Noah: How does instinct work? Is it genetic or learned? And how can anything just know something? Well, turns out the idea of instinct is a lot less simple than those nature documentaries can make it seem. I talk to a scientist who can't stand this word. It's basically a covert expression of ignorance and lack of imagination. Noah: Mark Blumberg, behavioral neuroscientist, coming in hot.
How do animals know how to do things like spin a web or build a dam? A neuroscientist argues it's not “instinct.” Something bigger is going on.
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