[BLOG] Some Wednesday links

[rfmcdonald]

• At Anthropology.net, Kambiz Kamrani notes the Qesem caves of Israel, where four hundred thousand years ago hominids learned to make tools.


• Bad Astronomer Phil Plait notes that star S2 is about to plunge to its closest approach to Sagittarius A*, the black hole at the heart of our galaxy, and what this means for science.


• Centauri Dreams takes a look at research done on Earth about the atmospheres of super-Earths.


• D-Brief takes a look at the recent research done on the regions on the edges of supermassive black holes.


• Bruce Dorminey notes that the Juno science team thinks that Jupiter probe has exceeded expectations.


• The Dragon's Tales notes the evidence for a massive migration from the steppes into Europe circa 3300 BCE.


• The Frailest Thing's Michael Sacasas makes the argument that the idea of humane technology is something of an oxymoron.


• Imageo notes evidence that permafrost will melt more quickly than previous predicted under the impact of global warming.


• JSTOR Daily looks at explanations for the unusually strong activism among high school students in East Los Angeles in the 1960s.


• Language Hat looks at evidence for the close relationship, in vocabulary and even in grammar, between the Turkish and Western Armenian languages now separated by bad blood.


• Lingua Franca notes how easy it is to change conventions on language use--like pronouns, say--at a well-functioning institution.


• Marginal Revolution looks at the economic progress made, after a recent lull, by Ghana.


• The NYR Daily looks at the growing involvement of the United States in small wars in Africa, starting with Niger and Cameroon.


• Justin Petrone at north! reports on a family visit to his ancestral home of Bari, seeing what little remains of the past there.


• Peter Rukavina wonders, apropos of a very successful experience shopping online at Amazon, how anyone else will be able to compete.


• Starts With A Bang's Ethan Siegel considers the difference between mathematics and physics. Where is the line to be drawn?


• Strange Maps' Frank Jacobs maps obesity in the United States and in Europe.


• Towleroad reports on the apparent interest of actor Cynthia Nixon in becoming governor of New York.


• John Scalzi at Whatever is a big fan of A Wrinkle in Time, a movie that is not perfect but is still quite good. I'm curious to see it myself.


• Window on Eurasia reports on food riots in isolated Turkmenistan.