Slashdot Mirror
New Evidence in Historical Cannibalism Debate
An anonymous reader writes "ScienceNOW is reporting that a team of scientists led by Geneticist Jaume Bertranpetit has called into question findings from an earlier study of human prion diseases. The first study, led by John Collinge of University College London, stated that the existence of a gene that codes for prions was a result of a "balancing act" that had kept it in the gene pool for so long. The balancing act was supposedly due to widespread cannibalistic practices in human history. The new report suggests that their results were skewed because of low frequency variations known as 'ascertainment bias.'"
Somewhere in the dusty recesses of the library stacks I came across writings that suggested many early northern european peoples practised cannibalism as was evidenced by the skulls of victims being halved to get at the brains. The National Geographic article suggests modern cannibals fed the brains to women and children as less desirable, but, for examples, grizziles feeding on migrating salmon will feed exclusivley on the brains once their initial hunger is sated.
My culinary perversion only extended to a one time feeding on beef tartare. I kinda liked it.
"Academicians are more likely to share each other's toothbrush than each other's nomenclature."
Cohen
Especially since some societies like the Polynesians, Hawaiians, and the Maori of New Zealand all practiced cannibalism with no taboo. Papua New Guinea also engaged in cannibalism, though with some more ritualistic overtones (women and children ate of the flesh and brains of fallen warriors of a tribe), compared to the Maori etc. who just used it as another food source.
that should be, more properly, "Do not meddle in the affairs of Dragons, for you are crunchy and taste good with ketchup". It's a take on the tolkien quote "do not meddle in the affiars of wizards, for they are subtle, and quick to anger".
filter: +3. Hey, look! all the trolls went away!
This story points out, once again, how the media and other Mauraders - (definition from Mark Cuban) - mis-use the word "scientific".
More often than not - pronouncements in the staus quo media as well as the so-called alternative media - write stories about one thing or another - so that it appears to be "scientific" - but in fact is simply a - "notion"!
Scientific is simple - means proven by the "scienific method" -and the proof replicated by others using the "scientific method". More often than not - the so-called science (or medical) research doesn't even follow the scientific method. And even worse - the results are never replicated to see if the original research was accurate.
The list of the failures is endless - the most glaring example is that HIV is the sole cause of auto immune dis-eases.
By the way - here's the five key criteria for the "scientific method":
1. Observation and description of a phenomenon or group of phenomena. 2. Formulation of an hypothesis to explain the phenomena. In physics, the hypothesis often takes the form of a causal mechanism or a mathematical relation. 3. Use of the hypothesis to predict the existence of other phenomena, or to predict quantitatively the results of new observations. 4. Performance of experimental tests of the predictions by originator of the hypothesis with properly performed experiments. 5.Replication of the experimental tests of the predictions by several independent experimenters and properly performed experiments.
"Polynesian" is not a specific nationality, but a supranational cultural/ethnic group. As the name implies, it encompasses many widespread Pacific islands and their related languages and cultures. Hawaiians and Maoris are both subsets of the Polynesians. So are the original inhabitants of Tahiti, Samoa, Fiji, Easter Island, the Marquesas, Tonga, Niue, Tuvalu, and about 1000 more islands.
A few of the Polynesians were definitely cannibals, e.g. Maoris, Marquesans, and Fijians. The Tongans, Niueans, and Hawaiians, among others, have been accused of it, but there is little supporting evidence.
The Hawaiians themselves insist that they never practiced cannibalism and consider the allegation insulting. They did perform human sacrifice and kept relics of the dead, but they did not actually consume any part of their victims.
-ccm
Too much Law; not enough Order.
Kuru (a common prion disease from cannibalism) is also known as Laughing Death. That's right.. I've got my eye on you laughers and I know what you're up to. You know who you are.
https://www.eff.org/https-everywhere