The Primate Diaries

The Primate Diaries is Moving to Science Blogs

Eric Michael Johnson — Thu, 02 Jul 2009 01:20:59 +0000

With the birth of my son I have decided that it’s necessary to work closer to home. I wanted to thank everyone here at Nature Network for welcoming me into the fold. I enjoyed my time here immensely and made connections with people that I hope to maintain for many years to come.

I can assure you that I will continue to be a regular part of the community. I look forward to continuing our discussions both on the comments pages here and at my new home: http://scienceblogs.com/primatediaries. To update your RSS feed please click here.

Thank you again and I wish you all the very best!

Repost: The Biology of a Mother’s Love

Eric Michael Johnson — Sun, 21 Jun 2009 01:21:43 +0000

Mother-infant bonds predicted by hormone levels in humans and other mammals

Image: Statue in Zamora, Spain / heidi.vilppola

My son is expected to be born any day now and it has been a fascinating experience watching my partner’s changes during these past nine months. I’ve been reading a great deal about evolutionary perspectives on birth and childrearing lately (and I highly recommend primatologist Meredith Small’s Our Babies, Ourselves). With that so much on my mind of late I thought this post from October 2007 was rather appropriate.

A common tactic by evolution deniers is to claim that if a complex behavior can’t be measured than the scientific method must be a flawed approach towards understanding the world. Nevermind that no one challenges the science of physics just because we can’t predict the complex motions of a leaf in a windstorm. But when it comes to matters of emotion somehow natural explanations are off limits. This is readily apparent in the common argument that, “if you think biology is such a good explanation of behavior, then prove that your mother loves you.” However, as it turns out, we can address this challenge of motherly love and demonstrate a plausible scientific explanation by measuring the levels of the important hormones involved.

Treading Carefully: From Rape to Courtship in Male Water Striders

Eric Michael Johnson — Thu, 11 Jun 2009 07:05:06 +0000

Image: Battle of the Sexes / Ben Clifford

In most species the arms race between the sexes has resulted in variations on a consistent theme: the “ardent” male vs. the “coy” female. Males, who often bear little responsibility for investing time or resources in their offspring, seek to mate with as many females as conditions allow. In contrast, females are generally much more selective about whom they choose to share their genes with in the next generation. This usual (and grossly oversimplified) dichotomy has remained virtually unchanged since Darwin first proposed it in On the Origin of Species.

However, there are dramatic exceptions to this trend. On one end, females of many species have evolved a strategy of facultative polyandry. This adaptation has been selected for under multiple environmental or social conditions: to diversify the female’s genetic portfolio through mixed paternity in their litter or clutch, to elicit benefits from multiple fathers, or to disguise paternity in an effort to avoid male infanticide. On the other side, males of some species have adapted coercive or violent mating strategies in order to prevent females from making an informed choice, especially when that choice isn’t them. In both of these extremes neither sex has “won” the war between the sexes; it has been a conflict constantly being waged with each new generation, sometimes favoring males and other times females, but was thought to never reach a final conclusion.

In a study released today by Chang S. Han and Piotr G. Jablonski in the journal PLoS ONE, a war that was never supposed to end has now found a dramatic example of supplication before the winning side.

Genetic Manipulation at the Vatican

Eric Michael Johnson — Thu, 04 Jun 2009 15:06:36 +0000

This week the Vatican has endorsed genetically modified crops as a solution to end global hunger. Since the Vatican has consistently been opposed to any technology (including condoms) that has “scientists meddling with God’s creation” this is a rather dramatic change in their stance.

Vote for The Primate Diaries: Male Chauvinist Chimps

Eric Michael Johnson — Mon, 01 Jun 2009 19:54:33 +0000

The Primate Diaries has been nominated for a Quark! Please go to Three Quarks Daily 2009 Science Prize and vote for The Primate Diaries: Male Chauvinist Chimps.

This post was selected as PLoS ONE’s Pick of the Month and now has the chance to win a national prize. The top rated entries will be judged by evolutionary psychologist Steven Pinker.

To read this article please click here. Thank you very much for supporting this blog and I hope to continue producing thought provoking and entertaining posts in the future.

Socialism 2.0: The New Digital Divide May Be Political

Eric Michael Johnson — Fri, 29 May 2009 17:39:22 +0000

In the current issue of Wired, Kevin Kelly writes that socialism is coming back in a big way: on the web.

Instead of gathering on collective farms, we gather in collective worlds. Instead of state factories, we have desktop factories connected to virtual co-ops. Instead of sharing drill bits, picks, and shovels, we share apps, scripts, and APIs. Instead of faceless politburos, we have faceless meritocracies, where the only thing that matters is getting things done. Instead of national production, we have peer production. Instead of government rations and subsidies, we have a bounty of free goods.

Repost: Shamanic Visions of Selective Sweep

Eric Michael Johnson — Thu, 28 May 2009 01:43:21 +0000

The primatologist, neuroscientist, famed science writer and my personal hero has just been awarded the Lewis Thomas Prize at Rockefeller University. Considering that this has been an especially busy week I thought I would repost something that I wrote about him from an earlier date.

According to the announcement today:

Robert writes with a voice that is both self-deprecating and reverent of humanity,” says Paul Nurse, the university’s president. “Through his candor, his incisiveness and his humor, Robert evinces the delight that is inherent in scientific exploration and discovery. It is a great pleasure to recognize him with the Lewis Thomas Prize.

I am extremely grateful to him for helping me land my first professional science writing job and I would like to offer him my sincere congratulations.

[Read on below the fold.]

Breaking the Chain

Eric Michael Johnson — Fri, 22 May 2009 01:21:21 +0000

Darwinius masillae and the fallacy of a “missing link”

See thro’ this air, this ocean, and this earth
All matter quick, and bursting into birth:
Above, how high progressive life may go!
Around, how wide! how deep extend below!
Vast chain of being! which from God began;
Natures ethereal, human, angel, man,
Beast, bird, fish, insect, who no eye can see,
No glass can reach; from infinite to thee;
From thee to nothing.—On superior powers
Were we to press, inferior might on ours;
Or in the full creation leave a void,
Where, one step broken, the great scale’s destroyed:
From Nature’s chain whatever link you like,
Tenth, or ten thousandth, breaks the chain alike.

- Alexander Pope, Essay on Man (1734)

Alexander Pope, in this portion from his Essay on Man, demonstrated in lucid prose the social significance that the great chain of being, or scala naturae (“ladder of nature”) had for centuries of philosophers and naturalists. Now, the analysis of a Middle Eocene primate dubbed Darwinius masillae, published in PLoS ONE by Jens Franzen and colleagues, has elicited a firestorm of media commentary as journalists scramble over one another in their rush to label this exquisite fossil discovery as yet another “missing link” in Pope’s great chain. However, as Nature’s editor Henry Gee has succinctly pointed out, the concept of the missing link is an antiquated concept that has no place in modern paleontology.

[Read on below the fold.]

Stephen Jay Gould - A Personal Reflection

Eric Michael Johnson — Thu, 21 May 2009 01:03:17 +0000

A few of the books in my collection.

On this day seven years ago I was sitting down for my final exam in evolutionary biology. The room was sweltering as several hundred students exerted their already overtaxed brains with a few final moments of cramming. However, the news of that morning was pushing aside any desire I had to practice calculating the Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium or to review how pleiotropic effects alter the Punnett square. That morning the evolutionary biologist and historian of science who had most inspired my future goals had succumbed to cancer. By that point I had read most of his popular books and articles and had decided to pursue a similar path in my own life (my first professional article was coincidentally published that very month).

In those final minutes before mental regurgitation was to commence, I found myself rising to my feat and marching to the front of the auditorium. With my biology professor staring at me in confusion, and my heart pounding as 400 eyes bored holes into my back, I grabbed a dry erase marker and wrote in large letters and with trembling hands “In Memoriam – Stephen Jay Gould”. By the time I’d returned to my seat, avoiding everyone’s gaze in that long walk, I noticed that my professor had written underneath, “Evolutionary biologist at Harvard.” It was only then that it occurred to me that few in the room may have heard of a man who had left such a powerful impression on me. So allow me to introduce him to those of you who may not have encountered, or fully appreciated, his work previously.

[Read on below the fold]

Scientia Pro Publica #4 - In Memory of Stephen Jay Gould

Eric Michael Johnson — Mon, 18 May 2009 08:05:34 +0000

"Science is an integral part of culture. It's not this foreign thing, done by an arcane priesthood. It's one of the glories of the human intellectual tradition."

On May 20, 2002 the scientific world lost a major proponent for science and reason. Stephen Jay Gould was a scientist, a historian and a writer who communicated his passion for evolution to an audience around the globe. For many people outside of the sciences, his books may have been the only source they ever read about evolution from a working biologist. His ability to connect with readers from diverse backgrounds and his willingness to challenge so many sacred cows of biological theory will ensure a distinguished legacy for his life’s work. He is largely responsible for my own interest in evolutionary biology and the history of science and I would like to dedicate this fourth edition of Scientia Pro Publica to his memory.

Send Scientia Pro Publica Submissions

Eric Michael Johnson — Wed, 13 May 2009 21:41:05 +0000

The new edition of the famed biweekly science, nature and medicine blog carnival will be appearing here on Monday, May 18th. Send your top posts to scientiablogcarnival@gmail.com or primatediaries@gmail.com. You can also use this automatic form to submit.

I would like to see all branches of science represented including Evolution/Life Sciences, Physical/Earth Sciences, Medicine, Social/Behavioral Sciences, Scientific Practice, as well as Science and Society (which includes the history/philosophy of science plus how race, gender and political issues intersect with science).

This is a terrific way to bring attention to your writing and connect with other writers in your field. Send your posts right away or start preparing one now for inclusion.

Photo: Golden Lion Tamarin

Eric Michael Johnson — Wed, 13 May 2009 21:39:36 +0000

Image: Golden Lion Tamarin / suneko

Orangutan Escape Artist

Eric Michael Johnson — Tue, 12 May 2009 19:35:37 +0000

Image: A young orangutan escape artist in training / A. Dawson

As a boy, whenever I would watch old Cowboy and Indian movies on Sunday afternoon TV I would always instinctively root for the Indians. Little did I know it at the time, but an anthropologist was being born.

Now I find myself in the same position. Two months ago a chimpanzee in Sweden stockpiled rocks in order to throw them at gawking tourists. As a result, he became famous as the Pan troglodytes equivalent of the Iraqi shoe thrower. Unfortunately for both, their aim wasn’t as good as their initial idea. Now, an orangutan in an Australian zoo has orchestrated an elaborate escape attempt that should be hailed as an act of civil disobedience unmatched in the annals of apedom.

Helpful Cichlids in the Gladiator's Show

Eric Michael Johnson — Mon, 11 May 2009 17:22:21 +0000

Image: The Daffodil Cichlid of Lake Tanganyika / Koen Eeckhoudt

In 1888 “Darwin’s Bulldog”, Thomas Henry Huxley, declared that nature was little more than a “gladiator’s show” whereby only “the strongest, the swiftest, and the cunningest live to fight another day.” Brutal competition was the only important factor in the natural world, in which a “Hobbesian war of each against all was the normal state of existence.” As such, we shouldn’t expect cooperation in nature because only strength and selfishness is rewarded by evolution.

But a new paper by Dik Heg and colleagues, entitled Helpful Female Cichlids Are More Likely to Reproduce, in the open access journal PLoS One demonstrates a unique form of cooperation that represents the final bugle call for such a Hobbesian battlecry.

[Read on below the fold.]

Warning! Baby Animal Pictures

Eric Michael Johnson — Fri, 08 May 2009 22:31:30 +0000

Everyone say it together now, “Awwwwwwwwww”, now again together, “Ohhhhhhhhh”. Perhaps it’s because I’m an expectant father, but come on. Even baby aye-ayes are precious (though I might draw the line at parasitic wasps).

Happy Friday everybody.

Capitalist Pigs and the "NAFTA Flu"

Eric Michael Johnson — Fri, 08 May 2009 13:22:30 +0000

Image: Piglets packed together in a Confined Animal Feeding Operation / Farm Sanctuary

Since my previous post on this topic, Priming the Pump of a Swine Flu Pandemic, there have been several analyses that lead credence to the argument that Confined Animal Feeding Operations (CAFOs) have acted as an effective breeding ground and dispensary for new zoonotic pathogens (and potentially the H1N1 swine flu). By housing hundreds of thousands of immune-compromised animals under one roof, a new mutant virus could be quickly disseminated throughout the population and be more likely to transfer from animals to humans. Now, two respected scholars have issued their analysis on this question and their conclusions should be of concern for everyone who has seen the social and economic damage wrought in recent years through avian and swine flu pandemics.

Delights and Wonders Await You

Eric Michael Johnson — Thu, 07 May 2009 05:40:17 +0000

Image: Scenes from the 2004 Carnivale in Venice / Alaskan Dude

Several terrific blog carnivals have been posted in just the last few days. I encourage everyone to head on over and show your support. And, if you haven’t entered a carnival before, perhaps now is your chance to find out where the next one will be and plan for it.

تحفة الأحباب في علم الحساب

Eric Michael Johnson — Wed, 06 May 2009 14:38:53 +0000

Illustration by Abū al-Rayhān Muhammad ibn Ahmad al-Bīrūnī of different phases of the moon from Vestiges of the Past (کتاب الآثار الباقية عن القرون الخالية).

The arabic of this title translates to “A Friendly Gift on the Science of Arithmetic” and represents one of multiple orginal texts of 14th-17th century Arab-Islamic science recently released by the United Nations World Digital Library.

I’ve been reading a good deal about the history of science in this region as I’m preparing for my interview with Adnan Oktar (who writes under the name Harun Yahya), one of the leading voices of Islamic Intelligent Design. His two-volume Atlas of Creation is an exquisitely gorgeous compendium of pseudoscience that is comprised of high quality photographs depicting vaguely labled fossils that sort of look like living species (the vast majority of which are fish). After 800 pages the reader is supposed to understand that this .0001% sample of the natural world proves that evolution has never occurred.

However, in looking through the works of antiquity in this new collection what stands out is how Islam and science have not always been in such collision.

A New Genetic Map of Human Origins

Eric Michael Johnson — Mon, 04 May 2009 22:14:14 +0000

In Jared Diamond’s Pulitzer Prize-winning Guns, Germs and Steel he states that, “History followed different courses for different peoples because of differences among peoples’ environments, not because of biological differences among peoples themselves.” This view revolutionized the understanding of human variation in terms of politics, culture and the subjugation of some groups by others. However, it is the biological variation in human populations that can now help researchers understand the conditions that made this history occur in the first place.

Africa has long been argued to be the original home of the human species. Previous studies have estimated that the most recent common ancestor of all modern humans lived approximately 200,000 years ago. Now, the most comprehensive genetic survey to date has estimated the geographical region in Africa where these ancestors are most likely to have originated.

PLoS Awards Meat for Sex

Eric Michael Johnson — Fri, 01 May 2009 20:00:13 +0000

I just received word that my article, Male Chauvinist Chimps or the Meat Market of Public Opinion?, was selected as PLoS One’s Post of the Month. I would like to send out a big thank you to Bora and the entire PLoS One family. There were a lot of excellent posts this month and I enjoyed reading a good many of them.

I also want to thank Cristina Gomes and Christophe Boesch for an excellent paper. This has been a controversy in evolutionary anthropology for the last fifteen years and, based on their innovative and painstaking approach, they’ve done a beautiful job arriving at their conclusion.

Make sure to head over to their paper to offer your comments and then let me know what you think in the comments page of my review.

Thanks again!

Priming the Pump of a Swine Flu Pandemic

Eric Michael Johnson — Wed, 29 Apr 2009 06:00:01 +0000

In an earlier pandemic, French children with tuberculosis are housed in a préventorium.

Image: Casas-Rodríguez Collection, 2009. Some rights reserved.

With swine flu now being named as a potential global pandemic, I’m reminded of Steven Johnson’s excellent book The Ghost Map: The Story of London’s Most Terrifying Epidemic and How It Changed Science, Cities and the Modern World. It tells the story of 19th century epidemiologist John Snow and how he traced the outbreaks of cholera in East London to a single pump handle located in Soho. As it turned out, cost-cutting policies among London’s private water companies resulted in emptying the sewer pipes directly into the Thames River, and then collecting people’s drinking water from downstream. Apparently, no one considered it a problem that drinking water contaminated with the diarrhea of cholera patients might make more people sick. Have things really changed?

Rivalry Among The Reefs

Eric Michael Johnson — Mon, 20 Apr 2009 14:12:19 +0000

Charles Darwin and a Century of Conflict Over the Coral Reef Problem

Image: Lighthouse Coral Reef, Belize / divermeg

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 Bikini and Eniwetok Atolls just prior to their obliteration by hydrogen bombs. The reason for the drilling had little to do with the nuclear tests as part of Operation Crossroads, but was simply to conduct an experiment based on the hypothesis of coral reef formation first proposed by Charles Darwin in 1837.

Weekend Roundup (Week of April 13 - 17)

Eric Michael Johnson — Fri, 17 Apr 2009 23:47:39 +0000

There were a number of excellent studies this week that I wasn’t able to write about (but I will continue to twitter those articles that strike my interest).

Furuichi is one of the leading primatologists in the field, whose new book The Bonobos: Behavior, Ecology and Conservation has been receiving rave reviews. His new paper explores the differences between bonobos and chimpanzees and suggests ecological factors that could be tested to better understand their distinct evolutionary trajectories.

Alvarez et al. look at the decline of the Spanish Hapsburg dynasty in the context of their inbreeding coefficient. After nearly two centuries of consanguineous marriages, Charles II ended up having a higher coefficient than if he had been the son of full siblings.

McDonald examines the social networks within the leks of long-tailed manakins and demonstrates a striking example of cooperation between unrelated individuals.

Cant and Johnstone look at the evolution of cooperation and seek to understand the regulation of aggression in social networks by applying the economic framework of the outside option principle.

Finally, Gunza et al. suggest a more complicated emigration of modern humans out of Africa utilizing neurocranial geometry rather than modern genetic data.

Abstracts and links can be found below the fold. Enjoy. Happy Friday everybody.

And Now For Something Completely Different . . .

Eric Michael Johnson — Fri, 17 Apr 2009 05:00:45 +0000

Image: Ministry of Funny Walks Tag, Graz / southtyrolean

I’m currently working on a book (scheduled for release sometime in the 2010s) that intends to be an extension of my research in evolutionary anthropology and the history/philosophy of science. In the coming months I may be tempted to write more about it — and could be persuaded to publish short excerpts like Laelaps has been doing with his current opus — but I’m not quite ready for a grand unveiling.

However, I’m often amazed at the kinds of science related books that are commonly published (“related” being the word to emphasize). These books often get a wider distribution than titles that really delve into fascinating and important issues. So before I get into the book I’m writing I thought I might talk a little about the books I’m not writing, but perhaps should be.

Male Chauvinist Chimps or the Meat Market of Public Opinion?

Eric Michael Johnson — Tue, 14 Apr 2009 06:52:59 +0000

How the importance of female choice is overlooked in chimpanzee “Meat for Sex” study.

Female chimpanzee with her infant requests meat after a successful hunt.
Image: David Bygott / Tree of Life Web Project (used by permission)

This post has been selected by PLoS One as their Pick of the Month.

From the introductions alone, you would have thought you were in a 19th century “gentleman’s club” enjoying cigars and brandy. “There’s nothing like a prime rib dinner to boost a guy’s chances of getting lucky,” boasted ScienceNOW as he cleaned his monacle. The Daily Mail agreed with a harrumph, “As every Romeo knows, laying on a delicious dinner for two is one of the best seduction ploys”. Chuckling along with a wink and a nudge, MSNBC added, “A savory meat dinner goes a long way, as in all the way”. Ostensibly, these articles were talking about chimpanzees, but it was made perfectly clear what they were getting at. Rupert Murdoch, naturally, got straight to the point. “The oldest profession isn’t restricted to humans,” Fox News asserted, while The New York Post headline simply shouted “Chimpanzee Meat Market.”

In other words, dating is just another form of prostitution and evolution proves that he that pays gets play. For some reason the barriers were down. Talking about chimpanzee sexuality allowed journalists to let loose and express views they would rarely utter otherwise. Evidently people got the message, if the comments on Slashdot are any indication. A rare case of maturity could be found at The Great Beyond which wrote that, “News that female chimps mate more frequently with male chimps that share their meat with them has prompted a slew of at best corny, at worst downright sexist, even lewd, headlines.” The main problem was that, while everyone else was busy giggling over these chauvinist fantasies, they missed the real meat of the story.