TRC #208: Reproductive Pills and Mate Preference + Are We All Related + When the Dinosaurs Died

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

Pedigree collapse

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

World Population

Genographic Project

Eschaton 2012

Donate to help students attend Eschaton 2012, a major Canadian freethought and skepticism convention

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4 Responses to TRC #208: Reproductive Pills and Mate Preference + Are We All Related + When the Dinosaurs Died

  1. Jo says:

    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?

  2. Pingback: Does the contraceptive pill affect female mate choice in humans? | Katatrepsis

  3. Ian says:

    “When did the dinosaurs die out?”

    Uh, that is a trick question. The correct answer is, they didn’t!

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