Anne Buchanan

Anne Buchanan is an emeritus research associate in the anthropology department at Penn State University, and author of The Mermaid’s Tale: Four Billion Years of Cooperation in the Making of Living Things (2009).

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Written by Anne Buchanan

Abstract stone sculpture of two human figures with simplified features having sex.

essayHuman evolution

Sex makes babies

As far as we can tell, no other animal knows this. Did our understanding of baby-making change the course of human history?

Holly Dunsworth & Anne Buchanan

Goats gathered on a rock and grassy field near a brick building, with a lush green forest and mountains in the background.

essayPhilosophy of science

The real two cultures

I am a geneticist, my sister works a dairy farm. Our lives are so different we might as well be living in parallel worlds

Anne Buchanan

Two lab technicians working with equipment under fume hoods in a laboratory lit by fluorescent lights.

essayBiology

Things genes can’t do

Simplistic ideas of how genes ‘cause’ traits are no longer viable: life is an orderly collection of uncertainties

Anne Buchanan & Kenneth Weiss