May 3, 2022

Decolonizing Science Means Taking Indigenous Knowledge Seriously

Sep 15, 2021

Same-Sex Sexual Behavior in Chimpanzees Challenge Our Gendered Biases About Evolution

The big question is, how did we manage to miss these behaviors in chimpanzees for so long?

Aug 21, 2019

Girls Who Grow Up Without Their Father Start Their Periods Earlier, Or Do They?

New research challenges the idea that girls who grow up in households without a father tend to start their periods earlier than girls whose fathers live with them.

Feb 25, 2019

A Mother's Mismatch: Why Cancer Has Deep Evolutionary Roots

While cancer is not exclusively a disease of modern environments, many modern environmental changes influence our disease susceptibility.

Nov 28, 2018

Fighting for the Middle Ground: David Sloan Wilson Interviews Holly Dunsworth on the Ethics of Teaching Evolution

In a world that is being ripped apart by polarized views and fake news, scientific discourse might be the last bastion of constructive disagreement based on respect for objective knowledge.

Nov 19, 2018

It Is Unethical To Teach Evolution Without Confronting Racism And Sexism

Evolution educators—even if sticking to E. coli, fruit flies, or sticklebacks—must confront the ways that evolutionary science has promoted or inspired so many racist, sexist, and otherwise harmful beliefs.

Sep 27, 2018

The Obstetrical Dilemma, Dismantled: Human Childbirth is Not a Dilemma

Rather than being evicted from the womb before their heads are too big, a new hypothesis argues that human babies are born when their growth rates become too costly for their mothers’ metabolism to support.

Jul 9, 2018

Sex Roles Are Flexible in Chimpanzees and Bonobos. What Does That Say About Human Evolution?

A new study shows that chimpanzees and bonobos are far more similar in their gender roles than previously thought. In order to understand the range of complexity in our evolutionary cousins’ social lives, perhaps we first need to recognize the range of complexity that exists in our own.

Jun 12, 2018

Can Monkeys Be Gay? What Homosexual Behavior in Primates Can Tell Us About the Evolution of Human Sexuality

Recent observations of homosexual behavior in male spider monkeys adds to our knowledge of these behaviors and may help us answer questions about the evolutionary functions homosexual behaviors may play.

Nov 13, 2017

Sexual Bullying and the Power of Norms

What previously was tolerated, if not actually approved, has become inadmissible, like imposing physical harm and theft of property. A norm is being created and enforced, much more strongly than before.

Aug 15, 2017

The Science of Sex Differences Is Complicated (and Biased)

If you only know a little bit about human biology, it might sound simple. XX or XY? Ovaries or testicles? Estrogen or testosterone? But in reality, there’s a wider range of developmental possibilities.

Nov 7, 2016

The Conversation About Trump Should Consider the Evolution of Men’s Political Psychology

Evolutionary psychologists find that people prefer political leaders who are physically dominant when they believe their group faces an existential threat.