Mary Bates, PhD

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Sexy Symmetry

Drosophila melanogaster. Alexis, via Wikimedia Commons. Distributed under a CC BY 4.0 license.

For females of many species, choosing a mate is a weighty decision. You want your offspring to inherit the best possible genes. But how do you judge the genetic quality of a potential mate? In a new paper, researchers tested female preference for symmetric males in fruit flies— with a few key innovations.

Read the whole story at The Scientist: The Sex Appeal of Symmetric Songs.