Human life expectancy has increased so much over the last four generations that 72 can be considered “the new 30”, according to a study led by researchers from Germany. The study, published today in US…
- Scientia Professor of Evolution, UNSW
I couldn’t help but be captivated by Prime Minister Gillard’s speech against the motion to remove Peter Slipper as Speaker of the Federal Parliament yesterday. Like the majority of people I tend to follow…
I should admit straight up that I’m no fan of cats. Like any zoologist I treasure the rare glimpses I have had of lions, leopards, serval and even ocelot. But I have never understood the devotion of so…
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…
So many of the products we see around 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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
Evolution has plenty to say about the evolution of music and other art forms. For one thing, music may draw much of its sublime power from its ability to push our evolved sensory buttons. But music itself…
Few topics animate the regular readers of this column as much as male uncertainty over paternity. Except, maybe, religion. Which is why I think I’ve found the perfect topic to post on before heading overseas…
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…
Welcome to Peer Review, a series in which we ask leading academics to review books written by people working in the same field. Here Rob Brooks, Professor of Evolutionary Ecology at the University of New…
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…
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…
The way we think about genes presents one of the biggest obstacles to understanding evolution and its relevance in the modern world. For natural selection to change a trait, there need to be genetic differences…
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…
For most of our evolutionary past, humans hunted and gathered their food, living in small groups on the African veld. By 2 million years ago, our ancestors had shifted from a mostly vegetarian diet to…
Right now, my Twitter feed is filled with furious 144-character rants about Pastor Sean Harris of Berean Baptist Church in Fayettesville, North Carolina, who was recorded last Sunday in a sickening rant…
“Religion is something left over from the infancy of our intelligence; it will fade away as we adopt reason and science as our guidelines. – Bertrand Russell” Few subjects generate as much friction among…
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…
As an evolutionary biologist I get to spend my days thinking, researching and writing about ‘the most important idea anyone ever had’. That’s what the philosopher Daniel Dennett called evolution by natural…
China’s sex ratios are notoriously male-biased and becoming more so, but the worst famine in history created one tiny cohort in which almost as many girls were born as boys. The following dramatic graph…
People often ask me whether natural selection continues to operate on modern humans in industrialised societies, even though technology has liberated so many from hunger and early death. My answer is always…
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, Western Australia. Over the years their research has…
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