Naturally, things are more complicated - those groovy, pro-social effects of oxytocin apply to how we interact with in-group members.

But often, it's easier to resist temptation with distraction, or to be so inculcated in doing the right thing that it's automatic, outside the frontal cortex's portfolio - Then it isn't the harder thing, it's the only thing you can do.

Almost always, genes are about potentials and vulnerabilities rather than about determinism.

Get it wrong, and we call it a cult. Get it right, in the right time and the right place, and maybe, for the next few millennia, people won't have to go to work on your birthday.

We are just another primate but a very confused, malleable one.

I love science, and it pains me to think that so many are terrified of the subject or feel that choosing science means you cannot also choose compassion, or the arts, or be awed by nature. Science is not meant to cure us of mystery, but to reinvent and reinvigorate it.

An open mind is a prerequisite to an open heart.