When a trait is universal, evolutionary biologists look for a genetic explanation and wonder how that gene or genes might enhance survival or reproductive success. — Robin Marantz Henig Copy Share Image
There's very little about being in a functional-M.R.I. scanner that is natural: you are flat on your back, absolutely still, with your head immobilized… — Robin Marantz Henig Copy Share Image
The English language has 112 words for deception, according to one count, each with a different shade of meaning: collusion, fakery, malingering, self-deception, confabulation,… — Robin Marantz Henig Copy Share Image
I'm always made a little uncomfortable by studies that assert that Millennials are the most narcissistic generation in history. To me, being young has… — Robin Marantz Henig Copy Share Image
The tenuousness of modern life can make anyone feel overwrought. — Robin Marantz Henig Copy Share Image
The human brain has evolved the capacity to impose a narrative, complete with chronology and cause-and-effect logic, on whatever it encounters, no matter how… — Robin Marantz Henig Copy Share Image
Hardships of early human life favored the evolution of certain cognitive tools, among them the ability to infer the presence of organisms that might… — Robin Marantz Henig Copy Share Image
Many of us are tethered to bodies that sabotage us in our struggle to keep from getting fat, or to slim down when we… — Robin Marantz Henig Copy Share Image
Lies can be verbal or nonverbal, kindhearted or self-serving, devious or bald-faced; they can be lies of omission or lies of commission; they can… — Robin Marantz Henig Copy Share Image
For humans and animals alike, truly vigorous, wholehearted, spontaneous play is something of a biological frill. — Robin Marantz Henig Copy Share Image
Scientists who study play, in animals and humans alike, are developing a consensus view that play is something more than a way for restless… — Robin Marantz Henig Copy Share Image
The essence of play is that the sequence of actions is fluid and scattered. — Robin Marantz Henig Copy Share Image
The real thing young people should fear is missing out on those few, true, long-term friendships that make for a richer, happier life. — Robin Marantz Henig Copy Share Image
As the brain matures, one thing that happens is the pruning of the synapses. Synaptic pruning does not occur willy-nilly; it depends largely on… — Robin Marantz Henig Copy Share Image
It's almost a rite of passage for the middle-aged, it seems, to invent generational stereotypes for dumping on the young. — Robin Marantz Henig Copy Share Image
As people construct a life narrative, researchers have found, they tend to remember more events from the teens and twenties than from any other… — Robin Marantz Henig Copy Share Image
