Many species of birds and other vertebrates form pair bonds and mate with just one other individual for much of their lives. But the unions don’t always work out. Scientists want to know the underlying factors.

Advances in genetics in recent years has revealed that many apparently exclusive pairs in fact sometimes mate with individuals other than their partner, but social monogamy is widespread.

Advances in sequencing technologies have finally allowed researchers to zero in on the genetic diversity underlying the incredible mating system of shelf fungi.

Funnel-web spiders change the timing of their distinct courtship behavior depending on what microbes they’re carrying.

Members of species with shells they must hold onto for survival have larger sexual tubes than those with less precious private property.

Despite the prevalence of pheromone products on the market, substantial evidence that they can induce sexual attraction is lacking.

The brains and bodies of young female rats can be accelerated into puberty by the presence of an older male or by stimulation of the genitals.

The brains and bodies of young female rats can be accelerated into puberty by the presence of an older male or by stimulation of the genitals.

For the first time, researchers have documented interspecies sexual behavior between a male Japanese macaque and a female sika deer.

Idiot Brain, Wild Sex, Why Diets Make Us Fat, and The Ethics of Invention

Biologist Carin Bondar delivers a TED talk about the wilder side of sex.

Social networking sites may facilitate the spread of sexually transmitted disease, but these sites also serve as effective education and prevention tools.

Did 20th-century pharmaceutical and technological advances shape modern sexual behaviors?

A mysterious iridovirus outbreak in a lab colony of crickets reveals the virus’s ability to spur increased sexual activity.

Meet the researcher struggling to gain approval for his medical device, which was originally designed to relieve back pain, but turned out to be an orgasm inducer.

Meet the retired chemical engineer who has made quite the impression on paleoentomology by uncovering ancient secrets of insect coitus.

Assistant professor, Psychology and Women’s Studies, University of Michigan. Age: 36

Penises and vaginas are not just simple sperm delivery and reception organs. They have been perfected by eons of sexual conflict.
 

In lieu of a career in punk rock, James Pfaus opted to study the brain signals underlying sexual behavior and then see what happened when he manipulated them.