If you have been trying to sleep it off…
Two interesting and slightly disturbing publications about sleep.
People become more egoistic when you don’t let them get enough sleep [link to paper]. This suggests that altruism is a feature, while egoism is the result of malfunction.
Bad sleep can lead to depression but new research shows that resetting the body clock may help.
Sleep is an evolutionary mystery. It is unclear why it is needed, but as this research shows, it is essential for our well-being.
What did natural selection do for us lately?
A new preprint discusses the insights from sequencing of genomes of 1291 European individuals from over 10,000 years. This period covers the neolithic transition, the Bronze Age, and the Historical Period.
Gene changes in the neolithic transition are associated with reduced body weight, diet, and lipid metabolism-related phenotypes, and immune phenotypes. In the Bronze Age: pigmentation and immune-related traits. In the Historical period: vitamin D binding and variants that increase risk for cardiovascular disease plausibly reflecting selection for a more active inflammatory response that would have been adaptive in the face of increased infectious disease exposure, but may also give you Celiac disease.
The selection in the neolithic transition for a locus that confers immunity to Salmonella infection at a time when ancient Salmonella genomes have been shown to adapt to human hosts (see our previous editions and here), provides a possible example of human-pathogen co-evolution.
The evidence for selection for vitamin D binding, provides support for the theory that lactase persistence in the Historical Period may have been part of an adaptation for efficient calcium uptake. This challenges the theory that lactase persistence adaptive value lies only in facilitating caloric supplementation during times of scarcity (again: see our previous coverage).
Read the preprint.
Human culture may be the result of our cognitive flexibility
Human children, unlike chimpanzees, will switch to a more efficient solution to a puzzle, once they see it. But like chimpanzees, human children are conservative and prefer the first method they learn.
Check out the full paper.
Teens increasingly prescribed psychiatric drugs
Count us as being fearful of psychiatric medication and advising caution and consulting with compassionate professionals.
Read the NY Times feature.
Final Treats
Science is more than data. Here are two works demonstrating the power of creative ideas.
Luke Glowacki has been trying to understand the evolutionary conditions that drove humans to be able to maintain peace between separate groups. This clever perspective sidesteps tired debates about whether human warfare is an ancient driver of human evolution or a recent innovation by an otherwise peaceful species.
J. Arvid Ågren, David Haig and Dakota E. McCoy take inspiration from chromosomal meiosis to suggest solutions to the gerrymandering problem in American politics. If evolution could keep selfish genetic elements in check, maybe we can restrain selfish political elements. Color me skeptical on that front… but this is a cool idea!
Your latest changes have been saved.