By Richard Dawkins
Crawling into the mind of one of the world’s preeminent scientists is even more interesting when he’s a gifted writer. Evolutionary biologist Dawkins delves into his earliest adventures as a young boy in Africa, efforts to fit in at English boarding schools and later animal-behavior studies. Each played a role leading to his revolutionary idea that it’s gene survival that really matters in natural selection. Dawkins presented his theory to the world via TheSelfish Gene in the mid-1970s; reaction to the book changed his life dramatically — territory he promises to cover in an Appetite sequel. — Becky Lang
By Valerie Curtis
Our species may be the result of successful “Eeew!”-volution. Curtis, a self-described “seasoned disgust researcher,” pinpoints the roots of revulsion in an organism’s parasite and pathogen avoidance behaviors. Consider, for example, how the Eastern tent moth uses the lowest point of its web as a ...
