Category Archives: Evolution

Lee Berger, a professor at the University of the Witwatersrand, holds a reconstruction of the skull of Homo naledi in Magaliesburg, South Africa, on Sept. 10, 2015. Themba Hadebe/AP hide caption

Lee Berger, a professor at the University of the Witwatersrand, holds a reconstruction of the skull of Homo naledi in Magaliesburg, South Africa, on Sept. 10, 2015.

On Tuesday, paleoanthropologists led by Paul Dirks at James Cook University revealed in the journal eLife that Homo naledi, a small-brained hominin found in South Africa, lived and may have cared for their dead in careful, intentional ways as recently as 236,000 years ago.

This was, to put it mildly, a surprise. Homo naledi shows an intriguing mix of characteristics a small brain, curved fingers (apparently an adaptation related to tree-climbing) and certain primitive-looking joints but more modern-looking teeth, hands (except for the finger curvature), legs, and feet. The suspicion, since the fossils were first discovered by Lee Berger of the University of Witwatersrand and his team at Rising Star cave in 2013 (described here in 2015), was that they were perhaps as old as two million years.

As described in the new paper, the far more recent date somewhere in the range between 335,000 and 236,000 years old was derived by a combination of six different techniques, including dating of flowstone residues on the cave-chamber walls and ESR, or electronic spin resonance, dating of tooth enamel from Homo naledi.

Published on Tuesday in conjunction with the journal article, Berger's new book Almost Human tells the story of Homo naledi's discovery in a deep and inaccessible chamber of the Rising Star cave. The excavation gained fame worldwide for several reasons: 15 hominin individuals were found, the single largest cache of ancient humans ever uncovered in Africa. Plus, the expedition was filmed as it happened not to mention tweeted and live-blogged resulting in a joint NOVA-National Geographic documentary that coincided with the first journal publication.

Berger's final chapter focuses on the new information coming out of Rising Star the excavation of a second chamber with more Homo naledi individuals, the process of coming up with the recent date and on making a case for intentional "depositing" of bodies as the reason the fossils ended up in the two cave chambers.

Berger could tell early on that the hominin individuals had not been dragged by carnivores or washed by moving waters to their final resting place in the original cave chamber. The excavation of the second chamber has now led him to even more certainty about as to the explanation. Berger writes:

"One thing was certain. No accident, no cave collapse, no death trap... could account for these two chambers, far from one another within one cave system, both full of remains of the same ancient hominins. Granted, it is hard to be definitive as you make the leap between the scientific evidence and your best guess about ancient behavior. But... the best hypothesis to account for these fossils is that Homo naledi used their chambers intentionally as places to deposit their dead."

The upshot, then, as Berger sees it, is that Homo naledi may have carried out quite complex behaviors, despite a small brain and during a relatively recent time period that might have overlapped with our immediate ancestors. (Our own species Homo sapiens is first known from Africa only at 200,000 years ago, so we are "younger" than Homo naledi.)

My own work about response to death is in the area of expressed grief in a variety of animals not in care-taking of bodies after death. Still, based on what I have learned, I don't think it's out of the question at all that a human-like species with a small brain might have curated its dead in the way Berger describes.

Sarah Wild, writing at Nature underscores, though, that these claims aren't accepted by everyone. Paleoanthropologist Chris Stringer at the Natural History Museum in London told her:

"Although no other satisfactory explanation for the deposition of the remains has yet been proposed, many experts, including myself, consider such complex behavior [burial of the dead] unlikely for a creature with a brain size close to that of a gorilla, particularly when a requirement for the controlled use of fire (for lighting) probably has to be added in."

I truly love this kind of debate and discussion about our past about the evolutionary trajectory that resulted in this ability to debate and discuss our origins, in a way that no other species does. Certainly, the new date forces us to think hard in new ways. As Sarah Zhang writes in The Atlantic on Tuesday:

"The discovery that another hominin, so different from us, lived as recently as 236,000 years ago adds more mystery to the question of why humans are the only surviving members of this once diverse family....It's still too soon to know exactly how we're related to Homo naledi and why we survived but they didn't. Whatever the answer, it will force us to consider what it means to be human."

Three weeks before the Homo naledi announcement, a team of paleontologists and archaeologists led by Steven Holen of the San Diego Natural History Museum presented evidence from a mastodon site in coastal California to suggest that North America was first colonized by people perhaps Neanderthals or another ancient species 130,000 years ago. This, too, was a major surprise; the accepted wisdom had been that people arrived on this continent only about 14,500 years ago.

The heart of the argument in this case rests on dating techniques and on the way the thick mastodon bones had been processed with hammerstones and anvils.

In that case, too, intense debates and discussions resulted. Hannah Hoag, writing in Sapiens magazine, notes:

"Many experts remain unconvinced. [David] Meltzer [of Southern Methodist University] and others say it doesn't show that people were the only force that could have fractured the bones and modified the stones. [John] McNabb [at the University of Southampton] points to the lack of corroborating tools, such as well-made stone tools like flakes or scrapers, which are typically found at butchery sites of the same age or older.

In both cases with Homo naledi and with the California mastodon site that fierce scrutiny both during and after peer-reviewed publication is exactly how it should be.

If both studies hold up, they represent dizzying changes to our understanding of our own evolutionary trajectory.

Barbara J. King is an anthropology professor emerita at the College of William and Mary. She often writes about the cognition, emotion and welfare of animals, and about biological anthropology, human evolution and gender issues. Barbara's new book is Personalities on the Plate: The Lives and Minds of Animals We Eat. You can keep up with what she is thinking on Twitter: @bjkingape

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Dizzying New Evidence In Human Evolution Provokes Debates - NPR

Abramorama has acquired North American theatrical rights to Scott Hamilton Kennedys documentary Food Evolution, Variety has learned exclusively.

The film, narrated by science communicator Neil deGrasse Tyson, will have its U.S. theatrical premiere on June 23 at the Village East Cinemas in New York, followed by a nationwide release to select cities.

Food Evolution explores the controversy surrounding genetically modified organisms, or GMOs, and food. The film includes experts such as Mark Lynas, Alison Van Eenennaam, Jeffrey Smith, Andrew Kimbrell, Vandana Shiva, Robert Fraley, Marion Nestle and Bill Nye, as well as farmers and scientists from around the world.

Richard Abramowitz of Abramorama says, We are eager to introduce Food Evolution to this essential conversation, one in which emotion often overtakes information. Scott Kennedys always entertaining deep dive into the science of GMOs is going to change some minds.

Kennedy was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Documentary for his film The Garden. Other credits include O.T.: Our Town, Fame High and Grace & Mercy.

At a time when science, facts and journalism seem to be under attack on a daily basis, I am thrilled to bring Food Evolution to theaters and a national audience, Kennedy said. Through our festival screenings at DOC NYC and CPH: DOX, weve witnessed the immense public appetite for a fact-based dialogue around the great food debate, and Richard and his team at Abramorama are the perfect partners to bring the film to as wide an audience as possible.

Watch the trailer below:

Read more here:

Documentary 'Food Evolution' Lands at Abramorama for U.S. (EXCLUSIVE) - Variety

Science Daily

Biologists identify key step in lung cancer evolution: Blocking the ... Science Daily Biologists have identified a major switch that occurs as lung adenomas transition to more aggressive adenocarcinomas -- and that blocking this switch prevents ... and more »

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Biologists identify key step in lung cancer evolution: Blocking the ... - Science Daily

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Understanding evolution is one of the cornerstones of biology evolution is, in fact, the sole explanation for lifes diversity on our planet. Based on the evolution of proteins, researchers may explain the emergence of new species and functions through genetic changes or how enzymes with novel functions might be engineered.

One popular approach to the study of evolution is to compare genome data using bioinformatics tools. Scientists using these approaches may compare specific proteins, which consist of combinations of 20 universal building blocks, called amino acids.

So far, the bioinformatics tools used to study the evolution of single proteins have assumed that the speed at which different regions of proteins evolve can be modelled with a statistical distribution whose shape is determined by a single variable.

That assumption, however, does not reflect reality, and it might have led to a large proportion of biased phylogenetic results being published over the last two decades or so, explains Minh Quang Bui, from the Center for Integrative Bioinformatics (CIBIV).

Arndt von Haeseler, group leader at the Max F Perutz Laboratories (MFPL) and Lars Jermiin from the Australian National University have now found a revolutionary way of implementing different rates of evolution into bioinformatics models.

It was well known among experts that the popular approach might not capture the complexities of protein evolution. However, the computational cost of using more realistic models was unacceptably high.

We have now developed a fast algorithm that gives us previously unavailable insights into protein evolution the new tool is likely to have a huge impact on a wide variety of research areas, including on the evolution of pathogens and the dispersal of agricultural pests, adds Lars Jermiin.

The new program ModelFinder will allow more accurate scientific estimates of evolutionary processes. This enhanced understanding of evolution will help us come one step closer to unravelling the mysteries, which are responsible for the great diversity on our planet.

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A new bioinformatics tool to decipher evolutionary biology - Drug Target Review

When fossil hunters unveiled the remains of a mysterious and archaic new species of human found deep inside a cave in South Africa two years ago, the scientific community was stunned. Since then, bodies of the long-lost family members have piled up.

In work published on Tuesday in the journal eLife, the team reveals how high that pile has become. They now have the remnants of at least 18 Homo naledi, as the species is named. The most recent haul of bones, found in a cave chamber 100 metres from the first, includes a nearly complete adult skull.

Tests on the material found the bones to be between 335,000 and 236,000 years old, making them far younger than many scientists had expected. It means that this species of primitive hominid was actually around at the same time as Homo sapiens, said Lee Berger, the lead scientist at the University of Witwatersrand in Johannesburg.

The bones, remarkably, show few signs of disease or stress from poor development, suggesting that Homo naledi may have been the dominant species in the area at the time. They are the healthiest dead things youll ever see, said Berger.

Homo naledi stood about 150cm tall fully grown and weighed about 45kg. But it is extraordinary for its mixture of ancient and modern features. It has a small brain and curved fingers that are well-adapted for climbing, but the wrists, hands, legs and feet are more like those found on Neanderthals or modern humans. If the dating is accurate, Homo naledi may have emerged in Africa about two million years ago but held on to some of its more ancient features even as modern humans evolved.

This is astonishingly young for a species that still displays primitive characteristics found in fossils about two million years old, said Chris Stringer at the Natural History Museum in London, who was not involved in the research.

The age of the bones, and their discovery in the Rising Star cave system on the edge of the Cradle of Humankind World Heritage site near Johannesburg, has led Berger to speculate that some ancient stone tools found in the region might have wrongly been attributed to Homo sapiens. Instead, they might be the work of Homo naledi, he said.

No stone tools have ever been found with Homo naledi bones, but Stringer does not rule out the possibility that the species may have made them. It seems highly likely that its handiwork is present in the archaeological record of southern Africa, but currently unattributed, he said.

Another question raised by the remains is how they got to their final resting place. Berger does not believe that the creatures got there by accident. I think the discovery of this second chamber adds to the idea that Homo naledi deliberately disposed of its dead in the deep underground chambers in the Rising Star cave system, he said. I cant see any other way, other than them going into these remote chambers themselves and bringing bodies in. To do that, he suspects, they were also able to control fire.

Others are not so confident. Stringer said he and many other experts doubted that Homo naledi, with a brain the size of a gorillas, was capable of such complex behaviour. Perhaps further exploration will reveal other, closer, entrances or sinkholes which were temporarily open, through which the remains could have been introduced by accidental or natural processes? he said.

According to Jessica Thompson, a palaeolithic archaeologist at Emory University in Atlanta, what the bones do make clear is that human evolution was not the straightforward, linear progression from one species to another that it is often made out to have been. It doesnt start out with something that looks like a monkey, and the something that looks like an ape, and then something that looks like a human, and then all of the sudden youve got people, she said. Its much more complicated than that.

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New haul of Homo naledi bones sheds surprising light on human evolution - The Guardian

A recent article in Nature Ecology &Evolution, Public literacy in evolution, discusses a newly launched project to push evolution on the European public. Called EvoKE, or EVOlutionary Knowledge for Everyone, the projects main concern isto find ways to increase European citizens acceptance and understanding of evolution. In multiple places, the article quotes EvoKE leaders who areworriedabout the level of acceptance of evolution. The language is telling:

In case you missed it, EvoKE spends a lot of time frettingabout whether the European public accepts evolution. They seem particularly distressedabout those movements thatdo not encourage people to accept evolution.

In response, theproject aims to get political. The last paragraph states:

In 2007, the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe adopted the resolution: The dangers of creationism in education. This resolution urged state members to notably defend and promote scientific knowledge, and to promote evolution knowledge as a fundamental scientific theory in school curricula. However, we are not aware of an EU policy agenda regarding the teaching of evolution. Support for EvoKE and the projects that came out of the meeting would certainly be a way for the European Council to be more proactive on those issues.

We reported on the above-mentioned 2007 resolution, adopted by the Council of Europe, at the time. Memorably, it stated that teaching intelligent design may entail a threat to human rights. Specifically, that resolutiondeclared:

To summarize, the resolution claims that intelligent design is a form of creationism thatis dangerous, anti-science, promotes deception, is religiously motivated. It says that teaching these ideas amounts toa serious attack on human rights, ofutmost virulence on human rights and one of the most serious threats to human rights and civic rights. The resolution goes on for 105 paragraphs this way.Read the whole thing.

And remember, thisrabidly intolerant screed isnt arandomblog rant from some intolerant undergraduate atheist student club. It was adopted as a resolution by the Council of Europe, a quasi-governmental body and would-be protector of human rights. According to the article in Nature Ecology & Evolution, the EvoKE project wants to lobby the European Union a true governmental body with real lawmaking powers to draw inspiration from this resolution and start making policy.

What kind of policy could come from such a declaration, standing directly against freedom of thought, freedom of speech, freedom of religion, and freedom of scientific inquiry? The resolutions claims that intelligent design could pose a threat to human rightssounds like a thinly veiled wishto criminalize or legally inhibit ID advocacy. Is this how EvoKE aims to encourage Europe to accept evolution by declaring that alternative views pose a threat to human rights? Would they threaten dissenters with legal retaliationfor being anti-science?

Oppressive regimeshave tried gambits like that in the past.One hopes that EvoKE would aim to persuade the public with reason and evidence, not through the force of the law. But on any objective showing, reason and evidence are on the side of intelligent design, notevolution. Maybe thats why, it seems, some are tempted by harsher remedies.

Image: Europe from space, by Smh232 (Own work) [CC BY-SA 3.0], via Wikimedia Commons.

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EvoKE Project Pushes European Public to Accept Evolution - Discovery Institute

YaleNews features works recently or soon to be published by members of the University community. Descriptions are based on material provided by the publishers. Authors of new books may forward publishers book descriptions to us byemail.

The Evolution of Beauty: How Darwins Forgotten Theory of Mate Choice Shapes the Animal World and Us

Richard O. Prum, the William Robertson Coe Professor of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology and professor of forestry and environmental studies

(Doubleday)

In the great halls of science, dogma holds that Darwins theory of natural selection explains every branch on the tree of life: which species thrive, which wither away to extinction, and what features each evolves. But, Richard Prum asks, can adaptation by natural selection really account for everything we see in nature?

Prum reviving Darwins own views thinks not. Deep in tropical jungles around the world are birds with an array of appearances and mating displays: Club-winged Manakins who sing with their wings, Great Argus Pheasants who dazzle prospective mates with a four-foot-wide cone of feathers covered in golden 3D spheres, Red-capped Manakins who moonwalk. In 30 years of fieldwork, Prum has seen numerous display traits that seem disconnected from, if not contrary to, selection for individual survival. To explain this, he dusts off Darwins long-neglected theory of sexual selection in which the act of choosing a mate for purely aesthetic reasons for the mere pleasure of it is an independent engine of evolutionary change.

Mate choice can drive ornamental traits from the constraints of adaptive evolution, allowing them to grow ever more elaborate. It also sets the stakes for sexual conflict, in which the sexual autonomy of the female evolves in response to male sexual control. Most crucially, this framework provides important insights into the evolution of human sexuality, particularly the ways in which female preferences have changed male bodies, and even maleness itself, through evolutionary time.

See more books by members of the Yale community.

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Book: The Evolution of Beauty - Yale News

VPNs, or virtual private networks, have been around for a while. Over the past two decades, VPN evolution has transitioned...

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the technology from point-to-point connectors that facilitate remote access to one that's based on sophisticated security multipoint connectivity.

Every technology has a lifecycle, and VPNs are no different. VPN evolution has taken place over the years, adapting to the networks that have been shaped by broadband connectivity, the cloud and mobility, as well as the endpoint devices themselves.

Reflecting back on the early days of VPNs and how far we have come, the evolution can be broken down into four phases. Let's take a closer look.

In the early 1990s, VPNs were used solely for dial-up connections and to create private networks across public infrastructure. Data networks allowed VPN remote connectivity through dial-up modems operated by telecommunication carriers. As cyberattacks and data breaches were not yet a major issue or concern for early internet surfers, VPNs were not yet in demand for their privacy and security features.

However, as the internet progressed, so did cybercriminals. In the mid-1990s, computer viruses, identity theft, malware, hacking, phishing and denial-of-service attacks began to spread globally, and a more secure and sophisticated internet was now vital.

In the 2000s, VPNs became mainstream and were essentially available to all users for remote dial-in, mobile and multiuse networks. The emergence of home computers and private email proved to rapidly increase the vulnerability of internet connections and networks. To protect sensitive information and to reduce risks of cyberattacks, internet users began using VPNs to secure connections, prevent malware, ensure digital privacy and hide their physical locations.

Security features, such as firewalls, VPN tunneling, encryption, authentication and endpoint security, were now critical to prevent unauthorized access to or from a private network.

The proliferation of smartphones and connected devices, starting in 2010, fueled the next wave of VPN technology and drove more sophisticated security options. Secure connections were simply not enough. The need to authenticate the user and the endpoint device required new capabilities. To ensure a new level of authentication for VPNs, advanced methods such as one-time password tokens, fingerprint IDs, iris scans and voice recognition were integrated.

As the need for VPNs grew, they needed to be centrally managed. Today, VPNs offer comprehensive automation that eliminates the need for endpoint administration or user involvement. By taking the responsibility of facilitating VPNs away from users, configuration and management are free from manual errors. Endpoint devices are also more intelligent, enabling them to communicate with VPNs and other third-party infrastructure, such as firewalls, mobile device management, proxies and other malware, and antivirus software.

VPNs are increasingly used to secure data tunnels between end devices and internal corporate networks.

As the internet of things and industrial internet of things mature, the implications for VPNs will also continue to evolve. Due to the majority of businesses implementing BYOD or allowing employees to work from home, VPNs are increasingly used to secure data tunnels between end devices and internal corporate networks. The leading VPNs can secure virtually any device using any connection medium, as well as maintain secure connections as they traverse from network to network.

With the growth of connected cars, vehicle VPNs have emerged. A vehicle VPN enables users to safely and securely access a private network from a car without compromising any sensitive information. VPNs also help prevent hacking and other potential security threats, a particularly important benefit when manufacturers roll out software updates for engine control and car electronics systems via the internet and cloud data centers.

It is worth noting that the same VPN used to secure a laptop's network connection is the same VPN that can be used to secure a car's internet connection.

Cybercriminals will continue to find new ways to infiltrate and attack internet connections and private networks. With over 3 billion internet users worldwide, it is crucial for every end device to use a VPN for secure and encrypted data exchange. Currently, only a fraction of internet users use VPNs. Furthermore, as more households acquire more connected devices, the risk of cyberattacks will dramatically increase.

Today's modern VPNs are versatile, cost-efficient and offer comprehensive automation. All internet users can benefit from the security and privacy that a VPN provides through personal firewalls, advanced authentication and ciphertext.

Secure communication is one of the most important foundations for our future, and it is imperative to protect data in motion with VPN evolution.

The evolving role of SSL VPNs

The history of VPNs

Past, present and future VPNs

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How has VPN evolution changed remote access? - TechTarget

Dr. Robert Burger of Beacon Orthopaedics & Sports Medicine sat down with the Enquirer to talk about his career and life as an athlete and sports parent. Phil Didion for The Enquirer

Dr. Rober Burger of Beacon Orthopaedics & Sports Medicine.(Photo: Phil Didion for The Enquirer)Buy Photo

Beacon Orthopaedics & Sports Medicine is the presenting sponor of the Cincinnati.com Sports Awards May 22 at The Aronoff Center.

Dr. Robert Burger is the head team physician and medical director for Xavier University and La Salle High School, among others. Burger played football at La Salle and the University of Notre Dame, and was a member of the Fighting Irishs 1977 national championship team. He sat down for an interview with The Enquirer to talk about sports medicine and his personal ties to athletics.

Jason Hoffman: Can you walk us through the role of the team medical director and what goes into that?

Dr. Robert Burger: Being a team medical director is a role similar to being a head coach. You have to surround yourself with a lot of quality professionals and each person needs to know their role and be accessible, available and accountable for what they do. A real key person in that team is the trainer. Thats the person whos on the front lines evaluating the athletes. They know the kids and take care of them throughout the season. They know how each individual is unique and which specific special needs they might have medically as well as what special conditions they might have that affect their ability to play. Along with that, there are the physical therapists and the office personnel who work along with the coaches, parents and athletic directors. It really is a coordinated network of people that care for our athletes.

JH: Can you walk me through some of the biggest changes youve seen in sports medicine?

RB: I have to go back even farther than 26 years to 40- to- 45 years back when I was in high school. Back then, the trainer was a student who was maybe interested in sports medicine who taped ankles. Treatment before a hot practice was you took salt tablets, and if somebody had heat problems it was usually because they didnt take enough salt tablets. We didnt have MRIs. Still, there were team doctors involved. Our team doctors, when I played high school football, were pediatricians who were willing to give their time and services. What we have today, and how thats evolved, is that teams are really taken care of by a team of individuals. Were fortunate now that most of the schools have qualified, licensed athletic trainers, and theyre the frontline person whos working every day with the athletes. Along with that, we have the team physicians, whos there and over time gets to know the parents, athletes and coaches. And now, after 26 years, its evolved to where Im taking care of the children of the athletes I used to take care of, which is neat but it also makes you feel like you have a couple gray hairs and youve aged a little bit. So, its been fun. Also, our understanding of issues like concussions is just light years different. Our ability with an MRI to diagnose quickly the injuries, where previously we didnt have that. So, really now, we have a team approach to taking care of athletes and its enhanced care and gives the athlete the chance to enjoy playing sports during that unique window of time they have.

JH: You were a high school and collegiate athlete as were your sons. From the position of having been an athlete yourself, being a team physician, and being a sports parent, whats that been like?

RB: Number one, its special. Its a really special time for an athlete and a really special time for a parent. Now, I feel like an old timer because I was blessed with four sons that played six or seven sports when they were in high school and they all played college sports. I greatly value what sports can do in terms of accountability, teamwork, self-confidence, discipline, the ability to improve at what you do, and that is something I treasure from my experience as an athlete. To be able to watch my sons has been some of the most enjoyable and memorable moments of my life. To be able to watch them grow and its something where they werent Gods gift to athletics where it was a foregone conclusion they were going to achieve success and theyve been challenged and experienced adversity, and theyve all been able to excel to a certain level, so it has been an absolute treat.

JH: Can you expand on what sports has given you and your family?

RB: I had a terrific education. I was blessed to attend La Salle High School and the University of Notre Dame as well as the University of Cincinnati College of Medicine. The toughest class I ever took in life was football at the University of Notre Dame. My sons played football at Ohio State and Notre Dame and both of them went through challenges. Did they have tough classes? Yes. And they received great educations. But the biggest challenge you have is learning to deal with the adversity, getting up after youve been knocked down, to push yourself to your limits, and to grow and to learn and mature as a person. To recognize the strengths that you have and to surround yourself with good people. Those are all great lessons weve learned through sports. Even though its been 40 years since I played college football, those are lessons I draw from every day of my life today.

For more of the conversation, including a video with Dr. Burger, visit cincinnati.com/sports.

For more information on the Cincinnati.com Sports Awards, visit sportsawards.cincinnati.com.

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Local doctor talks sports medicine evolution - Cincinnati.com

As her artwork makes clear, it's hard to put a "label" on Lucy Liu. Actress, director, artist, and single mother ... not so simple, as our Mo Rocca discovered:

Actress Lucy Liu showed Rocca around the set of her series, "Elementary": "This is a precinct which is where we shoot a lot. There's a bathroom here but it actually goes out into the morgue. So if you go to the bathroom, you end up in the morgue!"

For CBS' take on Sherlock Holmes, Watson is a woman, played by Liu.

The "Elementary" actress and artist continues to grow, taking on directing and motherhood.

CBS News

But that's not the series' only distinguishing feature. While the dynamic of traditional Holmesian drama is that Sherlock is brilliant and almost infallible while Watson is worshipful and tagging along, it's different here.

"Sherlock is fallible," Liu said. "He's got an addiction problem. She started with him as a sober companion, and then it's turned into a partnership.

"I think it's fair to say it's a much quieter role. It's a role that I have learned patience with. I've had many roles that are quite fiery, and have had a lot of exclamation points after the name. So I think it's nice to change it up a little bit!"

Yes, it's definitely a change from the rock-'em-sock-'em roles she's played in movies. And it's the first that's connected with one fan in particular.

"So is this the first thing that your mother has really grooved to?" asked Rocca.

"Absolutely! Yeah. No hesitation. No hesitation," Liu replied. "This show she understands. She was a huge 'Columbo' fan. Now I've made it big time, because I'm on a detective show!"

Liu was raised in the New York City borough of Queens, speaking Chinese while growing up. "And then when my sister when to school, we started speaking a little bit of English, so it was sort of a little 'Chinglish,' a little mixed bag."

Lucy Liu outside her childhood home in Queen, New York.

CBS News

Her parents emigrated from China. She said, "They are definitely people that worked very hard, and had that whole idea of the American dream, and they pursued it."

But she kept her dream of acting a secret when she went off to the University of Michigan, where she auditioned for a production of "Alice in Wonderland" -- and was cast in the lead role.

"It was shocking,:" Liu said. "I thought there was a mistake, a big mistake. I kept following the name to the character. And I was in shock.

"Growing up as somebody from another country, really, not what you see on television, I never saw myself in the forefront, ever. We were always in the background."

Lucy Liu with Taye Diggs in "Ally McBeal."

Fox

But soon after moving to L.A., Liu would get used to being in front of the camera.

She recalled going to an audition for the series "Ally McBeal": "Everyone was basically Caucasian. And there was me, and then there was, like, one African American person. So I was like, 'Okay. So they're just doing this for the census!'"

Lucy didn't get the part she auditioned for, but series creator David E. Kelly was impressed, and wrote a role just for her, the acerbic Ling Woo. "A lot of people said that she was a bitch. But I felt that she was a very honest and very unmasked person, and was very direct."

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The evolution of Lucy Liu - CBS News - CBS News