Syma and Tim talk to Professor Joan Strassmann about the social life of birds. We cover a range of topics she writes about in her excellent new book, including flocking, social roosting, mating together, and raising chicks in a commune. Learn about redshanks seeking safety in numbers to neotropical cuckoos building communal nests and then pushing out the eggs of other females.
Creators and Guests
Host
Syma Khalid
Professor of Computational Microbiology at University of Oxford
Host
Tim Coulson
Author of The Universal History of Us published by Penguin 2024 Professor of Zoology, University of Oxford EcologyEvolution, Existence, Science
Guest
Joan Strassman
Joan E. Strassmann is an American evolutionary biologist and the Charles Rebstock Professor of Biology at the Washington University in St. Louis. She is known for her work on social evolution and particularly how cooperation prospers in the face of evolutionary conflicts
What is Science Of The Times?
Do you want to learn a little more about topical science findings? Do many of the science stories you hear leave you with unanswered questions? Syma and Tim will discuss in non-technical language and in a fun and engaging style, recently published science findings. Guests will be authors of these papers and will include some of the world’s most exciting scientists who are pushing the frontiers of human knowledge. Covering, among other things, artificial intelligence, the search for alien life, the latest treatments for diseases, quantum computers, the science of football and topics requested by listeners, the half hour episodes will leave listeners feeling a little more knowledgeable about cutting-edge science and how scientists make discoveries.