Why we are, as we are
Evolutionary theory is useful. From The Economist, Dec 18th 2008:
Darwinism:Why we are, as we are
As the 150th anniversary of the publication of “On The Origin of Species” approaches, the moment has come to ask how Darwin’s insights can be used profitably by policymakers
Do your balls hang low?
Do they wobble to and fro? Hilarious follow-up to the Secrets of the Phallus, explaining all that’s hangin’…
From Scientific American, November 19, 2009:
Why do human testicles hang like that?
Price paid for big muscles
Sounds like there are some disadvantages to having a highly muscled body. Good reminder that there are trade-offs for everything.
From The Economist, August 27, 2009:
Sexual selection in humans
Mr Muscle
The price and privilege of beefcake
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Secrets of the Phallus: Why Is the Penis Shaped Like That?
Funniest scientific article I’ve ever read…. from Scientific American:
Bering in Mind - April 27, 2009
Secrets of the Phallus: Why Is the Penis Shaped Like That?
Evolutionary psychologists decipher the “Rosetta stone” of human sexuality
By Jesse Bering
Creationism is here to stay
Sadly… the Scientific American article explains:
Bering in Mind - March 19, 2009
Creationism Feels Right, but That Doesn’t Make it So
Psychological researchers suggest that evolutionary thinking is unnatural
By Jesse Bering
Why Darwin Would Have Loved Botox
It seems that our brains evolved to identify emotions from watching a face. The interesting part is that we accomplish this by mimicking the facial movements with our own muscles. But when we use Botox to paralyze some of those facial muscles, this process is interrupted…
From Discover Magazine:
Why Darwin Would Have Loved Botox
10.15.2008
All those wrinkle-causing winces, smirks, and sneers may have been the product of evolution.
Dumb tricks your mind plays
Blame it on evolution — we’re not perfect! Some quotes from the article:
“Our brains have evolved to live in the moment…”
“Most pleasure springs from the ancestral, reflexive system…”
“Thinking of the brain’s pleasure system as a kluge…”
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A new book argues that evolution is far from perfect: What makes the human brain wonderful also makes it an error-prone mess
Is Our Happiness Preordained?
From Time magazine:
Wednesday, Mar. 12, 2008
Is Our Happiness Preordained?
Why We Love
Time magazine article on love and evolution. The part on pheromones may be inaccurate as it mentions women synchronizing their menstrual cylces, and I am pretty sure I’ve read a recent study debunking that. But it seems to be up to date on the MHC detection issue, with the surprising conclusion that our high divorce rate may be affected by women selecting their mates while on birth control pills and realizing their choice is wrong after they get off it (nomally women prefer men with opposite MHC to their own; but while pregnant or on the pill, they prefer like MHC).
And most importantly, the wise advice: do not pick your mate with elevated levels of adrenalin — that seems to make them more appealing than they really are.
Here is the story:
Hunter-gatherers were savage
For me a key point was this statistics: “Constant warfare was necessary to keep population density down to one person per square mile. Farmers can live at 100 times that density.”
The way I see it is that there are too many people for this earth, and the rate of increase in population means we will have to come up with another miracle technology to be able to support more. Unless of course a nice global epidemic reduces the population, there will be more wars to secure raw resources (there is a limited amount of water, farmland, energy, minerals), with religion/culture as the excuse to start them.
Birth control, anyone?
Noble or savage?
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About
Although it started out as a means of practising expressing myself, this blog is turning out to be more of a compendium of interesting information I come across. One of these days I’ll have to actually write something as opposed to cut and paste. 
