September 2019
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Pigmentation SNPs by population
A technical note on using plink’s clustering and frequency feature to get pigmentation SNP minor allele frequencies in 1000 Genomes plus Sintashta samples, with a caution that frequencies may need…
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The Sintashta were swarthy
Razib Khan checks Sintashta pigmentation loci and finds they were much darker complected than modern northern Europeans, probably closer to Sardinians, which helps explain why many North Indians with steppe…
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Browncast Episode 66, ancient India and DNA with Vagheesh Narasimhan
A Brown Pundits podcast episode interviewing Vagheesh Narasimhan, lead author of the 2019 ancient DNA papers on South and Central Asia, about ancient India, with links to the papers, related…
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Kushal Mehra interviews Niraj Rai
The author recommends Kushal Mehra’s video interview with Niraj Rai, agreeing with him on the genetic data but not on how to read terms such as ‘invasion’, and comparing the…
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Calvinism, atheism, and Hinduism
Prompted by an NPR journalist’s remarks on Hinduism, the author argues that mockery of Hindu gods by some secular South Asian Muslims reflects an Abrahamic view of other gods as…
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Genetics, history, and identity in South Asia
Ahead of a conversation with Vagheesh Narasimhan, the author sets out his stance on South Asian genetics: he dislikes the tribal politics around it, finds some Hindu nationalist and some…
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Questions for Vagheesh
The author announces a podcast recording with Vagheesh Narasimhan, first author of the 2019 South and Central Asia ancient DNA paper, and invites reader questions.
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Open Thread – Brown Pundits
Open Thread, 8 September 2019: a general thread for any topic.
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Chandrayaan 2; if at first you don’t succeed..
The author argues that Chandrayaan 2’s lander failure was unsurprising given how hard autonomous lunar landing is, and that after heavy national hype the setback may still feed soft power,…
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The intrusive Indo-Aryans had a huge demographic impact on South Asia
Working from a table in the supplement to the 2019 South and Central Asia paper, the author argues that the steppe component is only a floor for the Indo-Aryan contribution…
