I just received these pictures from Claire Booth, one of the amazing organisers behind the 2012 Queenlsland Literary Awards, from the evening of the awards ceremony on 4 September. I realised I haven’t yet posted the news that Sex, Genes & Rock…
Public health advocates, when asked what single intervention would most dramatically prolong human life, tend to be unanimous: “Stop Smoking” While some anti-smoking campaigs suggest a 30 year old could live as much as 25 additional years by not smoking,…
So many of the products that surround us defy common sense. I’m not talking about the “What do vegans eat at Christmas?” craziness of the Tofurky. Or even the unrealistic-fear-of-germs obsessiveness of the antibacterial chopping board. Rather, I’m talking about the…
Humans are pretty odd animals. Any list of our odd features would be a long one, but menopause would have to come in right near the top. Where men’s capacity to reproduce diminishes steadily at about the same rate…
Like almost everybody else I spoke to today, I was staggered, this morning, to hear Todd Akin’s comments about “legitimate rape” and pregnancy. The Missouri Republican, who is running for Senate, was justifying his opposition to abortion even in cases…
Former SEX LAB PhD student Megan Head (now at Exeter) and her colleague Amber Teacher (Helsinki) took out second place at NESCENT‘s Evolution Film Festival which ran recently at the first Joint World Congress on Evolutionary Biology. Their winning video “Dating…
Want to live a long time? Who doesn’t? Quite a number of smart people have staked their hopes for long life on restricting their calorie intake. It’s an idea that rests on a not inconsiderable body of evidence. But some…
A criticism often flung at evolutionary studies of human behaviour is that, in revealing the origins of the human psyche’s darkest aspects, they might substantiate our worst traits. The hysteria over sociobiology arose from concerns that a biological understanding of…
Religious leaders and holy texts share deep preoccupations with sex and reproduction. From Islamic purdah to Jewish menstrual purity laws, to Vatican neuroses about everything from contraception to masturbating nuns, it isn’t difficult to see in all major religions a…
One of the most dramatic differences between modern humans and our closest living relatives is our family structure. Silver-back gorilla males defend a harem of several females, with whom they have exclusive rights to mate. Male chimps vie…