Evolutionary Anthropologist, University of Oxford
Dr Anna Machin is an evolutionary anthropologist, writer and broadcaster who specialises in the neuroscience, genetics, psychology and cognition of our closest human relationships. She is world-renowned for her work on romantic relationships, friendships and child-parent relationships. She is passionate about communicating the real-world outcomes of her work to the general public. She is regularly asked to contribute to the print and broadcast media in the UK, Europe and the US, and has worked with BBC radio and TV, and Channel 4 in the UK, and National Public Radio in the US. In 2018, she published the popular science and parenting guide The Life of Dad: The Making of the Modern Father (Simon & Schuster UK) based on her decade of work with new fathers. Her latest book is Why We Love: The New Science Behind our Closest Relationships (Pegasus Books, 2022).
essay
Love and friendship
Tainted love
Love is both a wonderful thing and a cunning evolutionary trick to control us. A dangerous cocktail in the wrong hands
Anna Machin
essay
Love and friendship
Treasure them
Sure, lovers and children are great. But friends are more than ever the heart of happiness, of family and of love itself
Anna Machin
essay
Family life
The marvel of the human dad
Among our close animal relatives, only humans have involved and empathic fathers. Why did evolution favour the devoted dad?
Anna Machin