NOT A CHIMP

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?

Wednesday, 8 August 2012

The Wisdom of Not Being Too Rational

http://news.sciencemag.org/sciencenow/2012/07/the-wisdom-of-not-being-too-rati.html?ref=em

Very nice article by Michael Balter which refers to the prodigious learning of which crows, and other corvids, are capable (citing Nickie Clayton's work) and some very important ways in which children's learning behaviour goes beyond, allowing them to solve problems that crows find beyond them.