Are we humans simply remodelled apes? Chimps with a tweak? Is the difference between our genomes so minuscule it justifies the argument that our cognition and behaviour must also differ from chimps by barely a whisker? If “chimps are us” should we grant them human rights? Or is this one of the biggest fallacies in the study of evolution? NOT A CHIMP argues that these similarities have been grossly over-exaggerated - we should keep chimps at arm’s length. Are humans cognitively unique after all?
Thursday, 4 February 2010
You Don't Have To Be Mad To Be A Genius - But It Helps!
In the final chapter of NOT A CHIMP I deal with research in the recent past that has linked genius with bipolar disorder (manic depression) and schizophrenia. The idea is that these disorders are over-represented among famous artists, writers, poets and composers. The work has always been more than a little suspect because it has relied on what has been recorded, historically, about individuals and has pre-selected a target population. Now my friend Jeremy Laurance, in The Independent, reports on a huge study of this proposed relationship but this time in the general population. The study examined 700,000 Swedish individuals and found that those who scored the highest scholastic grades were over 4 times more likely to be diagnosed with some degree of bipolar illness. The relationship was strongest among those studying music and literature. So, genius does really appear to be close to madness.
Wednesday, 3 February 2010
Bonobo Cannibalism
Too often, bonobos are depicted as the peaceable, vegetarian, "love-in" primate, in stark contrast to chimpanzees. But this report is of a number of bonobos taking a long time to eat a dead juvenile bonobo. There is no evidence that they killed the juvenile for meat and the scientists concerned guard against any interpretation that the inordinate time taken to dismember and eat the body denotes any ritual significance for the bonobos.
Virus DNA In The Human Genome
Fascinating article that tries to explain the very high content of viral DNA in the human genome. What does this tell us about the history of symbiosis between humans and viruses over time?