The mockingbird exhibits two behaviors that set it apart from the winged horde: It can learn new bird songs, car alarms, and cell phone rings throughout its lifetime; and it can cope with crazy urban environments. How? It’s just wicked smart. It’s tempting to say that animals who face complex challenges [...]
How do humans come up with their creation myths and their gods? I often wonder. How came the Vikings to believe that a “giant gap” gave forth a frozen river that was melted into gods who eventually found some logs on the beach and turned them into humans? Why did Ojibwa Indians conclude that birds constructed [...]
The mirror neuron may be the key to your niceness. I mentioned yesterday that I have too many of them, which makes it very uncomfortable to see animals, and even humans, in pain. I was, as usual, being glib. It is not even a true fact that humans have mirror neurons. [...]
