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In this article the authors discuss what human beings are like. They argue that when human beings are examined like any other animal, a suite of peculiar characteristics encapsulates human nature. Topics include an overview of several characteristics that the authors suggest help differentiate human beings from other animals, such as playfulness, an elaborate system of rules, taboos, and etiquette to codify behavior, and a tendency to methodically study the material world.

This article reports that the science of "getting it together" is one of the most studied areas in human behavioural biology. It ranks up there with getting a balanced diet, avoiding sudden death and rearing offsprings In this direction, speed dating could help. It allows psychologists and biologists to test their theories in a real if slightly contrived setting. By treating humans like any other animal, it should be possible to predict certain things about mating preferences. Children are dependent on their parents for far longer than the young of any other animal, so this is about much more than just producing offspring to carry one's DNA.

Science is beginning to identify the keys to a happy life. Earning more money can lead to happiness. Lottery winners and people who come into large inheritances end up somewhat happier than they were before, according to studies by Andrew Oswald, an economist at the Warwick University. Desiring less is another way of keeping happy. Political scientist Alex Michalos found that people whose aspirations soared farthest beyond what they already had tended to be less happy than those who perceived a smaller gap. David Lykken, a psychologist and behavioural geneticist at the University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, believes that feeling of well-being at any moment is determined half by what is going on in life at that time and half by a set point of happiness, which is up to 90 per cent genetically determined and to which we eventually return after dramatic events.

Discusses the innate ability of humans to share. Description of the ultimatum game; How the Machiguenga's idea of what was a fair offer proved very different to those of university students; Suggestion that our social environment shapes our sense of morality; Discussion of the results, which seem to indicate that society, not the individual, is what counts; Discussion of lifestyle.

The article presents a neuropsychological observation and understanding about altruism. It offers information on other acts of altruism and how altruism becomes a part of human nature. It discusses the argument raised by Robert Trivers of Rutgers University in New Jersey about natural selection and altruism. It also explains how human beings evolved through a process of genetic and cultural co-evolution.