Free Bird | Interview: Matt Ridley

Menno Schilthuizen reveals how cities act as extreme environments forcing wildlife to rapidly adapt and evolve new survival strategies. Drawing from studies on urban mice, moths, plants, and more, the book highlights fascinating examples of evolution happening in our midst. It encourages readers to become citizen scientists observing these changes in their own cities, written in an accessible, engaging, and humorous style.

In 'Viral', Alina Chan and Matt Ridley delve into the mystery of COVID-19's origins, scrutinizing evidence and hypotheses, including the potential laboratory leak or natural spillover. The book provides a detailed account of the detective work by scientists and amateur sleuths to understand the pandemic's beginnings.

In 'The Mating Mind,' Geoffrey Miller proposes that the human mind evolved not just as a survival machine but as a courtship machine. He argues that many of the distinctive human traits, such as language, art, music, and morality, were developed as fitness indicators and sexual attractors. Miller draws on Darwin's theory of sexual selection and integrates ideas from psychology, economics, history, and pop culture to explain how these traits were shaped by the sexual choices of our ancestors. The book suggests that once language evolved, thought itself became subject to sexual selection, and that human courtship is a primary driving force behind human evolution.