This talk will attempt to answer three questions: 1) Do plants communicate about their risk of herbivory? 2) Do plants have individual personalities with respect to communication? 3) Why does this matter? Biologists have known for a long time that plants sense their environments and respond accordingly, i.e., they exhibit “behavior.” Whether they communicate with […]

Abstract: Physicist Max Planck famously said that "A new scientific truth does not triumph by convincing its opponents and making them see the light, but rather because its opponents eventually die". This is basically a theory of human cultural change, one rooted primarily in the mechanisms of differential recruitment, inheritance and demography. If the Planck […]

Abstract: Loneliness as a public health concern has exploded in recent years. Recognition of its widespread prevalence and presumed recency have led to declarations that a “loneliness epidemic” faces industrialized populations. Changes to certain aspects of modern life—fewer face-to-face interactions, more time spent alone, more people living by themselves—are thought to exacerbate loneliness, and imply […]