No Sex Please, We're Drunk
In high doses, alcohol impairs our reaction times, muscle control, co-ordination, short-term memory, perceptual field, cognitive abilities, and ability to speak clearly. But it does not cause us selectively to break specific social rules. The effects of alcohol on behaviour are determined by cultural rules and norms.
The Most Isolated People in the World
The Sentinelese are one of the indigenous peoples of the Andaman Islands. They are noted for vigorously and violently resisting attempts at contact by outsiders. They are perhaps the most isolated people in the world. The Sentinelese live on North Sentinel Island, a small and remote island to the west of the southern part of South Andaman Island. They are thought to number between 50 to 500 people.Early man butchered and ate the brains of children
Early cavemen in Europe ate human meat as part of their everyday diet, new research suggests. A new study of fossil bones in the Gran Dolina cave in Spain shows that cannibalism was a normal part of daily life around 800,000 years ago among Europe's first humans. The area surrounding the caves would have been a rich source of food so there would have been little need to turn to cannibalism as a last resort. Children will have been targeted as they would have been less capable of defending themselves, the study suggests.
Coordinated Punishment Fosters Cooperation
Humans are incredibly cooperative, but why do people cooperate and how is cooperation maintained? A new research study by UCLA anthropology professor Robert Boyd and his colleagues from the Santa Fe Institute in New Mexico suggests cooperation in large groups is maintained by punishment. In a larger group, members experience the benefits of the large group, even those members who stop cooperating and become "free-riders." Free-riders benefit from the group in food sharing and protection, without contributing to food collection or war. The personal connection to the group's members is often gone. But it turns out that most members of large groups cooperate. Why? Boyd and his colleagues suggest cooperation is maintained by punishment, which reduces the benefits to free riding. Tribes punish members who do not cooperate, depriving them of societal benefits, which leads to increased group cooperation.
Theory: Thirst for Beer Sparked Civilization
Alcohol could have been a catalyst for human civilization, when man decided to start farming, according to archaeologist Patrick McGovern. Humans may have turned from hunting and gathering to agriculture as the result of an urge for alcoholic beverages. "Alcohol provided the initial motivation," said McGovern, a biomolecular archaeologist at the University of Pennsylvania Museum. "Then it got going the engine of society." Why not make bread instead of beer? McGovern said beer was simply easier to make. "Alcohol was always present right from the beginning," McGovern said, adding that early man also relied on the beverage for rituals and medicinal purposes. In a new book, titled Uncorking the Past: The Quest for Wine, Beer and Other Alcoholic Beverages, he further the details his research on the history of alcohol brewing.
"Õlu on elu," the Estonians say -- "Beer is Life."
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