Love is in the air

Spring, as they say, has most definitely sprung. As the daffodils sway gently in the breeze and lambs skip youthfully in the lush fields, nature turns her mind to all things sexual.   And so, what better time to present the Science Lite guide to dating. ‘Who the hell are we to hand down such advice?’…You might reasonably ask. Well, whilst it’s true we might not exactly be the romantic ideal – too many double chins by far – a few pieces of research have come to our attention which have emboldened us. Now, we should clarify at this point our guide is aimed at the chaps (…sorry girls). And in fact it is less of a guide, more of a simple bit of advice. So, here it is; Guys – if you want to drive the girls wild with spring-time amour, grow a beard and compose music…the more complex the better. One of these on their own might work, but if you manage both then, well, the dating world will be your oyster. Why? Unsurprisingly it all comes down to evolution. Let us first consider the musical aspect of this advice. A new study from the University of Sussex suggests that during the most fertile phase of their menstrual cycle, women prefer sexual mates who are able to produce more complex music. The paper’s author, Dr Benjamin Charlton, says: “The findings of this study provide the first support for Darwin’s original contention that music evolved via sexual selection.” Charlton took 1500 women and asked them to choose which of four similar piano compositions – as played by a music software application – was the most complex. They then had to judge whether they would prefer the composer of simple or complex melody either as a short-term sexual partner, or a longer-term partner in a committed relationship. It turns out woman preferred composers of more complex music as short-term sexual partners when the likelihood of conception was highest. Charlton says: “The ability to create complex music could be indicative of advanced cognitive abilities. Consequently, women may acquire genetic benefits for offspring by selecting musicians able to create more complex music as sexual partners.” No longer can the worthy jazz artist or the intense classical composer be scoffed by the cooler than thou pop crew. When it comes to tweaking the evolutionary heart strings, the syncopation of jazz and the melodic complexity of classical music have one over on the bland-but-pretty by the numbers popsters. And so to our bearded lotharios. What can a hirsute chin possibly offer a woman other than some smooch-based chaffing? Well, according to a new study published in the Royal Society journal Biology Letters, it’s because they are rare. Professor Rob Brooks, an evolutionary biologist, decided to test whether there was an evolutionary influence behind the  cyclical nature of beard-trends. And yes, apparently such a thing does exist. "In the 1970s it was handlebar moustaches. In the 80s it was Magnum PI moustaches. In the 90s we saw a lot of clean shaven men, and now big bushy beards are back,” says Brooks. In his study, women and men were asked to rate different faces with four ‘standard levels of beardedness’. Both beards and clean-shaven faces became more appealing when they were rare. This led Brooks to suggest that something called  negative frequency-dependent sexual selection plays a role in the culture of face-fluff. Or to put it more simply, if it’s rare – it could be sexy. However boys, you gotta be quick. ­If we reach the delightfully named ‘peak-beard’ situation – the point where more and more people get onto the bandwagon and the value of being on the bandwagon diminishes – all your hard grown mutton-choppage will put you at a disadvantage. So there you have it chaps. If spring has gotten you all hot under the collar, then you could certainly do worse than to put down the razor and head to the local music shop.