ROB BROOKS is an evolutionary biologist whose expertise concerns the conflicting evolutionary interests that make sex sizzle and render reproduction complex. Born and educated in South Africa, with BSc(Hons) and Ph.D. from the University of the Witwatersrand, he moved to Australia in 1997 to work at James Cook University, Townsville.

He is Scientia Professor of Evolution at UNSW, Sydney, where he founded and directed the Evolution and Ecology Research Centre, and established the UNSW Grand Challenges Program.

His first book, Sex, Genes and Rock ’n’ Roll: How evolution has shaped the modern world (2011), won the Queensland Literary Award for Science Writing. He also won Australia’s most prestigious award for science communication, the Eureka Prize in 2013.

His second book, Artificial Intimacy: Virtual Friends, Digital Lovers and Algorithmic Matchmakers is to be published in 2021.