Two new studies in monkeys and whales take the work further, showing how new cultural traditions can be formed and how conformity might help a species survive and prosper. The findings may also help researchers distinguish the differences between animal and human cultures. >>Read More

Joe Henrich and his colleagues are shaking the foundations of psychology and economics—and hoping to change the way social scientists think about human behavior and culture. >>Read More

It’s not direct evidence that life was shaped natural selection. But it is evidence of a fact that underpins Darwin’s theory, a fact that some people find hard to believe. >>Read More

If folk tales simply spread by diffusion, like ink blots in paper, one would expect to see smooth gradients in these variations as a function of distance. Instead, researchers found that language differences between cultures create significant barriers to that diffusion. >>Read More

Chimpanzees can learn to use tools more efficiently by watching how others use them, new research suggests. The findings help illuminate ways that culture could evolve in nonhuman animals. >>Read More

The birds sing distinctly different songs today than did their ancestors 30 years ago – changes passed along generation to generation, according to a new study of more than three decades' worth of sparrow recordings by University of Guelph researchers. >>Read More

Rhesus macaques who had large, strong networks tended to be descendants of similarly social macaques, according to a Duke University team of researchers. And their ability to recognize relationships and play nice with others also won them more reproductive success. >>Read More