Early fire, prehistoric colonists and baffled scientists – Human evolution weekly update (8/12/14)
Early fire, prehistoric colonists and baffled scientists. It’s this week in human evolution!
Does grief give an evolutionary advantage?
Grief seems like a fairly destructive and distressing behaviour. However, new research suggests it may actually give our species an evolutionary advantage
Venus figurines, Indonesian art and the interconnectedness of the Stone Age
The Venus figurines were manufactured across Europe for tens of thousands of years during the stone age. How could ideas like this spread before mass movement, mass media and mass hysteria?
Chimps seen learning from one another; scientists seen running in fear
New research shows chimps are learning from one another. This terrifies me.
Does buying your date dinner work? (or, “the second big reason you shouldn’t trust evolutionary psychology”)
Courtship feeding is building a relationship by sharing food. It’s common in the animal kingdom, but does it work in humans? New research suggests it does, which I use as an excuse to criticse evolutionary psychology (again)
Lies aren’t always bad
Lies are often thought of as bad, yet research suggests they might sometimes be good!
The human face evolved to take a punch? Spoiler: no
Researchers recently claimed that the face of hominins adapted to being punched. Despite making a buzz in the press, the evidence of this claim is…lacking
Atheists think other atheists are not as moral as theists
A new study shows that both atheists and theists will rate an atheist as less moral than a theist, even when they behave in the exact same way
The evolution of the family
Our ancestors began to share the cost of reproduction around the family, but why did this behaviour evolve?
Chimps abandon social norm for prizes
Chimps are highly social creatures, so researchers wanted to know whether peer pressure could hold them back and stop them from adopting newer, better strategies.
