The Evolution of Sex and Gender

Speaker: Chase Mendenhall, Curator of Birds, Carnegie Museum of Natural History

In recent decades, plants and animals have revealed far more body and behavior diversity than Darwin ever imagined, especially with coopering to make and raise offspring. From bacteria to bonobos, the fundamental questions of why sex evolved, how bodies are built, and how gender develops from sex will be explored. Using the science of cooperation and natural history evidence, what it means to be an individual, a male, a female, or part of a family or group will be examined. Finally, how natural selection works on groups of organisms to give rise to functional organization like multicellularity, sociality, and civilization will be discussed.