On the Origin of Sex

Let’s talk about sex. Not boring, human sex, but the endlessly fascinating, varied and complex forms of reproduction that can be found in the rest of the natural world.

Whiptail lizards and California condors are capable of immaculate conception, while strawberries are reproductive flip-floppers. Clownfish can permanently change sex, while bearded dragons undergo temperature-dependent sex reversal. For the humble slime mould, sex can involve hundreds of mating types – a veritable bonanza.

Lixing Sun has spent decades expanding the bounds of what we know about reproduction, in all its many flavours. And as it turns out, sex is far more complex and eye-opening than we ever could have imagined.

Author Biography

Dr Lixing Sun first studied at East China Normal University in Shanghai before completing a PhD in ecology, behaviour and evolution at the State University of New York and Syracuse University. He is a Distinguished Research Professor at Ventral Washington University, the author of three academic books and a Harvard Radcliffe Fellow