“This and other research is pointing to a new perspective on religion, one that seeks to explain why religious behavior has occurred in societies at every stage of development and in every region of the world. Religion has the hallmarks of an evolved behavior, meaning that it exists because it was favored by natural selection. It is universal because it was wired into our neural circuitry before the ancestral human population dispersed from its African homeland.”

Take a look at the Evolutionary Religious Studies site for more information on this area of research.

Additionally, Part 3 of Becoming Human, a PBS NOVA series on human evolution, features the Sierra de Atapuerca site and research team described in Rolf Quam’s October 30 EvoS seminar:

“How did modern humans take over the world? New evidence suggests that they left Africa and colonized the rest of the globe far earlier, and for different reasons, than previously thought. As for Homo sapiens, we have planet Earth to ourselves today, but that’s a very recent and unusual situation. For millions of years, many kinds of hominids co-existed.”

Unlike most mammals, humans breed in cooperative groups, obtaining care from fathers, grandmothers, older sisters, and others, in addition to mothers. Sarah Hrdy has refined this model of humans as cooperative breeders in her latest book, Mothers and Others. Here, we focus on the proximate hormonal mechanisms associated with human care of young children.

Here is a PDF flyer for the seminar:

Specific questions about eligible courses – and other topics – will be addressed at the EvoS information session which will be held this Wednesday, November 18, at 4:30 PM in UU-209.

At 3:00 PM in Science Library 306, the Victorian Studies Workshop presents Gregory Saraceno, Jennifer Musa, and Richard Firenze. They will speak on the topic of Darwin & Dickens: Science and Literature in Victorian England. Light refreshments will follow.

Then, at 4:00 PM in Lecture Hall 2, Baba Brinkman will perform The Rap Guide to Evolution. Brinkman distills key concepts into memorable rhymes – and delivers an illuminating interpretation of hip-hop culture in the process.

William Jankoviak – Desiring Sex, Longing for Love: A Tripartite Conundrum from EvoS on Vimeo.

Update:

Here’s a poster! Thanks to the Axis of Evo at Swarthmore College for the awesome “Charles Darwin has a posse” image.

We show that in water striders, aggressive male mating behavior was strongly favored within groups but not favored in a multigroup population when individuals can freely disperse among groups. These observations explain the persistence of less-aggressive males within natural populations.

According to Professor Wilson, the article also shows how the same basic evolutionary principles apply to humans and nonhuman species — including so-called “simple” species such as insects as well as so-called “complex” species such as primates.

Sexual desire, romantic passion, and companionship love, their interrelationship and distinctiveness present different structural and psychological dilemmas for the individual and the society. Although both forms of loves are present in every culture, they are often not equally valued, celebrated, or honored. Consequently, the tension between love and sex is not a simple contrasting of the two values, but a tripartite conflict between the sexual imperative, romantic passion, and comfort love.

Jankowiak will present a variety of research projects exploring these themes, linked by the evolutionary perspective:

The implications of these and other findings for evolutionary and cultural theories of human love and sexuality will also be explored.

Here’s a PDF poster: