtube, and so I’ve embedded it below if you’d like to see it.…

View On WordPress

[jenniferraff]

Genetic mythologies: “Nephilim DNA” from the Paracas skulls

Genetic mythologies: “Nephilim DNA” from the Paracas skulls

As longtime readers here know, I’m endlessly fascinated by the ways in which people attempt to misuse genetics to legitimize pseudoscientific ideas. Today I’m going to write about one example which I’ve been meaning to address for some time: pseudoscientific claims about the genetic distinctiveness of the Paracas peoples. (Please note that I don’t usually show images of Native American remains on…

View On WordPress

[jenniferraff]

Archaeological Fantasies and the genetic history of the Americas

Archaeological Fantasies and the genetic history of the Americas

The excellent podcast Archaeological Fantasies recently had me on as a guest for a wide ranging discussion on genetics. We covered everything from the genetic prehistory of the Americas to issues surrounding ancestry testing companies. Here’s a link to the episode (apologies for the fact that I kept cutting in and out–apparently our university wireless connection isn’t very good). Since so much…

View On WordPress

[jenniferraff]

Pseudoscience is common among elite athletes outside of the Olympics too...and it makes me furious.

Pseudoscience is common among elite athletes outside of the #olympics too.

The many stories yesterday featuring Olympians appearing with cupping marks on their skin have brought renewed attention to pseudoscience in sports. Cupping, which involves putting a hot jar onto the skin, forming a suction that “draws out” toxins or unblocks energy meridians or something like that, might seem like a relatively benign form of pseudoscience, but it can be quite harmful.  Orac has…

View On WordPress

[jenniferraff]

#Vaxxed, reviewed: What happened outside of the movie.

#Vaxxed, reviewed: What happened outside of the movie.

This is part II of our series on the movie “Vaxxed”, which Colin, my sister Julie, and I saw in Kansas City on June 11. In part I, Colin focused on some of the factual inaccuracies of the movie. He talked about how a person attending the movie would have walked away with an extremely distorted understanding of the CDC, a distortion deliberately encouraged by Mr. Wakefield and the makers of the…

View On WordPress

[jenniferraff]

How to flunk out of the University of Google

How to flunk out of the University of Google.

As I’m putting the (hopefully) final touches on a short textbook that I’m writing entitled “Handbook on Science Literacy”, I’ve been thinking a lot about how to recommend a person go about systematically investigating a scientific issue without having any background in it. Sure, you can learn how to read and understand a scientific article, but let’s be honest—far too many people choose instead…

View On WordPress

[jenniferraff]

Behind the scenes at NASA: The HERA project

Behind the scenes at NASA: The HERA project

Side view of the HERA project facility. The hygiene module, where bathrooms and showers are housed, is in the foreground.   What happens if you put a group of adults together in a confined space and leave them isolated for weeks? Can they get along? Can they work together to productively carry out complex tasks, stay in shape, and conduct scientific research? This sounds like the premise for a…

View On WordPress