Chris Hassall joins the show one last time (before moving to England) to discuss reproductive pills and mate preferences. Adam connects the dots on whether or not we are all related and Darren asks whether you know how long ago dinosaurs went extinct.
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Show Notes:
Reproductive Pills and Mate Preference
Scientific American article on the pill and mate choice: http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=birth-control-pills-affect-womens-taste
Study showing lower sexual fulfillment and greater cheating in relationships here partners are more MHC similar: Garver-Apgar, C.E., Gangestad, S.W, Thornhill, R., Miller, R.D. and Olp, J.J. (2006) Major Histocompatibility Complex Alleles, Sexual Responsivity, and Unfaithfulness in Romantic , Psychological Science, 17: 830-835.
Study showing that women who start using the pill change their mating preferences: Roberts, S.C., Gosling, L.M., Carter, V. and Petrie, M. (2008) MHC-correlated odour preferences in humans and the use of oral contraceptives, Proc. R. Soc. B 275, 2715-2722.
The original “smelly t-shirt” experiment: Wedekind, C., Seebeck, T, Bettens, F. and Paepke, A.J. (1995) MHC-Dependent Mate Preferences in Humans, Proceedings of the Royal Society: B, 260: 245-249
Are We All Related
2, 4, 8, 16 … how can you always have MORE ancestors as you go back in time? – The Straight Dope
Jacob Holdt: Why we are all related to Jesus or people in his time
Why we’re all Jesus’ children – Slate Magazine
Most recent common ancestor – Wikipedia
Eschaton 2012
Donate to help students attend Eschaton 2012, a major Canadian freethought and skepticism convention
Hi,
I was wondering on the subject of mating and reproductive pile… If we look for someone with different MHC than us… Shouldn’t we be more attracted to people from other ‘races’? Also, if we tend to be more attracted to the one with similar MHC when we are on pills, if men are attracted to the one with different ones, is the conclusion not reciprocated attraction most of the time for women on pills?
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“When did the dinosaurs die out?”
Uh, that is a trick question. The correct answer is, they didn’t!
I am talking about the birds here, of course – they are scientifically theropod dinosaurs.