Author Archives: Christopher Lynn

About Christopher Lynn

Christopher Dana Lynn is an associate professor of anthropology at the University of Alabama, where he founded the Evolutionary Studies program. Chris teaches undergraduate and graduate courses in biological anthropology, human sexuality, evolution, biocultural medical anthropology, and neuroanthropology. He received his Ph.D. in Biological Anthropology in 2009 from the University at Albany, SUNY, where his doctoral focus was on the influence of speaking in tongues on stress response among Pentecostals. Chris runs a human behavioral ecology research group where the objectives include studying fun gimmicky things like trance, religious behavior, tattooing, and sex as a way of introducing students to the rigors of evolutionary science. In all his “free” time, he breaks up fights among his triplet sons, enjoys marriage to the other Loretta Lynn, strokes his mustache, and has learned to be passionate about Alabama football (Roll Tide!). Follow Chris on Twitter: @Chris_Ly

2012’s Cheap Thrills thru Evolution in Review

Posted on December 29, 2012 by Christopher Lynn

I sit in Highland, NY at my in-laws’ watching crappy bowl games (Rutgers v. Va Tech, can either of you find an offense?), reading a cool manuscript draft about psychoneuroimmunological disparity in monastic cemetery remains for my friend Sharon DeWitte, & … Continue reading →

Posted in Anthropology, Archaeology, Biological Anthropology, Evolution and Psychology, Evolution in Higher Education, Evolutionary Medicine, Mating and Sexuality, Paleontology, Primates | Tagged academic blogging, alcoholism, ALLELE, bonobos, Brent Colyer, Canela, HBES, John Hawks, penises, smartphones, zoos | 3 Comments

Are Hearth Fires Analogous to Television?

Posted on December 19, 2012 by Christopher Lynn

I haven’t found any studies on the psychophysiological effects of fire, but I think they are analogous to those of some forms of media, especially television. At base, they both involve flickering light & sudden sound phenomena. I speculate that natural selection … Continue reading →

Posted in Biological Anthropology | Tagged Annie Lang, Byron Reeves, Esther Thorson, fireside relaxation, media studies, Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi, Paul Bolls, Robert Kubey, Robert Potter, television | Comments Off

Hominid Use of Fire is at Least 1MYO

Posted on December 18, 2012 by Christopher Lynn

The antiquity of the purposive hominid use of fire continues to be pushed back according to a study released earlier this year by Berna et al. in PNAS. Analyses of material at the Wonderwerk Cave, Northern Cape province, South Africa … Continue reading →

Posted in Anthropology, Archaeology, Biological Anthropology | Tagged Acheulean, fire, fireside relaxation, Homo erectus | Comments Off

Notes on Improving a Graduate-Level Course in the Principles of Physical Anthropology

Posted on December 15, 2012 by Christopher Lynn

This semester I redesigned the graduate-level physical anthropology course I teach. Last time around (which was the first time teaching a full-on grad course for me), I taught it as a seminar, based largely around my predecessor Professor Emeritus Jim Bindon‘s … Continue reading →

Posted in Activities, Anthropology, Biological Anthropology, Evolution in Higher Education, Evolution in the Classroom, Primates | Tagged academic blogging, course improvements, essay writing, Human Evolution Source Book, Human Evolutionary Biology, John Hawks, Michael Muehlenbein, Primate Anthology | Comments Off

Dr. Evil!?! Or the Entire Denisova Genome from One Girl’s Finger Bone

Posted on December 15, 2012 by Christopher Lynn

University of Wisconsin-Madison paleoanthropologist John Hawks was UA’s second ALLELE lecturer of the season. Hawks was trained at the University of Michigan in anthropology by the famous Milford Wolpoff (he of multiregionalism infamy) & completed a postdoc in evolutionary genetics … Continue reading →

Posted in Anthropology, Archaeology, Biological Anthropology, Genetics | Tagged ALLELE, Denisovans, Henry Harpending, John Hawks, Milford Wolpoff, Neandertals, paleoanthropology | 1 Comment

Flattery Will Get You Everywhere: E.O. Wilson’s Social Conquest of Earth

Posted on December 12, 2012 by Christopher Lynn

Edward O. Wilson was the first speaker for this year’s ALLELE series at the University of Alabama. I began a post on his talk soon after but found it so boring I didn’t come back to it. Then Max Stein … Continue reading →

Posted in Evolution in the Classroom | Tagged Alabama, ALLELE, E.O. Wilson, eusociality, multi-level selection, Religious ecology study, Richard Wrangham | Comments Off

Remembering Brent Colyer: Serotonin, Alcoholism, & Evolution

Posted on December 12, 2012 by Christopher Lynn

I am beginning the writing of this on Saturday, December 8, around 11:30PM. A week ago & a few hours earlier, I was agitating over six lead changes as I watched Bama ultimately beat Georgia in the SEC college football … Continue reading →

Posted in Biological Anthropology, Evolution and Biology, Genetics, Primates, Variation | Tagged 5-HHTLPR, alcoholism, behavioral immune system, Brent Colyer, Bukowski, cultural neuroscience, gene-by-environment interaction, macaques, maternal buffering, Morning Shakes, neuroanthropology, Neuroscience, orchid-dandelion hypothesis, Robert Sapolsky, serotonin, SERT | 3 Comments

GUEST POST: Evolutionary Studies at the University of Alabama

Posted on November 27, 2012 by Christopher Lynn

From almost my first post I promised to let the students speak for themselves when it came to singing the praises of our EvoS program at the University of Alabama. One of our first UA EvoS alumni is Emily Freeman, … Continue reading →

Posted in Anthropology, Evolution in Higher Education, Evolution in the Classroom | Tagged E.O. Wilson, Emily Freeman, student testimonial, University of Alabama | Comments Off

“Human Canvas” & “Upping-the-Ante” Hypotheses for the Evolutionary Significance of Tattooing

Posted on October 11, 2012 by Christopher Lynn

Despite the promise of evolutionary discussions of tattooing in my blog title, I have yet live up to the provocation it inspires…until now. Honestly, I’ve had a post about Iban tattooing & sexual selection in the back of my mind … Continue reading →

Posted in Anthropology | Tagged behavioral immune system, human canvas hypothesis, innoculation hypothesis, Jean-Bernard Bossu, tattooing, upping-the-ante hypothesis | Comments Off

Graded-Signal Sexual Swellings as Self-Deception?

Posted on September 18, 2012 by Christopher Lynn

The graded signal hypothesis suggests that sexual swellings in primates represent the probability of ovulation. Based on this model, in male philopatric species, dominant males find it most cost-effective to guard females at the height of ovulation based on the … Continue reading →

Posted in Primates | Tagged exaggeration, graded-signal hypothesis, self-deception, sexual swellings | Comments Off