Scientia Professor Robert Brooks

I AM AN EVOLUTIONARY BIOLOGIST who studies the evolutionary consequences of sex. These include: the evolution of mate choice, the costs of being attractive, sexual conflict, the reason animals age and the links between sex, diet, obesity and death.

Together with my fabulous research group (the SEX LAB) and collaborators, I explore the evolutionary and ecological consequences of sexual reproduction. I love curiosity-driven research, and my funding tends to come from fundamental research funding programs like the ARC‘s Discovery program. I am motivated to study evolution because of its power to help us understand both nature and the human condition. At the moment I am especially interested in the interactions between evolution and economics, the evolution of human life histories, the reasons for sex differences in aging and longevity, the unfolding obesity crisis, the relationship between evolution and equity feminism, the evolution of human bodies, the purpose of Rock ‘n’ Roll, and what we can and cannot infer about morality from studying the natural world.

My first book – Sex, Genes & Rock ‘n’ Roll: How Evolution has Shaped the Modern World - won the 2012 Queensland Literary Award for Science Writing. I also write a regular column for The Conversation calle Natural History of the Present on how an evolutionary view can help us understand our modern world and the lives we lead. I received the 2013 Eureka Prize for Communicating Science & Research.

We do most of our research on guppies, field crickets and mice, and we have a variety of projects on humans (you can take part in our studies).  I am Professor of Evolution and Director of the Evolution & Ecology Research Centre at the University of New South Wales in Sydney, Australia.

If you tweet, then please follow @Brooks_Rob on Twitter.