You’ve no doubt heard that girls are entering puberty earlier than they ever have before. It’s one of those science-lite stories beloved of tabloid papers and current affairs programs. One recent article had 10 to 15 percent of American 7…
If you’re curious and want to know whether it’s worth procuring a copy of Sex, Genes & Rock ‘n’ Roll: How Evolution has Shaped the Modern World (HINT: It Is), then here’s a preview, courtesy of Google Books. If you…
This article was first published in the Sydney Morning Herald under the erroneous headline “Choosing baby’s gender threatens to skew society’s sex ratio”. (The article isn’t about “choosing gender” but rather about tests to find out the sex of…
Rob is appearing at a workshop on Dissecting Gender as part of the 2011 Melbourne Writer’s Festival, on Sunday 28 August, 4-5pm. The other panellists are Jane McCredie and Cordelia Fine, and the session is to be moderated by Monica Dux. The Event description…
The Sydney Morning Herald SmartEdition – SEX, GENES & ROCK’N’ROLL Rob Brooks New South, 303pp, $34.95 – 9 Jul 2011 – Page #37 Rob Brooks is professor of evolutionary biology at the University of NSW and believes that evolution is…
This article first appeared in The Conversation on 12 August 2011. So Penny Wong, our finance minister, is going to be a mum. Sophie Allouache, Wong’s long-term partner, announced on Tuesday that her IVF-conceived baby will arrive in December. While…
This article appeared in the Sydney Morning Herald and The National Times on 26 July 2011 under the title “Sad Amy’s legacy adds up to more than 27”. Head there to see the comments, which split more or less evenly between…
Many of you will have noticed that this website was recently hacked. Thanks to Gary Eckstein who sorted out my troubles super-quick. Please use him if you need a WordPress expert. Sorry if the problems with this site inconvenienced you…
This commentary on a Nature paper by Katharina Hamann and collaborators was first published in The Conversation on 21 July 2011. One glance at our species can give the impression that we’re conniving, selfish and pretty greedy. But look at…
This article was first published in The Conversation on 18 July 2011 under the title “From scraping by to pizza and pie: how protein price drives obesity”. It is based on part of the argument in Chapter 2 of Sex,…