Bjørn Grinde
Bjørn Grinde (homepage grinde.one) is a Norwegian biologist working as a scientist in the fields of genetics and evolution, with particular interests in human evolution, happiness and consciousness. Early life and education He was born and grew up in Oslo, Norway, but spent a year as a high-school exchange student at Michigan, USA, in 1969. He studied natural sciences as well as psychology, anthropology, and pedagogics at the University of Oslo, resulting in a Dr.scient (1981) and a Dr.philos (1984) in biology from the same university. Work roles Grinde has worked as a scientist and professor at leading universities in Norway, USA and Japan. As of 2021, he works as a senior scientist at the Division of Mental and Physical Health, Norwegian Institute of Public Health. Areas of interest and research Molecular evolution Some of his earlier projects focused on molecular evolution, using viruses as a model system. Consciousness and happiness For the later part of his career, the focus has been on understanding how evolution has shaped the human brain with particular reference to what consciousness is and why it serves us positive and negative experiences. The work is related to human behavioral biology (also referred to as evolutionary