LATEST NEWS
18 April 2014
Beards are sexier when they're uncommon Our newest paper in Biology Letters has received a lot of media attention lately! The research by former honours student Zinnia Janif, Rob Brooks and myself showed that the more beards there are, the less attractive they become thanks to an evolutionary phenomenon known as negative frequency-dependance. Negative frequency dependence simply means that rare traits enjoy an advantage. Janif, Z.J., Brooks, R.C., & Dixson, B.J. Negative frequency-dependant preferences and variation in male facial hair. Biology Letters. 2014 10 20130958; doi:10.1098/rsbl.2013.0958 (published 16 April 2014) If the scientific jargon isn't for you, then Rob also did an excellent piece in The Conversation called "Fear not the hipster beard: it too shall pass" that has been picked up by media around the world. Have you got some strong opinions about the beard yourself? Then why not participate in our latest study here. 1 November 2013
New papers in press Our paper on the effects of ambient temperature on the birth sex ratio in Australia in now in press in the journal Human Biology. We also have a new paper measuring women's visual attention to male bodies as they judge attractiveness in press in Evolution and Human Behavior. 8 October 2013
Australasian Evolution Conference The lab just got back from a great conference in Geelong last week - everyone gave fantastic talks ranging from mate choice copying to intra-sexual competition in women, including my own on "the evolution of men's secondary sexual traits". 30 July 2013
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