136. The World’s Most Controversial Ornithologist

Richard Prum says there's a lot that traditional evolutionary biology can't explain. He thinks a neglected hypothesis from Charles Darwin — and insights from contemporary queer theory — hold the answer. Plus: You won't believe what female ducks use for contraception.SOURCE:Richard Prum, professor of ornithology, ecology and evolutionary biology at Yale University. RESOURCES:"Stop Your Populist Grandstanding Over Wendy’s ‘Surge Pricing’," by Catherine Rampell (The Washington Post, 2024)."Dynamic Pricing Tech May Brighten Retail Bottom Lines and Put Consumers in the Dark," by Kristin Schwab and Sofia Terenzio (Marketplace, 2024).Performance All the Way Down: Genes, Development, and Sexual Difference, by Richard Prum (2023).The Evolution of Beauty: How Darwin's Forgotten Theory of Mate Choice Shapes the Animal World — and Us, by Richard Prum (2017)."Duck Sex and the Patriarchy," by Richard Prum (The New Yorker, 2017)."Dinosaur Feathers Came before Birds and Flight," by Richard Prum and Alan Brush (Scientific American, 2014)."How Chickens Lost Their Penises (And Ducks Kept Theirs)," by Ed Yong (National Geographic, 2013)."Media Attacks Duck Genitalia Research," by Emma Goldberg (Yale Daily News, 2013)."Mate Choice and Sexual Selection: What Have We Learned Since Darwin?" by Adam G. Jones and Nicholas L. Ratterman (PNAS, 2009)."Development and Evolutionary Origin of Feathers," by Richard O. Prum (Journal of Experimental Zoology, 2002).The Blind Watchmaker: Why the Evidence of Evolution Reveals a Universe without Design, by Richard Dawkins (1986)."Display Behavior, Foraging Ecology, and Systematics of the Golden-Winged Manakin (Masius chrysopterus)," by Richard Prum and Ann Johnson (The Wilson Bulletin, 1987).The Selfish Gene, by Richard Dawkins (1976).The Descent of Man, and Selection in Relation to Sex, by Charles Darwin (1871). EXTRAS:"Is Gynecology the Best Innovation Ever?" by People I (Mostly) Admire (2024)."The Price of Doing Business with John List," by People I (Mostly) Admire (2022).