Matt Ridley is a British science writer, journalist, and businessman. He is known for his writings on science, the environment, and economics. Follow Matt on X - https://x.com/mattwridley SPONSOR. We’re honoured to partner with Hillsdale College. Learn for free at https://hillsdale.edu/trigger SPONSOR: Manscaped. Get 1

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Matt Ridley is a science writer, journalist, and author. Evolution is a strange theory. If survival is all that matters, why do we find things beautiful? Why does beauty exist at all? And if aesthetics are so important, how do some species thrive without it? Expect to learn what Darwin’s strangest ideas were, the funda

We discuss evolution, natural selection, sexual selection, evolutionary psychology, sexual signalling in birds, and the lab leak theory of COVID among many other fascinating topics. Matt's latest book: https://www.amazon.com/Birds-Sex-Beauty-Extraordinary-Implications/dp/0063342987/ref=tmm_hrd_swatch_0 ________________

In all animals, mating is a deal. But few creatures behave as if sex is a simple, even mutually beneficial, transaction. Many more treat it with reverence, suspicion, angst, and violence. Matt Ridley revisits Darwin’s revelatory theory of mate choice through the close study of the peculiar rituals of birds, and conside

Bright colors, long tails, and dances of seduction: they may hurt a bird's chances of survival in the wild, but they seem to increase the chances of reproduction. Is this all part of natural selection or is sexual selection its own force in the bird world? Is there such a thing as beauty for beauty's sake? What can we