Featured Book Foragers, Farmers, and Fossil Fuels Ian MorrisPaperback edition 2015 Reviewed by George KasabovContributing Writer How has the amount of energy that could be captured in each stage of human development affected our values and attitudes to fairness and justice? What can we can learn about humanity by looking back to long before there …
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Ancient DNA has enabled scientists to understand how complex biological traits evolve over time. They can follow the complex evolution of skin pigmentation and traits such as blue eyes and height. Skin color is extremely variable, even on the African continent, and is still evolving. A study of diverse African groups led by University of …
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We face a world that is far different from our ancestor’s world. But we have the potential to understand and solve the problems of today, many of which are man-made, if we first understand who we are, and how the past has made us. We must know what is unchanging about human nature and recognize …
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Thomas Eakins, Wikimedia Commons Some unconscious connections aren’t just metaphorical but are grounded in how we perceive and interact with our world. We automatically associate “high” with good — and, of course, “good” with “God.” Robert Ornstein, PhD; David Sobel, MD, MPH; and Sally MallamContributing Writers The content of this section, unless indicated, represents Robert Ornstein’s …
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Somewhere between 80,000 and 50,000 years ago, a single human migration out of Africa became the forebears of all non-Africans. What drove this first migration and what does that tell us about our evolution? In 1967 a team led by Richard Leakey found two hominid skulls and some bones near the Omo River in Ethiopia. …
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Gobekli Tepe. Kerimbesler, Wikimedia Commons As the climate warmed, food sources became more plentiful, and population numbers grew. An enormous communal effort and new inventions were required to assist and impress the spirit world to maintain cosmic and terrestrial harmony and prevent a return of the perilous Ice Age. This effort shaped the Neolithic Revolution—the …
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The Bank of England, the central bank equivalent to the Federal Reserve in the USA, declares: “Money is a kind of IOU which is universally trusted.” But this is not always true, and from this comes a question which has occupied thinkers throughout the history of money: What are the conditions in which such trust can occur? …
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Featured Book The True Believer:The Psychology of Mass Movements Eric Hoffer Tyranny cannot rise by force alone. A tyrant needs the consent of the majority made compliant and enthusiastic by circumstance, attitude, and indoctrination. As author Eric Hoffer more than suggests in his classic work The True Believer, understanding these mechanisms can help us avoid …
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Millions of people gathered around the world in March for Our Lives rallies organized by high school students. Photo by Phil Roeder A second and final brain growth spurt occurs during adolescence, making this another optimal period for learning. It is a crucial time when young people are especially sensitive to their experiences. To successfully …
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Living entirely on the ground and the first to venture out of Africa, Homo ergaster/erectus may have been first to live in bands of hunter gatherers and use fire to cook food. Homo erectus or “upright/standing man” evolved from H. habilis. H. erectus became bipedal at least 3 to 4 million years ago, and first moved out of Africa about …
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A colonial inspector checks the latex collected by native laborers in 1941 in Cameroon. Growing global income inequality and the absence of the rule of law underlie most of the social and economic problems in developing countries, including the roadblocks to effective foreign aid. Knowing more about the history of a region and how that …
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CREATING THE WORLD WE WANT Discussion Guide: Empathy, Connection, and Global Health and Wealth in the Wake of Covid DOWNLOAD FREE GUIDE There is a moment at the start of every major crisis when we think: “This is going to change everything.” COVID-19 was no exception. But as the crisis born of this global pandemic evolved, …
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