E.T...phone home...

Just spotted this blog post about artificially deformed crania being misinterpreted as evidence of extra-terrestrial beings. I love the sheer ignorance of those alien-fanciers, and Daily Mail journalists! But also, I'm glad that this area of anthropology is beginning to get the attention it deserves. I've been working in this area for a while now, and am especially interested in the neurological effects of artificial or cultural cranial deformation. I presented on this topic at the American Academy of Forensic Sciences in February this year, and I am currently preparing an article about it (with M. Richards), looking at how we can use ethnographic evidence and clinical observations in modern infants with craniosynostosis to draw conclusions about how it affects/ed the brain function of individuals with deformed crania.