Reading up for CALM-Alpha

I’m really looking forward to the CALM-Alpha event next month. In preparation for it, I’m going through our tentative reading list. The faculty members suggest that attendees read the following books as preparation for the event:

Mark Haddon, The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time
Ursula leGuin, The Dispossessed
Dava Sobel, Longitude

In addition, it would be [...]

1st International Workshop on Complexity and Real-World Applications, Day 1

Yesterday was the first day of the 1st International Workshop on Complexity and Real-World Applications , an invitation-only event held in Southampton. Set in a scenic venue, the conference was organised in a loveably sloppy way by Andrew Tait and Kurt Richardson. The two of them are doing an admirable job, but the scenic venue [...]

log(N) = 0.093 + 3.389 log(CR) (1) (r2=0.764, t34=10.35, p<0.001), or 147.8 friends

What’s that wierd formula in the title? It’s the best-fit reduced major axis regression equation between neocortex ratio and mean group size for the sample of 36 primate genera taken from Robin Dunbar’s 1992 paper, and which is normally interpreted as being a natural limit on human group size of 150 (or 147.8 to be [...]