28 June 2019
The origin of sex, then, is a bit of a mystery. And if its origins are hard to understand, its function is just as baffling. At first sight that seems ludicrous. Surely sex has an obvious function: it generates variation, the raw material for evolution.
24 May 2019
The trailer for the new season of Netflix's Black Mirror suggests the show will continue to capture our collective disquiet about technology – this time with a stellar new cast including Miley Cyrus and Andrew Scott
19 November 2018
Evolutionary biologist Judith Mank explores the purpose of sex, and why its evolution can lead to males and females that look and behave differently.
27 July 2018
An extremely rare cricket with female sex organs but male wings – known as a gynandromorph – could tell us more about how sex differences arise
18 June 2018
Peahens have fan-shaped crests on their heads, and it seems males can make these crests resonate by making a specific noise with their tails
24 May 2018
Some chimpanzee populations gained useful DNA from interbreeding with bonobos, and one may even have become more gentle and “bonobo-like” in its brain structure and behaviour
30 April 2018
A plant fossil that lay unnoticed for a century is unexpectedly large for something so old, and it could upend our ideas about the evolution of land plants
19 April 2018
Male insects have been genetically engineered to climax on command, and it seems they get a real buzz out of it – perhaps even a fly orgasm
5 April 2018
Four Quindío wax palms in Colombia have changed sex from male to female, which was thought to be impossible for such plants
22 March 2018
Giant devil rays have been filmed courting for the first time, and it turns out the males do not even wait for the females to give birth
