The Biological Basis of Human Nature

Biological basis for human capacitation

More than 50 years ago Austin and Chang defined mammalian sperm capacitation as a period of time that sperm must reside in the female reproductive tract before they acquire the ability to fertilize oocytes. Since then numerous investigations have attempted to more clearly define the molecules and processes that are a part of capacitation. The data that have provided a more clear definition of c...

Biological basis for human capacitation.

More than 50 years ago Austin and Chang defined mammalian sperm capacitation as a period of time that sperm must reside in the female reproductive tract before they acquire the ability to fertilize oocytes. Since then numerous investigations have attempted to more clearly define the molecules and processes that are a part of capacitation. The data that have provided a more clear definition of c...

The Neural Basis of What? Discontents in Defining “Human Nature”

INTRODUCTION Historian Ellenberger (1970) has identifi ed in the history of psychiatry and brain science “the trend that consists in describing and understanding psychological and psychopathological phenomena in terms of real or hypothetical brain structures”, a trend he called a “brain mythology”. The rise of neuroscience in the last two decades has certainly given it a new signifi cance. It i...

The Nature of Human Biological and Genetic Variability

The nature and mathematical basis for material stability in the chemical and biological worlds

The conceptual divide separating the physical and biological sciences continues to challenge modern science. In this perspective it is proposed that the two sciences can be directly connected through the fundamental concept of stability. Physicochemical stability is shown to have a logical, rather than an empirical basis, and able to manifest itself in two distinct and often contrary ways, one ...