The first comprehensive explanation of a widely applicable but underappreciated mechanism of evolution operating at higher levels of organization than the individual.In this important treatise, ecologists and evolutionary biologists John Damuth and Lev R. Ginzburg identify a specific evolutionary process in biology, which they call nonadaptive selection. The idea is simple, but the implications are profound. Nonadaptive selection, as they use the ...

"Gazzaniga is a giant in cognitive neuroscience . . . [He] advances a fascinating argument that both limits and contextualizes brain research." —Forbes.comThe author of Human, Michael S. Gazzaniga has been called the "father of cognitive neuroscience." In his remarkable book, Who's in Charge?, he makes a powerful and provocative argument that counters the common wisdom that our lives are wholly determined by physical processes we cannot control. Hi...

The bestselling editor of This Explains Everything brings together 175 of the world’s most brilliant minds to tackle Edge.org’s 2014 question: What scientific idea has become a relic blocking human progress?Each year, John Brockman, publisher of Edge.org—”The world’s smartest website” (The Guardian)—challenges some of the world’s greatest scientists, artists, and philosophers to answer a provocative question crucial to our time. In 2014 he asked 175 brilliant mind...

"Beautifully written, eloquently reasoned…Mr. Buonomano takes us off and running on an edifying scientific journey." —Carol Tavris, Wall Street JournalIn Your Brain Is a Time Machine, leading neuroscientist Dean Buonomano embarks on an "immensely engaging" exploration of how time works inside the brain (Barbara Kiser, Nature). The human brain, he argues, is a complex system that not only tells time, but creates it; it constructs our sense...

An evolutionary case for the existence of free willScientists are learning more and more about how brain activity controls behavior and how neural circuits weigh alternatives and initiate actions. As we probe ever deeper into the mechanics of decision making, many conclude that agency—or free will—is an illusion. In Free Agents, leading neuroscientist Kevin Mitchell presents a wealth of evidence to the contrary, arguing that we are not mere machines respon...

Charles Darwin changed the course of scientific thinking by showing how evolution accounts for the stunning diversity and biological complexity of life on earth. Recently, there has also been increased interest in the social sciences in how Darwinian theory can explain human culture.Covering a wide range of topics, including fads, public policy, the spread of religion, and herd behavior in markets, Alex Mesoudi shows that human culture is itself an evolutionary process that exhibit...

In this fascinating collection of writings that introduce the very latest theories and discoveries in science, editor Max Brockman presents the work of some of today’s brightest and most innovative young researchers.Future Science features eighteen young scientists, most of whom are presenting their work and ideas to a general audience for the first time. Included in this collection are* William McEwan, a virologist, discussing his research into the biology of anti...

A philosopher subjects the claims of evolutionary psychology to the evidential and methodological requirements of evolutionary biology, concluding that evolutionary psychology's explanations amount to speculation disguised as results.Human beings, like other organisms, are the products of evolution. Like other organisms, we exhibit traits that are the product of natural selection. Our psychological capacities are evolved traits as much as are our gait and posture. ...

A philosopher and a cognitive scientist "challenge Darwinism more effectively than the entire creationist/intelligent design movement has" ( Booklist )."A trenchant, entertaining assault on the very basis of contemporary evolutionary theory."―Kenan Malik, Literary Review (UK)What Darwin Got Wrong is a remarkable book, one that dares to challenge...

How do some birds, turtles, and insects possess navigational abilities that rival the best manmade navigational technologies? Who or what taught the honey bee its dance, or its hive mates how to read the complex message of the dance? How do blind mound-building termites master passive heating and cooling strategies that dazzle skilled human architects? In The Origin of Species Charles Darwin conceded that such instincts are "so wonderful" that the mystery of their origin would str...

Will climate change force a massive human migration to the Northern Rim?How does our sense of morality arise from the structure of the brain?What does the latest research in language acquisition tells us about the role of culture in the way we think?What does current neurological research tell us about the nature of time?This wide-ranging collection of never-before-published essays offers the very latest insights into the daunting scientific questions of our...

Recent advances suggest that the concept of information might hold the key to unravelling the mystery of life's nature and origin. Fresh insights from a broad and authoritative range of articulate and respected experts focus on the transition from matter to life, and hence reconcile the deep conceptual schism between the way we describe physical and biological systems. A unique cross-disciplinary perspective, drawing on expertise from philosophy, biology, chemistry, physics, and cognitive ...