Thomas Grund, Christian Waloszek, and Dirk Helbing (ETH Zurich): How Natural Selection Can Create Both Self- and Other-Regarding Preferences, and Networked Minds. How could we engineer humans to have more empathy? Charlie Jane Anders wonders. A study says some species have become monogamous through evolution and, for primates, infanticide is at its root. The work is only beginning on understanding the human genome: Elizabeth Quill interviews Eric D. Green, director of the National Human Genome Research Institute. Marek Kohn on the Neanderthal mind: Troglodytes who couldn't compete, or humans with complex culture? This island life: Lewis Spurgin on the strange biology of island populations highlights the role of chance, not just selection, in evolutionary change. What is the fastest articulated motion a human can execute? On the mechanics and evolution of human throwing. Infections, institutions, and life history: Daniel Hruschka on searching for the origins of individualism and collectivism. Living people linked to 5,500 year-old DNA. What will become of humans as we evolve under the selective pressures of our modern lives and technology? If we adapt to some of the more bizarre elements of the present, humans could undergo some surreal changes. Nobody expects atoms and molecules to have purposes, so why do we still think of living things in this way?
