Rebecca Kilner and evolutionary biology

Say hello to Rebecca Kilner a professor of evolutionary biology at the University of Cambridge.

You may listen to this program NOW on Demand on the BBC Discovery Page which is available until Tuesday the 14th of March. It will also be broadcast on Sunday the 12th of March in Phuket at 8:30 AM on 91.5 FM and 102.5 FM and Online via the Internet radio portals.

A fur-stripped mouse carcase might not sound like the cosiest of homes – but that is where the burying beetle makes its nest, and where Rebecca Kilner has focused much of her research.

Professor Rebecca Kilner FRS

A professor of evolutionary biology at the University of Cambridge, Rebecca’s work – initially with cuckoos, then more recently with beetles – has shed invaluable light on the relationship between social behaviours and evolution.

She tells Jim al-Khalili how the beetles’ helpfully swift generational churn and mouse-based parenting have allowed her team to study evolution in action, demonstrating for the first time what was previously just evolutionary theory.

Sunday in Phuket with the BBC