There Is No Such Thing As "Not A Dog Person"

What I mean by that is that humans and dogs have a fundamental connection, like England and America's special relationship, that has been forged over the past 100,000 years. It is in our genes to live with dogs and them with us. Anyone who says they don't like dogs is simply expressing a learned emotion based on a bad experience.

Here's my hypothesis: genetic evidence indicates dogs began separating from wolves at least 100,000 years ago. Human DNA studies indicate there was a "population bottleneck" 50,000 to 100,000 years ago most likely after the Mt. Toba eruption 70,000 years ago. Therefore, I hypothesize that when humanity was down to its last few thousand families dogs had to be there, and it was because of dogs that humans survived. But what was the relationship? That is the PhD candidate question.

And these are the other questions I have (at this time):
Did dogs begin their morphological changes at this time?
Did humanity survive because dogs were with them?
Did only humans who could bond with canines survive?

Not sure any of this will be known with any certainty unless time travel is invented, but my educated guess is that we all have bred into us a connection to dogs that comes from a time when they saved us and we saved them.

For further reading, PBS's Nova program last night got me thinking about the time line. See: Dogs Decoded

And for information on the human DNA studies see Wikipedia's entry on human population bottlenecks which includes a link to the "Toba catastrophe".

Evolutionary Psychology In The Bedroom

Fascinating experiment in Germany shows how we're all the same deep down. We're all scared of predators. See M2:Bedroom Layouts Reflect Ancestors’ Preferences

That's So Gay

Or as the linked article ends, "mating isn't only about multiplying".

There are more than 450 vertebrate species that get busy with the same gender. So not sure how homosexuality can be considered unnatural.

See the Frontal Cortex: Gay Animals

In Russia, Stray Dogs Get Statues

Via FT: Moscow’s stray dogs

Every so often, you would see one waiting on a metro platform. When the train pulled up, the dog would step in, scramble up to lie on a seat or sit on the floor if the carriage was crowded, and then exit a few stops later. There is even a website dedicated to the metro stray (www.metrodog.ru) on which passengers post photos and video clips taken with their mobile phones, documenting the ­savviest of the pack using the public transport system like any other Muscovite.

Real Life Imitating 'The Simpsons'

Many years ago I saw an episode of 'The Simpsons' where Mr. Burns learned the only thing keeping him alive was that every disease was trying to infect him at once and so they all blocked each other.

With this in mind see this at The New Scientist: Common cold may hold off swine flu

"We think that when you get one infection, it turns on your antiviral defences, and excludes the other viruses,"

And this special I recently saw on PBS regarding how descendants the survivors of Europe's black plague carry a mutation that also makes them immune to HIV: Mystery Of The Black Death

An Evolutionary Explanation Of Depression

It is for analysis of complex problems perhaps.

See SciAm: Depression's Evolutionary Roots

The Endurance Running Hypothesis

Via SeedMag: The Running Man

“Running an animal to heatstroke is something that most humans can do, and that other animals can’t,” says Lieberman. “It’s a compelling explanation for why these capabilities evolved, and frankly, nobody’s come up with a better idea yet.”

This article reminded me of The Legend of Cliff Young: The 61 Year Old Farmer Who Won the World’s Toughest Race

Dogs Give Back

Black wolves picked up the gene from domesticated dogs.

See NYT: New World Wolves and Coyotes Owe Debt to Dogs

Fossil Record Is Better Than Thought

See PhysOrg: Dinosaur fossils fit perfectly into the evolutionary tree of life

In The Girls Room

Many articles about women and their desires have been in the news recently.

See:
MSNBC: What IMs say about your relationship

The more frequently women use the pronoun "I" in their instant messages (IM), the more satisfied they are with their partners, a new study finds

IHT:
What do women want? (long but interesting and touching on evolutionary psychology)

In men who have trouble getting erect, the genital engorgement aided by Viagra and its rivals is often all that's needed. The pills target genital capillaries; they don't aim at the mind. The medications may enhance male desire somewhat by granting men a feeling of power and control, but they don't, for the most part, manufacture wanting. And for men, they don't need to. Desire, it seems, is usually in steady supply. In women, though, the main difficulty appears to be in the mind, not the body, so the physiological effects of the drugs have proved irrelevant. The pills can promote blood flow and lubrication, but this doesn't do much to create a conscious sense of desire.

IHT: It's the economy, girlfriend

PhysOrg: Infidelity produces faster sperms

Health And Intelligence

Smarter Men Have More Sperm

"Designed To Cheat"

It is all about the chemistry of contraception and it sounds like a plausible hypothesis to me. From what I know of my friends who have divorced it was always the woman who left the relationship.

SciAm: Birth Control Pills Affect Women's Taste in Men

Recent research suggests that the contraceptive pill—which prevents women from ovulating by fooling their body into believing it is pregnant—could affect which types of men women desire. Going on or off the pill during a relationship, therefore, may tempt a woman away from her man.

But for a real eye-opener listen to an interview at CBC's Quirks and Quarks: Sniffing for Sex

Evolutionary Explanation For Pregnancy Related Nausea

PhysOrg - Pregnant women get morning sickness to protect fetus

"...nausea and vomiting in pregnancy is beneficial by expelling such foods as meat and strong-tasting vegetables that historically and still may contain harmful toxins and microorganisms that could potentially sicken the woman and damage her fetus just when its organs are developing and are most vulnerable to chemicals,"

Bananas For A Boy

Truth in old wives' tales on the sex of babies

An Unknown Homo Species?

Discover Magazine - The Extinct Human Species That Was Smarter Than Us: The superintelligent Boskops had small, childlike faces and huge melon heads.

This sounded suspicious to me. A simple Google search confirmed it.
See: The "amazing" Boskops

Evolution Made Me Do It

Slate.com - The Merry Band of Wrigglers

Humans aren't especially good at monogamy. Evidence gathered from surveys and paternity tests suggests that 25 percent of women and 30 percent of men cheat on their spouses at least once during marriage. The evolutionary reason that men cheat is pretty simple: to father as many children as they can. It's more complicated for women, who can only give birth so many times. The quality of the child, then, wins over quantity. Because men with the best genes aren't always the most stable and resourceful partners (they don't have to be), women might marry the latter but cheat with the former. Then they can become pregnant with a genetically superior child who will, if her mother can pull it off, grow up with the help of her unwitting spouse.

Actually, It Does Have A Use

Discover Magazine - And Here's Why You Have an Appendix: When you're sick, it re-boots your gut with good bacteria

The Grandmother Hypothesis

Exit the Hygiene Hypothesis (IHT - Have a nice shot)

Enter a new pet hypothesis - the Grandmother Hypothesis.

NY Times articles:
-Evolution’s Secret Weapon: Grandma

-Theorists See Evolutionary Advantages In Menopause

Yes! Two Girls For Every Boy

Seen on TreeHugger - Man-Made Chemicals Cause 2:1 Ratio of Girls to Boys Born in Arctic

And:

Recently, the historical sex balance of the human race has begun to change around the world as well. Throughout history there has usually been a slightly greater number of males than females born each year, but a paper published in the US National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences this year said that in Japan and the US there were 250,000 boys fewer than would have been expected had the sex ratio existing in 1970 remained as it was.

Human Migration News

Via Reuters - Experts doubt Clovis people were first in Americas

Summary: Clovis people were in North America 13,000 years ago and co-existed with other populations.

Via Scientific American - Not Milk? Neolithic Europeans Couldn't Stomach the Stuff

Summary: Europeans began dairy farming 8000-9000 years ago. Between 8000-5000 years ago the gene for lactase-persistence went from no more than 40% of the northern European population to close to 90% in some areas.