If there is any form of contagion that is adaptive, it is the immediate response to the fear of others. If others are fearful, there may be good reason for you to be fearful too.
Religion looms as large as an elephant in the United States, to the point that being nonreligious is about the biggest handicap a politician running for office can have, bigger than being gay, unmarried, thrice married, or black.
The enemy of science is not religion. Religion comes in endless shapes and forms... The true enemy is the substitution of thought, reflection, and curiosity with dogma.
Female bonobos form a strong sisterhood. They rule through female solidarity.
The primate laugh is given in playful contexts, and as such has a strong similarity to the human laugh.
We need to separate the process of evolution - which is, indeed, a self-serving process - and the actual motivations of animals.
