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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