The Science of Being Human: Why We Behave, Think and Feel the Way We Do

by Marty Jopson

Overview

Offering a unique insight into human behaviour, this book explains why we behave the way we do and what happens when humans interact with the world and each other.

Starting with evolutionary biology and what it physically means to be a human being, this book moves on to include a wide range of topics such as artificial intelligence, virtual reality and how we are evolving as we interact with new technology. There will be sections on how we perceive the world, such as why our brains – rather than our senses – can tell us about the world around us; crowd behaviour and more everyday things we can relate to, such as why your queue is mathematically proven to always be slower.

The Science of Being Human explains all these human phenomena and how science, maths, psychology and other disciplines play their part.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781789291681
Publisher:	Michael O'Mara Books
Publication date:	10/17/2019
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	224
File size:	3 MB

About the Author

Dr Marty Jopson studied Natural Sciences at Cambridge University before going on to achieve a PhD in Cell Biology. He is the resident science reporter on BBC One’s The One Show. Marty has been working in television for twenty years, on the BBC, ITV, Channel 4, Sky, The Discovery Channel and National Geographic. He is a prop builder and has been performing stage science around the UK for many years. His previous books include The Science of Everyday Life and The Science of Food, which combined have sold 45,000 copies. His website is martyjopson.co.uk

Table of Contents

CONTENTS
INTRODUCTION ................................................................ 1
JUST WHO DO YOU THINK YOU ARE? ............................. 3
A species by name ................................................................. 3
A genus of one ...................................................................... 9
When human met Neanderthal ............................................. 15
The ever-evolving human ..................................................... 21
An atlas for the human body ................................................ 27
SOME UNCOMFORTABLE BIOLOGICAL TRUTHS ......... 36
Are you domesticated yet? .................................................... 36
The complexity of colour ...................................................... 43
The speed of death ............................................................... 49
The difference between mostly dead and all dead .................... 55
If you need to focus then hold it in ........................................ 61
BEING VIRTUALLY HUMAN ........................................... 70
The uncanny valley and being nearly human .......................... 70
How language makes the world go round ............................... 75
Behaving virtually bad ......................................................... 83
Getting your internet fix ....................................................... 89
THE QUIRKS OF THE HUMAN BEING .......................... 100
A sense of place ................................................................. 100
Bacteria make you human .................................................. 107
Dementia and your teeth .................................................... 116
Exercise is a pain ............................................................... 123
Big numbers are a bother ................................................... 132
Hairy beasts ...................................................................... 137
HOW TO FOOL A HUMAN ............................................ 144
Adding a dimension .......................................................... 144
The art of lying .................................................................. 153
The power of nothing ......................................................... 162
Fooling your mouth ........................................................... 172
SURVIVING IN A CROWD ............................................. 178
Three’s a crowd .................................................................. 178
The egg-timer enigma ........................................................ 182
Step locking and the Millennium Bridge .............................. 187
Your queue will always be slower ........................................ 192
The best way to board ........................................................ 198
Beware the phantom traffic jams ......................................... 205
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ................................................ 211
INDEX ............................................................................ 212