Why a species as successful as Homo sapiens should spend so much time in fiction, in
telling one another stories that neither side believes, at first seems an evolutionary riddle …

I can see no other escape from this dilemma (lest our true aim be lost for ever) than that
some of us should venture to embark on a synthesis of facts and theories, albeit with second …

Humans are fundamentally defined by our socially transmitted, often long-lived,
sophisticated cultural traits. The nature of cultural transmission is the subject of ongoing …

Narratives are the wealth of nations: they animate life, sustain culture and cultivate humanity.
They regulate and empower us, bringing both joy and discontent. And they are always …

Over the last two decades, red ochre has played a pivotal role in discussions about the
cognitive and cultural evolution of early modern humans during the African Middle Stone …

We propose reframing one of the key questions in the field of language evolution as what
was the original human-specific communicative system? With the help of cognitive …

Do principles of language processing in the brain affect the way grammar evolves over time
or is language change just a matter of socio-historical contingency? While the balance of …

Why are languages the way they are? The biases and constraints that explain why
languages display the traits they do—instead of other possible ones—include human …

Attachment is the evolutionarily-established process through which humans create bonds
with others to receive care from them. The phenomenon is as essential to our physical …

Ochre is found at numerous Middle Stone Age (MSA) sites and plays a key role in early
modern human archaeology. Here we analyse the largest known East African MSA ochre …