How animals heal themselves is Sept. 16 lecture topic
A presentation from biologist Jaap de Roode about his book, “Doctors by Nature: How Ants, Apes and Other Animals Heal Themselves,” will open the Lewes Public Library’s Science and Society Lecture Series fall season at 5 p.m., Tuesday, Sept. 16, online via Zoom.
De Roode will discuss how an astonishing array of non-human animals — from ants to apes, bees to bears, and cats to caterpillars — use various forms of medicine to treat their own ailments and those of their relatives. Some also use natural toxins to deter parasites from infecting themselves and their offspring. These surprising behaviors, many of which have only recently been discovered, could point to ways that humans can improve agriculture, create healthier lives for pets, sustain better habitats for wild pollinators and develop new pharmaceutical drugs.
De Roode is the Samuel Candler Dobbs Professor of Biology at Emory University. His research includes pioneering studies on self-medication by monarch butterflies.
Upcoming Science and Society lectures include: Oct. 7, “Planning Miracles: How to Prevent Future Pandemics”; Nov. 4, “Scenes from the Quantum Century”; and Dec. 2, “Will Fusion Power Ever Generate Our Electricity?”
To register for the online event and other upcoming Science and Society Lectures, go to tinyurl.com/LPLScienceFall25 or call the library at 302-645-2733.
The Lewes Public Library’s Science and Society - Making Sense of the World Around Us lecture series is co-organized and moderated by Colin Norman, the former news editor at Science; Fred Dylla, executive director emeritus of the American Institute of Physics and author of “Scientific Journeys”; and Linda Dylla, former public information officer at the Jefferson Laboratory and the U.S. Department of Energy.
