tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-76478055121560532192024-02-20T22:22:15.196+00:00Literature ClubThe papers that we read, and the thoughts we think about them...Tamashttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11641190007103495073noreply@blogger.comBlogger33125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7647805512156053219.post-85005016282728484772013-06-04T16:04:00.001+01:002013-06-04T16:12:11.925+01:00Synaptic scaffold evolution generated components of vertebrate components of vertebrate cognitive complexity
Scientists have discovered for the first time how humans -- and other mammals -- have evolved to have intelligence. Researchers have identified the moment in history when the genes that enabled us to think and reason evolved. This point 500 million years ago provided our ability to learn
complex skills, analyse situations and have flexibility in the way in
which we think. Professor Seth Grant,phaedrushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11295058764265746890noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7647805512156053219.post-81345189899186426492013-02-13T16:10:00.002+00:002013-02-13T16:37:55.618+00:00Genetic identification of C fibres that detect massage-like stroking of hairy skin in vivo In this recent Nature article, biologists at CalTech identified a rare group of sensory neurons in mice that respond specifically to stroking, but not other types of touch, such as pinching or poking. The team used florescent markers that illuminated when the neurons were active. Moreover, the mice seemed to demonstrate preferential affinity to specific spatial cues - associated with being placedphaedrushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11295058764265746890noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7647805512156053219.post-91333851241555075392013-01-29T17:10:00.000+00:002013-01-29T17:10:11.026+00:00Modeling Neanderthal clothing using ethnographic analogues
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mso-font-format:Elliehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12946408200080056463noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7647805512156053219.post-89326271000359603952012-12-05T20:16:00.004+00:002012-12-05T20:16:51.466+00:00Bateman gradient and operational sex ratio, unite!<!--EndFragment-->Yet
one more Kokko paper on sexual selection which immediately reads like a
classic.
Unifying cornerstones of sexual selection: operational sex ratio, Bateman gradient and the scope for competitive investment (Ecology Letters)
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X-NONEAnonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16072699142216813792noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7647805512156053219.post-4411185588833052012012-11-28T11:47:00.000+00:002012-11-28T11:47:20.440+00:00Linking brains and brawn: exercise and the evolution of human neurobiology.
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mso-font-format:Elliehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12946408200080056463noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7647805512156053219.post-54885801738704979172012-11-26T16:11:00.000+00:002012-11-26T16:11:00.476+00:00Signaling Theory, Strategic Interaction, and Symbolic Capital
This article is a few years old, but in my view, represents one of the most cutting-edge and comprehensive articles to date on honest (costly) signaling theory. The article presents a fairly broad argument for the application of animal signaling theory to a wide variety of human cultural phenomena. Published in Current Anthropology, it further contains reviewer commentary of six academics and phaedrushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11295058764265746890noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7647805512156053219.post-80468704168727364482012-11-26T11:34:00.000+00:002012-11-26T11:34:13.312+00:00A lack of men boost women's careers in the US
One of the very few studies looking at operational sex ratios today and their social consequences. (Kristina Durante has many other interesting articles, among the most popular is, for some peculiar reason, "Why do the wrong men feel so right?")
Sex Ratio and Women's Career Choice: Does a Scarcity of Men Lead Women to Choose Briefcase Over Baby?.
DOI: 10.1037/a0027949
Durante, Kristina M. 1; Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16072699142216813792noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7647805512156053219.post-23589963646348709352012-11-26T10:47:00.002+00:002012-11-26T10:47:47.047+00:00Evolution of Cooperation Among CarnivoresAn important paper in Current Anthropology on the evolution of cooperation in carnivores. When we look at at the origins of cooperation in humans, we tend to focus on primates (not surprisingly) or we look at Everything (a.k.a. evolution of society), including bacteria, insects etc.
Here is s fascinating view of another, non-primate branch of the tree, a branch which is not that far, and Tamashttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11641190007103495073noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7647805512156053219.post-27044157738783738392012-11-19T21:20:00.000+00:002012-11-19T21:20:53.249+00:00Don't fool yourself - it's less funny
Triver's work on self deception continues with this neat study, where subjects rating higher in self deception laughed less when watching a comedian (and also themselves reported having less fun). The authors point out that "humor deals with the absurdities of life. The less you are in tune with reality the less likely you are to see the absurdities".
Robert F. Lynch & Robert L. Trivers:&Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16072699142216813792noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7647805512156053219.post-42722673578515225262012-11-15T13:52:00.003+00:002012-11-15T13:52:45.317+00:00False-Positive Psychology
Simmons JP, Nelson LD, Simonsohn U. (2011) False-positive psychology: undisclosed flexibility in data collection and analysis allows presenting anything as significant. Psychological Science. 2011 Nov;22(11):1359-66. Epub 2011 Oct 17.
This article addresses the elephant in the room of statistical analysis in the social sciences - how perfectly legitimate analysis decisions made by researchers Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06049689728596144574noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7647805512156053219.post-39338996322304483172012-11-14T15:31:00.003+00:002012-11-14T15:31:44.513+00:00John Odling-Smee: The ENCODE project seminarHi all- here are links to copies of the two articles discussed this morning by John Odling-Smee if anyone's interested:
Environment sensitive epigentics and the heritability of complex diseases
http://www.genetics.org/content/early/2011/10/03/genetics.111.131912
An integrated encyclopedia of DNA elements in the human genome (full article)
http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v489/n7414/pdf/phaedrushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11295058764265746890noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7647805512156053219.post-55271656718775624982012-11-06T10:35:00.002+00:002012-11-06T10:35:46.709+00:00Immortality of the Soul as Intuitive IdeaPereira, Vera, Luis Faísca and Rodrigo de Sá-Saraiva (2012). "Immortality of the Soul as an Intuitive Idea: Towards a Psychological Explanation of Afterlife Beliefs." Journal of Cognition and Culture 12: 101-127.[http://www.ingentaconnect.com/content/brill/jocc/2012/]
In this paper, the authors investigate the intutions that enter into the representation of the state James Carneyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12858274587733106607noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7647805512156053219.post-8266947990821245912012-10-31T16:23:00.000+00:002012-10-31T16:26:49.392+00:00
Infection Breeds Reticence: The Effects of Disease Salience on Self-Perceptions of Personality and Behavioral Avoidance Tendencies
Chad R. Mortensen, D. Vaughn Becker, Joshua M. Ackerman, Steven L. Neuberg, and Douglas T. Kenrick, (2010) Psychological Science 21(3) 440–447
Past research has shown that humans seem to have evolved behavioural mechanisms for reducing risk of infection form Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06049689728596144574noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7647805512156053219.post-34081313972702938152012-10-31T16:04:00.000+00:002012-10-31T16:04:00.792+00:00Radiocarbon dates from the Grotte du Renne and Saint-Césaire support a Neandertal origin for the Châtelperronian.
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Elliehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12946408200080056463noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7647805512156053219.post-48554998943240292902012-10-24T20:06:00.000+01:002012-10-24T20:25:20.551+01:00Metabolic constraint imposes tradeoff between body size and number of brain neurons in human evolutionThis recently published PNAS article constitutes the first experimental evidence of Wrangham's hypothesis concerning the importance of cooking in human brain evolution. The article notes that our brains consume about 20% of our body's metabolic energy, compared to 9% in other primates, raising the question as to how we could afford to feed such metabolically expensive organs. The paper argues phaedrushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11295058764265746890noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7647805512156053219.post-56135579826198485762012-10-18T10:23:00.004+01:002012-10-18T10:24:31.090+01:00Taphonomy of Ungulate Ribs and the Consumption of Meat and Bone by 1.2-Million-Year-Old Hominins at Olduvai Gorge, Tanzania.
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Elliehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12946408200080056463noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7647805512156053219.post-6392723952760745812012-10-18T10:17:00.000+01:002012-10-18T10:20:39.906+01:00Revising the human mutation rate: implications for understanding human evolution.
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Elliehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12946408200080056463noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7647805512156053219.post-63571254474922779982012-10-18T10:15:00.001+01:002012-10-18T10:20:29.613+01:00Generation times in wild chimpanzees and gorillas suggest earlier divergence times in great ape and human evolution.
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Elliehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12946408200080056463noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7647805512156053219.post-87418334432265083902012-10-17T18:04:00.003+01:002012-10-17T18:04:43.884+01:00A key paper on DenisovansA very important paper: a more precise timing for the split from Denisovans (793-812kya), a more precise admixture in modern populations (6.0±0.9% for Papuans, 0% for the rest), and a list of genes that modern humans had acquired since -- some of them known to affect brain development, autism, language.
This paper opens up much more questions than answers: if there was interbreeding between Tamashttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11641190007103495073noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7647805512156053219.post-42977534162297219222012-10-15T08:46:00.000+01:002012-10-15T08:48:28.484+01:00Birds of a Feather: Neanderthal Exploitation of Raptors and Corvids.
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mso-font-signature:1 Elliehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12946408200080056463noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7647805512156053219.post-28595970264703876332012-10-11T14:38:00.000+01:002012-10-11T21:26:01.621+01:00Human sperm competition, testis size, sperm production, and the rates of extrapair copulationsThis paper address the question of how important extra-pair copulations (ECP) in human mating strategies. Many studies have stated that ECP frequency in humans is about 10-30%, but this assumption was never tested empirically. Also, questions about sperm production, and tests sizes are under investigation on the paper.
Read more: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/Júniorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03026200014010761177noreply@blogger.com0