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This recent NY Times article discusses the advantages and disadvantages of evolving nervous systems -- in this case in Fruit Flies. These same principles should be applicable to higher level nervous systems as well.
So, given this article, what might be some ramifications of developing bigger brains?
There are 2 links below illustrating the continuing trend to start sexualizing kids at an earlier age. Do you think this movement is disproportionately targeted at girls versus boys? Is this reflecting a shift in the "mating" environment? Both links below are from blog sites that do a pretty good job analyzing the context of the issue.
This link is to Beyonce's clothing line for toddlers.
http://nymag.com/daily/fashion/2008/05/beyonces_terrifying_kids_line.html
This is a more mainstream Victoria's Secret campaign which supposedly targets 18 year olds, but who are we kidding?
http://fakinggoodbreeding.blogspot.com/2007/07/victorias-dirty-secret.html
Statistics show that men are more likely to have restraining orders taken out on them compared to women. Is this an extreme for of jealousy? How would you explain this behavior from an evolutionary perspective.
Though women have fewer restraining orders taken out on them. Do they engage in similar forms of extreme jealousy that may not elicit legal action against them. How might you explain gender differences in stalking from an evo. perspective?
Girls today are reaching menarche faster than before. Girls also reach reproductive maturity faster than boys.
The book mentions “future uncertainty” as a potential explanation of early menarche, citing greater prevalence of teen moms in lower income urban settings. This begs the question of whether teen pregnancies are purely a cultural phenom, or whether the stress that the culture/environment imposes becomes a biological signal to start reproduction at an earlier age. Your thoughts?
Is human courtship an intellectual enterprise? The book suggests that big brains might have been sexually selected. Do men use their brains to court females?
Also, if females selected big brains in males, why do females also have big brains, rather than smaller ones (i.e., there’s no sexual dimorphism in brain size despite brain size being a “selected” trait – compare this to selected traits in other species like peacock feathers, which are much brighter in males versus females)?