Category Archives: Evolution by Natural Selection
One giant step for Alabama students….now what’s next?
In the past week, something amazing happened. It isn’t what we traditionally think of as ground-breaking or life changing, but to millions of young people in one southern state, this will be the first step in a new lens on … Continue reading
Reflections on the Costs of Evolved Self-Awareness: Comparing Trajectories of Davids—Foster Wallace & Insurgent
I’m going to be writing on the costly implications of self-awareness in a forthcoming book & was walking around listening to Reagan Youth on Spotify & David Foster Wallace’s Infinite Jest on Audible when some parallels occurred to me. I’ll … Continue reading
Is Cunnilingus an Adaptation to Increase Intercourse Length & Increase the Probability of Fertilization?
Several years ago a student of mine (Christy McGee) in my “Anthropology of Sex” class was studying highly promiscuous women with the hypothesis that they would be averse to cunnilingus. She suggested that cunnilingus was a male means of detecting infidelity. … Continue reading
Fireside Trance drives Selection for Enhanced Attention & Working Memory via Baldwin Effect
Fireside hypnotizability Following up on a previous post tracking down the original sources for the December Smithsonian piece about hearth fires & cognitive evolution, evolutionary psychologist Matt Rossano’s “Did Meditating Make Us Human?” spins out a model similar to & … Continue reading
Remembering Brent Colyer: Serotonin, Alcoholism, & Evolution
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
Cosmetics Enhance Appearance of Femininity, Lack of Cosmetics Increases Appearance of Masculinity
Research by neuroscientist Richard Russell of the Gettysburgh Perception Lab suggests that sexual dimorphic differences between male and female faces, especially under circumstances of minimal sexual dimorphism, is all about contrast. Males have darker skin except for eyes and lips. … Continue reading
2012 EvoS Summit at New Paltz – 10/26 – Evolution in Higher Education, Collaboration with Robb Wolf, Grant Activities, and More!
EvoS Summit Conference – 10/26/2012 Since David Sloan Wilson implemented the first undergraduate evolutionary studies (EvoS) program at Binghamton University about a decade ago, the notion of Darwin’s Big Idea guiding educational experiences across academic areas has led to significant … Continue reading
The Psychophysiology of Fireside Relaxation
Following is a draft of the abstract I am working on for a poster I will propose to present at the 2013 Human Biology Association meeting in Knoxville, TN (yay, I can drive there!). Feedback is welcome. The psychophysiology of … Continue reading
The Adaptiveness of Gossip re HIV in Africa
I was listening to an old This American Life podcast from 2011 the other day & heard a great piece about the work of sociologist Susan Watkins. Watkins runs the Malawi Journals Project, thru which she has been studying gossip … Continue reading
HBES 2012 Roundup 4: Father’s Day & the Parasite-Driven Wedge
So I blew Father’s Day. Totally didn’t realize I’d booked myself to go to HBES on Father’s Day. And much as I love my dad, it wasn’t because I wasn’t going to be with him. It was because my wife … Continue reading
