Pint of Science Podcast E2: Dr Anna Machin - Evolutionary Anthropologist and ’professor of love’

Do you wanna know what love is? Is love all you need? What is love? How many song titles can you feasibly get into an opening paragraph? We answer all these questions and more in this episode of the Pint of Science podcast. We caught up with evolutionary anthropologist Dr Anna Machin in The Old Thatched Inn in Adstock, Buckinghamshire, and asked her about her research on romantic love, the role of the father, and her media work on the likes of Channel 4’s Married at First Sight. Oh, and using ancient hand axes to do unspeakable things in a garage... 

 

Welcome to the second episode of the Pint of Science podcast. Each week, we meet scientists in pubs around the UK to find out about their lives, their universe, and everything. From *how* fruit flies love to *why* humans love, via jumping into volcanoes, winning Olympic medals, where we came from and more!

 

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The Pint of Science podcast is a part of the Pint of Science Festival, the world's largest science communication festival. Thousands of guests and speakers descend on pubs in hundreds of cities worldwide to introduce science in a fun, engaging, and usually pint-fuelled way.

 

This podcast is made possible with the help of our sponsors Brilliant.org. Do check them out, and visit www.brilliant.org/PintOfScience/ where the first 200 people who sign up will get 20% off a Premium plan! 

 

About Anna Machin, this week's guest:

 

Dr Anna Machin is an evolutionary anthropologist, writer and broadcaster. Her work is about the very nature of 'being human'. She is world renowned for her pioneering work exploring the science and anthropology of fatherhood and her cross-disciplinary interpretation of human parental and romantic love. She is regularly called upon to share her knowledge about human social relationships and behaviour with the media, public and policy makers. As one of the most visible female scientists in the media today she has brought her knowledge and infectious enthusiasm for the human sciences to the TV screen in two seasons of Married at First Sight (Channel 4) and alongside Michael Moseley on Meet the Humans (BBC Earth).

 

Her first book, ‘The Life of Dad’, was released last year. 

 

Click here for more info on the Julian Savulescu and Ingmar Persson work we breifly discuss in the episode.

 

Watch Anna's incredible Tedx talk

 

More about Pint of Science at pintofscience.co.uk

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