Comparative analyses are the backbone of evolutionary analysis. However, their record in
producing a consensus has not always been good. This is especially true of attempts to …

The evolutionary relationships between ecology, cognition, and neurobiology remain
elusive, despite important contributions from functional studies and comparative analyses …

Abstract Models based on the Ornstein–Uhlenbeck process have become standard for the
comparative study of adaptation. have cast doubt on this practice by claiming statistical …

Abstract “We are what, when, and how we eat”: the evolution of human dietary habits mirrors
the evolution of humans themselves. Key developments in human history, such as the …

Rates of evolution get smaller when they are measured over longer time intervals. As first
shown by Gingerich, rates of morphological change measured from fossil time series show a …

Relationships among species in the tree of life can complicate comparative methods and
testing adaptive hypotheses. Models based on the Ornstein-Uhlenbeck process permit …

Brain size variability in primates has been attributed to various domain-specific socio-
ecological factors. A recently published large-scale study of short-term memory abilities in …

Recent research suggests that socio-ecological factors such as dietary specialization and
social complexity may be drivers of advanced cognitive skills among primates. Therefore, we …

Brain size variation is often attributed to energetic trade-offs with other metabolically
expensive tissues and organs, which is a prediction of the expensive brain hypothesis …

An overlooked source of variation in evolvability resides in the social lives of animals. In
trying to foster research in this direction, we offer a critical review of previous work on the link …