A lovely piece from Robert Sapolsky, one of those scientists who gives us science-writers night terrors that we’ll be out of a job soon. It takes a while for Sapolsky to get to the gist, but it’s a gist worth waiting for: how we think in metaphor. So is poetry’s greatest strength the result of the social evolution of primates? Check it out.
Originally published November 15, 2010. Copyright 2010 Carl Zimmer.