James Watson, a UA anthropologist, has published chapters describing how long-term environmental trends encourage stable adaptations within local environments.
Human/environment interactions have a history as long as the existence of our species on the planet.
Hominid ancestors began polluting their environment nearly 700,000 years ago with the control of fire, and humans have not looked back since.
The modern phenomenon of global warming is very likely the direct result of human pollution and destruction of the environment, said James Watson, a University of Arizona assistant professor in the School of Anthropology. (more…)
Where does evil come from? If God is all-powerful and created a universe that is very good why does evil exist?
While the possibility of evil was created by God, the initial cause of the actuality of evil is the angelic and the human will. Though He could have created a perfect world with no evil in it, God, in His infinite wisdom and goodness freely willed to create a world in a state of journeying. The Catechism tells us that angels and men, as intelligent and free creatures, have to journey toward their ultimate destinies by their free choice and preferential love. They can therefore go astray. Indeed they did go astray and both moral and physical evil entered the world. The first to go astray was the angel Satan whose own fall or original sin of pride preceded that of our first parents.
What is evil? St. Augustine tells us that while evil exists, it is not an essence but rather the absence of an essence. Evil is where good should be but isn’t. Hence, within God’s created universe which is very good there exists this possibility of evil. (more…)
Turns out it’s not bad being top dog, or in this case, top baboon.
Results of a study by University of Notre Dame biologist Beth Archie and colleagues from Princeton University and Duke University finds that male baboons that have a high rank within their society recover more quickly from injuries, and are less likely to become ill than other males.
The finding is somewhat surprising, given that top-ranked males also experience high stress, which should suppress immune responses. (more…)
What does being committed to your marriage really mean? UCLA psychologists answer this question in a new study based on their analysis of 172 married couples over the first 11 years of marriage.
“When people say, ‘I’m committed to my relationship,’ they can mean two things,” said study co-author Benjamin Karney, a professor of psychology and co-director of the Relationship Institute at UCLA. “One thing they can mean is, ‘I really like this relationship and want it to continue.’ However, commitment is more than just that.” (more…)
While the majority of dating websites do a good job of managing the privacy of their users, a class research project at the University of Colorado Boulder’s Leeds School of Business found that 21 of 90 dating websites the class examined did not properly remove location data from pictures uploaded by their users.
As a result of people taking more photographs with cameras and cell phones containing Global Positioning System chips, some dating website profile pictures contain GPS coordinates showing where a picture was taken, said Associate Professor Kai Larsen, who taught the class on Privacy in the Age of Facebook. When such information is not removed by the dating website, commonly available tools can be used to detect the location of a person’s residence or other locations frequented by the user. (more…)
Corporate directing in the UK has radically changed over the last 24 years yet some board conduct, such as the persistent under-representation of women on boards, has only changed marginally, a unique series of ESRC-funded studies reveals.
The research by Annie Pye, Professor of Leadership Studies at the University of Exeter Business School, is based on a series of interviews, which first took place in 1988, with directors who lead some of the UK’s largest listed companies, including Lloyds Banking Group, Marks & Spencer, and Prudential. Described by Sir Adrian Cadbury as “ground-breaking”, the research spans a period of significant change for British business, predating the first code of governance practice for UK companies, through to the present global economic crisis. (more…)
COLUMBUS, Ohio – Even temporary “breakups” can be distressing for some people – at least when it comes to their favorite television programs.
A new study examined how college-aged television viewers reacted when their favorite shows went off the air or were replaced with reruns as a result of the television writers’ strike of 2007-08.
The results revealed the important role television plays in the lives of some viewers – particularly those who use television for companionship and those who feel they have a strong “relationship” with their favorite TV characters. (more…)
Nothing seems more automatic than speech. We produce an estimated 150 words a minute, and make a mistake only about once every 1,000 words. We stay on track, saying what we intend to, even when other words distract us—from the radio, say, or a road sign we pass while driving.
An upcoming study in Psychological Science, a journal of the Association for Psychological Science, shows for the first time why we so rarely speak those irrelevant words: We have a “verbal self-monitor” between the mental production of speech and the actual uttering of words that catches any irrelevant items coming from outside of the speaker. (more…)
