Editor’s Selections: Snakes, Dangerous Honey, and Friendly Rats
December 15th, 2011 Editor's Selections 6 Comments
Krystal D’Costa selects interesting and notable ResearchBlogging.org posts in the social sciences, including anthropology, research, and philosophy. She blogs about anthropology, technology, and urban life at Anthropology in Practice.
Great reads this week!
- “Snakes. Why’d it have to be snakes?” So said Indy, peering over the edge of pit where the floor seemed to move. Many people share Indy’s fear of snakes. Matt Soniak discusses whether ophidiophobia is a remnant of our evolutionary history.
- And at Lawn Chair Anthropology, Zachary Cofran tackles how we might go about identifying fossil evidence that our fear of snakes stems from a relationship in which we were sometimes the prey.
- Honey apparently isn’t always a sweet treat. The Neuroskeptic cautions against consuming “mad honey,” which is made by bees from the nectar of toxic Rhododendron flowers. There’s a neat bit of history associated with this post: The Greeks and Romans used it as a chemical weapon against invading armies.
- Rats may not have religion, but they exhibit pro-social behaviors. Cris Campbell of Genealogy of Religion uses recent research to dissect the idea that religion is an evolutionary adaptation.
I’ll be back next week with more from anthropology, philosophy, and research.
