Letter About Memes. Every Tom, Dave or Sammy bears a name of Jewish origin, as indeed does every Liz, Jane or Mary. So are Jewish names must be very very good at self-replication? (Dawkins’s notion is a half-arsed theory of culture.)
Why Motherhood Exists. A short review of “Love at Goon Park“.
Natural Selection as ‘Survival of the Grandkids’. An ‘audit of grandchildren’ is the actual way in which natural selection shapes species. Just having offspring is not enough: they in turn must have children for the genes to survive long-term. And human life includes other options: Newton left behind no children or grandchildren, but his actual legacy is immense.
Cooking Made Us Human. The notion that we advanced by being able to cook. And the alternative notion it might have been drying food in the hot sun, before fire was tamed.
Blond Hair occurred at least twice. Dark-skinned Solomon Islanders evolved their own version, using a distinct gene.
Rational Chimps, Hobbits and Starch-Eating Humans. How chimps really do behave as economists think humans should behave. Plus how the ‘Flores Hobbits’ might have crossed deep water, and the surprising truth about early human diet.
The Evolution of Bees. Some odd parallels to humans.
Chimps Are Never Tame. A rampaging chimp illustrates how we became less muscular and less robust as we got smarter. And able most to tolerate each others, as chimps never can.
Long Revolution 