biology

#409 Gordon Gallup: Orgasm, Sperm Competition, Mating Strategies, Self-Recognition, and Religion

Dec 25, 2020

Dr. Gordon Gallup is Professor in the Department of Psychology at the University of Albany. He is best known for developing the mirror test, also called the mirror self-recognition test, or MSR, in 1970, which gauges self-awareness of animals. He also studied tonic immobility, or "animal hypnosis,". His later work on animal behavior focused on ethological approaches to the study of animal behavior under laboratory conditions. Since the 1990s, Dr. Gallup has researched human evolutionary psychology exclusively. More»
#402 David Geary - Male, Female: The Evolution of Human Sex Differences

Dec 10, 2020

Dr. David C. Geary is Curators’ Professor and Thomas Jefferson Fellow in the Department of Psychological Sciences and Interdisciplinary Neuroscience Program at the University of Missouri in Columbia, Missouri. He’s the author of several books including Children's mathematical development, Male, female: The evolution of human sex differences, and Evolution of vulnerability: Implications for sex differences in health and development. More»
#399 Niels Dingemanse: Ecology, Behavioral Plasticity, and Animal Personality

Dec 3, 2020

Dr. Niels Dingemanse is Tenured Professor in Behavioural Ecology in the Department of Biology at the Ludwig Maximilians University, Germany. He conducts evolutionary behavioral ecology research, asking questions about the adaptive evolution of behavioral strategies, and their genetic architectures, within an ecological context. His research is motivated by behavioral ecology, life-history, and quantitative genetics theory, and seeks to test predictions and assumptions of adaptive theory using observational and experimental approaches in the laboratory and the wild. More»
#397 Gordon Burghardt: The Evolution And Function of Play

Nov 27, 2020

Dr. Gordon M. Burghardt is Alumni Distinguished Service Professor in the departments of Psychology and Ecology & Evolutionary Biology at the University of Tennessee. His research focus has been on comparative studies of behavioral development in animals with special attention to reptiles, bears, and the evolution of play, as well as historical and theoretical issues in ethology and psychology. He has served as editor or editorial board member of numerous journals and is past president of the Animal Behavior Society and the Society for Behavioral Neuroscience and Comparative Psychology (APA Div. 6). He has edited or co-edited 6 books and authored The Genesis of Animal Play: Testing the Limits (MIT Press, 2005). More»
#377 Michael Taborsky: The Evolution of Altruism and Sexual Reproduction

Oct 12, 2020

Dr. Michael Taborsky is the Director of the Behavioural Ecology Department and Co-director of the Institute of Ecology and Evolution at the University of Bern, Switzerland. His major research focus is the adaptive function of behavior, with emphasis on cooperation and conflict, sociality and sexual reproduction. More»
#372 Thibaud Gruber: Primates, Tool Use, and Communication

Oct 1, 2020

Dr. Thibaud Gruber is Assistant Professor of Psychology at the University of Geneva, and he is also part of the Swiss Center for Affective Sciences. A primatologist halfway between Switzerland and the UK. Working with chimps, orangutans and bonobos, he is interested in the evolutionary origins of culture and language. More»
#371 Marc Bekoff: Ethology and Animal Conservation

Sep 28, 2020

Dr. Marc Bekoff is professor emeritus of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology at the University of Colorado, Boulder, and co-founder with Jane Goodall of Ethologists for the Ethical Treatment of Animals. He has won many awards for his scientific research including the Exemplar Award from the Animal Behavior Society and a Guggenheim Fellowship. In 2005, Dr. Bekoff was presented with The Bank One Faculty Community Service Award for the work he has done with children, senior citizens, and prisoners and in 2009 he was presented with the St. Francis of Assisi Award by the New Zealand SPCA. In 1986 He became the first American to win his age-class at the Tour du Haut Var bicycle race (also called the Master's/age-graded Tour de France). Dr. Bekoff has published numerous essays (popular, scientific, and book chapters), 31 books, and has edited three encyclopedias. More»
#357 Elliott Sober: Group Selection, Altruism, and Multilevel Selection

Aug 24, 2020

Dr. Elliott Sober is Hans Reichenbach Professor and William F. Vilas Research Professor in the Department of Philosophy at the University of Wisconsin–Madison. Dr. Sober is noted for his work in philosophy of biology and general philosophy of science. He’s the author of books like Philosophy of Biology, Unto Others: The Evolution and Psychology of Unselfish Behavior, and The Design Argument. More»
#356 David Haig: Genetics, Development, and Intragenomic Conflict

Aug 20, 2020

Dr. David Haig is an evolutionary biologist, geneticist, and professor in Harvard University's Department of Organismic and Evolutionary Biology. He is interested in intragenomic conflict, genomic imprinting and parent–offspring conflict, and wrote the book Genomic Imprinting and Kinship. His major contribution to the field of evolutionary theory is the kinship theory of genomic imprinting. He’s the author of several books, including the most recent one, From Darwin to Derrida: Selfish Genes, Social Selves, and the Meanings of Life. More»
#355 Kay Holekamp: Hyenas, and the Evolution of General Intelligence

Aug 17, 2020

Dr. Kay Holekamp is University Distinguished Professor in the Department of Integrated Biology, and Director of the Program in Ecology, Evolutionary Biology & Behavior at Michigan State University. She is also Principal Investigator at the Holekamp Lab. She is recognized as one of the world’s leading behavioral ecologists. Dr. Holekamp has devoted her career to animal behavior and behavioral neuroendocrinology, focusing specifically on the study of the evolution of intelligence. Her long-running study of spotted hyenas in Africa has acquired more than 30 years of data, covering 10 generations of hyena. Dr. Holekamp’s honors include election to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, being named a fellow of the Animal Behavior Society, and a Merriam Award from the American Society of Mammalogists. More»