Posts by Agustínfuentes

Why do we always blame either nature or nurture for what we do? Dump nature/nurture  Why do we always blame either nature or nurture for what we do? My genes made me do it. My upbringing made me do it. My culture made me do it. My biology made me do it. No matter what “it” is, we always seem…

Nicholas Wade has taken to The Huffington Post to respond to criticism of his book. In his response to comments by me, Jon Marks (also here) and Jennifer Raff, he does not take on any substantive aspect of the debate; rather, he misrepresents the science again and takes a shot at our credentials as scholars.…

An anthropologist challenges the idea that we’re no better than animals. It is believed by some — given those responsible for the recent violence perpetrated in today’s news — that most rapists are men, most sexual harassers are men, and most incidents of domestic abuse resulting in injury are caused by men. Some would argue that men…

On May 5, one day before Nicholas Wade’s new book A Troublesome Inheritance: Genes, Race and Human History came out, I appeared with him in a webinar sponsored by the American Anthropological Association. It was a striking experience. I expected there to be a strong back-and-forth debate about the research on human genetics and how…

Do genetic data prove that there are multiple biological races in humans today? This post is in response to Welcome to Genetic Crossroads by Jesse Reynolds On May 5th, 2014, I shared the platform in a webinar debate with Nicholas Wade (former NYTimes Science Writer) about his new book “A Troublesome Inheritance – A discussion…

When we start defining “normal,” we head down a dangerous path. The myth of normal tells us that that being within the range of what is considered “normal” is a core feature of successfully being a member of society—and that is simply not true. The myth of normal is very strong and very wrong.  Being…

Be part of a community and empower your whole life not just your “love life” Matchmaking is a multibillion dollar industry with more than half of its revenues coming from a few main web-based services. The following is typical of their claims: We at Chemistry.com know that only you know who is right for you. So we…

We need to move away from the myth that DNA alone tells us who, and how, we are A couple of weeks ago I received an email from a company called GBHealthwatch with the subject header “Eat Right for Your Genes”…Funny, I didn’t even know my genes were hungry.  No, really–genes can’t be hungry, nor…

Aggression between women today doesn’t mean females evolved to be “bitchy” Aggression in girls in our society is a growing problem and many young women are paying a price for it. And now, studying these “mean girls” has taken a new turn: a group of psychologists can now explain why females are “bitchy” to one another: it’s in their genes. I…

To err is human—lucky for us It took the swimmer Diana Nyad five tries to swim from Cuba to Florida. Alfred Nobel blew up his laboratory (and his brother) in his eventually successful quest to develop dynamite (and went on to fund the Nobel Prize). On a recent National Geographic google+ hangout, a group of scientists…