NOVA Presents

Federico Rossano convinces Hakeem that animals have a lot more to say than we've given them credit for. The cognitive scientist shares the origin story behind his record-breaking study of talking dogs, the evidence that some pets may understand more than a human toddler, and what primates reveal about the roots of communication itself.

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Federico Rossano is an Associate Professor of Cognitive Science at UC San Diego and director of the Comparative Cognition Lab, where he studies communication and social cognition across humans, primates, dogs, and cats. He leads the world's largest study of button-trained pets, and his research is featured in the NOVA documentary Can Dogs Talk?

Federico Rossano says the secret to speaking with apes is trust. For primates, the world is full of high-stakes friends and foes, and of course, there are always predators to worry about. Our closest relatives see the world a little differently than we do, and that can teach us a lot about our own communication. Federico is a cognitive scientist who questions the assumptions beneath human conversations, and in this episode, he shares lessons from the animal kingdom with Hakeem. From apes besting children in “the peanut puzzle” to baboons that seemingly sense how to travel together, there’s lots to learn.

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Guest Bio:
Federico Rossano is an Associate Professor of Cognitive Science at UC San Diego and director of the Comparative Cognition Lab, where he studies communication and social cognition across humans, primates, dogs, and cats. He leads the world's largest study of button-trained pets, and his research is featured in the NOVA documentary Can Dogs Talk?

Federico Rossano caught dogs doing something that looks a lot like telling jokes. The cognitive scientist shares what he learned from speaking with dogs. Dogs can smell, hear, and in some ways see better than humans. So why wouldn’t they have something interesting to say if they could speak? Federico has found a dog's mind may be closer to a human toddler's than anyone previously believed and believes we are close to learning important lessons from our canine companions.

Learn more about NOVA and visit our YouTube channel.
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Guest Bio:
Federico Rossano is an Associate Professor of Cognitive Science at UC San Diego and director of the Comparative Cognition Lab, where he studies communication and social cognition across humans, primates, dogs, and cats. He leads the world's largest study of button-trained pets, and his research is featured in the NOVA documentary Can Dogs Talk?

Federico Rossano didn't care about talking dogs until science made it impossible to ignore. The cognitive scientist joins Hakeem to reveal how a viral social media trend turned into the largest citizen-science study of animal communication ever conducted, tracking over 10,000 dogs and 700 cats across 47 countries. But how can you trust a study done by volunteers from around the world? Federico shares how he secured quantity and quality data and the messages dogs want to share.

Learn more about NOVA and visit our YouTube channel.
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Guest Bio:

Federico Rossano is an Associate Professor of Cognitive Science at UC San Diego and director of the Comparative Cognition Lab, where he studies communication and social cognition across humans, primates, dogs, and cats. He leads the world's largest study of button-trained pets, and his research is featured in the NOVA documentary Can Dogs Talk?

Brent Minchew could have a plan to stop Thwaites Glacier, AKA the “Doomsday Glacier”, cold in its tracks. That’s good news because if this one glacier slips into the sea, it could flood coasts across the planet. The Caltech glaciologist covers what makes the “Doomsday Glacier” the single biggest wild card in sea level rise, the simple idea that could freeze it back to its bed, and his own improbable journey from 9/11 first responder to two of the world's top science institutions. It's a conversation about glaciers, courage, and what it takes to change the story.
Learn more about NOVA and visit our YouTube channel.
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Guest Bio:
Brent Minchew is a glaciologist and geophysicist at Caltech, where he leads research on the dynamics of ice sheets and sea level rise, and Chief Scientist at Arête Glacier Initiative. A former U.S. Marine, he now co-leads efforts to test real-world interventions that could stabilize the world's most vulnerable glaciers.