The possibility that empathy resides in parts of the brain so ancient that we share them with rats should give pause to anyone comparing politicians with those poor, underestimated creatures.

The possibility that empathy resides in parts of the brain so ancient that we share them with rats should give pause to anyone comparing politicians with those poor, underestimated creatures.

Future benefits rarely figure in the minds of animals.

When someone brutally kills someone else, we call him "animalistic." But we consider ourselves "human" when we give to the poor.

Dogmatists have one advantage: they are poor listeners.

The chimpanzees could tear me apart in no time. They're many times stronger than we are.

I sometimes try to imagine what would have happened if we’d known the bonobo first and the chimpanzee only later—or not at all. The discussion about human evolution might not revolve as much around violence, warfare and male dominance, but rather around sexuality, empathy, caring and cooperation. What a different intellectual landscape we would occupy!