28 min listen
Rebecca Kilner on beetle behaviours and evolution
Rebecca Kilner on beetle behaviours and evolution
ratings:
Length:
29 minutes
Released:
Jan 24, 2023
Format:
Podcast episode
Description
A fur-stripped mouse carcase might not sound like the cosiest of homes – but that’s where the burying beetle makes its nest; and where Rebecca Kilner has focused much of her research.
A Professor of Evolutionary Biology at the University of Cambridge, Rebecca’s work – initially with cuckoos, then more recently with the beetles – has shed invaluable light on the relationship between social behaviours and evolution.
She tells Jim Al-Khalili how the beetles’ helpfully swift generational churn and mouse-based parenting has allowed her team to study evolution in action, demonstrating for the first time what was previously just evolutionary theory.
Producer: Lucy Taylor
A Professor of Evolutionary Biology at the University of Cambridge, Rebecca’s work – initially with cuckoos, then more recently with the beetles – has shed invaluable light on the relationship between social behaviours and evolution.
She tells Jim Al-Khalili how the beetles’ helpfully swift generational churn and mouse-based parenting has allowed her team to study evolution in action, demonstrating for the first time what was previously just evolutionary theory.
Producer: Lucy Taylor
Released:
Jan 24, 2023
Format:
Podcast episode
Titles in the series (100)
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