This story continues to amaze me. Who needs science fiction when there’s alternate lines of human evolution to contemplate! So, a little more about the significance of that finger bone and molar found in the Denisova cave.

This discovery is extraordinary on many levels.

Perhaps the most important is that one small group of modern humans who live far away from Siberia—the Melanesian islanders of the Pacific Ocean—have picked up a block of genes from the newly discovered species on their (or, rather, their ancestors’) travels. Genetic evidence of the Melanesians’ journey from the African cradle of Homo sapiens, which started (like that of all non-African people) about 60,000 years ago when a band of adventurers crossed the straits of Bab el Mandeb, from modern Djibouti to modern Yemen, suggests they then continued along the south coast of Asia, never going far inland. For the necessary interbreeding to have happened, Dr Paabo’s new species would thus have to have been spread over a vast area of Asia. Yet it has left no previously identified traces.

To be fair, Asia has not, so far, been a rich source of human fossils—unlike Africa, where many sites in the east and the south have yielded ancestral humans, and Europe, where Neanderthals have been found by the hundred. Good Asian fossils come only from China (Peking Man, a type of Homo erectus) and Indonesia (Java Man, another erectus, and Homo floresiensis, the much-maligned “hobbit” of the island of Flores). Stone tools abound, but human bones from other Asian sites are almost as rare as hens’ teeth. The few that do exist are now, of course, the subject of intense scrutiny and much debate about whether they, too, belong to the new species.

What this discovery ought to provide, then, is the impetus to start looking much harder for human fossils in Asia. The new species, which has yet to be named, clearly lived all over the place. If, despite that, it remained hidden until now, who knows what other species of human might also be out there?

Do you hear that, grad students!? Let’s get digging!

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Filed under: Academia, East Asia, Science Tagged: denisova cve, human evolution, melanesians

[Caption]As discreet developments, the easing of travel restrictions and troop desertions are remarkable, even a moment to cheer; together they start to worry.

Firstly, Andrei Lankpv narrates the slow erosion of North Korea’s restrictive travel visa system.

Nowadays, the authorities issue travel permits for trips lasting a week or two. Often they can be bribed to speed up the process, and in such a case the permits are produced almost immediately. The amount of bribe varies, depending on the destination: from some $10 for Pyongyang to merely $2 to $3 for a humble countryside destination. Money seems to be paid usually in exchange for speed.

There is something even more remarkable: In recent years North Korean authorities began to issue certificates which allow its bearer to travel to China, crossing the border legally. The procedure is time-consuming, taking about six months. As usual, it requires special security checks by the authorities. However, the outcome of such procedures is not pre-ordained, so generous payments are helpful to steer officials in the right direction. In this case, the bribes are much larger, up to $100 (as opposed to the usual $50). For the average Korean this is a large amount of money, but a majority of the applicants are engaged in the cross-border shuttle activity, and for them $100 is not an exorbitant sum.

Small victories for liberty, yes, but couldn’t such easing also facilitate ever greater demands for travel? Once North Koreans get used to moving around, will borders stop them?

And then, there’s the indications of troop desertions in the North Korean military.

With no glue holding the starving and grumbling people together in the army, the North Korean army is showing more frequent signs of a meltdown. In the RFA article, military officials said the reported number of deserters is severely under-estimated. If the number of deserters is reported as 10 people, the actual number is closer to 50. (It was unclear from the article, whether the number 10 and 50 refers to the proportion of deserters in the army). Below the news article, some net users, such as Choi Jae-hyuk,[ko] pointed out that if only around 10 percent have fled, it can be understood, but if the movement involves 50-60 percent of members, it is a clear sign of change.

Not to be a spoilsport, but this is not how I want regime change n North Korea to proceed. I don’t want the country just to unravel without a hint of international contingency planning. Whereas lawless deserters are just a bad sign, workers with more room to roam might be a boon for the national economy that national planners could have to acknowledge with reforms. Still, both these developments are the sort of signs that snowball into crises, not happy endings.

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Filed under: Business/Economy, Korea, Military Tagged: andrei lankov, dprk, north korea, ppstaday2011

Spent New Years Eve at the Busan Aquarium with my girls, Jena and Alix. Such a nice way to spend my last weekday of vacation. We saw a bunch of sea creatures, including a broken shark. (Seriously, what was wrong with that shark??)

I’m freezing here in Busan, in the low thirties. I feel like each day gets colder! Not sure if I can handle this for the next several months. Brrr.

Connecting to Wi-Fi Hotspots is Difficult and It's (Largely) Alleh's Fault

This could also belong on the What Foreigners Need to Understand About Korea (and Koreans) page.  Korea is the well-known to be the most widely internet-connected country in the world.  Tell that to a visitor from another country.  There are plenty of places that Wi-Fi is available, BUT the fact is that many, many, many places are controlled by Korea Telecom's Alleh.  You need to be a member of Alleh in order to connect to Wi-Fi at these hotspots.  The problem with becoming a member?  You need a national identification number that can be validated by software.  And there begins the problem.

Even if you have a visa, and you have a national identification number, the identification number isn't recognized by the software.  This is a problem on many Korean websites, PC rooms, etc when you want to connect to the internet.  For example, you can join a PC room with a user ID and password and get a 10% discount, but it requires your national identification number (an ID also calculates the exact usage time, rather than rounding up to the nearest hour if you have no ID).  There is an algorithm embedded in the number itself, and software installed around Korea also recognizes the pattern.  However, foreigners that have visas have a national identification number which has a different algorithm, and as a result, if you try to enter your number at a PC room, then it usually doesn't work.

This is changing to some extent in Korea.  GMarket, the very popular website, has a special place for foreign buyers, who can establish an ID correctly.  It is a small pain, but it is do-able.

Best idea?  Meet a Korean-native friend, and use his/her Olleh ID.  Don't do anything illegal, and it will be fine, if you are just trying to surf the web.  Other ideas?  Avoid going to the coffee shops that use Alleh entirely.  I have found that Caffe Pascucci usually has publicly available Wi-Fi.  In any case, the difficulty in signing onto Wi-Fi hotspots in Korea is highly annoying to foreigners, resident or visiting.

Update:  I met with a friend in Seoul, and acknowledged the same thing to me.  Connecting to wi-fi is also difficult to him, because he doesn't belong to KT. One notable exception exists:  Incheon International Airport, thankfully, has free wi-fi, while many U.S. airports have wi-fi but you need to pay by the day or subscribe to network, called Boingo, that exists at many airports.