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The final essay in this volume is by Nevo himself, reviewing the many discoveries he and his colleagues have made in what he calls the "evolution canyons" of Israel. The volume includes two original research presentations and eight review papers. It is a tribute to Nevo's diverse interests that the juxtaposition of such different papers in one volume does not strike a dissonant chord. [Extracted from the article]

Randall places Brown and Osborn's actions in the context of historical and cultural events of the age. The huge predatory dinosaur, described by Osborn in a short paper in 1905, would become that fossil. The focus of the book is the intertwined history of the primary figures of this endeavor: Osborn and fossil hunter Barnum Brown, whose fieldwork uncovered the bones. [Extracted from the article]

A shorter chapter on the organization of habitation areas notes the comparative scarcity of intrasite spatial information in Neanderthal sites and the disputed status of the few examples of features interpreted as structures. I Updating Neanderthals i contains a collection of papers on various aspects of Neanderthal biology and archeology intended to update modern human readers on the more recent discoveries and their interpretation. [Extracted from the article]

It is a matter of contention whether or not a general explanatory framework for the biological sciences would be of scientific value, or whether it is even achievable. In this paper we suggest that both are the case, and we outline proposals for a framework capable of generating new scientific questions. Starting with one clear characteristic of biological systems—that they all have the potential to make mistakes—we aim to describe the nature of this potential and the common processes that lie behind it. Given that under most circumstances biological systems function effectively, an examination of different kinds of mistake-making provides pointers to mechanisms that must exist to make failure uncommon. This, in turn, informs a framework for systematic inquiry, which in this paper we apply to the hemostatic system, but we believe could be applied to any system across biology. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Ever since its inception, the theory of evolution has been reified into an "-ism": Darwinism. Although biologists today, by and large, do not use the term "Darwinism" in their research, it still enjoys currency in broader academic and societal contexts. "Darwinian approaches" proliferate across the sciences and humanities and, in public discourse, various so-called "Darwinian views on life" are perceived to have ethically and politically laden consequences. What exactly is Darwinism, and how precisely are its nonscientific uses related to the scientific theory of evolution? Some claim the term's meaning should be limited to scientific content, yet others call for its abolition altogether. In this paper, we propose a unified account of these varieties of Darwinism. We show how the theories introduced by Darwin have grounded a "logic" or style of reasoning about phenomena, as well as various ethically and politically charged "worldviews." The full meaning of Darwinism, as well as how this meaning has changed over time, can only be understood through the complex interaction between these dimensions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Testing rationality of decision-making and choice by evaluating the mathematical property of transitivity has a long tradition in biology, economics, psychology, and zoology. This paradigm is fraught with conceptual, mathematical, and statistical pitfalls. In this overview, we tackle five major obstacles. One challenge lies in spelling out what transitivity of latent preferences really says and what it actually implies about observable choice behavior. Most notably, this step is fraught with aggregation artifacts, in that aggregated behavior can be profoundly misleading about individual behavior. Another hurdle comes from hard mathematical problems associated with characterizing the properties of heterogeneous transitive populations. A third challenge is the prevalence of straw man hypotheses in this area of research. The fourth difficulty is associated with adopting appropriate statistical inference tools that correctly accommodate the idiosyncratic mathematical properties of order-constrained statistical hypotheses. The fifth hurdle arises with the role of scientific parsimony in rationality research. We walk readers through key concepts, mathematical models, and statistical techniques for testing rationality. Throughout, we provide examples using the methods and data of two prominent published papers on animal choice behavior as our case studies. We explain how these papers tackled the five hurdles to varying degrees of success. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Race is a topic that will not cease to be discussed and debated, and the collection edited by Lorusso and Winther will provide readers with useful tools to critically and thoughtfully approach the topic. In the first chapter of the current book, Lewontin (1972), Rasmus Grønfeldt Winther, one of the editors of the book, performs a diligent analysis and reevaluation of that paper, concluding that its results have roughly stood the test of time. I have to note that this is a collection with essays that are all worth reading and considering, except perhaps the chapter by A. W. F. Edwards where he very briefly and simply reaffirms his criticism of Lewontin, without offering any new insights. [Extracted from the article]

The ability of parasites to manipulate host behavior to their advantage has been studied extensively, but the impact of parasite manipulation on the evolution of neural and endocrine mechanisms has remained virtually unexplored. If selection for countermeasures has shaped the evolution of nervous systems, many aspects of neural functioning are likely to remain poorly understood until parasites—the brain's invisible designers—are included in the picture. This article offers the first systematic discussion of brain evolution in light of parasite manipulation. After reviewing the strategies and mechanisms employed by parasites, the paper presents a taxonomy of host countermeasures with four main categories, namely: restrict access to the brain; increase the costs of manipulation; increase the complexity of signals; and increase robustness. For each category, possible examples of countermeasures are explored, and the likely evolutionary responses by parasites are considered. The article then discusses the metabolic, computational, and ecological constraints that limit the evolution of countermeasures. The final sections offer suggestions for future research and consider some implications for basic neuroscience and psychopharmacology. The paper aims to present a novel perspective on brain evolution, chart a provisional way forward, and stimulate research across the relevant disciplines. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

There is a simple and general explanation for the evolution of mate choice that does not rely on benefits to be gained from favoring some potential mates over others, nor on ornament-preference genetic correlations (but that can help establish such benefits and correlations). Mate choice necessarily arises from competition to engage the powerful but discriminating reward mechanisms that regulate sexual interactions. Progress in understanding the evolution of mate choice will come from analyzing the subjective nature of the cognitive-emotional mechanisms that regulate its expression. A key mechanism may be the sense of beauty—the feeling whose function it is to reward attention to, and engagement with, attractive objects. Any animal whose behavior and decision-making are regulated by mechanisms of emotion and feeling may possess the sense of beauty. Competition to be perceived as beautiful engages brain-generated, top-down influences on perception and subjective experience, adding manifold ways to improve ornament attractiveness. In this paper, I discuss the evolutionary consequences of mate choice involving the sense of beauty and how to test for it. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article focuses on the eminent biologist George C. Williams. During his field work at Berkeley, California, he found he had a little time for other pursuits, and in 1950 met a promising assistant named Doris Calhoun. It was during the writing of his thesis at University of California at Los Angeles (UCLA) that George found that his ideas were coming too fast to have to worry about changing the paper in his typewriter. In 1999 a superb honor was conferred on George and two other giants of evolutionary theory, Ernest Mayr and John Maynard Smith, when they received the Crafoord Medal from the Swedish Academy of Sciences for their fundamental contributions to evolutionary biology.

The study of female mate choice for male extravagant ornaments has dominated sexual selection research for many decades. Apart from discovering new role-reversed species, which will undoubtedly occur, the only way to increase research output on male mate choice would be to investigate whether males exhibit mate preferences in species having traditional sex roles (i.e., test for the presence of mutual mate choice). I also applaud Schlupp's emphasis on our need to better understand the roles of the ecological and social environment on shaping mate preferences in all forms of sexual selection with emphasis here, of course, on male mate choice. [Extracted from the article]

"What a Bee Knows: Exploring the Thoughts, Memories, and Personalities of Bees" by Stephen Buchmann is a book that delves into the fascinating world of bees. Unlike other bee books, this one is written by a pollination ecologist who provides a unique perspective on bees and their interactions with their environment. The author takes readers on a journey through recent discoveries in bee behavior and cognition, highlighting the diverse nature of bees and their intriguing habits. The book also touches on the decline of bees and the importance of protecting these vital pollinators. [Extracted from the article]

1 and 2, 91 Winther R. G., Our Genes: A Philosophical Perspective on Human Evolutionary Genomics, 103 Yong E., An Immense World: How Animal Senses Reveal the Hidden Realms Around Us, 106 Cellular and Molecular Approaches in Fish Biology, 109 Morizot B., Ways of Being Alive, transl. by A. Brown, 89 Mosquitoes of the World, by R. C. Wilkerson et al., Vols. [Extracted from the article]