TIM BIRKHEAD (UNITED KINGDOM) Evolutionary Scientist
PINC.6 SPEAKER: TIM BIRKHEAD Males are promiscuous and competitive, while females are monogamous. Since Darwin, this has been the dominant opinion among scientists studying the sexual behaviour of humans and other species. Only recently have scientists like Tim Birkhead found that females are remarkably promiscuous and employ many strategies, both before and after copulation, to determine who exactly will father their offspring.
As a professor of behavioural ecology at the University of Sheffield, Birkhead studies sperm competition and cryptic female choice in birds, more specifically the zebra finch and domestic fowl. He is the author of "Promiscuity - An Evolutionary History of Sperm Competition" (Faber & Faber, 2000) and "A Brand-New Bird" (Basic Books, 2003). The latter reads like a novel, but tells the true story of how two amateur scientists created the first genetically engineered animal – a red canary – back in 1920s Germany. On top of that, Birkhead is the organizer of a conference under the intriguing banner "The Biology of Spermatozoa," to be held again in 2005.
PINC Lunch in the Lion Cage
On April 20th 2010 PINC organized a lunch in the lion cage of Circus Herman Renz in Sassenheim (Netherlands) for a small group of thirty PINC'ers.
See the pictures
PINC Tea - Concert in the Car Park
Watch the movie
