Human Rituals: The Punctuation Marks of Life By Meredith F. Small Rituals are important worldwide, and they help us move through life's big transitions.
Dad: More than Just a Guy with Sperm By Meredith F. Small Biology has underestimated the role of fathers in making babies. Society has too, especially when it comes to child-rearing. That should change.
Fair Trade: What We Know That Chimps Don't By Meredith F. Small Humans might be the only primates that truly understand the value of a good trade.
How Evolution Could Sink (or Save) GM By Meredith F. Small Capitalism is like evolution by natural selection, and it can be harsh.
Why We'll Always Fear Snakes By Meredith F. Small My daughter has a snake, a tiny 8-inch-long, innocuous corn snake, and I hate that thing.
Why 'Ida' Inspires Navel-Gazing at Our Ancestry By Meredith F. Small The mishmash of features in a new primate fossil reminds us that the story of our past might be more complicated than we think.
Lessons from Earth's Most Murderous People By Meredith F. Small There are still plenty of hunters and gatherers living in the world.
Let's Hold Hands: Why Viruses Love Humans By Meredith F. Small The instruction from public health officials to keep away from others to stop the spread of the swine flu is a tough one for us primates.
Donated Vaccines Could Save 2.5 Million Quiet Little Lives By Meredith F. Small No death is more painful, more poignant, more of a waste, than the death of a child. In Rwanda, swine flu isn't the big culprit.
Denial Can Bring Marital Bliss By Meredith F. Small Is long-term love possible? It all has to do with perceptions.
Key to Happiness: Location, Location, Location By Meredith F. Small People who live on, say, Hawaiian beaches have fewer bouts of emotional problems than people who live in the hollows of Appalachia.
Losing It: Why Self-Control Is Not Natural By Meredith F. Small It takes a lot to live with people day after day and not kill them.
Single Parents: Not What Nature Intended By Meredith F. Small Why does it unsettle us to see one person go it alone as a parent?
Teen Leaders More Likely to Have Kids Later By Meredith F. Small Leadership and overachievement might be a good predictor of which kids will go on to become parents.
Gifts Burden Men, Gladden Women By Meredith F. Small Gratitude when receiving a gift is, apparently, a typical response for a woman. For men, they feel obligation.
Bad Biology: Girls Should Not Get Pregnant By Meredith F. Small U.S. women often delay marriage to jump-start careers, but in other countries, women tend to marry young, sometimes too young.
Secret Birth Control Method: The Welcome Dance of the Uterus By Meredith F. Small The uterus plays a role in make sure sperm are in the right place at the right time.
Disgust Makes Us Truly Sick By Meredith F. Small "You make me sick" —this metaphor for disapproval can also be very real disgust.
Why New Mothers Need Extra Attention By Meredith F. Small Childcare is fraught with difficulty, and women navigate tough choices as they try to breast-feed and bring up a child.
The Romantic Evolution of True Love By Meredith F. Small Are humans really naturally pair-bonded, that is, designed to court and mate one person 'til death do us part?
Love Makes Kids Smarter By Meredith F. Small For some odd reason, it takes constant reminders that we primates need nurturing.
8 Is Enough: The Limits to Human Reproduction By Meredith F. Small It's great those octuplets are here and healthy, but really, humans aren't designed to have litters.
Why Did Humans Migrate to the Americas? By Meredith F. Small Human migration is much more complex than we might think, genetic evidence suggests.
Inauguration Worry: No Place to Pee By Meredith F. Small Many Americans are trekking to Washington, D.C., to witness the inauguration. Will there be enough toilets?
Study Finds Source of Self-Control, Maybe By Meredith F. Small Is religion the opium of the masses or does it help us stay in line?