Author of Genome: The autobiography of a species in 23 chapters, Matt Ridley has been one of the leading commentators in the popular media on  the sequencing of the human genome, which followed from the research of Fred Sanger. Ridley’s earlier works explored the evolution of human nature and its similarities to that of other animals. In his latest book The Rational Optimist Ridley turns to cultural evolution to explain unique features of human society, arguing that the habit of exchanging goods and services has had the same impact on cultural innovation that the invention of sexual reproduction has had on genetic evolution. In his Sanger lecture, he will explore this theme and argue that to explain traits such as language, genetic selection may be driven by cultural innovation rather than vice versa.

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