Are We Alone for 04/04/11 - Sex and the SETI

Are We Alone - Sex and the SETI

ENCORE: Birds do it. Bees do it. But no one sings about how they do it. And frankly, not even Cole Porter can make bedroom behavior that involves decapitating your mate sound romantic. And what rhymes with “cannibalism?” But the animal world abounds with bizarre sexual behavior… and it’s all perfectly normal.

Find out how female spiders lure males to their doom… why dolphins are the friskiest of mammals… whether E.T. would have sex… and why sexual reproduction evolved in the first place.

Also, why the marketing gurus have it all wrong: driving a Hummer or wearing Gucci won’t help you land a mate. Find out what will.

Guests:

• Olivia Judson – Evolutionary biologist at Imperial College in London and author of Dr. Tatiana’s Sex Advice to All Creation: The Definitive Guide to the Evolutionary Biology of Sex
• Lori Marino – Evolutionary Biologist at Emory University
• Sharon Moalem – Neuro-geneticist, evolutionary biologist and author of How Sex Works: Why We Look, Smell, Taste, Feel, and Act the Way We Do
• Geoffrey Miller – Evolutionary psychologist at the University of New Mexico and author of Spent: Sex, Evolution, and Consumer Behavior

Permalink: http://radio.seti.org/episodes/Sex_and_the_SETI

You can listen to this and other episodes at http://radio.seti.org/, and be sure to check out Are We A Blog?, the companion blog to the radio show.

Are We Alone for 02/15/10 - Sex and the SETI

Are We Alone - Sex and the SETI

Birds do it. Bees do it. But no one sings about how they do it. And frankly, not even Cole Porter can make bedroom behavior that involves decapitating your mate sound romantic. And what rhymes with “cannibalism?” But the animal world abounds with bizarre sexual behavior… and it’s all perfectly normal.

Find out how female spiders lure males to their doom… why dolphins are the friskiest of mammals… whether E.T. would have sex… and why sexual reproduction evolved in the first place.

Also, why the marketing gurus have it all wrong: driving a Hummer or wearing Gucci won’t help you land a mate. Find out what will.

Guests:

• Olivia Judson – Evolutionary biologist at Imperial College in London and author of Dr. Tatiana’s Sex Advice to All Creation: The Definitive Guide to the Evolutionary Biology of Sex
• Lori Marino – Evolutionary Biologist at Emory University
• Sharon Moalem – Neuro-geneticist, evolutionary biologist and author of How Sex Works: Why We Look, Smell, Taste, Feel, and Act the Way We Do
• Geoffrey Miller – Evolutionary psychologist at the University of New Mexico and author of Spent: Sex, Evolution, and Consumer Behavior

You can listen to this and other episodes at http://radio.seti.org/, and be sure to check out Are We A Blog?, the companion blog to the radio show.

Are We Alone for 01/05/09 - Sex: From Beginning to End

Are We Alone - Encore Presentation "Sex: From Beginning to End"
We all know how sex begins: a dimly-lit room, a come-hither smile, and a surfeit of parasol-shaded cocktails. But long before all that, the gentle currents of the ancient sea floor set the mood. It was there, 570 million years ago, that two ropy sea creatures found each other and changed the course of evolution.

Hear how sex began and where it's headed: if you think your love life is mechanical now, just wait until you're cozying up to titanium skin and the latest emotion software.

Plus, everything you always wanted to know about modern sex research, but were afraid to ask.
Guests:

• Mary Roach - Author of Bonk: The Curious Coupling of Science and Sex
• David Levy - Artificial intelligence researcher and the author of Love and Sex with Robots
• Mary Droser - Professor of Earth Sciences, University of California, Riverside

You can listen to this and other episodes at http://radio.seti.org/, and be sure to check out Are We A Blog?, the companion blog to the radio show.