Rupert Murdoch has a thing for women aged 66. But what could be in it for them? | Catherine Bennett

The media mogul's new girlfriend, just like recent exes, falls within his favourite demographic

Delightful photos of Rupert Murdoch and his latest girlfriend, Elena Zhukova, contribute so much to our understanding of human age-assortative mating that the couple will understand the enthusiasm for closer study of their courtship before it's too late. For a 92-year-old who recently embarked, he said, on the second half" of his life, Murdoch's romantic life looks unleisurely.

An engagement to Ann Lesley Smith, for instance, was called off after two weeks, before anyone could figure out what led to this particular mate choice. Academics studying age-assortative pairing in migrating birds, such as the pied flycatcher, probably face the same sort of problem.

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