Do Ya Think I’m Sexy?

As best I can tell, life evolved to be an endless series of choices.  This would be fine if it hadn’t also evolved parents to endlessly criticize those choices.  Announce that you’re choosing to become a writer if you don’t believe me.  But I really don’t think things would get any better if we could

How Many Trees Can’t We See?

A long time ago, probably before anybody really thought about what they were doing, our ancestors lived in the trees.  Trees gave them everything they needed then.  But everything isn’t always enough, especially when your only dreams are of falling.  So eventually they came down, their dreams evolved to include world domination, and they went

It’s a Small Brain After All

I’m sure most readers would agree with me that brains are important, and not just because they allow us to think that we’re smarter than we are.  Brains take up nearly half the volume of our heads, so without them our heads would be only half the size they are now and we would look

When Scientists Fight

            “Nasty, Brutish, and Short” was not the name of a 17th century law firm, and neither was it a completely apt depiction of the six foot Thomas Hobbes (1588 – 1679), who coined the phrase to describe life in mankind’s natural state.  What he thought about lawyers, accountants, and others who tend towards some

We’re All A Little Bananas Here

As if this year hasn’t been disturbing enough, now comes the science reports that we share 50 percent of our DNA with bananas.  And yes, you read that right.  I did not mean to say bonobos, with whom we share 99 percent of our DNA.  And I certainly did not mean to say my Uncle

The Evolution of Lying

Scientists say that humans primarily evolved to be social, cooperative creatures, and that their survival depended on that cooperation.  This behavior required the setting aside of narrow self-interests in favor of the greater good.  Humans, however, also don’t like to be told what to do, and so found a way around this objectionable condition that

The Donut Factor – Humanity on the Rise

The factors affecting the size of human bodies are complex, but primarily involve genetics, environment, and donuts.  That last factor, of course, may be just a recent shorthand for lifestyle, but can a pre-donut existence really be called living?  It’s hard to say.  While donut dispensaries may boost life satisfaction levels, at least in the

Update to “A Complete History of Mankind”

            Well, the jury’s still out, but it may be that my slightly condensed history of human evolution, the 800 word essay, “The Complete History of Mankind,” needs a qualifier.  Scientists are now reporting that recent discoveries in Israel and China suggest that there were two previously unknown types of early humans living alongside Homo