DW Podcasts | How to figure out humanity by teaching chimpanzees to use vending machines - Science Unscripted @dw_podcasts | Uploaded June 2024 | Updated October 2024, 9 hours ago.
#science #podcast #psychology #chimpanzees #evolution #funfacts
😋 Imagine you see a vending machine. But instead of coins or cash, it has a square-shaped hole. That's it. No instructions 🤔
Nobody who walks past can explain it. So, at some point, you get angry - and shake it violently (still nothing) 😡 Then... you look at your hands. They're furry 🐾 Because six million years ago, you DIDN'T drop down from a tree 🌳🌳🌳 That's the basis of an experiment on chimpanzees conducted in Zambia 🐒 There, primate researcher Edwin van Leuwen and his group taught a female chimp something she couldn't learn on her own 🙈
How to use a vending machine.
The question: Could she teach others? 🤔🦍🍫 It may seem like a small task. But it's connected to everything we know about being human - to the fact we have buildings, grocery stores, drive cars and write operas 🏛️🚗🎶 Join Gabe and Conor as they attempt to understand what makes us 'us' - and what has stopped our closest relatives from dominating the planet (for now).
📚 STUDY (open access): nature.com/articles/s41562-024-01836-5
🎧 Get the PODCAST: pod.link/scienceunscripted
00:01 - 00:45 How to use a vending machine in a foreign language
00:45 - 01:01 Meet primate researcher Edwin van Leeuwen from Utrecht University in the Netherlands
01:01 - 01:44 A vending machine experiment for chimpanzees
01:44 - 02:32 Chimpanzees get angry and kinda violent when they can see peanuts they can't access
02:32 - 03:13 Can a chimpanzee figure out what 'coins' are?
03:13 - 04:36 How do you train a chimpanzee to use coins?
04:36 - 05:21 A chimpanzee can teach others a novel, human task
05:21 - 06:12 Why don't chimps teach every group member the cool new things they've learned?
06:12 - 08:23 What's so new about testing chimps with a vending machine?
08:23 - 09:08 Why are chimps so bad at learning complex social behaviors?
09:08 - 14:22 Why did humans drop down from trees, but not chimpanzees?
14:22 - 16:57 What makes the human brain so different than a chimpanzee brain?
16:57 - 19:12 Why can humans throw things so well?
19:12 - 19:52 What happened when chimpanzees solved the vending machine problem?
19:52 - 20:35 What's the next experiment to see what chimpanzees can learn from humans?
20:35 - 21:35 Why is it important to see if chimpanzees can learn from humans and teach each other that information?
21:35 - 25:13 Can we genetically edit chimpanzees to make them like humans?
25:13 - 26:04 Does all human culture come from our ability to teach each other complicated tasks?
26:04 - 27:25 At what point is a human baby 'smarter' than a chimpanzee? (Age 3 to 4.)
27:25 - 29:43 What's it like to live with chimpanzees? Do they get angry? Attack?
29:43 - 31:34 Is it weird for a primate researcher to go back to 'civilization'?
31:34 -32:37 Should the vending machine experiment be done on bonobos? Or other primates? Or monkeys?
32:37 - 33:09 If bumblebees can teach each other things... are humans not so special after all?
33:09 - 35:15 Ed's favorite chimpanzee, Noel, remained with the corpse of her adopted infant son for days after his death
35:15 - 37:05 How to help endangered chimpanzees
37:05 - 38:10 The world we live in is possible because humans can socially teach each other complex tasks.
#science #podcast #psychology #chimpanzees #evolution #funfacts
😋 Imagine you see a vending machine. But instead of coins or cash, it has a square-shaped hole. That's it. No instructions 🤔
Nobody who walks past can explain it. So, at some point, you get angry - and shake it violently (still nothing) 😡 Then... you look at your hands. They're furry 🐾 Because six million years ago, you DIDN'T drop down from a tree 🌳🌳🌳 That's the basis of an experiment on chimpanzees conducted in Zambia 🐒 There, primate researcher Edwin van Leuwen and his group taught a female chimp something she couldn't learn on her own 🙈
How to use a vending machine.
The question: Could she teach others? 🤔🦍🍫 It may seem like a small task. But it's connected to everything we know about being human - to the fact we have buildings, grocery stores, drive cars and write operas 🏛️🚗🎶 Join Gabe and Conor as they attempt to understand what makes us 'us' - and what has stopped our closest relatives from dominating the planet (for now).
📚 STUDY (open access): nature.com/articles/s41562-024-01836-5
🎧 Get the PODCAST: pod.link/scienceunscripted
00:01 - 00:45 How to use a vending machine in a foreign language
00:45 - 01:01 Meet primate researcher Edwin van Leeuwen from Utrecht University in the Netherlands
01:01 - 01:44 A vending machine experiment for chimpanzees
01:44 - 02:32 Chimpanzees get angry and kinda violent when they can see peanuts they can't access
02:32 - 03:13 Can a chimpanzee figure out what 'coins' are?
03:13 - 04:36 How do you train a chimpanzee to use coins?
04:36 - 05:21 A chimpanzee can teach others a novel, human task
05:21 - 06:12 Why don't chimps teach every group member the cool new things they've learned?
06:12 - 08:23 What's so new about testing chimps with a vending machine?
08:23 - 09:08 Why are chimps so bad at learning complex social behaviors?
09:08 - 14:22 Why did humans drop down from trees, but not chimpanzees?
14:22 - 16:57 What makes the human brain so different than a chimpanzee brain?
16:57 - 19:12 Why can humans throw things so well?
19:12 - 19:52 What happened when chimpanzees solved the vending machine problem?
19:52 - 20:35 What's the next experiment to see what chimpanzees can learn from humans?
20:35 - 21:35 Why is it important to see if chimpanzees can learn from humans and teach each other that information?
21:35 - 25:13 Can we genetically edit chimpanzees to make them like humans?
25:13 - 26:04 Does all human culture come from our ability to teach each other complicated tasks?
26:04 - 27:25 At what point is a human baby 'smarter' than a chimpanzee? (Age 3 to 4.)
27:25 - 29:43 What's it like to live with chimpanzees? Do they get angry? Attack?
29:43 - 31:34 Is it weird for a primate researcher to go back to 'civilization'?
31:34 -32:37 Should the vending machine experiment be done on bonobos? Or other primates? Or monkeys?
32:37 - 33:09 If bumblebees can teach each other things... are humans not so special after all?
33:09 - 35:15 Ed's favorite chimpanzee, Noel, remained with the corpse of her adopted infant son for days after his death
35:15 - 37:05 How to help endangered chimpanzees
37:05 - 38:10 The world we live in is possible because humans can socially teach each other complex tasks.
