#192 Paulo Gama Mota: The History of Sexual Selection Theory, And Cultural Evolution
Dr. Paulo Gama Mota is Associate Professor of Biology in the Department of Life Sciences of the Faculty of Science and Technology of the University of Coimbra. He’s also a researcher at the Center for Research in Biodiversity and Genetic Resources at he University of Porto (CIBIO). Dr. Gama Mota is very interested in science communication, having been a former Director of the National Museum of Science and Technique, and the Museum of Science of the University of Coimbra (2006-2015), and also an organizer of initiatives and science communication exhibitions, as well as citizen science projects. His areas of interest and research include: animal behavior, behavioral ecology, evolutionary biology, and evolutionary anthropology.
In this episode, our primary focus is on sexual selection. We start off by talking about how Darwin conceived of sexual selection, the reactions he got to that theory, and then some of the major developments in the 20th century that led to a full-fledged sexual selection theory, that now is at the basis of the study of any aspects of animal behavior. The conversation eventually goes off to group selection and multilevel selection approaches, and we talk about cultural evolution, gene-culture coevolution, and basically the interplay between biology and culture.
Time Links:
Darwin and sexual selection theory
Reactions to natural selection in the 19th century
How genetics and natural selection work
The development of kin selection theory
About group selection and a multilevel selection approach
Cultural and genetic group selection
Gene-culture coevolution
How to think about the relationship between biology and culture
The ideological backlash against biological approaches to human behavior
Follow Dr. Gama Mota’s work!
Follow Dr. Gama Mota’s work:
Faculty page: https://bit.ly/2URR8hf
Researchgate page: https://bit.ly/2XVoJrG
Central article for the discussion:
Darwin’s sexual selection theory: a forgotten idea: https://bit.ly/2FlQ1Qm