Marlene Zuk
Marlene Zuk is a biologist and writer who is interested in sex, evolution, and behavior. She is especially interested in the ways that parasites and disease influence those issues. Her current research focuses on rapid evolution and mating behavior in field crickets that live in Hawaii, though most of the work, alas, takes place in the laboratory. More generally, she is interested in the ways that people use animal behavior to think about human behavior, and vice versa. This means that she gets asked a lot of interesting questions from the general public, ranging from whether adultery or homosexuality are natural, to why people’s pets do the things they do. Her quick answer is “Yes, although it also depends on what you mean by ‘natural,’ and I have no idea.”