If your “free will” is questionable, feel free to exercise your “free won’t”
Posted 04 Jan 2013 / 1Scientific American “Free Won’t“
A Minor Post, Articles, Behavior, Consciousness, Emotion, NeuroscienceDo our brains require endurance activity in order to function?
Posted 03 Jan 2013 / 0The New York Times “Exercise and the Ever-Smarter Human Brain” While I think that the finding that brain size and capacity for endurance are linked is interesting and important, I am a bit baffled by this article’s take on the evolutionary process that might have driven this connection. Does exercise make our brains larger and Read More
A Minor Post, Adaptation, Articles, Brain size, Development, Evolution, Gene by Environment Interactions, Gene-Culture Coevolution, Human Evolution, Human Uniqueness, Mismatch theory, Neuroscience, Phenotypic PlasticityBarash not so enlightening on the paradox of human homosexuality
Posted 02 Jan 2013 / 1The Chronicle of Higher Education “The Evolutionary Mystery of Homosexuality” It is interesting that Barash focuses so heavily in this article on traditional population genetic explanations for the “paradox” of homosexuality, especially when it is becoming so clear that single-gene approaches to human evolution make very little sense. Barash also makes a really weak argument Read More
A Minor Post, Articles, Evolution, Gene by Environment Interactions, Genetics, Group Selection, Kin Selection, Natural Selection, Population Genetics, Reproductive Fitness, Sex and ReproductionMultiple Intelligences theory gets some neuroscientific support
Posted 20 Dec 2012 / 0Neuron “Fractionating Human Intelligence” What is crazy about these findings is that they are novel. Is this really the first time that anyone decided to tackle the question of what different “intelligence tests” measure? The first time that anyone has shown the neurological basis for multiple intelligences? The only thing I am surprised about in Read More
A Minor Post, Articles, Behavior, Development, Epigenetics, Evolutionary Psychology, Fluidity of Knowledge, Gene by Environment Interactions, Genetics, Human Evolution, Intelligences, Neuroscience, Phenotypic PlasticityCharlotte Douglas International Airport employs worms to close the loop on airport waste
Posted 18 Dec 2012 / 0NPR All Things Considered “One Airport’s Trash Is 2 Million Worms’ Treasure“
A Minor Post, Closed Loop Systems, Composting, Decomposition, Radio & Podcasts, Resource Consumption, SustainabilityMishele Lesser’s Genoscapes explores the meaning of human genetics
Posted 15 Dec 2012 / 0Mishele Lesser, a student who I mentored, just presented her final thesis project Genoscapes. Mishele and I spent a lively semester talking about the meaning of human genetics, a discussion that ranged from very mechanical questions about how genetics work to more philosophical questions about how to interpret genetic data and the potential identity it can Read More
A Major Post, Gene-Culture Coevolution, Genetics, Human Evolution, Human Nature, Human Uniqueness, Mentoring, Pratt Institute, Science in Art & DesignFreeman Dyson wins the contest, and then says the contest is stupid
Posted 07 Dec 2012 / 0Institute for Advanced Study “The Prisoner’s Dilemma” One of my favorite skateboarders when I was young was Natas Kaupas, an innovative skater who pioneered a lot of modern streetstyle. Natas was one of those skaters who could do things that no other skateboarders could, but he was not particularly successful in one arena that was Read More
A Minor Post, Articles, Cooperation, Evolutionary Modeling, Game Theory, Group Selection, Human Evolution, Modeling (General), Multilevel Selection, ReciprocityPratt Institute opens search for new full-time faculty member in the Math and Science Department
Posted 07 Dec 2012 / 0My academic department is looking to hire a new full-time, tenure-track assistant professor. The job search is extremely broad: we are looking for the scientist or mathematician with the best fit to Pratt and to our department. I am not on the hiring committee and cannot field any questions about the official selection process. However, Read More
A Minor Post, Art & Design, Department of Mathematics & Science, Pratt Institute, School of Liberal Arts and SciencesFracking study retracted after the discovery of a massive conflict of interest
Posted 07 Dec 2012 / 0All Things Considered “Positive Fracking Study Was Funded By Gas Company” 1.5 million dollars is a lot to receive from a corporation with interest in your research! Scientists can be bought, and transparency is the only thing that prevents profit-driven scientific fraud.
A Minor Post, Anthropogenic Change, Ethics, Pollution, Radio & Podcasts, Resource Consumption, Scientific Fraud, Sustainable Energy, Water SupplyG. Kim Blank on making writing work better by eliminating the term paper
Posted 26 Nov 2012 / 0The Chronicle of Higher Education “Let’s Kill the Term Paper” I have been experimenting for several years with various forms of “Reading Response Questions” that challenge students to either summarize or pull the most important ideas out of what they read. I agree wholeheartedly with Professor Blank that this is a far more valuable means Read More
A Minor Post, Articles, Assessment Methods, Student Writing, Teaching