Evolutionary Function of the Female Orgasm

The NYT is on an evolution jag:

But in a new book, Dr. Elisabeth A. Lloyd, a philosopher of science and professor of biology at Indiana University, takes on 20 leading theories and finds them wanting. The female orgasm, she argues in the book, "The Case of the Female Orgasm: Bias in the Science of Evolution," has no evolutionary function at all.

Rather, Dr. Lloyd says the most convincing theory is one put forward in 1979 by Dr. Donald Symons, an anthropologist.

That theory holds that female orgasms are simply artifacts - a byproduct of the parallel development of male and female embryos in the first eight or nine weeks of life...

Nipples in men are similarly vestigial, Dr. Lloyd pointed out.

That always struck me as plausible. But Geoffrey Miller's 1999 book on sexual selection "The Mating Mind: How Sexual Choice Shaped the Evolution of Human Nature" makes a good qualitative case for the female orgasm evolving to show women to whom they are most attracted.

More research is necessary!

Also in the NYT: "New Theory Places Origin of Diabetes in an Age of Icy Hardships:"

When temperatures plummet, most people bundle up in thick sweaters, stay cozy indoors and stoke up on comfort food. But a provocative new theory suggests that thousands of years ago, juvenile diabetes may have evolved as a way to stay warm.

People with the disease, also known as Type 1 diabetes, have excessive amounts of sugar, or glucose, in their blood.

The theory argues that juvenile diabetes may have developed in ancestral people who lived in Northern Europe about 12,000 years ago when temperatures fell by 10 degrees Fahrenheit in just a few decades and an ice age arrived virtually overnight.

Archaeological evidence suggests countless people froze to death, while others fled south. But Dr. Sharon Moalem, an expert in evolutionary medicine at the Mount Sinai School of Medicine in New York, believes that some people may have adapted to the extreme cold. High levels of blood glucose prevent cells and tissues from forming ice crystals, Dr. Moalem said. In other words, Type 1 diabetes would have prevented many of our ancestors from freezing to death.

I know it's standard for bloggers to sneer at the NYT, but for those of us with interests beyond partisan politics, the fact that you can read all this science coverage for free is a real blessing.

My published articles are archived at iSteve.com -- Steve Sailer