Plants are mini chemical weapon factories! Learning and evolution are not opposed! This week, Annie Wertz (UCSB) joins us to describe her groundbreaking world on the evolutionary psychology of what babies know about plants, and how infants selectively use social information to guide their interactions with them. A lovely example of how adopting an evolutionary perspective inspires new areas of research, and a good example of how evolution builds learning mechanisms.

More about Annie Wertz:

https://psych.ucsb.edu/people/faculty/annie-e-wertz

https://lilac.psych.ucsb.edu/

Pat Barclay (Guelph) joins us to discuss his work solving the mysteries of the evolution of cooperation. Pat is a wonderful human being and an exceptional scientist, whose work is at the forefront of understanding how and why we solve the problem of cooperation as a species.

More about Pat Barclay:

http://patbarclay.com/

More about David Pinsof:

https://www.everythingisbullshit.blog/

https://www.kremslab.com/people

More about Dave Pietraszewski:

https://cal.psych.ucsb.edu/david-pietraszewski

Why would a mind ever be delusional or depressed, and can we understand these as functional or maladaptive outcomes? Why do humans take drugs, and why do plants make them in the first place? (And why might the answer to the second question also answer the first?) Join us on a fun, wide-ranging conversation with guest Ed Hagen (Washington State, Vancouver) one of evolutionary psychology’s most encyclopedic minds.

More about Ed Hagen:

https://anthro.vancouver.wsu.edu/people/hagen/

https://blog.edhagen.net/

Evolutionary Psychology FAQ:

https://grasshoppermouse.github.io/evpsychfaq/

More about David Pinsof: https://www.everythingisbullshit.blog/

https://www.kremslab.com/people

More about Dave Pietraszewski: https://cal.psych.ucsb.edu/david-pietraszewski