I’ve got your missing links right here – 25th December 2010

(Merry Christmas everyone) Top ten picksRise of the Denisovians – Carl Zimmer on the new group of ancient humans, identified through a pinky and a molar. The group are cousins of the Neanderthals, belonging to a lineage that split off from them about 400,000 years ago. They also interbred with some early humans, and some of their genes turn up in modern Melanesians. John Hawks has a must-read FAQ on the discovery, Razib Khan has a very detailed and contextual take on the paper’s implications, and Zimmer reports back with some interesting dissentA brief history of science and journalism, two disciplines that diverged and are now reconnecting, ably narrated by Bora Zivkovic. Last year, US scientists suggested that the mouse virus XMRV could cause chronic fatigue syndrome, and ever since, labs have largely failed at replicating the results. Now, four new papers by independent international labs all come to the ...