The moral, then, is that familiar categories of behavior - marriage customs, food taboos, folk superstitions, and so on - certainly do vary across cultures and have to be learned, but the deeper mechanisms of mental computation that generate them may be universal and innate.

But the newest research is showing that many properties of the brain are genetically organized, and don't depend on information coming in from the senses.

An eye for beauty locks onto faces that show signs of health and fertility - just as one would predict if it had evolved to help the beholder find the fittest mate.

The art of photography is all about directing the attention of the viewer.

Theories of art carry the seeds of their own destruction.

Most wars are not fought over shortages of resources such as food and water, but rather over conquest, revenge, and ideology.

We're living in primate heaven. We're warm, dry, we're not hungry, we don't have fleas and ticks and infections. So why are we so miserable?