Stanford biology professor Robert Sapolsky is a smart funny guy who sprints from one topic to the next, strewing interesting ideas and punchlines in his path. Sapolsky has long been a favorite of mine (see The best health lecture on the Internet) and recently BoingBoing pointed out that two lectures from his Human Behavioral Biology class are now available on Google video (videos are here and here).
The subject is sex in the animal kingdom and in humans. Along the way you’ll learn about how dopamine is involved with pair bonding in prairie voles, what female baboons prefer in a mate (they like nice guys) and possible differences between straight and gay men in brain anatomy. Oh yes — and he reveals what we humans find attractive in the opposite sex. All in all, it’s a virtuoso performance.
Technical note: if you want to download the videos for off-line viewing look for this download link:
You can then convert the files to audio MP3 using Quick Media Converter (see How to download streaming audio and video/ Part 2).
Filed under: 5-star professors, Courses, Health, Lectures, Science | Tagged: biology, Robert Sapolsky
