Sexual reproduction

Analysis and Comment (6)

Dpbczfwm-1359591101
We no longer have to take the view that women’s biology, including their hormone profiles, are unimportant. Susan/Flickr

PMS is real and denying its existence harms women

By Jayashri Kulkarni, Monash University

A recent opinion piece in the Fairfax papers – based on a Conversation article – discussed “the theory that (PMS) is all in women’s minds as opposed to their endocrinology …” Why is this debate from the…
9ky9n3nn-1357780942
A female zebra finch finds herself surrounded by male suitors – but who to listen to? Simon Griffith

Birds and boasting: honest when mating, dishonest when dating

By Simon Griffith

A new study has revealed what many people possibly already suspect – males are more honest when displaying their “quality” to a partner than to an unfamiliar female. These findings, from a study of a…
Gk68dkzw-1350622476
If you’re a female guppy it pays to take many mates … sort of. André "Drekas" Correia/Flickr

More sex partners means more grandkids … if you’re a guppy

By Alex Jordan, Osaka City University

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…
Z296jf29-1332217487
Chemical cues may act as matchmakers for sperm and ova. wellcome images

Ova here, mate: do sperm ‘smell’ their way to the best eggs?

By Jonathan Evans, University of Western Australia

On the face of it, a sperm’s work seems pretty straightforward: locate an egg and fertilise it. Job done. But in the world of a sessile broadcast-spawning marine invertebrate – immobile organisms in which…
Wz5jsyrn-1331616582
This is just asking for trouble. Wikimedia Commons

Sex and death … not-so-strange bedfellows

By Darrell Kemp

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…
Bcdksqj5-1324513997
Lilting voice? No need to look on the dark side. Bisgrafic

Did Darth Vader have a low sperm count?

By Jack da Silva

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…

Research Briefs (4)

Sperm employ teamwork for navigation

University of Arizona

Sperm can join together into conglomerates to navigate the female reproductive tract, according to researchers from the University…

Gifts key to spider courtship

BMC Evolutionary Biology

Male nursery web spiders who give gifts to females are more likely to successfully mate than males who don’t, according to…

Participants (17)