October 2008 : Neuron Culture

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I write on science, medicine, nature, culture and other matters for the New York Times Magazine, The Atlantic, Slate, National Geographic, Scientific American Mind, and other publications. (Find clips here.) Right now I'm writing my fourth book, The Orchid and the Dandelion, which explores the hypothesis that the genetic roots some of our worst problems and traits — depresison, hyperaggression, violence, antisocial behavior — can also give rise to resilience, cooperation, empathy, and contentment. The book expands on my December 2009 Atlantic article exploring these ideas. I've also written three books, including Reef Madness: Charles Darwin, Alexander Agassiz, and the Meaning of Coral, which traces the strangest but most forgotten controversy in Darwin's career — an elemental dispute running some 75 years.

If you'd like, you can subscribe to Neuron Culture by email. You might also want to see more of my work at my main website or check out my Tumblr log.

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Chimpanzee hunting tactics - an aerial view

Category: Brains and minds

Even more riveting, however, is the second video, which can't be embedded but which can be seen on YouTube. It mixes from-the-ground footage with aerial shots taken with infrared cameras to show how a team of five chimps -- a driver, three blockers, and an ambusher -- work to funnel the colobus monkeys into the arms of the ambusher. The driver climbs into the treetops and sets the colubus into motion. The blockers on the ground, outracing the tree-swinging colubus, move in front of them and then climb to create a sort of gate through which they'll corral the prey. The ambusher climbs to a spot beyond this gate. The trap works: One of the colobus flees right into the ambusher's tree, and soon becomes a meal.

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Posted by David Dobbs at 7:59 PM • 2 Comments • 0 TrackBacks

October 17, 2008

If I could turn back time, I'd buy Einstein's watch: Scientific American Blog

Category: Culture of science

Somebody bought Einstein's watch. Does this thing run fast, or slow? You have to love a guy who plays violin...

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Posted by David Dobbs at 7:09 PM • 0 Comments • 0 TrackBacks

The Science of Gossip, in Scientific American

Category: Brains and minds

In "The Gregarious Brain," my NY Times Magazine story last year about Williams syndrome -- in which a genetic accident causes an intriguing combination of cognitive deficits and hypersociability colored by a lack of social fear and (to some extent) savvy -- I devoted some space to the "social brain" theory," which holds that we humans developed our big brains -- and perhaps language itself -- primarily to manage the complex social dynamics that went with living in large groups.... if this leaves you curious for more, you can a) read the rest of the passage in the story at the Times site and/or b) read a new story in Scientific American about how gossip, so seemingly trivial, actually plays a vital role in managing our lives.

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Posted by David Dobbs at 11:27 AM • 0 Comments • 0 TrackBacks