Recently I took a trip down to North Carolina to spend some time with Brian Hare, an anthropologist at Duke University who wants to understand how human nature evolved. While Hare spends a lot of time in Africa studying chimpanzees and bonobos, he also studies dogs. The social intelligence of dogs is not just interesting in itself, but also for the clues it offers about how we evolved. It’s possible that wolves became dogs in much the same way our chimp-like ancestors became human.

In the newest issue of Time, I’ve written a feature about canine cognition, and scientists like Hare who are trying to plumb its depths. Check it out.

(And be sure to also check out the photoessay of Hare’s new Center for Canine Cognition at Duke, from which this picture comes.)

Originally published September 10, 2009. Copyright 2009 Carl Zimmer.

I’ve spent part of my day working on my slides for my keynote address this Saturday at the Northeast Conference on Science and Skepticism. I’ll be talking about science and the news, and the weird new interactions they have these days. Darwinius and other stunning episodes will feature prominently. The whole day looks great. Hope to see some Loom readers there!

Originally published September 10, 2009. Copyright 2009 Carl Zimmer.

This video shows what happens inside a (straight) man’s brain in the first fraction of a second that he looks at a picture of a sexually desirable woman. There’s a lot going on in there–not just the flare-up of some primordial reptile brain. In my latest column for Discover, I take a look at the history of neuroscience’s exploration of desire, from the earliest studies on tumors that triggered orgasms to the latest in neuroimaging. Check it out.

[Video courtesy of Stephanie Ortigue of Syracuse University]

Your Brain on Sex from DISCOVERmagazine.com on Vimeo.

Originally published September 10, 2009. Copyright 2009 Carl Zimmer.

Romantic poetry and developmental biology have something in common: Goethe. One of botany’s lesser known pioneers, Goethe actually wrote a visionary essay about plants in 1790, which can be summed up in his motto, “All is leaf.” Scientists who are studying the evolution of flowers today hear the echoes of his words. To find out more, check out my lead story in the Science Times section of the New York Times today.

And for more information, check out these recent reviews–

The Evolution of Petal Identity

Reconstructing the ancestral angiosperm flower and its initial specializations

The meaning of Darwin’s ‘abominable mystery’
Reconstructing the ancestral female gametophyte of angiosperms: Insights from Amborella and other ancient lineages of flowering plants

Originally published September 8, 2009. Copyright 2009 Carl Zimmer.