I am writing from the departure lounge at O.R. Tambo International Airport, waiting to leave South Africa after a flying visit to promote the South African edition of Sex, Genes & Rock ’n’ Roll, give a lecture at my alma…
In most societies where marriage customs are documented, some men are allowed to take many wives. Only the wealthiest and most powerful men, mind you, get to marry multiply. And their sexual despotism leaves many men unable to find…
If you needed any more evidence that atheism is on the upswing, last week’s Global Atheist Convention in Melbourne was apparently a rollicking success. I was otherwise engaged, but would have loved the chance to hear some of the most provocative thinkers…
First published in The Conversation 10 April 2011 We might expect dramatic sex ratio fluctuations when a whole population experiences extreme food shortages. Teeejayy People often ask me whether natural selection continues to operate on modern humans in industrialised societies,…
First published Friday 30 March 2012 in The Conversation as part of Natural History of the Present. My UNSW colleague Bill Sherwin just sent me a cautionary email. He’s part of an international team that studies the bottlenose dolphins of Shark Bay,…
Yesterday, Jason Collins, in his excellent blog Evolving Economics, posted the following comment under the title “Teaching Evolution in Economics” At the start of the concluding chapter in Gad Saad’s The Evolutionary Bases of Consumption (review coming soon), Saad quotes…
Here is my first-ever column for The Conversation – published 27 March 2012. As part of a column I have decided to call “Natural History of the Present” – it will be ideas and news about research that illustrates the…
Johannesburg-based folks who are interested in science, evolution, sex, music, diet, family life or popular culture (and who isn’t) might wish to attend this event to celebrate the launch of the South African edition of Sex, Genes & Rock ‘n’…
First published in The Conversation on 16 March 2012. There’s this gene that about half of all people carry. It’s a pretty nasty gene – it massively increases the risk of the carrier being a murderer or a murder victim,…
As part of the launch of the US & Canada version of Sex, Genes & Rock ‘n’ Roll: How Evolution has Shaped the Modern World, Huffington Post have published a slide show of some highlights from the book. If you…