Drunken Monkey Hypothesis

Craving a beer? Feeling bad about it because you think you might be addicted to alcohol? Don't feel bad because all humans are addicted to alcohol...here's why. According to the 'Drunken Monkey Hypothesis', proposed by Dr. Robert Dudley of the University of California- Berkeley, human beings are actually attracted to ethanol (the type of alcohol we drink) because of their huge dependence on fruit throughout our evolutionary journey. Fruit, contains ethanol, and our body craves it as if we were still foraging for food. Along with this hypothesis is our desire for sugars and fats. Why you ask? For the same reasons, however, it is a two-fold answer. Firstly, sugars and fats are very high in calories, fats to be exact are worth twice as many calories as proteins. While proteins are better for us nowadays, if one of our ancestors was able to get double the energy to survive thousands of years ago, that was the better option (obviously). Also, fats and sugars were a whole lot more rare than they are today, so that coupled with the fact that we could gain more energy from these 'horrible' items, over time, ingrained a desire in our genes to crave sugar, fats, and alcohol. So whenever you feel bad about drinking, blame your ancestors of thousands of years ago.

Opposites Attract

I'm sure everybody has heard the saying 'opposites attract' in reference to a multitude of different things, whether that be magnetic charges, animal interactions, etc. Well, research over the last decade or so has come up with actual evidence for this being the case, not only in non-human relationships, but also in human relationships. The basis for this claim rests in the quest for organisms to have stronger, more diverse DNA, which for the most part, results from more exposure to varying nucleotide sequences. There is a complex found in animals (as well as, humans) called the major histocompatibility complex (MHC), which participates in cell recognition, as a major component of the immune system. It is also well known that there are harmful, deleterious effects that occur from mating between family members. This of course has a high probability of hampering offspring development. Due to these deleterious effects resulting from interbreeding, there is actually evidence from studies that people and other animals instinctively (built in from evolution) seek out mates (more so on the female's part because it deals with when they are in a fertile state). What is the way they do this you ask? Through pheromones. Without getting too into the specific details, the DNA and subsequent proteins, code and function in producing representations of the MHC and other DNA components in the form of pheromones that the males and females secrete. The secretions are sensed so that the females and possibly males (in some other form) can seek out a mate, all in an effort to diversify their DNA for evolutionary stability purposes.

FOOD FOR THOUGHT: Other pheromones that females secrete out of the arm pits, are responsible for the alignment of menstruation cycles with women living in a house together for a extended period of time. The pheromones are sensed by glands in the nasal cavity, which send these signals to the brain via an efferent nerve. The brain then determines when the menstruation occurs. Another evolutionary stable move, because animals that have young at the same time, with other animals they are close to, can help raise the offspring, thus reducing the fitness cost (ex: lionesses carrying for cubs that are not theirs).