In the last few years, several laboratory studies have shown that, to some extent, we can tell whether someone is gay or straight, just by glimpsing their face.
When asked to categorise male and female…
Female wasp spiders often eat their mate straight after intercourse.
Wikimedia Commons
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…
Humans and spider monkeys are the only primate species without a penis bone.
Chris Makarsky
The penis. It comes in so many different shapes and sizes … and that’s just in humans. As you would imagine, different species have very different penises.
The males in most mammal species, including…
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, even though technology has liberated so many from hunger and early death. My answer is always…
Bones recovered from northern Ethiopia have forced a major rethink about how bipedalism evolved.
Lars Plougmann
A report published today in Nature by Yohannes Hailie-Selassie and co-workers outlines the importance to our evolutionary story of some very ancient foot bones discovered recently in the Rift Valley of…
The Red Deer Cave people and humans could be part of different evolutionary lines.
Peter Schouten
The origin of the human species remains one of the most fascinating and difficult topics of modern science.
One of the main reasons for this is a continuing lack of agreement about how we should define…
This is just asking for trouble.
Wikimedia Commons
Few of us consider that having sex could result in a violent, instantaneous death. But in nature, where sex and violence are often two sides of the same coin, many animals are routinely subjected to such…
Are hormones responsible for your bad attitude to teamwork?
Eay
We evolutionary biologists over-enthuse at times about the competitive nature of selection. Observing animals in the wild often compels one to agree with the 17th-century English philosopher Thomas Hobbes…
Rejoice: rumours of male extinction may be out of line.
StuartOlver
There’s something degenerate in every male (no, seriously). We members of the facial-hair-bearing sex carry, among the 23 pairs of chromosomes in every one of our cells, an odd pair of sex-chromosomes…
How do you get the girl? That's a nom-brainer.
Yann Audras
“Finish your dinner or there’ll be no dessert for you!” – it’s a cry heard at dinner tables around the world, as mothers battle to convince their sons about the importance of eating properly. Sorry lads…
Nanas may contribute more than just hugs and kisses.
John McNab
A recent study shows that mutations in the “breast cancer genes” BRCA1 and BRCA2 – which increase the risks of breast and ovarian cancers among others – also increase fertility.
This is an extraordinary…
Lilting voice? No need to look on the dark side.
Bisgrafic
Few individuals in the Star Wars universe inspired more fear than the Sith Lord, Darth Vader. But beneath the dark exterior, the commander-formerly-known-as-Anakin-Skywalker might have been hiding a dark…
Evolution favours men who overestimate how attractive they are to women.
What is in us
We all know somebody like Dick: a bloke who rates himself for no apparent reason and who optimistically reckons every woman – especially every attractive woman – is interested in him.
Most of us have…
It's all love and cuddles until the seven-year itch.
purplemattfish
The question of why human beings have virtually no body hair – as discussed yesterday on The Conversation – has puzzled evolutionary theorists since Darwin’s Descent of Man (1871).
It’s puzzling because…
Hair may be our last defence against things that go bug in the night.
M i x y
Writing almost 140 years ago in his book Naturalist in Nicaragua, the European naturalist Thomas Belt engaged in a lively debate about why certain breeds of dogs in tropical America were hairless. The…
The pika is one species struggling to evolve fast enough to keep up with climate change.
http://www.itsnature.org/ground/pika/
We currently face a biodiversity and extinction crisis as human population pressures and climate change combine to push our natural environments to the limit.
Because our urban and agricultural activities…
Women will be the key to dealing with the growth in population.
Flickr/PhotograTree
SEVEN BILLION PEOPLE: I had better write fast. Sometime between my deadline to submit this story and the time it goes live, the estimated world population will exceed 7 billion for the first time ever…
If you want to optimise scramjets you're going to need the rule of the jungle.
EPA/NSAS
My intention with this article is to give an intuitive and non-technical introduction to the field of evolutionary algorithms, particularly with regards to optimisation.
If I get you interested, I think…
Humans and mice share a common ancestor … but a lot has changed since then.
Klara Kim
How have humans and mice changed since we diverged about 75 million years ago from a small, furry common ancestor? Apart from the obvious, of course.
As a starting point, it’s worth noting there’s nothing…
Motherhood has made women's immune systems stronger.
Wendkuni
Research published in this month’s BioEssays confirms something many of us have always known: women have stronger immune systems than men.
We fight off infections more readily, are less likely to develop…
When you hear the words "international team of scientists" run for the hills.
The Itsy Bitsy Spider
What ever happened to quality science reporting in the mainstream media? Why do so many journalists seem to simply accept press releases as fact? Are qualifications no longer relevant when it comes to…
So what's it to be, buddy, my cave or yours?
Kaptain Kobold
We humans had sex with Neandertals; we bonked the relatives of Neandertals; we got down and dirty with members of an as-yet unrecognised African population; and we, of course, got jiggy with each other…
A stroll down the personal growth aisle of the bookstore tells us, among other things, Why Men Don’t Listen and Women Can’t Read Maps.
The answer, as authors Alan and Barbara Pease delightedly inform…
We now know the exact age of a species that confounds scientists.
Lee Berger/University of the Witwaterstrand
Since its discovery in August 2008, the site of Malapa in Johannesburg has yielded more than 220 bones of early hominins representing at least six individuals, including the remains of babies, juveniles…
Male crimson chat feeding his offspring … but are they all his?
Simon Griffith
Why do females cheat on their partners? A new study of songbirds in the US – published today – suggests cheating females are more successful in the long-run and get more grandchildren.
Why? Because the…
Nile was not the first to congratulate Penny Wong on her baby news.
Dean Lewis/AAP
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 many commentators…
Problems come when bodies change and brain development doesn't keep up.
Flickr/zebra404
You just have to turn on the television or catch a glimpse of a magazine newsstand to see how girls are being thrust into adulthood earlier and earlier. But does biology match societal change? Are girls…
Rejoice, men: you may not need to hold your clock in dismay.
purplemattfish
If you’re in a room with 20 random blokes, it’s likely six or seven of them are worried about and unsatisfied with their ability to control their ejaculation during partnered sex.
In other words, these…
Is children's tendency to share the spoils of their collaboration due to our hunting and gathering past?
theloushe
One glance at our species can give the impression that we’re conniving, selfish and pretty greedy.
But look at other species and you’ll get a broader perspective: compared to other animals, people are…
Is it time to end our love affair with energy-dense foods?
Mild Mannered Photographer
For the first time ever, the number of overweight people on Earth outweighs the number that are undernourished.
From the obesity crisis flows a cascade of health and social problems: it burdens healthcare…
Sadly, survival of the fittest does not mean anyone will survive.
Kaptain Kobold
The theory of evolution encompasses the well established scientific view that organic life on our planet has changed over long periods of time and continues to change by a process known as natural selection…
Guess what? It's not so much size but the shape that matters.
Ozchin
Why should male genitalia be so variable? This problem has puzzled evolutionary biologists for decades.
Even to the experts, it can be difficult to tell closely-related species apart just by looking at…
Microbial fossils in Western Australia hold secrets about life's earliest evolution.
Mundoo
Welcome to If I had a blank cheque I’d … a new series in which leading researchers reveal what they could do in their discipline if money were no object.
Today we hear from Malcolm Walter, professor of…
Wild zebra finch pairs keep their eyes peeled for opportunities to cheat.
Simon Griffith
Infidelity between sexual partners is ubiquitous – almost as prevalent as the tight and long-lasting social bonds that couples form.
But thanks to a recent German study of Australian zebra finches, a…
Rock stars are successful in the bedroom, but all too often their wild lifestyle catches up with them.
Flickr/Chalocuaz
Kurt Cobain was the messiah of my generation, the monumental talent who saved rock from the mediocrity of 1980s cock rock and hair metal. But behind his public eminence stalked a personal hell of addiction…
Evolutionary biology can teach us a lot about rock 'n' roll music.
mariaguimaraes
Welcome to Peer Review, a new series in which we ask leading academics to review books written by people in the same field.
Here Mark Elgar, Professor of Evolutionary Biology at the University of Melbourne…
The fish-eating dinosaur discovered in Victoria is a member of Spinosauridae, a group of fish-eating theropod dinosaurs found in Asia and Europe
Flickr
Paleontologists think it had the snout of a crocodile, the claws of a bear and a taste for seafood.
But what’s most interesting about the discovery of Australia’s first fish-eating dinosaur is its similarities…
When is a roll in the hay worth losing your head over?
Suizilla
Sex is often viewed as a totally harmonious interaction between a male and female with the same innate goal – to produce offspring.
But it is becoming increasingly clear to biologists that the reproductive…
Of an estimated 30 two-footed ape species, we're the last ones standing.
Vermin Inc/Flickr
Does climate change seriously threaten to wipe out the human species if left unchecked? Examining our evolutionary past suggests it might once have been the perfect catalyst for our extinction. But now…
As standards of living have improved, marriage rates have dropped.
limpinglemur
It’s the sort of news conservative politicians and commentators latch on to as a sure-fire sign that the end of civilisation is nigh: marriage rates are in continuing decline. But is this really such a…
Does homosexuality have something to offer everyone?
marlin harm/Flickr
Sexual orientation has long been cause for discussion and controversy, but just where does our sexual orientation come from? Are people “born gay” or are environmental causes at play?
Historically, many…
Women's orgasms might be as useful as male nipples.
ex animø/Flickr
Why do women have orgasms? That may seem like a strange question, but it’s one which has perplexed scientists for decades and provoked fiery academic debates along the way.
The real question is: what…
Poor sperm quality is a characteristic common to all men, not just some.
Aldo Risolvo/Flickr
Infertility plagues one in six Australian couples, and in approximately half of these cases the problem lies in poor semen quality.
The discovery that a man has poor semen quality can be emotionally challenging…
A guy walks into a cafe … but what happens next depends on strategy.
nathancolquhoun/Flickr
Long before men asked themselves “What’s the meaning of life?”, they were scratching their heads and wondering “How do I get the girl?”
And it’s not just humans who have been consumed with this question…
E.coli and other critters provide glimpses of evolution in action.
kaibara87/Flickr
When you think of evolution, you no doubt imagine a process that takes millions of years to produce any notable results. In other words, evolution doesn’t happen overnight.
Or does it?
While the most…
Do cane toads add something new to 'natural selection'?
manda/Flickr
Some 150 years ago, Charles Darwin proposed a mechanism for evolutionary change; but is there something beyond natural selection driving evolution?
My colleagues and I think so, and we believe it has…
As a society, we seem to be obsessed by sex. So wondering out loud why we have it is likely to invite a highly bemused response.
And yet sex remains one of the great, enduring mysteries of evolutionary…
Did music precede language for Homo sapiens?
Spuz/Flickr
All human cultures and social groups that we know of respond to music and dance. The type of music may vary but the underlying, fundamental principles of making music are the same.
Our recognition of…
