This is the blog for GW students taking Human Evolutionary Genetics. This site is for posting interesting tidbits on: the patterns and processes of human genetic variation;human origins and migration; molecular adaptations to environment, lifestyle and disease; ancient and forensic DNA analyses; and genealogical reconstructions.

GWHEG figure

GWHEG figure

Tuesday, March 20, 2018

The phylogenetic roots of human lethal violence

https://www.nature.com/articles/nature19758

Carly Johnson

This article argues that aggression in mammals has a significant phylogeny component, and the level of violence we experience today in human populations is the same as we would expect to see in prehistoric bands or tribes. It is commonly accepted that violence has a culturally inherited trait, but it is also has a highly heritable human trait. The change in violence however has occurred with time due to sociopolitical organization of human populations. This study was preformed via lit review from one data set.

FYI: conspecific means (of animals or plants) belonging to the same species- perhaps I am the only one that didn't know this, but just in case.

No comments:

Post a Comment