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America Society of Primatologists condemns H. A. and Margret Rey, calls for...
Curious George and his cooperative partner The Man in the Yellow Hat are widely loved by naive children In a scathing press release disseminated today, the American Society of Primatologists (ASP)...
View ArticleA potentially interesting Evolution of Play documentary
Click here to view the embedded video. This looks like a potentially-interesting documentary that might address some issues related to the evolution of play behavior. It is interesting that balls — in...
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My article on adolescence featured in the This View of Life culture series
I am very excited to have an article that I wrote on the adaptive nature of adolescent behavior featured in a new culture series in the This View of Life (TVoL) online magazine. My piece, entitled...
View ArticleArming the Donkeys on kids, parenting, and Burning Man
Whenever I have a really mind-numbing task that I need to do, I turn to podcasts to save me from the tedium. One of my favorite respites is Dan Ariely‘s Arming the Donkeys podcast. Today I checked out...
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What “rolling coal” has to say about the cultural state of sustainability...
Image of a Ford F-150 “rolling coal” courtesy of Salvatore Arnone via Wikimedia Commons. In a recent meeting of my Ecology course dedicated to sustainable policies, we were discussing why people don’t...
View ArticleNPR features Christopher Boehm on the love-hate relationship we have people...
This morning NPR dropped a truly eerie and not-so-subtly cautionary piece on how an understanding of chimpanzee behavior towards dominant individuals can shed light on how we regard both celebrities...
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Urban Wildlife Podcast on Hedgehogs, Raccoons, and Urbanite Biophilia
My Spring semester is almost upon me, and that means a lot of mindless computer work getting my classes configured. I love these moments, because they give me the chance to catch up on my favorite...
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Urban Wildlife Podcast on the Cat Wars
If you read my little podcast recommendations on this site, you know that I am a huge fan of the Urban Wildlife Podcast. I just checked out one of the most recent episodes, Cat Wars (also embedded as...
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Dr. Roland Kays to speak about conservation biology and camera trapping as...
I am proud to be collaborating with Photography Labs Manager and Assistant Professor Andy Todd to bring Dr. Roland Kays of North Carolina State University to Pratt Institute. Dr. Kays will make two...
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Support the mighty Bombardier Beetle’s quest to have its genome sequenced!
A good friend and former colleague of mine, Aman Gill, now works on Bombardier Beetles. And the Bombardier Beetle is in the running for a unique award: having its genome sequenced. How will the...
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Gregory Tague to speak about Art & Adaptation at Pratt Institute
Why do people make art? Given that human art-making emerged tens of thousands of years ago and is such an integral part of most human societies, why we make art is an important question. Philosophers...
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Pratt News features short piece on Dr. Roland Kays’s campus visit
Pratt’s online news just featured a short piece on Dr. Roland Kays’s visit to campus. This is the first time that an event that I have been involved in has been covered by Pratt’s publicity team.
View ArticleFantastic piece on nature/nurture by Patrick F. Clarkin in TVOL
There’s a lot that has been written about the nature/nurture dilemma, perhaps because misconceptions about the role that genes and environment play in biological development are so persistent. Patrick...
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Why Artists & Designers need Scientists: Exhibit A
I have always had a prediliction to root for the little guy, but sometimes you actually need to be the little guy to see how little guys are treated. And at Pratt, a behemouth of art and design,...
View ArticlePBS’ Deep Look on Firefly communication and deception
These Deep Look shorts are really well-produced! This one gives us a beautiful view into the luminescent courtship and predatory deception of various species of fireflies.
View ArticlePBS’ Deep Look on mole crabs
Here’s another great Deep Look on one of my favorite creatures, the Pacific Mole Crab. As usual we get amazing video of behaviors that are really easy to miss… even if you like to mess with these...
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My entry on the evolution of play will be added to the massive Encyclopedia...
I have been in a bit of a publication lull for the last few years. It isn’t that I haven’t been engaged in a variety of scholarly activities, it is just that it has been awhile since any of them have...
View ArticleMom leaves, offspring get buff and work together
Science News “When this beetle mom disappears, her children become stronger and nicer” There are so many cool aspects to this study! First, it is amazing that lab evolution can produce this dramatic a...
View ArticleMom: “Eat my sh*t and then help your younger siblings”
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences “Responses to pup vocalizations in subordinate naked mole-rats are induced by estradiol ingested through coprophagy of queen’s feces” Okay, we all knew...
View ArticleDon’t blame people for being obese (blame their neighborhood)
Science News “Artificial intelligence spots obesity from space” Wow, if you are the kind of person who tends to put a lot of stock in “personal responsibility”, maybe you don’t want to read the brief...
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