Eric Michael Johnson has a Bachelors degree in Anthropology and a Masters in Evolutionary Anthropology. He pursued his PhD in Evolutionary Anthropology at Duke before joining the University of British Columbia to complete a doctorate in the History and Philosophy of Science.
As part of the series of reposts leading up to my review of Frans de Waal's newest book The Age of Empathy: Nature's Lessons for a Kinder Society I present the third of three pieces that appeared after Ian Parker's 2007 article "Swingers" appeared in The New Yorker.
In my earlier pieces "Bonobo (…
Buffalo News / Adam Zyglis
"As hypocrisy is said to be the highest compliment to virtue, the art of lying is the strongest acknowledgment of the force of truth."
- William Hazlitt, "On Patronage and Puffing", 1822
Bonobos often adopt a "missionary" posture during copulation (photograph by Frans de Waal).
As part of the series of reposts leading up to my review of Frans de Waal's newest book The Age of Empathy: Nature's Lessons for a Kinder Society I present the second of three pieces that appeared after Ian…
As part of the series of reposts leading up to my review of Frans de Waal's newest book The Age of Empathy: Nature's Lessons for a Kinder Society I present the first of three pieces that appeared after Ian Parker's 2007 article "Swingers" appeared in The New Yorker.
As expected, the apologists for…
Darwin evicts a Social Darwinist and Eugenicist from his house / Northwestern Univ.
Primatologist Frans de Waal, author of such classic works as Chimpanzee Politics, Peacemaking Among Primates, Good Natured: The Origin of Right and Wrong in Humans and Other Animals, and Bonobo: The Forgotten Ape…
Apparently so. It turns out that in nine states and Washington, D.C. insurance companies are not prohibited from dropping coverage for patients with a history of domestic abuse. The Women's Law Project documented this in detail in their 2002 Supplement Report entitled "Insurance Discrimination…
My previous post on a potential problem for the selfish gene theory in explaining cooperative behavior resulted in a fair amount of heated discussion. However, there are quite a few misconceptions regarding the controversy surrounding the selfish gene, group selection, multilevel selection,…
Unicolonial ants, such as these Argentine ants (Linepithema humile), are genetically unrelated but will cooperate to defeat a much larger adversary.
Source: Alex Wild / Live Science
It has been a mainstay of evolutionary theory since the 1970s. Natural selection acts purely on the level of the…
Inexplicably, a UFO appears over one of Earth's remote cities. Hovering a few hundred meters above the terrified citizens, a government mission to board the craft is executed only to find the strange beings living in disease and desperation. A decision is made to save their lives and relocate…
An op-ed in today's Los Angeles Times discusses the legacy of the murder that became a pivotal moment in the civil rights movement:
Fifty-four years ago today, Emmett Till, a 14-year-old Chicago boy visiting family in Mississippi, was abducted, mutilated and slain after he allegedly whistled at a…
Well, not really. He just wants to sell some books there. But don't tell that to the editors at The Times.
None of Professor Dawkins' books, on evolution as well as religion, has ever been translated into Arabic, and his work has been heavily censored in Turkey. In an interview with The Times, he…
It took the threat of nuclear annihilation between the two greatest powers of the 20th century to solve one of the most profound scientific controversies of the 1800s. In 1952 Dr. Harry Ladd, a researcher for the US Geological Survey, convinced the US War Department to drill holes deep into the…
"They say rather than cursing the darkness, one should light a candle. They don't mention anything about cursing a lack of candles."
- George Carlin, When Will Jesus Bring the Porkchops?
In Unscientific America, Chris Mooney and Sheril Kirshenbaum (the latter of whom I consider a friend) are deeply…
Allow me to lay it out as simply as I can. It is my view that religion and science are incompatible in a very specific and important way. I say this as someone who previously drank the Kool-Aid and spent countless hours studying what was described to me as the Holy Spirit. I have been…
In case you missed some of these, here's the posts I'm particularly fond of from this month. The next week or two may be sporadic as I make the big move to Canada. But not to fear, I'll soon be right back in the swing of things.
The Evolution of Potty Training
Politics, Communication and…
This will be my first foray into baby blogging (technically it's my second, however the first ended up being somewhat accidental). What I hope to explore through these posts will be child development through the lens of anthropology and primatology as I observe my child going through various…
In a huge breaking story, The New York Times is reporting today that the CIA, with Bush administration authorization, used the private military firm Blackwater (who changed their name to Xe Services after controversy erupted when contractors killed Iraqi civilians) in a program intended to hunt…
Mark Dery, guest blogger for Boing Boing, has a piece up on the "philosophical investigation into the paradox of horrible beauty and the politics of 'just looking.'" In it he highlights the 17th century crypt where the Capuchin's (the religious order, not the monkey) buried their deceased…
The only known photograph of famed head case Phineas Gage was discovered last month (on Flickr of all places!). Jack and Beverly Wilgus had the above daguerreotype for thirty years before realizing what it was. As they describe the image's history at their website:
We called it "The Whaler"…
As I've been preparing my formal review of Unscientific America I've been struck by the question: who was this book intended for? Clearly it was a critique of science communicators to be sure (more on that later) but as I realized in going through my notes, Mooney and Kirshenbaum's strongest…
Twenty companies have now pulled their advertising from the Glenn Beck Program (eight of them yesterday). The right wing outrage to the free market at work continues to grow.
The website DefendGlenn.com has today attacked Sargento as "the worst company in the world" because they sent the following…
According to a press release put out today by the organization Color of Change, the campaign to encourage companies to pull their advertising revenue from Glenn Beck's FOXNews show earned some major new signatories:
Eight more Glenn Beck advertisers, including Wal-Mart - the world's largest…
The monthly history of science carnival is now up at The Dispersal of Darwin. This is one of the best collections produced yet, proving that The Giant's Shoulders' second year is getting off to a tremendous start. Head on over to check out these great posts.
My favorites in this edition include…
I'm sorry, I'm afraid that title's misleading. This is actually an early video of UnitedHealth CEO Stephen J. Hemsley (whose salary is estimated at $102,000 an hour) discussing his principled stance on why he's opposed to the public option in US health care reform.
Or it could be The Money Song…
Benjamin Franklin once quipped, "Where there's marriage without love there will be love without marriage." His affairs are well known in American history, however this founding father may have been stating a truth extending to evolutionary history as well.
Christopher Ryan (author of the…
In light of the AstroTurf outrage promoted by right-wing organizations, media pundits and lobbying firms over the health care reform legislation, I thought it would be appropriate to remember the reason we need reform in the first place.
In this interview with Bill Moyers, Wendell Potter, former…
Goldman Sachs CEO Lloyd Blankfein urges his employees not to engage in "conspicuous consumption" for image concerns after their "record second-quarter profit of $2.3 billion" thanks to a government bailout:
Goldman Sachs CEO Lloyd Blankfein has warned his employess to avoid making big-ticket, high-…
The Daily Show's Jon Oliver investigates the question of whether humans are more closely related to orangutans or chimpanzees. The answer shouldn't surprise you in the slightest (though it will be quite funny).
The Daily Show With Jon Stewart
Mon - Thurs 11p / 10c
Human's Closest Relative…
