The Quirks Blog

Sometimes It Really Pays to Give a Shit!   Bernard Picart (1673-1733) The Perfumer We’re all familiar with the fable recounting the gag argument among the various organs of the human body as to which is most valuable and should be in charge. Even though the brain, blood, stomach, liver and so on put forward compelling arguments as to why what they do should be seen as most important, the rectum wins after not  doing its job for several days and distressing every other body sy

Familial kindness correlates with paternity uncertainty Father and Son, by Karl Bauerle 1880 Public Domain Most species of mammals and birds – indeed, even some species of fish – exhibit biparental care of offspring, though the investment in time, energy & resources is typically uneven between mom and dad. The balance of more versus less investment is a function of ‘parental certainty’: to what degree am I, as a mom or a dad, confident that this kid is mine? In evolutionary t

Comparative thanatology confronts the Grim Reaper “Man is the only animal that has to be encouraged to live”  – Friedrich Nietzsche When did humans begin to understand that life was finite, that death was an essential fact of life? And what does death mean for creatures other than humans? I think there are two aspects: the awareness that death is real and comes to us all, and the processing of it. For you and I this process amounts to acceptance, and grieving. The understandi

Procreation as a Defense Against Terror All humans (indeed, all organisms) share a set of bookends that mark their very existence on this planet – birth and death. The in-between is all about survival knowing that at some moment along that trajectory, we are going to fail at that task. Once born, death is just a matter of time. There is a healthy literature as to how unique humans are in awareness that life is finite (see my post on comparative thanatology, “Dead Reckoning” i

Why Moving People Don't Fall Over Humans are bipeds. One of the unique features of our species setting us apart from virtually all other sentient organisms. Like other mammals, we have four limbs but only two are dedicated to getting us from here to there and back again. Some other creatures – witness the kangaroo or the ostrich – also walk on two limbs exclusively, but in very different manners. A number of animals, including many primates among them our closest relatives th

Living in the fast lane is linked to boredom proneness Who doesn’t get bored from time to time? Everyone does! But it is also true that some of us are more prone to boredom than others. And there are two very real considerations here. If you are one of those people, research suggests it is likely that your greater boredom proneness  is tied to a negative childhood experience AND that characteristic will also define many choices you make in how you live life as an adult. Now,

Less pain, more strength: the benefits of saying ‘fuck’ out loud Let’s face it, we’ve all been there, working on this or that activity...

Ovulating all the way to the bank It is safe to say that the  core component of evolution is reproduction (and here we’re talking sexual...

Unemployment favors girl babies over boys “Boys will be boys”. A timeworn idiom accounting for the irritating mischief perpetrated by...

Inadequate placental compensation challenges male fetuses more than females   Hormones, those wacky wonderful little chemical messengers...