February 2016: Evolution

R.Science podcast | Royal Society

This month we’re exploring evolution and we celebrate the 50 year career of Professor Richard Leakey FRS – a renowned conservationist and fossil hunter. We’ll also hear from experts who study fossils and mutations in molecules to reveal the family trees of ancient species; a new Royal Society Dorothy Hodgkin Fellow who studies meerkats to work out the role of mothers in evolution; and we speak to one of the judges of our 2015 Royal Society Publishing Photography Competition about what she looks for in a science snap.

0.56 Fossil Hunter Richard Leakey was at the Royal Society at an event where he spoke to journalist Zeinab Badawi about his 50 year career. You can find a video of their conversation on our website. We caught up with Professor Leakey to ask some questions of our own.

05.56 We spoke to Professor Philip Donoghue FRS at a scientific discussion meeting to find out how fossils and studying biomolecules can help scientists trace undiscovered family trees of ancient species. Audio from talks at the discussion meeting can be found on our website

9.10 We joined Dorothy Hodgkin Fellow, Dr Sinead English at an event for the Royal Society’s new research fellows. Dr English, from the University of Cambridge, is an evolutionary ecologist, she told us about her work with meerkats and the role of mothers in evolution.

15.56 For the second year running we’re holding a Royal Society Publishing Photography Competition to celebrate the power of photography to communicate science. The 2016 competition is now open. We caught up with one of the judges, Dr Claire Spottiswoode to find out what she’s looking for in the winning snap.

Listen to this episode.