Tag Archives: urban ecology

Big feet preference in rural Indonesia defies one-size-fits-all theory of attractiveness

By Guest PostJuly 2, 2013Scienceanthropologist, big feet preference, brazil, cambodia, cultural transmission, culture, genetics, geoff kushnick, human evolution, India, indonesian island, iran, journal human nature, karo batak, lithuania, mate attractive, northern part, papua new guinea, recent evolution, rural indonesia, sexual selection, sumatra, Tanzania, theory of attractiveness, united states, university of washington, urban ecology, villages, western media

People in most cultures view women with small feet as attractive. Like smooth skin or an hourglass figure, petite feet signal a potential mate’s youth and fertility.

Because they signal reproductive potential, a preference for mates with these qualities may have evolved in the brains of our Pleistocene ancestors and are viewed by evolutionary psychologists as evidence that the preference is hard-wired into our genetic makeup. (more…)

The Ecology of Voter Signs

By Guest PostNovember 18, 2012Environmenteconomic affluence, greek houses, social factors, socio economic factors, streets of tucson, tucson neighborhoods, urban ecology, urban landscape

Students in Mitchell Pavao-Zuckerman’s UA ecology class took to the streets of Tucson last week to lend their eyes and minds to real science.

You might have looked out your kitchen window last week to see a group of college students standing on the sidewalk clutching notepads and contemplating your front yard. If so, don’t worry – they were likely just counting the shrubbery. (more…)