Sharpe's investigation was inconclusive. She could not discover an underlying motive to elucidate why meerkats play. However she was capable of additional meerkat analysis through her observations. She discovered, for instance, that meerkats are inclined to play with the alternative sex. And their play does not seem like part of a long-term survival strategy. They don't search out play in youthful teams, whose members they may dominate. Likewise, young meerkats aren't hesitant to play with older meerkats who can dominate them [supply: Sharpe]. All of those findings, together with Sharpe's statement that playgroups aren't dependable indicators of membership in later dispersal groups, poke holes all through the social-bonding explanation for meerkat mischief.

Now that you understand the geek chic look, let's talk in regards to the geek chic angle. The children who spent their highschool years outdoors the popular crowd have come into their very own, with a defiant, open-armed embrace of what makes one a geek: love of books, computers, video games, comedian books, horror site (lu-ce.us) movies, technology. It is cool to be sensible. It is cool to do what you love -- bonus points if what you love requires exhaustive information of obscure issues.

In 1920 John Watson, along with graduate student Rosalie Rayner, performed an emotional-conditioning experiment on a nine-month-old child -- whom they nicknamed "Albert B" -- at Johns Hopkins University in an effort to prove their theory that we're all born as clean slates that can be shaped. The child's mom, a wet nurse who worked at the hospital, was paid one greenback for permitting her son to take part.