With the age old question of why zebras have stripes this epsiode takes a gander at visual ecology. Dr Will Allen is well versed in everything vision from conspicuous infant primate colours to the startling aposematism in many species. From his experience in Bristol working with people from a range of disciplines like art and engineering to recently working on an international project where the exact same experiment happens across the globe! this is an episode you don't want to miss out on.

This is the last mini episode concluding the baffling biology trip to Liverpool!

So what is ASAB? well thats what Joah the meeting secretary for the society can help explain. But first we talk about his work looking at pheasants. With 30 million of them being released into the wild each year I think its safe to say understanding these birds could be invaluable. And it turns out they can solve mazes too.

sorry about the background noise in this episode with there not being many places you can record at a conference so coffee shop it is!

Mini episode from the ASAB spring conference in Liverpool!

This short episode dives into epigenetics a relatively new field of science, and more specifically Rahia looks at how varying parental care in burying beetles impacts their epigenetics. with her studies in neurobiology across the pond to looking into the epigenetics in rats and now burying beetles her experience and knowledge is varied and incredible.

sorry about the background noise, turns out you can't bring a recording studio to a conference so little mics and anywhere I can find will have to do.

Another short episode from the ASAB conference in Liverpool!

In this short episode Helena Norman talks about her fascinating work looking into fish sleep. Yes fish sleep. From group size to climate change there are so many factors that can impact the quality of fish sleep and we all know how horrible we feel after a bad nights sleep and Helena is on a mission to see if that is also true for fish.

Please do excuse the quality of the sound turns out theres not that many quiet spots at a conference.

This mini episode happens outside of the usual studio in Liverpool!

with his work currently being in researching for documentary production for shows like prehistoric planet his path to getting here is equally as exciting and deserves recognition.

with his previous work on dinosaur brains modelling them from skulls to looking at the evolution of primate brains though what he does now is exceptionally cool his work in undergrad and postgrad is pretty interesting too.

please do excuse the lower quality of sound as it turns out there aren't many quiet places at a conference

We've talked about flies and how they see the world through their kaleidoscope eyes but now we're looking at the complex eyes of mantis shrimp and how the colorblind cuttle fish navigate their colourful underwater world as not everything is what it seems.

to learn more about this episode check out the podcast website for more details:

https://bafflingbiologypodcast.weebly.com/episodes.html

From Cambridge to Swansea, and from marine life to desert life Nikita Bedov shares his experience at Cambridge uni from studying mutualisms in fish to his PhD in mongooses in the desert. Sharing his research on the peculiar mutual predation between Snakes and mongooses.

check out his other ventures in amature documentary filming on his youtube here:

https://www.youtube.com/@diaryoftheadventurer

Ever wondered what it was like doing a zoology degree or why people would even want to do one, well wonder no more. Jude and Charles talk about their reasonings for doing a zoology degree (not just to be a zookeeper), their experiences in the field, things they've learned, and their placement experiences. From seagrass to Sikkim this episode is a great listen between zoologists talking about everything and anything.