Stone Age Brain | Rick Shenkman

Rick Shenkman is the author of "Political Animals:  How Our Stone Age Brain Gets in the Way of Smart Politics" (Basic Books, 2016).

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• 
  May 22, 2015
  

  Why Americans Support the Iran Deal for the Wrong Reason

  by Stone Age Brain | Rick Shenkman

  Given the way our brain is wired, we believe we can divine how other people think, including Iranians we have never met.  But can we? 
  

• 
  Apr 3, 2015
  

  This is why colleges need to hire historians

  by Stone Age Brain | Rick Shenkman

  Historians can now point to neuroscience as proof they are needed. 
  

• 
  Apr 2, 2015
  

  Is Western society responsible for violence and environmental degradation?

  by Stone Age Brain | Rick Shenkman

  Science has an answer. The answer is no.
  

• 
  Apr 1, 2015
  

  Are we born with a universal grammar?

  by Stone Age Brain | Rick Shenkman

  New research suggests Noam Chomsky's theory of a Universal Grammar is wrong.
  

• 
  Mar 25, 2015
  

  Do our genes determine how we behave? Nah.

  by Stone Age Brain | Rick Shenkman

  Today scientists are a lot less confident than they used to be about the effect our genes have on our behavior. No one gene determines if we'll rob a bank, do somersaults, or win the Nobel Prize.
  

• 
  Mar 10, 2015
  

  Hillary's Emails: A Prediction

  by Stone Age Brain | Rick Shenkman

  In which I predict how she handled the email controversy at her news conference.
  

• 
  Nov 11, 2014
  

  This study claims how we worship may be dependent on the environment

  by Stone Age Brain | Rick Shenkman

  What's exciting is not so much the conclusion, but the evidence. 
  

• 
  Nov 9, 2014
  

  It Happened a Long Time Ago -- A Really Long Time Ago

  by Stone Age Brain | Rick Shenkman

  Historians think in short bursts of time.  We need to take in the really long perspective to do our jobs right. 
  

• 
  Oct 29, 2014
  

  How bad can an El Niño be? This bad.

  by Stone Age Brain | Rick Shenkman

  Could empires have fallen, in part, because of changes in the weather? 
  

• 
  Jun 2, 2014
  

  What You're Missing If You're Not Watching Cosmos

  by Stone Age Brain | Rick Shenkman

  Neil deGrasse Tyson shows that scientists first issued an alarm about climate change in the late 19th century.   
  

• 
  May 28, 2014
  

  What Can a Classics Professor Teach Us About Climate Change?

  by Stone Age Brain | Rick Shenkman

  What a drought in 1200 BC can teach us.
  

• Jun 2, 2009
  

  Cheney finally admits no connection between Saddam and 9-11

  by Stone Age Brain | Rick Shenkman

  As anyone who has read my book knows, it was the Bush administration's success in making people believe that Saddam was behind 9-11 that triggered my decision to write Just How Stupid Are We.