The view that sex-selective abortion is unethical is widely shared. But those who propose to use the law to prevent it need to supply a clear, compelling moral justification.
Articles on Sexual selection
Displaying 21 - 40 of 43 articles
Male Birds of Paradise have patches of super-black plumage that absorb 99.95 percent of light. New research identified their feathers’ microscopic structures that make them look so very dark.
What do we really know about the link between a species’ sex life and how it evolves?
Victorian attitudes influenced what scientists thought they were observing about sexual behaviors in the animal world. But modern techniques reveal the myth for what it is.
We are only just starting to appreciate the full sexual diversity of animals.
Modern sabre-tooth mammals have their canines constantly on display. This allows them to seduce mates. But was sexual selection also an important phenomenon among our pre-mammalian ancestors?
Researchers have found the first evidence that dinosaurs grew unusual features like crests and horns as a way of attracting a mate.
The risk of harm in sex selection stems from the fact that parents don’t desire any child, they want a child of a particular sex, who is to remain within the limits of binary gender roles.
The National Health and Medical Research Council call for public submissions on whether sex selection should be allowed without a medical reason recognises changing social attitudes.
Sperm banks and human cloning may not be the future. A study in beetles reveals that having two sexes boosts genetic quality.
What is it that makes rockstars so attractive to the opposite sex? Turns out Charles Darwin had it pegged hundreds of years ago – and it has a lot to do with peacocks. In The Descent of Man, and Selection…
In romantic circles, reproduction is viewed as a harmonious venture between the sexes. After all, if you aim to produce the best offspring possible, wouldn’t it also be best to cooperate with your partner…
There are new insights as to how females play a significant role in determining paternity. The Syracuse University study…
New insights have been made into how male southern bottletail squids produce the greatest number of offspring. The female…
It’s not always easy to tell if a fish is male or female: they look more or less the same. But there are exceptions, such as guppies and, as with humans, guppy genitalia varies in size across the species…
What is a male? What is a female? If you were to conduct a survey, most people would probably have little difficulty expressing some fundamental differences. After all, we learn to tell boys apart from…
Rearing young is a costly business that often affects an individual’s own future survival or reproduction prospects. And so it makes sense for individuals to find ways to ensure the energy they spend on…
Here’s some good news: having more sexual partners makes females more fertile. A recent study on Trinidadian guppies has shown that females who mate with multiple males produce more grand-offspring than…
What transforms noise from album filler to dancefloor killer? Why do some tracks turn us on while others make us tune out? DarwinTunes, a computer program that employs the principles of natural selection…
When it comes to selecting a mate, females are traditionally thought of as the choosy sex; males, meanwhile, aren’t thought to be particularly picky. This makes sense for many species – the sex that invests…
Top contributors
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Professor of Avian Behavioural Ecology, Macquarie University
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Reader in Evolutionary Ecology, Queen Mary University of London
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Associate professor in Vertebrate Palaeontology, University of the Witwatersrand
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Investigador Científico, Estación Biológica de Doñana (EBD-CSIC); The University of Western Australia
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PhD candidate, Monash University
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Associate Professor, Centre for Evolutionary Biology, The University of Western Australia
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Professor of Anthropology, Durham University
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Senior Lecturer, Monash University
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PhD Student in Organismic and Evolutionary Biology, Harvard University
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Research Fellow, Department of Biological Sciences, Macquarie University
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Professor in Music Education, The University of Western Australia
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Postdoctoral research fellow, The University of Western Australia
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Professor Emerita of Biology, University of Missouri-St. Louis
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ARC DECRA Research Fellow, School of Biological Sciences, Monash University
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PhD Candidate, Anthropology Department, Durham University