Evolution
The WEIRD Evolution of Human Psychology
Does psychology's over-reliance on American undergraduates distort our image of the human species?Imagine that you’re in a room with 100 psychopaths.
The Primate Diaries
Notes on science, politics, and history from a primate in the human zoo.
Evolution
Social Networks Matter: Friends Increase the Size of Your Brain
New research confirms that social complexity enriches cognitive growth. Could having more Facebook friends actually make you smarter?Let's face it, as a species we're obsessed with ourselves...
Evolution
Scientific Ethics and Stalin's Ape-Man Superwarriors
Author's Note: The following originally appeared at archy.The anti-Darwin industry among fundamentalist Christians has produced thousands of pages of misinformation in their attempt to tar and feather the theory of evolution...
Health
A Natural History of Vampires
Medveđa, Serbia. Jan. 1732 -- The Carpathian mountains loomed ominously to the east, as if nature herself was conspiring with evil. In the valley below a shadow had been draped over the corpses that now littered the quiet cemetery...
Evolution
Cultural Transmission in Chimpanzees
Culture defines who we are but few can explain where it comes from or why we adopt one tradition over another. In the classic musical The Fiddler on the Roof the family patriarch, Tevye, muses on this basic fact of human existence: Here in Anatevka we have traditions for everything.....
Evolution
Sacrifice on the Serengeti: Life History, Genetic Relatedness, and the Evolution of Menopause
Author's Note: The following originally appeared at Carin Bondar's website (she now co-blogs at Scientific American 's PsiVid ). It was subsequently selected as a finalist in the Quark Science Writing Prize and appeared in the 2010 edition of The Open Laboratory: The Best of Science Writing on the Web.Imagine you are on the Serengeti Plateau and your children are hungry...
Evolution
Charles Darwin and the Vivisection Outrage
Author's Note: The following originally appeared at The Dispersal of Darwin. According to the British Medical Journal the alleged crime resembled a crucifixion.
Evolution
Touching Death
Author's Note: The following originally appeared at The Prancing Papio . For more on this subject I recommend Brian Switek's discussion at Wired Science and Ed Yong's at Discover.I had always been afraid of my grandfather and now I was staring at his pale, lifeless hand inches from my face...
Environment
Commodity Traitors: Financial Speculation on Commodities Fuels Global Insecurity
“Food is always more or less in demand,” wrote Adam Smith in The Wealth of Nations . While the founder of modern capitalism pointed out that the wealthy consume no more food than their poor neighbors, because the "desire of food is limited in every man by the narrow capacity of the human stomach," the desire for material luxury "seems to have no limit or certain boundary." Hunger, therefore, is the foundation of wealth."The poor, in order to obtain food," Smith wrote, "exert themselves to gratify those fancies of the rich." The modern investor, epitomized by the insatiable appetite of Gordon Gekko from the movie Wall Street , has taken Smith's advice to heart...
Evolution
The Prince of Evolution: Lee Alan Dugatkin on Peter Kropotkin, Anarchism, and Cooperation in Nature
Evolutionary biologist Lee Alan Dugatkin has made his career studying cooperation, so it makes perfect sense that the subject of his latest book would be an anarchist.
Blog Index
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Anthropology in Practice
Exploring the human condition.
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Beautiful Minds
Insights into intelligence, creativity, personality, and well-being
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Budding Scientist
Everything you always wanted to know about raising science-literate kids
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Cross-Check
Critical views of science in the news
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Dark Star Diaries
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Dog Spies
Explore the science behind the dog in your bed
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Extinction Countdown
News and research about endangered species from around the world
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The Science Behind Extreme Weather
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Climate science in a changing world
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Illusions, Delusions, and Everyday Deceptions
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Mathematics: learning it, doing it, celebrating it.
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Adventures in the good science of rock-breaking.
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Talking back
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The Artful Amoeba
A Blog About the Weird Wonderfulness of Life on Earth
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Voices
Exploring and celebrating diversity in science.
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