The Nature & Nurture Podcast

Dr. Glenn Fox is a faculty member at the University of Southern California's Lloyd Greif Center for Entrepreneurial Studies, in the Marshall School of Business. His current projects focus on neural systems for emotion regulation, high stakes training, and developing entrepreneurial mindset skills in founders and business leaders. Glenn is also the Director and Founder of the USC Found Well Initiative which aims to understand and promote entrepreneurial mindset in founders and business leaders. In this episode we discuss Glenn's background bridging neuroscience and business in understanding human decision-making, and the neuroscience behind several traits important for leadership, including emotional resilience, empathy, and gratitude. Additionally, we discuss personality differences in entrepreneurial thinkers and their relation to neuroscience, including the extent to which leadership ability is biological vs. a learned skill.  Learn more about Glenn's work at:  https://glennrfox.com/ Follow Glenn on social media: https://twitter.com/glennrfox?s=20&t=BULakuBbyXxDtY4h577DiQ https://www.linkedin.com/in/glenn-r-fox-phd-2418bba1

Dr. Aaron Sell is an evolutionary psychologist and Assistant Professor of Psychology & Criminology at Heidelberg University with expertise in the evolution of anger, aggression, and hatred. In this episode we discuss how these different emotions are psychologically distinct, their evolutionary adaptiveness, and the "mismatch" between experiencing these emotions in tribal settings and in our modern interconnected world.

Dr. Cedric Boeckx is a biolinguist and Research Professor at the Catalan Institute for Advanced Studies at the University of Barcelona. In this episode we discuss Cedric's research background, talk about what language is, from a scientific perspective, how it evolved in humans, and how it can be studied through cognitive psychology, computational modeling, and the human fossil record.

Dr. Robert Barton is a Professor of Anthropology at Durham University who studies primate brain evolution and cognition.

Dr. Edward Slingerland is a Distinguished University Scholar and Professor of Philosophy at the University of British Columbia and author of Drunk: How We Sipped, Danced, and Stumbled Our Way to Civilization. In this episode we talk about his book Drunk and dive into the history of alcohol, its health and societal benefits and costs, competing evolutionary theories as to why humans like alcohol, and how alcohol use changed with the rise of modern distillation technologies. Learn more about Edward's work and find his book at: https://www.edwardslingerland.com/drunk

Dr. Andrew Knoll is the Fisher Professor of Natural History at Harvard University, and author of A Brief History of Earth: Four Billion Years in Eight Chapters. In this episode, we further condense those four billion years into one introductory-level conversation. Dr. Knoll walks us through Earth's early history and the evolution of life on Earth, his background in geology, and research examining what Earth's early history can tell us about how life evolved. For more in-depth coverage of these topics, see Dr. Knoll's book: https://www.amazon.com/Brief-History-Earth-Billion-Chapters/dp/0062853910

Dr. Nicholas Christakis is a physician, sociologist, network scientist, and Sterling Professor of Social and Natural Science, Internal Medicine & Biomedical Engineering at Yale University. He is also the author of numerous books including Blueprint: The Evolutionary Origins of a Good Society, and Apollo’s Arrow: The Profound and Enduring Impact of Coronavirus on the Way We Live.  In this episode we discuss Dr. Christakis' background in medicine, and his transition into network science: the study of social networks, how they form, change, and interact to shape our behavior. We discuss how network science can be understood both from an evolutionary perspective, as in Blueprint, and in public health, as in Apollo's Arrow. Pandemics are nothing new to humans, and Dr. Christakis argues that we can learn from our evolutionary and historical past in facing COVID-19 and other potential pandemics, and respond to them better than ever if we put such knowledge and our technological advancements to good use. 

Dr. Mark Solms is a neuropsychologist, Professor at the University of Cape Town, and author of The Hidden Spring: A Journey to the Source of Consciousness. In this episode we discuss Dr. Solms' background in neuropsychology, the overlap between modern neuropsychology and psychoanalysis, and Dr. Solms' early research on dreaming. We then discuss the illusive nature of consciousness, Dr. Solms' central arguments in The Hidden Spring that consciousness is evolutionarily ancient and grounded in feeling, and modern attempts of using quantitative methods to tackle the mystery of consciousness.  0:00:04 Introduction to Dr. Mark Solms and his interest in consciousness 0:03:22 Dr. Solms' background in psychoanalysis and its influence on his research 0:06:56 The importance of studying subjective states in neuroscience 0:10:48 The shift towards appreciating subjectivity in the field of neuroscience 0:15:20 The study of dreams and their connection to emotion and memory 0:18:58 The transition from studying dreams to studying consciousness 0:22:48 The relationship between feeling and consciousness 0:30:56 Collaboration with Karl Friston and the exploration of consciousness 0:39:27 The emergence of feeling from non-feeling and the study of artificial consciousness 0:46:33 The discussion on panpsychism and the limits of consciousness 1:00:14 The connection between free will, feeling, and probabilistic choices

Dr. Jeremy DeSilva is an Associate Professor of Anthropology at Dartmouth College, and author of the book First Steps: How Walking Upright Made Us Human. He is a paleoanthropologist, specializing in the locomotion of the first apes (hominoids) and early human ancestors (hominins). His particular anatomical expertise-- the human foot and ankle-- has contributed to our understanding of the origins and evolution of upright walking in the human lineage. In this episode we discuss Jeremy's book First Steps and his research on the evolution of human locomotion: from quadruped apes to upright humans. We additionally discuss how paleoanthropologists identify and date fossils, and how the fossil record can be used to understand our evolutionary past. 

Dr. Randy Thornhill is an evolutionary biologist and a Distinguished Professor of Biology Emeritus at the University of New Mexico. He is a pioneering researcher of parasite-stress theory, which describes how pathogens have throughout history shaped our behavior and values.  In this episode we discuss parasite-stress theory and the behavioral immune system, and how conservative values are cross-culturally associated with regional parasite prevalence. Additionally, we discuss these findings in the context of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, and how advancements in sanitation throughout history may have given rise to more liberal ideals.