Joseph Manson: UCLA Department of AnthropologyInbreeding reduces fitness in various taxa, and several behavioral and physiological mechanisms have evolved that inhibit fertile matings between close kin. Most commonly, members of one or both sexes disperse before breeding. In primates, males usually disperse and females often benefit from lifelong relationships with maternal kin within the group. […]

Antoine Bechara: USC Department of PsychologyFor a long time, the prefrontal cortex has been considered a “non-functional” brain area, and understanding its function has lagged behind nearly all other areas. This is no longer true since appreciation of the vital role that this brain region plays in adaptive behaviors, and especially decision-making, is now evident […]

Susan Perry: UCLA Department of AnthropologyRecently, discoveries of site-specific behavioral patterns such as the use of hammers and anvils or stick tools in extractive foraging have been documented in wild ape populations. Such discoveries have given rise to much speculation regarding the evolution of cultural capacities in humans, and claims have been made that chimpanzees […]

Francisco J. Ayala: UCI Departments of Ecology & Evolutionary Biology and PhilosophyDarwin is deservedly given credit for the theory of biological evolution. He accumulated evidence demonstrating that organisms evolve and diversify through time. Most important, however, is that he discovered natural selection, the process that accounts for the adaptive organization of organisms and their features; […]

Paul Zak: Claremont Graduate University Neuroendocrine Foundations of Trust Department of EconomicsThe traditional view in economics is that individuals respond to incentives, but absent strong incentives to the contrary selfishness prevails. Moreover, this “greed is good” approach is deemed “rational” behavior. Nevertheless, in daily interactions and in numerous laboratory studies, a high degree of cooperative […]