Brain and Behavior
Category archives for Brain and Behavior
Are Pigs Really Like People?
Posted by Greg Laden on June 11, 2015 
We hear this all the time. Pig physiology is like people physiology. Pigs and humans have the same immune system, same digestive system, get the same diseases. Pigs are smart like people are smart. Pigs are smarter than dogs. And so on. Ask a faunal expert in archaeology or a human paleoanatomist: Pig teeth are…
How stupid are you? You have no idea!
Posted by Greg Laden on September 29, 2014 
Learn more at this classic post by Don Prothero.
Axon Growth Possible in Central Nervous System
Posted by Greg Laden on May 21, 2014 
I don’t have time to read the original or make much comment on this, but since this topic has come up here before, I thought I’d pass on the press release from Burke REhabilitation and Research: Burke Medical Research Institute Scientists Show Axon Growth Possible in Central Nervous System White Plains, NY – May 21,…
Why Do Men Hunt and Women Shop?
Posted by Greg Laden on November 27, 2012 The title of this post is, of course, a parody of the sociobiological, or in modern parlance, the “evolutionary psychology” argument linking behaviors that evolved in our species during the long slog known as The Pleistocene with today’s behavior in the modern predator-free food-rich world. And, it is a very sound argument. If, by “sound”…
Kurzweil: How to create a mind
Posted by Greg Laden on November 14, 2012 How to Create a Mind: The Secret of Human Thought Revealed is Ray Kurzweil’s latest book. You may know of him as the author of The Singularity Is Near: When Humans Transcend Biology. Kurzweil is a “futurist” and has a reputation as being one of the greatest thinkers of our age, as well as being…
No new nose neurons?
Posted by Greg Laden on May 26, 2012 
Elizabeth Norton has an interesting write-up in Science Now. Some years ago, after a long period of suspicion, it was seemingly demonstrated that neurogenesis (the formation of new neurons) happened in the human nose. This research was based on the identification of proteins that would be associated with the early formation of baby neurons. Therefore,…
Name the actor and the show
Posted by Greg Laden on May 25, 2012 
I just happen to come across this interesting cameo and snapped this fair use impromptu screen shot… Who is it, what show is this, and if you are that good, what episode! ___________ posted from my iPad
IQ Varies with Context
Posted by Greg Laden on January 25, 2012 In a very interesting way. As a regular reader of this blog, you know that IQ and similar measures are determined by a number of factors, and for most “normal” (modal?) individuals, one’s heritage (genes) is rarely important. Putting it another way, variation across individuals in IQ and other measures have been shown again and…
The argument that different races have genetically determined differences in intelligence
Posted by Greg Laden on December 26, 2011 The presumption being examined here is that humans are divisible into different groups (races would be one term for those groups) that are genetically distinct from one another in a way that causes those groups to have group level differences in average intelligence, as measured by IQ. More exactly, this post is about the sequence…
A map of the brain
Posted by Greg Laden on November 12, 2011 How can we begin to understand the way the brain works? The same way we begin to understand a city: by making a map. In this visually stunning talk, Allan Jones shows how his team is mapping which genes are turned on in each tiny region, and how it all connects up.