Podcast appearances and mentions of alex kacelnik

Alex Kacelnik (Oxford University) together with Paul Verschure and Tony Prescott elaborates on animal cognition addressing tool use habits of birds from an evolutionary perspective and discussing topics like learning and problem solving.

What do we know about humanity-ending catastrophes? Julia Rosen talks with Sarah Crespi about various doomsday scenarios and what science can do to save us. Alex Kacelnik talks about getting ducklings to recognize “same” and “different”—a striking finding that reveals conceptual thinking in very early life.  Read the related research. [Image: Antone Martinho/Music: Jeffrey Cook]

What do we know about humanity-ending catastrophes? Julia Rosen talks with Sarah Crespi about various doomsday scenarios and what science can do to save us. Alex Kacelnik talks about getting ducklings to recognize “same” and “different”—a striking finding that reveals conceptual thinking in very early life.  Read the related research. [Image: Antone Martinho/Music: Jeffrey Cook]

Earlier this week, the US space agency successfully put a new probe in orbit around Jupiter. The Juno satellite, which left Earth five years ago, had to fire a rocket engine in a tricky and precise manoeuvre in order to brake and become ensnared by Jupiter's gravity. Fran Baganal is a mission scientist for Juno and tells Adam Rutherford what measurements Juno is now in position to make. Space is full of junk left over from past space missions: from flecks of paint to used rockets, dead satellites, also debris from past collisions of space junk. This junk is speeding around the Earth at several thousand miles per hour. At those speeds even small pieces of rubbish just fractions of a millimetre across can damage communication satellites which are vital for the web, mobile phones, and satellite navigation on earth. The Surrey Space centre team are preparing to launch the world's first space litter-picking mission. The RemoveDebris team share their clean up designs with Adam. Researchers have had success growing body parts like windpipes and ears in the laboratory for use in transplants. A group of scientists at Barts Cancer Institute in London are making own tumours; tissues we don't want. However, it is important to study how they grow, and co-opt other cells in the body. Reporter Anand Jagatia heads to their tissue lab to see what they've grown. All animals take risky decisions all the time. The ability to assess the potential gain from the potential harm, and make the right choice, gives the animal an evolutionary advantage. A new study suggests that plants are capable of making similar calculations, despite not having brains. Alex Kacelnik at Oxford University is one of the scientists behind the experiment that suggests that pea plants are willing to gamble. Presenter: Adam Rutherford Producer: Adrian Washbourne.

La serie de History Entrevistamos a José Luis Urraca Casal, licenciado en Historia por la Universidad de Cantabria. Responsable de la web www.HistoriayCine.com. Los cuervos, símbolo de la mitología vikinga Entrevistamos al profesor Alex Kacelnik, biólogo egresado de la UBA, desde hace más de tres décadas reside en Gran Bretaña y es conocido internacionalmente por sus estudios en comportamiento animal. Kacelnik ha llevado a cabo investigaciones dirigidas a una gran variedad de temas: desde los procesos implicados en la toma de decisiones hasta las bases ecológicas y cognitivas del uso de herramientas en cuervos. Secretos de los dueños de la navegación, las embarcaciones vikingas Entrevistamos a Manuel Velasco Laguna, escritor y fotógrafo. Es un gran divulgador de la historia y cultura vikinga.

Dr Alex Kacelnik from the Department of Zoology at the University of Oxford talks about how crows make tools to find food and explains how animals think.