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In the late 1950s and early 1960s, game theory became caught up in a heated and chaotic set of debates about nuclear strategy and the possibility of arms control Bertrand Russell and Herman Kahn invoked the game of “chicken” in discussions of international brinksmanship, and the “Prisoner’s Dilemma” emerged as a model of the Cold War arms race. Simultaneously, the problem of how to behave rationally when faced with such games became perhaps the central problem of the age. This chapter provides a window onto these debates by examining the use of game theory by a community of social and behavioral scientists affiliated with the University of Michigan’s Mental Health Research Institute and Center for Research on Conflict Resolution during this period. Here, game theory proved a powerful notational device capable of facilitating several interventions of behavioral science into debates over arms control and weapons policy. But while game theory could facilitate conversations across research scales and disciplinary divides, despite the hopes of some, it proved less successful at providing principles of rationality to forge consensus on how to solve problems of conflict resolution and arms control.

Researchers must understand ethically important environments affecting the welfare and integrity of participants. Peculiar uncertainties and difficulties arise when conducting research in fragile or conflict-affected environments, requiring flexibility and adaptability to manage ethical tensions and moments. This chapter discusses research on social protection policies in Northern Nigeria, where persistent conflicts have disrupted livelihoods and created pervasive insecurity. Research participants were more difficult to identify and recruit in this context, and situational ethics were required. While researchers should maintain transparent communication throughout their research, implementation of the transparency principle has to be adapted to different cultural practices and norms. For example, informed consent may not be given by female participants without husbands’ permission and covert research may become necessary and justifiable.

This chapter highlights context-specific safety protocols and procedures of research in a highly violent context. It mentions the experience of Boukary Sangaré and Jaimie Bleck on conducting research in Central and Northern Mali across the lines of North–South collaboration. It discusses strategies of fieldwork in areas of armed conflict where the state of Mali has almost disappeared. The chapter recommends closed collaborations between foreign and local researchers to show that safety in high-risk contexts is dependent on up-to-date information from local networks that is continuously fed into the security assessment. It also cautions that risk assessments always have to consider the long-term effects of research as violent situations can be highly volatile, making what was safe yesterday potentially dangerous tomorrow.

This chapter describes 12 tarsal bones from Sterkfontein, and compares them to those of extant hominoids and other fossil hominins, adding new analyses for some of the bones which have been studied previously. In general, the Sterkfontein calcanei and tali more closely resemble those attributed to Australopithecus sediba from nearby Malapa than to Australopithecus afarensis tarsals from Hadar, Ethiopia. Overall, the bones are similar to those of humans, but African ape-like characters indicating selection on adaptive use of arboreal substrates are persistent throughout the Sterkfontein tarsals, although more prevalent on some bones than on others. Planes of the navicular and first metatarsal facets on the medial cuneiform are relatively parallel, suggesting the hallux was not notably divergent from the metatarsus. However, the anteroposteriorly short intermediate and lateral cuneiforms suggest that the anterior tarsal row had not yet elongated as in modern humans, adversely affecting the foot’s ability to serve as a rigid lever. A large groove for the flexor hallucis longus muscle and large navicular tubercle may be related to strong grasping and climbing. Overall, the Sterkfontein tarsal elements show mixture of modern human-like and African ape-like features.