Why Are We Like This: An evolutionary search for answers to life's big questions

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What can snorkelling at Shark Bay teach us about the evolution of sex Will the secrets of our gendered society be uncovered by stick insects What can Tasmanian devils teach us about the evolution of cancer And why did we evolve to spend a third of our life asleep

Some questions have nipped at humanity's heels for as long as we've been ... well, humans. Modern science and evolutionary thinking have uncovered fresh and exciting answers to these perennial head-scratchers.

Why Are We Like This takes us behind the scenes of the evolutionary paradoxes that make up life on this planet. Exploring with scientists, from freezing in Tasmanian sleet to a laboratory of sleeping sharks in North Queensland, we see how these evolutionary mysteries might just uncover the secrets of a better life for humans and the creatures we share the planet with.

Zoe Kean shows us that ancient ancestors of life on Earth faced the same challenges we do, so let's learn a lesson or two about how they dealt with them.

Author Bio

Zoe Kean lives in lutruwita/Tasmania, an island at the bottom of the world. An award-winning science writer with a focus on evolution, ecology and the environment, she has published in The Guardian, ABC, The Best Australian Science Writing 2023, Cosmos Magazine and the BBC. Zoe honed her writing and radio skills with the best at the ABC Science Unit as the Darren Osborne Region Science Cadet (2019). Her love for science cannot be contained to the page, Zoe also gives talks, makes science TikTok videos and regularly appears on live radio.