Dr. Saguy, a sociologist at U.C.L.A., methodically teases out all the overtones of the loaded words we use to describe big bodies in her book, “What’s Wrong with Fat”. These bodies are, after all, neither good nor bad, just big. But “fat” often implies the coexistence of sloth, gluttony and self-indulgence. “Obesity” equals disease to medical professionals, while in the…
Discover magazine responds to a paper co-authored by ISG faculty Jessica Lynch Alfaro, Michael Alfaro and former ISG postdoctoral fellow, Sharlene Santana, in its most recent article on human evolution. The research describes the link between the complexity of a monkey species’ facial color pattern and certain social systems. Species that live in larger groups tend to have plainer faces…
In a recent paper in the journal Current Anthropology former ISG postdoctoral fellow, Jennifer E. Smith, along with Eli M. Swanson, Daphna Reed and Kay E. Holekamp suggest that the spotted hyena is an under-appreciated source of information about human evolution. NPR has the full story here Evolution of Cooperation among Mammalian Carnivores and Its Relevance to Hominin Evolution. Jennifer E. Smith, Eli…
ISG Visiting Scholar, Melissa Hines, published the article, “Gonadal Hormone Influences on Human Neurobehavioral Development: Outcomes and Mechanisms” in the book Multiple Origins of Sex Differences in Brain edited by Donald Pfaff and Yves Christen. Abstract: Testosterone exposure during early development has enduring influences on mammalian behavior, increasing male-typical characteristics and decreasing female-typical characteristics. Research in non-human mammals indicates that…
ISG Faculty, Michael Alfaro, along with Francesco Santini, Laurie Sorenson, and Tina Marcroft published the paper “A Multilocus Molecular Phylogeny Of Boxfishes (Aracanidae, Ostraciidae; Tetraodontiformes)” in the January issue of Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution. Abstract: Boxfishes (superfamily Ostracioidea, order Tetraodontiformes) are comprised of 37 species within the families Aracanidae (13 sp.) and Ostracidae (24 sp.). These species are characterized by…
Robert W. Sussman, a professor of anthropology at Washington University in St. Louis, says that science has struggled to understand the mysteries of “less-than-human” beings since the late 1400s when the Spanish Inquisition first formalized state persecution of Jews and Muslims. And while the horrors of Nazi Germany exposed fatal flaws in science’s quest to build the master race, the…