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DURHAM, N.C. -- Throw a tantrum. Threaten, shove aside or steal from your colleagues. Science confirms, yet again, that brutish behavior can be an effective path to power. And not just in humans, but in chimpanzees, too. A new study appearing April 24 in the journal PeerJ found that male chimps with more bullying, greedy and irritable personalities reached higher rungs of the social ladder and were more successful at siring offspring than their more deferential and conscientious counterparts. But if that’s the case,… read more about Long-term Research on Chimpanzees Offers New Clues to the Puzzle of Personality »

Could you stay in a dorm-sized chamber for 36 hours to advance science? This room is actually a sealed chamber that can measure a person’s metabolic rate by analyzing all the air going in and out of the room while they conduct different activities like sleeping, working or biking. Herman Pontzer, associate professor of evolutionary anthropology, is using this special room to study whether a person’s genetics or size affect their metabolism. This is part of the Check It Out series of short videos on science research at… read more about A 36-Hour Stay in a Chamber to Advance Metabolism »

  Susan Alberts, Robert F. Durden Distinguished Professor of Biology and Evolutionary Anthropology, is a co-recipient of the Frontiers of Knowledge Award in Ecology and Conservation Biology. The BBVA Foundation Frontiers of Knowledge Awards, now in their 15th edition, recognize and reward contributions of singular impact in science, technology, the humanities and music. The award is funded with 400,000 euros in each of their eight categories. Alberts, who until last year was… read more about Susan Alberts Receives International Frontiers of Knowledge Award »

Doug Boyer was a hit at his daughter’s kindergarten show and tell. The associate professor of Evolutionary Anthropology came armed with a life-sized, 3D-printed vertebra belonging to the world’s largest living snake, the green anaconda (Eunectes murinus). Once the students were done oohing and aahing over the plum-sized bone replica, he pulled a second vertebra, ten times larger than the anaconda’s, out of his bag. It was a life-sized replica of a vertebra belonging to Titanoboa, a snake that went… read more about How a Digital Repository Is Democratizing Science From a Duke Basement »

Amy Goldberg’s passion for human evolution probably started with the genetic anthropology books her father poured over during his Ph.D. studies. “I remember very clearly sitting and looking at one of his big textbooks and sounding out the word au-stra-lo-pith-e-cus when I was maybe nine or 10 years old,” she recalled. Goldberg is an assistant professor of Evolutionary Anthropology, Mathematics and Biology, which indicates how interdisciplinary her background is. While shared appointments between Biology and Evolutionary… read more about With Amy Goldberg, Mathematics Meets Genetics to Decode Our Evolutionary Past »

September is National Service Dog Month, and the four new members of the 2022 Duke Puppy Kindergarten have been around the Triangle promoting the value of service dogs. The puppies are part of a National Institute of Health-funded project that tests the cognitive development of puppies from eight weeks old to 20 weeks old, during their last, rapid stage of puppy brain development. The goal of the project is to understand what experiences puppies need early in life to be successful service animals.  This… read more about Waiting to Serve: Duke Puppy Kindergarten Students Promote the Value of Service Dogs »

Experts know COVID-19 won’t be the last major pandemic. What they don’t know is where, or when, the next one will begin. An interdisciplinary team from Duke, the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (UNC), North Carolina State University (NCSU) and the Triangle Center for Evolutionary Medicine (TriCEM) is hoping to change that. Thanks to a $1 million grant from the National Science Foundation, the team is pinpointing the factors that are likely to turn a local outbreak into a global pandemic. At Duke, the research… read more about Duke Team Awarded $1 million to Predict the Next Pandemic »

DURHAM, N.C. -- New genetic analyses of wild baboons in southern Kenya reveals that most of them carry traces of hybridization in their DNA. As a result of interbreeding, about a third of their genetic makeup consists of genes from another, closely-related species. The study took place in a region near Kenya’s Amboseli National Park, where yellow baboons occasionally meet and intermix with their anubis baboon neighbors that live to the northwest. Researchers have monitored these animals on a near-daily basis since 1971,… read more about These Baboons Borrowed a Third of Their Genes From Their Cousins »

The National Academy of Sciences announced today the election of 120 members and 30 international members in recognition of their distinguished and continuing achievements in original research. Established by an Act of Congress, signed by President Abraham Lincoln in 1863, the NAS is charged with providing independent, objective advice to the nation on matters related to science and technology.  Duke’s three new members join 28 other members of the National Academy of Sciences on the Duke faculty.  They are… read more about Two Trinity Faculty Elected to National Academy of Sciences  »