Christopher X J. Jensen
Associate Professor, Pratt Institute

Can a realistically-parameterized model tell us why our brains are so big?

Posted 30 Aug 2018 / 0

Nature “Sizing up human brain evolution” Nature “Inference of ecological and social drivers of human brain-size evolution” This is an interesting study that I simultaneously think is really cool and has some major flaws. What’s cool about this study is that it trys to get at this question with a model that’s (reasonably) constrained by observed parameter Read More

A Minor Post, Allometries, Articles, Brain size, Cognitive Ability, Evolution, Human Evolution, Individual-based Models, Modeling (General), Neuroscience, Uncategorized

Why Artists & Designers need Scientists: Exhibit A

Posted 22 Oct 2017 / 1

I have always had a prediliction to root for the little guy, but sometimes you actually need to be the little guy to see how little guys are treated. And at Pratt, a behemouth of art and design, science is the little guy (or if you prefer, gal… in our department our most presigious scientists Read More

A Minor Post, Adaptation, Art & Design, Behavior, Cognitive Bias, Cultural Evolution, Evolution, Evolutionary Psychology, Fashion, Gene-Culture Coevolution, Genetics, Happiness, Human Evolution, Industrial Design, Pratt Institute, Psychological Adaptation, Science in Art & Design

Urban Wildlife Podcast on Hedgehogs, Raccoons, and Urbanite Biophilia

Posted 16 Jan 2017 / 0

My Spring semester is almost upon me, and that means a lot of mindless computer work getting my classes configured. I love these moments, because they give me the chance to catch up on my favorite podcasts. I hadn’t checked out the Urban Wildlife Podcast in too long, and was excited to find that Tony and Read More

A Minor Post, Behavior, Behavioral Ecology, Cognitive Ability, Commensalism, Conservation Biology, Radio & Podcasts, Urban Ecology

Julia Buntaine explores the potential power of art and science collaborations

Posted 18 Nov 2016 / 0

Last year, Pratt Professor Ágnes Mócsy started a new speaker series at Pratt called Art.Sci Affair. The series is designed to foster conversations about what Mócsy referred to as “scientists who dip into art” and “artists who dip into science”. This semester’s speaker was Julia Buntaine, an artist with a background and continuing interest in neuroscience. Buntaine Read More

A Major Post, Art & Design, Collaborative Art, Department of Mathematics & Science, Green Design, Industrial Design, Installation Art, Neuroscience, Public Art, Public Outreach, Resilience, Science (General), Science in Art & Design, Sculpture, Sustainability, Sustainable Agriculture, Sustainable Urban Design, Talks & Seminars

My article on adolescence featured in the This View of Life culture series

Posted 29 Aug 2016 / 0

I am very excited to have an article that I wrote on the adaptive nature of adolescent behavior featured in a new culture series in the This View of Life (TVoL) online magazine. My piece, entitled “Adolescent behavior doesn’t make sense (except in the light of cultural evolution)” summarizes an argument that has been rolling around in Read More

A Major Post, Behavior, Cultural Evolution, Development, Gene-Culture Coevolution, Human Evolution, Memetic Fitness, Mismatch theory, My publications, Neuroscience, Psychological Adaptation, Reproductive Fitness, Sex and Reproduction, Sexual Competition, Society for the Study of Cultural Evolution, Web

Pratt Foundation teams up with Brooklyn College pyschologists to study perception and drawing

Posted 19 Apr 2016 / 0

Researchers from Pratt Institute and Brooklyn College discuss the results of their study Today I spent my lunchtime listening to an intriguing talk given by three Brooklyn College psychology researchers and a member of Pratt’s Foundation Art department. Aaron Kozbelt, Jennifer Drake, and Rebecca Chamberlain teamed up to describe their study of Pratt Foundation Art Read More

A Major Post, Art & Design, Pratt Institute, Psychology, Talks & Seminars, Uncategorized, Visual Perception

FDA investigators raid American Society of Human Genetics offices in Carl Zimmer cloning case

Posted 01 Apr 2016 / 4

Investigators from the United States Food and Drug Administration raided the offices of the American Society of Human Genetics this week. The unusual raid was the culmination of what has been a three-year investigation of science journalist Carl Zimmer, who is now being accused of cloning himself in order to increase his writing output. “We Read More

A Major Post, Cognitive Ability, Cooperation, Cultural Evolution, Epigenetics, Ethics, Genetics, Intelligences, Memetic Fitness, Neuroscience, Scientific Fraud

Art in the Lab hosts Brain Awareness Week event on March 16th, 2016

Posted 04 Mar 2016 / 0

Art in the Lab, a really cool event-based science/art project, is celebrating Brain Awareness Week. On March 16th, 2016 at St. Francis College, neuroscientist and artist Greg Dunn will give a talk that starts at 5:30 pm. After the talk, attendees will get the chance to look at — and react creatively to — neuroscience-related models and Read More

A Minor Post, Neuroscience, Public Outreach, Science in Art & Design

Dan Ariely’s “Arming the Donkeys” podcast

Posted 15 Feb 2016 / 0

Today I have had to work on a really tedious, mindless task for hours on end, so I have tried to take advantage of this time by catching up on some podcasts. I am a big fan of Dan Ariely, both of his science and his efforts to make that science accessible to the public, Read More

A Minor Post, Altruism, Behavior, Cognitive Bias, Communication, Ethics, Human Uniqueness, Partner Choice, Psychological Adaptation, Psychology, Public Outreach, Radio & Podcasts, Reciprocity, Social Norms

What deficiencies in sound perception reveal about how we perceive sound

Posted 03 Dec 2015 / 0

Only Human “Your Brain on Sound” This is a great feature that uses the experience of a particular person (“Rose”) to explain how important the brain’s filtering of sound stimuli is to our perception of sound. Rose suffers from auditory neuropathy, which prevents her brain from responding to sound with neural synchrony. This makes it really Read More

A Minor Post, Minor in Sound & Music Studies, MSCI-363, Biological Origins of Sound & Music, Radio & Podcasts, Sound Perception