Viking Was a Job Description, Not Heredity

Learn about how being a “Viking” was actually a career choice, not an ethnicity, why it’s easy to plant false memories, and how the pandemic has made birdsong more complex.

"Viking" was a job description, not heredity by Grant Currin

• Helmets. (2020). National Museum of Denmark. https://en.natmus.dk/historical-knowledge/denmark/prehistoric-period-until-1050-ad/the-viking-age/weapons/helmets/
• Curry, A. (2020, September 16). ‘Viking’ was a job description, not a matter of heredity, massive ancient DNA study shows. Science | AAAS. https://www.sciencemag.org/news/2020/09/viking-was-job-description-not-matter-heredity-massive-ancient-dna-study-shows
• Margaryan, A., Lawson, D. J., Sikora, M., Racimo, F., Rasmussen, S., Moltke, I., Cassidy, L. M., Jørsboe, E., Ingason, A., Pedersen, M. W., Korneliussen, T., Wilhelmson, H., Buś, M. M., de Barros Damgaard, P., Martiniano, R., Renaud, G., Bhérer, C., Moreno-Mayar, J. V., Fotakis, A. K., … Willerslev, E. (2020). Population genomics of the Viking world. Nature, 585(7825), 390–396. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-020-2688-8

It's Surprisingly Easy to Plant False Memories by Ashley Hamer

• Scientists and Practitioners Don’t See Eye to Eye on Repressed Memory. (2013). Association for Psychological Science - APS. https://www.psychologicalscience.org/news/releases/scientists-and-practitioners-dont-see-eye-to-eye-on-repressed-memory.html#.WRJKslMrKi4
• And the Memory Wars Wage On. (2014, March 5). Nationalgeographic.Com. https://www.nationalgeographic.com/science/phenomena/2014/03/05/and-the-memory-wars-wage-on/
• Loftus, E. F. (2020). Elizabeth F. Loftus | Elizabeth F. Loftus. Uci.Edu. https://faculty.sites.uci.edu/eloftus/
• Creating False Memories. (2020). Washington.Edu. https://staff.washington.edu/eloftus/Articles/sciam.htm

The Pandemic Has Made Birdsong More Complex by Steffie Drucker

• Simon, M. (2020, September 24). How the Pandemic Transformed This Songbird’s Call. Wired; WIRED. https://www.wired.com/story/how-the-pandemic-transformed-this-songbirds-call/
• In San Francisco bay area, shutdown reduced anthropogenic noise, which changed birdsong quality. (2020). EurekAlert! https://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2020-09/aaft-isf092120.php
• Stokstad, E. (2020, September 24). When COVID-19 silenced cities, birdsong recaptured its former glory. Science | AAAS. https://www.sciencemag.org/news/2020/09/when-covid-19-silenced-cities-birdsong-recaptured-its-former-glory
• Derryberry, E. P., Phillips, J. N., Derryberry, G. E., Blum, M. J., & Luther, D. (2020). Singing in a silent spring: Birds respond to a half-century soundscape reversion during the COVID-19 shutdown. Science. https://doi.org/10.1126/science.abd5777

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