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…
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…
Were cave women more likely to leave home than men?
Flickr, Klearchos Kapoutsis
Primitive women were more likely than their male counterparts to pack up and leave the cave, eventually partnering with men from further afield, according to a new study published in Nature magazine. By…
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…
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 is…
Extinction rates have been overestimated but many species still on track to share the dodo’s fate.
flickr
A paper casting doubt on a widely used method of calculating extinction rates has fuelled furious debate in scientific circles, with some arguing it ignores important evidence and others saying it has…
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 significant…
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 come…