Are men from Mars, and women from Venus, as the cliché goes? Did half of us evolve to start wars and dominate the rest of us? Could humans ever live together without warring? Biological anthropologist Agustín Fuentes separates the myths from the facts about aggression, cooperation, and human nature, arguing that we are not hardwired for war. He also takes apart conventional wisdom about the differences between men and women, suggesting that there is a yawning gap between what scientists know and what is reported in the media.

Halloween may have passed, but zombie imagery is ubiquitous. In the new book Catastrophism, David McNally links the powerful cultural resonance of zombies to the deadening experience of wage labor and other everyday castastrophes under capitalism. Sasha Lilley, in her contribution to the volume, describes two versions of left-wing catastrophism and why we should steer clear of both.

On November 12th, Greece is set to run out of money -- adding further to the woes of a country hammered by the financial crisis and austerity imposed by the European Union and IMF. Greek activist Pavlos Stavropoulos describes the alarming rise of the fascist party Golden Dawn, which has soared in popularity as ordinary Greeks struggle to survive. He delineates how the party has generated support by providing economic aid to Greeks, while threatening, scapegoating, and attacking immigrants.

For people who oppose capitalism, what use are elections? Does it make sense to work to reform the capitalist system, or is more drastic action necessary? And by what mechanisms and forms of agency does capitalism perpetuate itself? In a new book Cynthia Kaufman offers a nuanced account of capitalism that, she claims, must inform efforts to challenge it.

Sleep is such an essential part of our lives. So it might come as a surprise to know that it has been radically changed over the last several hundred years. Anthropologist Matthew Wolf-Meyer suggests that we look to the rise of industrial capitalism to understand why we sleep—or don't sleep—as we do. He discusses how a solid eight hours of sleep came to be the norm, the sedative industry, and the stimulants that keep tired workers producing during the daytime.

What role do colleges and universities play in the global capitalist order? How does escalating student debt fit within broader political-economic trends and tendencies? What does the Edu-factory Collective mean when it claims that "what was once the factory is now the university"? Max Haiven navigated these issues in a recent talk.