Rob Brooks – Evolutionary Biologist & Author
By Francesca Luberti, Khandis Blake, and Robert Brooks New research reveals that religious beliefs and homophobia can be driven by conservative attitudes to sex Australians are still divided in their attitudes towards gay marriage and gay rights. Although most voted…
Australia is gearing up for what looks to be a mighty battle over freedom of speech. Recent commentary about what a sports star can and cannot post on social media platforms has reignited the controversy. Many people and organisations are…
This column was first published at The Conversation on 22 August 2016. It became highly relevant again in late 2018, when ARC Discovery and DECRA funding announcements were put on old by Education Minister Dan Tehan, who wanted a “public…
I find myself thinking a lot about sex robots these days. In this, I am far from alone. Over the last few years, the dolls and toys that people keep in the very darkest recesses of their closets have found…
In light of Brexit, and the United States election campaign that gave us President-elect Donald J Trump, Oxford Dictionaries has declared “post-truth” its 2016 word of the year. In keeping with the disdain for veracity that it embodies, the word…
I wrote the following in 2012, about a year after my mother, Patricia (Patti) Elaine Brooks died. I revisited it today, on the fifth anniversary of her departure, and it seemed a worthwhile time to share it. Perhaps because I…
How do sex differences arise? Few questions animate as much disagreement and contention, in everyday society and in academic study. For as long as the question has been asked, the answers have fallen between two extremes: sex differences arise innately,…
As if it weren’t hard enough. Being assessed and judged all the time, on our looks, our deeds, our works, the contents of our refrigerators. We are also judged by the company we keep, and in ways that leave me…
Move over Nate Silver! The statistician and author of The Signal and the Noise: Why So Many Predictions Fail – But Some Don’t may have called 49 out of 50 states right in the 2012 US Presidential election. But today…
Today, millions of very nervous adults are furtively checking sites like “Have I been Pwned” to check if their account details at Ashley Madison have been leaked. Others are checking if their partners or acquaintances had accounts. The hacking and…