Spiny, but social (Ep 124)

10/24/24 • 34 min

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What are spiny mice and why are they so social? What about their brains makes them gregarious? Might network neuroscience be a useful framework for understanding spiny mice behavior?

On this episode, we talk with Aubrey Kelly, an Assistant Professor in Psychology at Emory University. Aubrey is a behavioral neuroscientist working on many vertebrate specie...

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit bigbiology.substack.com

What are spiny mice and why are they so social? What about their brains makes them gregarious? Might network neuroscience be a useful framework for understanding spiny mice behavior?

On this episode, we talk with Aubrey Kelly, an Assistant Professor in Psychology at Emory University. Aubrey is a behavioral neuroscientist working on many vertebrate specie...

Previous Episode

The long and winding road (Ep 123)

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit bigbiology.substack.com

What was life like in wartime England for a young female scientist? What about living and doing research for months each year with your daughters and husband on a remote island?

On this episode, we talk with Rosemary Grant, Emeritus Professor of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology at Princeton University. Rosemary is best-known for her foundational research on the Darwin’s Finches of the Galapagos Islands, conducted in collaboration with her husband, Peter. Our conversation focuses on Rosemary’s new autobiography “One Step Sideways, Three Steps Forward: One Woman’s Path to Becoming a Biologist.” We first discuss her upbringing in the Lake District during WWII, and how her family and the people she met there, as well as later scientific mentors like Conrad Waddington, shaped her path to science. Then, we talk about her work with Peter on the finches of Daphne Island, discussing their contributions to evolutionary biology. Rosemary also describes the joys of raising her girl in the Galapagos and gives advice to young people thinking about a career in biology.

Art by Keating Shahmehri. Find a transcript of this episode on our website.

Next Episode

A quiet place (Ep 125)

How do natural selection and sexual selection interact? What can observing adaptive radiation in the wild teach us about evolution?

On this episode, we talk with Dale Broder, an Assistant Professor at American University, and Robin Tinghitella, an Associate Professor at the University of Denver. They study the Pacific field cricket, a fascinating organism that exemplifies both adaptive radiation and the interaction of natural selection and sexual selection. This species uses song for mate attraction, but the song also attracts Ormia ochracea, a fly that parasitizes the cricket. The fly recently invaded areas where the cricket is common and in response, some crickets evolved differentsongs and even silence. We talk with Robin and Dale about how their research team characterizes these cricket songs and the different wing morphologies that produce the songs. We also discuss the role of female preference (or lack thereof) in the evolution of different mating songs and how remarkably rapidly this song evolution occurred.

This episode was supported by a grant to Dale and Robin from the National Science Foundation.

Cover art: Keating Shahmehri.

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