Category Archives: natural world

Ten politically incorrect truths about human nature

Here is an interesting introduction to evolutionary psychology. The idea is that “human behavior is a product both of our innate human nature and of our individual experience and environment”. The “innate human nature” is the product of millions of years of evolution and has a serious impact on our behavior.

The results of this kind of analysis can often seem ‘ugly’ to us. They are not polite, they are not meant to be. They are however very interesting and their clear logic appeals to me.

There are ten examples in the article (not all of which I agree with), but some are interesting. An interesting introduction to the field so I have included a few quick summaries below:

2. Humans are naturally polygamous

  • “Polygyny (the marriage of one man to many women) is widely practiced in human societies”
  • We know that humans have been polygynous over our history because men are generally bigger than women. In other species (specifically other primates), bigger males indicate polygyny

3. Most women benefit from polygyny, while most men benefit from monogamy

  • Contrary to popular belief, polygyny actually benefits women! In a highly unequal society a woman is better off sharing half of a wealthy man than all of a poor one. In a polygenous society poor men lose out and the average women gain. So our monogamous society actually benefits men.
  • “Men in monogamous societies imagine they would be better off under polygyny. What they don’t realize is that, for most men who are not extremely desirable, polygyny means no wife at all”

The Trivers-Willard hypothesis is also discussed

  • The hypothesis states roughly that the sex of a child is slightly skewed depending on the parents’ circumstances to maximize reproductive payoff
  • Sons of wealthy and high status parents will inherit that wealth and status. These sons could go on to have many “wives, mistresses and concubines, and produce dozens or hundreds of children, whereas their equally wealthy sisters can have only so many children”
  • “So natural selection designs parents to have biased sex ratio at birth depending upon their economic circumstances—more boys if they are wealthy, more girls if they are poor.”
  • “This hypothesis has been documented around the globe. American presidents, vice presidents, and cabinet secretaries have more sons than daughters. Poor Mukogodo herders in East Africa have more daughters than sons. Church parish records from the 17th and 18th centuries show that wealthy landowners in Leezen, Germany, had more sons than daughters, while farm laborers and tradesmen without property had more daughters than sons. In a survey of respondents from 46 nations, wealthy individuals are more likely to indicate a preference for sons if they could only have one child, whereas less wealthy individuals are more likely to indicate a preference for daughters.”

Evolutionary arms race seen at warp speed


A lot of people don’t “get” or won’t accept that evolution is real because of the immense time scales required. National Geographic reports on a case when evolution was witnessed over a few years.

A bacteria had been killing almost all male larvae of a species of butterfly found on two Somoan islands. A 2001 study found that 99% of the butterflies were female. As recently as 2005 when an informal count was done no males were found at all. The bacteria was really hammering the males of the species and was in danger of wiping the butterfly out completely.

However, all of a sudden (OK, it took a few years but on evolutionary time scales that is all of a sudden) scientists noticed the male butterflies making a comeback. It seems that a single male evolved a mutation which allowed it to escape the bacteria’s attacks. Because this was such a huge advantage the genes spread extremely rapidly. It seems that the whole recovery took only a few generations.

Evolution in action baby. Don’t deny it. Don’t come with your micro-evolution rubbish. Love it.

Arctic ice is melting fast – it freaks me out

This is a pic from a National Geographic article about the fact that Arctic ice is at a record low this year. The purple line is the average August point for the years 1979 to 2000. The white is where the ice is now.

This is extra scary because:

  • The current ice coverage is well below the record low which was set in 2005
  • There is still a full month of melting this summer so things are only going to get worse
  • The current rate of melting is way faster than what was predicted by computer models

Frightening stuff. The thing is that climate is a complex adaptive system so this kind of thing could easily kick off a massive chain reaction of changes. I’ll blog about it sometime.

Anyway, this is why all sorts of Arctic countries are starting to stake claims to the Arctic. I recently posted about how a Russian expedition recently planted their flag on the seabed of the North Pole.

Rubber ducky – the incredible journey

This article is about the incredible journey of 29,000 rubber ducks.

The armada of 29,000 plastic yellow ducks, blue turtles and green frogs broke free from a cargo ship 15 years ago.

Since then they have travelled 17,000 miles, floating over the site where the Titanic sank, landing in Hawaii and even spending years frozen in an Arctic ice pack.

And now they are heading straight for Britain. At some point this summer they are expected to be spotted on beaches in South-West England.

The whole thing has actually really assisted oceanographers to map ocean currents because:

when they are spotted bobbing on the waves they are much more likely to be reported to the authorities than the floats which scientists normally use.

And because the toys are made of durable plastic and are sealed watertight, they have been able to survive years adrift at the mercy of the elements.

He is smiling at you!


Check out this National Geographic article about a very rare bird photographed for the first time. It has an “upside down” beak which makes it look like it’s smiling. I wonder what evolutionary advantage the bird got from that arrangement.

  • “Recently rediscovered by scientists in Colombia after a 40-year absence.”
  • “First ever [photo] taken of a live bushbird

Giant ancient penguins

“Giant ancient penguins” – what a phrase. Anyway, here is an article about some penguins that lived in Peru 30 million years ago.

  • They stood 1.5 meters (4.5 feet) tall
  • They had huge beaks and are suspected to have used spear-fishing techniques
  • The fossils were found near a Peruvian desert so dry that they think some parts haven’t seen rain in 40 million years!

Here is an artist’s impression showing the size of the penguin relative to a modern penguin.

Iceberg waterfalls

I was reading about a study of the life found on and around icebergs (there is a lot of it) and they had this cool pic. Sometimes ice on the top of an iceberg begins to melt and forms a lake. Eventually the lake breaks through the edge of the berg and a waterfall can form. Pretty cool.