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Give and Take explores the complex nature of gift giving for humans and their close animal relatives. The film brings biology, psychology, political studies, philosophy and theology into dialogue. Interviewees include Cambridge’s Professor Claire Hughes (Psychology), Professor Nicky Clayton (Psychology) and Dr Andrew Davison (Theology and Natural Sciences). Giving figures prominently in many

Walking you dog in the snow? Cambridge University vet Charlotte has some advice if you are about to go out or if they have just come back in.

Entomics Biosystems, a company set up by a group of Cambridge students, is developing a sustainable feed of the future – based on maggots and food waste.

New research led by Gates Cambridge Scholar Alison Greggor, shows urban birds are less afraid of litter than their country cousins. It suggests they may learn that it is not dangerous and shows how some animals can learn to adapt to human-dominated environments.

Professor Sir John Sulston (University of Manchester, UK) Abstract: Darwin liberated us from dogma by making biology comprehensible, so allowing us to move forward. But whilst natural selection provides an explanation for our existence, it does not tell us how to behave. We must ourselves face up to our future as a thinking and powerful animal.

Genomes: the books of life Professor Chris Ponting (University of Oxford, UK) Summary: DNA from across the tree of life presents a fascinating record of the impact of natural selection on animal evolution. Differences in anatomy and behaviour between species are reflected by changes both within genes and within DNA dark matter whose biology remains largely unknown.

In this video, you can see a group of isolated photoreceptors -- specialised light-detecting cells from the fly's eye - rapidly contract in response to light. This rapid contraction is believed to generate the electrical signal in the fly photoreceptor, which is the fastest visual response in the animal kingdom. Moving images courtesy of SCIENCE

Scientists in the Sampaziotis Lab have identified an off-patent drug that can be repurposed to prevent COVID-19 – and may be capable of protecting against future variants of the virus – in research involving a unique mix of ‘mini-organs’, donor organs, animal studies and patients. Find out more here: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-022-05594-0

Researchers have captured the first 3D video of a living algal embryo turning itself inside out, from a sphere to a mushroom shape and back again. The results could help unravel the mechanical processes at work during a similar process in animals, which has been called the “most important time in your life.” Read more at: http://www.cam.ac.uk/research/news/upside-down-and-inside-out

Like other social animals, baboons learn from each other about which foods are best to eat. Now, researchers at Cambridge have found that how well they learn from others depends on their personality, bold or anxious baboons learning more than those who are shy or laid back. - See more at:

Starting at 3pm on Friday June 22nd 2012, led by experts from the Museum of Zoology, volunteers and members of the public raced against time to count as many species of animals and plants as possible in the Cambridge University Botanic Garden. The Garden knows the 8000 species it has planted there, but there was still a lot still to discover in these wonderful grounds near the centre of Cambridge.

Darwin and the evolution of why? Professor Daniel C Dennett (Centre for Cognitive Studies, Tufts University, Medford, Massachusetts, USA) Summary: We human beings are the only living things that can represent, transmit and criticize reasons for doing things and making things. This creates a perspective for us that we can then use to interpret all the rest of the life on the planet, cautiously.

Dr John Robb is an archaeologist and has been studying how people have understood the human body over the last 10,000 years. "It may seem surprising to think the human body has a history. We take it for granted it's a material thing, it's just there" Over time his research shows the body has been seen and portrayed in different ways: the body as an animal, the body politicised, God's body, the

Pain in The Machine is a short documentary that considers whether robots should feel pain. Once you've watched our film, please take a moment to complete our short survey https://www.surveymonkey.co.uk/r/PainintheMachineSurvey Pain is a feeling that most would describe as being unpleasant, both physically and emotionally. Why then do humans and other animals have pain, and how is it useful?

Fumiya Iida’s research looks at how robotics can be improved by taking inspiration from nature, whether that’s learning about intelligence, or finding ways to improve robotic locomotion. A robot requires between ten and 100 times more energy than an animal to do the same thing. Iida’s lab is filled with a wide array of hopping robots, which may take their inspiration from grasshoppers,

Howler monkeys are about the size of a small dog, weighing around seven kilos, yet they are among the loudest terrestrial animals on the planet, and can roar at a similar acoustic frequency to tigers. Evolution has given these otherwise lethargic creatures a complex and powerful vocal system. For males, a critical function of the roar is for mating: to attract females and scare off rival males.

The University Museum of Zoology, Cambridge is one of the largest and most important natural history collections in the UK, with an extraordinarily rich history dating back to 1814. On 23rd June 2018 the Museum reopens after a five-year, £4.1million redevelopment to reveal thousands of incredible specimens from across the animal kingdom.​ The refurbished galleries bring the Museum into the

Read more about the research here: https://www.cam.ac.uk/research/news/male-dogs-four-times-more-likely-to-develop-contagious-cancer-on-nose-or-mouth-than-females Animation Credit: Emma Werner Canine Transmissible Venereal Tumour (CTVT) is an unusual cancer – it is infectious and can spread between dogs when they come into contact. The living cancer cells physically ‘transplant’ themselves

The world needs forests. By using advanced imaging technology, scientists are able to map on an unprecedentedly large scale -- and in remarkably accurate detail - what is happening to these precious resources worldwide. Forests are essential for life on earth. They provide a habitat for a myriad of different plant and animal species -- too numerous to count but certainly running into millions.

These Curious Objects are Asante gold weights and come from 19th or 20th century Ghana. They were made of brass, but we're used to measure gold dust which was the universal currency in West Africa at the time. Weights often featured animals, fish, weapons and tools – or human figures as demonstrated here. Their significance as an art form transcends their function and reflects wider Asante