But despite this, the key to species survival has always been the same for all primates: in order to continue as a species, we must reproduce and pass on our genes to the next generation. And the only way to do that, whether you’re a bonobo or a baboon, is to attract (and be attracted to!) the right mate. So despite centuries of trying to tame our most basic, animalistic urges, evidence of our primal origins are still strikingly apparent in modern human love lives. Not only are the things we look for and find attractive in a partner founded on the same evolutionary rules that dictate ape mate preferences, but the way we woo, seduce, and keep hold of our other halves are almost exactly the same:

First Impressions

First, we look at the significance of making the right first impression. Just like apes, both sexes are constantly scanning the horizons for a sexy pair of genes. For males of any primate species, the priority is simple – fertility. While for females, it’s resources and security that are a girl’s best friend. But these differing priorities shouldn’t come as a surprise considering that it’s the females of the ape family that sacrifice their bodies and invest months of calories when producing their offspring. While for a male ape, as long as there’s an egg ready and waiting he needn’t have a care in the world after copulation. So to help us find the right match, we apes have not only evolved traits which help us advertise ourselves, but also efficient ways of identifying suitable mates. Rather than waiting until the first date (or first mate, if you’re a chimp) to figure out whether your prospective partner is male or female, fertile or infertile, healthy or unhealthy, humans and apes use various visual cues to make snap judgments about whether to pursue a fellow species member.

Making a Move

The next step in the process of finding a mate, is making the first move. In the ape world, once the two sexes have set their sights on each other, courtship begins. Although the female may have exchanged glances, or even initiated eye contact with the male, it’s nearly always the male that makes the approach and does the mounting. It’s then up to the female to decide whether to let him or not. If she changes her mind, or the attention is unwanted, she’ll simply walk away and wait for someone more preferable to try his luck.

And it’s just the same in human societies, where it’s men who are traditionally expected to make the first move, while women can simply hang back and wait for Mr. Right to come their way. And the way a male approaches the female can influence her receptiveness to the advance. Be too intimidating, and she’ll run away, but be unconfident and she’ll lose interest. The most successful male apes use a winning combination of confidence and kindness. A dominant stride paired with some attentive grooming, and perhaps even an offering of food, are the surest way to an ape female’s heart. And charming a human female is no different.

Protecting the Bond

Even after all that, an ape’s work isn’t done. The next task on a male ape’s agenda is to guard his female from any opportunistic rivals who may want to try their luck. Alpha male apes are masters at this – after mating with an estrus female, any sneaky subordinates who are caught trying to get a piece of the action are immediately chased away, either by the alpha himself or by one of his specially employed bodyguards. This is because successfully defending his mates will give him the best chance of fathering lots of offspring. We humans also instinctively react when someone tries to steal our woman from us. After all that time and effort spent wooing and seducing your chosen female, the last thing you’d want is for her to be stolen by another guy. So not only will we show you how doing it the ape way can help you successfully attract, approach and secure your perfect mate, we’ll show you how to keep her once you do.

Tune in to Going Ape: Hooking Up tonight at 10P. In this episode of Going Ape, we will show you how you can put this primate knowledge into practice, and how the secrets to successful ape mating can be used for successful human dating. To demonstrate this, we carry out a series of unique and exciting experiments designed to bring out the inner ape in members of the public, and analyze their behavior with the help of experts in primatology and psychology.

Let’s Talk About It

Research shows that when men and women listen to a passage being read aloud from a novel, only the left hemisphere in the male brains was activated. In contrast, women demonstrated activity in both the left and right hemispheres. The female brain is more attuned to words and sounds. Girls tend to learn to speak earlier than boys and this may be why. It could also explain why women excel at learning languages.

Take a Risk

Most men may not have a gift for language, but they do have something that many women do not, a brain wired for risk-taking. In fact, most women’s brains simply don’t reward them for taking big risks. Men, on the other hand, get a burst of endorphins, a chemical when gives a sensation of pleasure, when confronted with a risky or challenging situation. In fact, the bigger the reward the more likely a man is to take a risk.

Are We Lost?

So all of this explains why men never ask for directions right? It sort of does, actually. A man’s brain tends to give him a talent for spatial reasoning. He may navigate based on abstract concepts such as distance and direction. He may not articulate it well, but he is pretty sure where he is going. A woman on the other hand will depend on her language skills, navigating by talking about landmarks that she can see or hear. She notices and articulates if the car has passed the same diner three times. So maybe if they both work together, they will have a much better chance of never getting lost.

We may all be wired differently depending on our gender, but there is no doubt that each of us is an individual. We are a product both of our specific strengths and weaknesses as well as of our background and culture. Our differences may seem incredibly frustrating at times, but they can also be used to our advantage. There is no winning the battle of the sexes, but the better we know one another, the more likely we can take the world on together.

Want to know more about the differences between the male and female mind? Watch Brain Games: Battle of the Sexes Monday May 20 at 9PM et/pt and decide for yourself who has the best brain for which task.

From winter preparations through the thaw, Life Below Zero follows six people as they battle for the most basic necessities in the state with the lowest population density in the United States. Living at the ends of the world’s loneliest roads and subsisting off the rugged Alaskan bush, they battle whiteout snow storms, man-eating carnivores, questionable frozen terrain and limited resources through a long and bitter winter. Some of them are lone wolves; others have their families beside them. All must overcome despairing odds to brave the wild and survive through to the spring.

Each episode of Life Below Zero takes viewers deeper into the winter, following brave residents as they struggle in their different corners of this merciless territory to stay one step ahead of storms and predators. Money is practically worthless; food, fuel and fur are the real commodities. Experience has taught them to take a shotgun to the bathroom in case of a surprise bear attack; that the heart is the best bite of a cooked ptarmigan; and that caribou fur make the best “mukluk” boots. It’s a raw look at what life is like without paved roads, grocery stores, central heat or neighbors.

Don’t miss the series premiere of Life Below Zero, Sunday at 10P

Before you took off for Mexico with your buddies, how were your sailing skills? Had you been sailing a long time?
Had sailed for a couple of years previously.  Local Channel Islands (like Catalina) and one trip to Ensenada, Mexico.  (120 mi. r/t)

You initially went to Mexico searching for a dream surf spot… What type of place did you imagine? Did you ever find it?
Mexico surf at that time was uncrowded and mostly unknown, especially the spots only accessible by boat. We found waves, but not the ultimate Shangri-La.

When you guys arrived in Mazatlan on your boat, you mentioned it was falling apart… Did you have any harrowing close calls during this first leg of your sailing journey?
After we had anchored in the bay at Mazatlan, we went into town, only to come back and find that the locals had cut our anchor line and stolen our anchor. The boat was sitting high and dry on the beach!  (We think the same guys that stole it, helped us get the boat back out off the beach.) We used a standby generator (it had never really worked) as our new anchor. With limited success.

Before you met Frank, had you heard stories of people successfully transporting marijuana back to the States? Did any other ex-pats talk openly about this?
Of course we had heard of people smuggling pot, but didn’t know anyone personally. There was always a lot of talk but very little action.

What was the scariest thing you witnessed in the Mexican prison?
I saw a guy shoot up heroin into his [penis]. That scared me so much I swore I would never do heroin myself.

During lock-up, were you surprised by anything you missed? (ex: a particular food, drink, scent, or clothing item?)
Freedom and women!

Do you still keep in touch with any of the guys from this ordeal? Did you ever find out what happened to Benny?
Mace and Frank only.  Have tried to contact the others, but never have located them.

What do you think would’ve happened if you’d been caught during your prison escape, or if you never attempted escape in the first place?
First thing they do is beat the crap out of you.  Then throw you in the “hole” for 30 days. Then, start your time to trial over. They don’t have to give you a trial for one year, so whatever time you’ve already done waiting for trial, starts over. However, under Napoleonic Code in Mexico, as a prisoner, it’s your right to try and escape. We would have been sentenced to at least 5 years each. At that time, the U.S. was paying Mexico extra money to keep Americans locked up.

How has the experience in Mexico changed you as a person?
It made me see “you can get it if you really want” (that’s a song) and if you don’t try, your never gonna get it.  Guaranteed! 

Have you ever traveled back to Mexico?
I’ve been to Ensenada only once since. My lawyer said it would PROBABLY be OK, just don’t go back to Mazatlan! I’m OK with that.

Did you ever sail a boat again, after that terrifying shipwreck ordeal?
I went ahead a few years later and built my own 42′ sailboat from a bare hull (took 3 years) then went to the So. Pacific on it for two years. Then I lived aboard and sailed locally for the next 20 years.

What are you up to these days?
After my sailing trip, I went to a diving school for two years, then worked as a saturation diver in the No. Sea (Scotland). Then I was a commercial diver here in Calif. for the next 10 years. Then I was the boat captain of the diving boat for the next 15 years. For the last 15 years I have been a carpenter here in Santa Barbara.

When did you first learn how to sail?
I was 13 and living in San Francisco out in the Sunset District (lower avenues). Neighborhood pals invited me to come to the Sea Scout Base at the foot of Van Ness. I was enthralled and joined. SF Bay is a fantastic place to play on the water.

At the time of this story, you owned a 40-foot sailboat. Had you and your brother used it to traffic drugs successfully before the voyage with Mike, Mace & Paul?
Yes, to great success. My partner had been picked up (DEA agents). Both of us were fugitive, so was Dan but by a bust from two years previous. Our plane was no longer of use, so I decided to run a load up using a sail boat. I had the money and bought the boat of my dreams, put together a crew, contacted Dan who was living in Mazatlan and worked out a deal with him. I sailed down, picked up 1.500 pounds of marijuana, and made it back to the states two days before X-mas.

What was your planned course for smuggling the ton of weed into the States?
The same course as the  first time. Sail north, taking long offshore tacks till we reached a California state park (Gaviota) and offload. Surfer friends of Dan would help. Dan was aboard this time but not the first time.

There are two schools of thought to this. The other was to have taken one very long tack out till one reaches the trade winds, then when enough latitude is made, tack back in. This would have been the better choice.

On the night you guys shipwrecked, what do you think went wrong? Anything that should have been done differently?
I broke a cardinal rule of seamanship (Never make an inshore tack at night). I had misjudged it, but it was compounded by a sleepy crew member. Had I ordered the man on the first watch (Mike) to make an offshore tack, this problem would never have happened.

Have you ever been on a sailboat again, after that terrifying shipwreck ordeal?
Yes! I went on to own a 48 foot yawl (with a group of people) a 33 foot sloop and a 30 foot sloop. My passion for sailing ran deep, but it was now with a renewed purpose: the sea and all it’s elements had humbled me. I saw life differently. I appreciated life in a way I had not previously. I was more cautious, more aware of what I was doing while sailing and in every day life. 

What was the scariest thing you witnessed in the Mexican prison?
Several times fear ran its course. Mike received word from his pal Martin (Mex inmate) one day (this was in October) that something heavy had gone down the night before. A guard, for whatever odd reason (maybe he forgot the keys), had left a drunk in the corridor, and by the time he returned the drunk had basted in the head of the inmate who owned and ran a small kitchen. (We often ordered meals at 40 cents each from this man) and had killed him. All of us lived in small Caracas (small huts, dwellings 8×8 to 8×16).

Any inmate at any time could enter our dwellings at night and murder us. I got into a fight one morning with an inmate. It happened so suddenly there was nothing I could do to prevent the onslaught. Fortunately it was put to an end when the Vice Presidente of our sector  saw what was going on. But, I’d made an enemy.

 There was not one single thing I witnessed but was part of when Dan and Mike escaped from the ferry. The guard in charge had a major crap fit. Seeing the two of them gone he leveled his Colt-45 at my head. I could do nothing in that instant. I froze and stared back at him. Instead of doing squeezing off a round he smacked me across the back of my head… which was no big deal… but for a moment I had been petrified.

During lock-up, were you surprised by anything you missed? (ex: a particular food, drink, scent, or clothing item?)
There were the usual pangs for good old American food or just the freedom to go for a walk/hike, a sail, out to dinner. I was happy that we had enough money and could order out for our food. What I really miss was my lover, Sarah. I promised her we’d sail off to Hawaii but Mike, Mace, and Paul showed up. Having a crew I decided to break that promise. Boy, did I feel lowdown after having wrecked the boat and landed all of us in jail not to mention the lose of revenue. I missed her terribly. I wanted so badly to hold her and tell how and maybe even why I’d ruined everything.

Your brother Dan was locked up abroad with you. Did going through this experience together challenge or grow your relationship?
Both. We had always been fierce competitors, always showing who was best. When I landed us in jail he lorded over me when I wanted him to get over it and be a loving brother. 

What’s life like for you these days? What are you up to?
I spent years getting over what it was that I had done. What drove me to write the book had everything to do with understanding why I self-destructed as what my older bro had done as well as my partner? None of us has escaped the emotional back wash we created. I do not wish to go into what became of them, but as for me I became a better person for having written the book and living an uplifting life.

I learned that I had to love and accept all aspects of myself. It’s an on-going feat of accomplishment. I would advise that all people begin learning to love all aspects of who they are.

What am I doing now? I’ve become a writer as a result  of learning to write and self-publishing a book. I’ll be marketing that book (American Brothers) and another that is already written. The next book is about how I went about learning how to love.

Tune in to Locked Up Abroad: Mexican Prison Escape tonight at 10P.

Post your questions for Buzz and Conrad using hashtag #LetsExplore on Twitter, Google+ and YouTube… but you must act fact, submissions are due today, May 15th.

More details can be found on the Explorers Journal Blog and on the Google+ Event page.

See you soon!

Don’t miss an all-new episode of Ultimate Survival Alaska this Sunday at 9P and follow their journey each week with this interactive map.

Now, we’re looking to you to embrace your inner-photographer and share your own favorite nooks and crannies of the planet. Timed to coincide with the launch of our new brand campaign we’re organizing an Instagram contest that everyone can participate in. It doesn’t matter if you’re an experienced adventurer that just summited the peak of Mt. Whitney or a city-dweller that seeks refuge from the hustle and bustle in a tranquil corner of a public park – we want to see what captivates you!

The campaign’s tagline, “The places we take you aren’t just on the map” is symbolic of our DNA, and also the call to action for the Instagram contest. Upload pics of your “favorite places off the map” to Instagram with the hashtag #NGCTakesYou beginning May 13.  Everything is fair game; your child’s smile, a thunderstorm, a paintbrush – what takes you to places you never thought you’d go? We want to see it all!

Pictures can be posted throughout the summer until July 1 at which point we’ll announce a winner via Instagram.  The lucky winner will receive a state-of-the-art National Geographic camera package, including a Nikon – D3100 14.2-Megapixel Digital SLR Camera, a National Geographic canvas camera bag, and National Geographic Complete Photography, a comprehensive book that offers “how-to” advice and useful tips from some of National Geographic’s greatest photographers.

For more information, see complete rules here and follow @NatGeoChannels on Instagram.  The contest is only valid for U.S. residents.  Good luck – we can’t wait to see what you come up with!

On this week’s episode of Brain Games, Jason Silva explores the illusion of confidence as knowledge. In fact, the “illusion of knowledge” plagues the human brain and we fall victim, again and again, to the notion that we understand more than we actually do. Not guilty of leaning on your confidence in the facts? Maybe you are a keen skeptic, but no doubt there are many common misconceptions that your friends and family hold up as truth. Here are a few examples of some of the most common and repeated “facts of life” that simply are not true. How many of these have you heard and believed?

George Washington had wooden teeth.

Turns out our first president did not have a mouth full of timber. His dentures are held at the National Museum of Dentistry and a forensic anthropologist supervised laser scans on one of the four known sets of Washington’s dentures. The scans revealed that there was no wood at all in his false teeth.  The dentures were actually made from gold, ivory, lead, human and animal teeth. Which quite frankly, is quite a bit creepier than the misconception.

Twinkies have a shelf life that lasts decades.

If you find yourself in the middle of an apocalypse you better plan on foraging for food other than Twinkies over the next century. According to Theresa Cogswell, vice president for research and development at Interstate Bakeries Corp, in reality, Twinkies’ shelf life is more like 25 days. This is still a long time for packaged food to remain edible, but you are better off looking for canned goods or freeze dried rations for a snack.

Baby rattlesnakes are more poisonous than adults.

It is often said that baby rattlesnakes are far more dangerous than adult rattlesnakes because of the belief that they do not have the same control over the release of venom as an adult. However, according to Loma Linda University Medical Center in Southern California, which has tremendous experience in treating rattlesnake bites, large rattlesnakes cause more serious injuries than baby rattlesnakes. This doesn’t mean that you shouldn’t rush to the hospital if you are bitten by a diminutive rattler. However, you aren’t in more danger.

Birds will abandon their chicks if you touch them.

Have you ever found a baby bird in your yard and wondered what to do to help it? Chances are you’ve heard that if you touch it, you’re going to have to take care of it because the parents will smell that you’ve touched it and abandon them. Actually, this isn’t true at all. Most birds have a very poor sense of smell and are not all that bothered if you touch their chick. In fact, they are likely hiding out somewhere waiting for you to disappear so they can come back and feed their youngster. Despite common reasoning, the best thing you can do is find the nest and put the little guy safely back in it.

Did any of these untruths get you? Wondering how many things you think you know may turn out to not actually be true? Tune in to Brain Games: What You Don’t Know tonight 9PM et/pt. and find out whether you’re truly knowledgeable or merely confident.