by Prof. Adam Chippindale, Professor, Queen's University and INSA Overseas Chair Fellow

Indian National Science Academy and IISER Pune present institute coloquium

Date: December 8, 2025

Time: 05:00 PM

Venue: Room 101,  Lecture Hall Complex,  IISER Pune campus

Abstract

Females and males are caught in an evolutionary battle that cannot be won: famously “there’s just too much fraternizing with the enemy”. The conflict is played out in two distinct dynamics. First, adaptations by one sex to assert control over reproduction may illicit counter-adaptations in the other; an evolutionary “chase” or “arms race”. Second, shared traits may be pulled in different directions by selection; an “armwrestle” created by genetic constraints. In this talk, I will focus on results from three decades of experimental investigation of sexual conflict with laboratory evolution in the fruit fly, Drosophila, showing evidence for both processes, but also the potentially temperamental nature of selection studies. I will argue that sexual conflict has profound implications for topics as diverse as the origin of species and human psychosocial disorders.