August 18, 2020

Federal politics; Cordelia Fine on the real science of sex differences and gender bias in neuroscience; Restoring Victoria's threatened native grasslands and wildflowers

2 hours 5 minutes

A special National Science Week show! Psychologist Professor Cordelia Fine from the University of Melbourne talks about the real science behind sex differences, drawing on her 2017 book, Testosterone Rex, and her Aeon Magazine essay 'Sexual Dinosaurs'. Cordelia debunks the gender biases in neuroscience and evolutionary biology that exaggerate the role of testosterone in male and female brains and behaviour. Her book, Testosterone Rex won the prestigious Royal Society Science Book Prize in the UK. John Delpratt, horticultural scientist and Honorary Fellow at the University of Melbourne, tells us about the process of restoring the threatened native grasslands and wildflowers of Victoria, and the fate of the Western Grassland Reserve. These precious grasslands have been taken over by urban development, and just 10% of the agreed land has been acquired by the state government by the 2020 deadline. Plus Ben Eltham chats about the latest on federal politics.

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