Africans in Yorkshire: what’s the big deal?

A genetic survey in the UK by Mark Jobling and colleagues, found a Yorkshireman who carried a globally rare Y chromosome type, described previously in only a few West African individuals. Their report in the European Journal of Human Genetics earlier this year sparked considerable press speculation about the history of African migrations into the UK.  Read more

Female Choice – why has it not produced perfection?

According to Darwin, the female of the species could guide evolution by favouring the aesthetically blessed and harshly casting aside the not-so-fortunate. If generations of women have been making these choices, surely the world would be full of good-looking men yet, unfortunately, it most definitely isn’t. This disappointing situation is an example of the ‘lek paradox’. Why are there still good and bad looking men, if females have consistently been choosing the best looking? One possibility is that the difference is not genetic, yet all the available evidence suggests otherwise (backed up by breeding experiments in non-human species).  Read more