Extraordinary Explorations in Interspecies Exchange
Hosted by the Bioneers newsletter, Earthlings
A great deal of research has in the last few decades demolished the long dominant view that humans were the sole proprietors of intelligence and shown that the entire web of life engages in adaptive decision-making, something Indigenous people around the world have long known. Building on that work, some bold innovators have been finding a variety of fascinating ways to document and engage with the intelligence that permeates the natural world. This session, hosted by Earthlings, Bioneers’ biweekly newsletter, explores that intelligence and tracks new discoveries about the “more-than-human” realms and our ever-evolving interactions with other sentient life, three groundbreaking figures, working in very different ways, share their extraordinary journeys and projects observing and engaging with some of our animal kin. With: Elodie Freymann, Ph.D.,a primatologist, botanist, social anthropologist, filmmaker, and conservation activist, who has done cutting-edge research on how wild chimpanzees self-medicate with medicinal plants; Garth Stevenson, musician/composer known for creating music in direct communion with the natural world, including, famously, with whales; and world-renowned neuroscientist Gül Dölen, currently at the UC Berkeley Center for the Science of Psychedelics, who has done cutting-edge research on the only known social species of octopus to further our understanding of the evolution of sociality. Hosted by: J.P. Harpignies, Bioneers Senior Producer.
Magnes Museum
March 27th | 3:00 pm to 4:15 pm
Panelists
Elodie Freymann
Primatologist, Botanist, Social Anthropologist, and Conservation Activist
Elodie Freymann, Ph.D., a primatologist, botanist, social anthropologist, filmmaker, scientific illustrator, and conservation activist, recently attracted global attention with her groundbreaking research on how wild chimpanzees in Uganda's Budongo Forest self-medicate with medicinal plants and how that use overlaps with local traditional healers’ pharmacopeias. She is now following up that research with the first systematic study of non-human self-medication in the Peruvian Amazon. Much of Elodie’s work blends the worlds of science and art to document how people interact and co-exist with the flora and fauna around them and how anthropogenic disturbances are disrupting these symbiotic relationships. She has received several awards for her work and is a Fellow at both The Explorers Club and The Linnean Society.
Garth Stevenson
Musician and Composer
Garth Stevenson, a highly accomplished double bassist and composer especially known for creating music in direct communion with the natural world, traveled to Antarctica with the legendary biologist Dr. Roger Payne in 2010 to study whale communication and was able to imitate those calls on his double bass, attracting a dozen sei whales to their icebreaker. He has continued that work, most recently during a 2025 trip to Baja, Mexico to play for humpback whales, an extraordinary episode that was captured on film by National Geographic director Andy Mann.
Gül Dölen
Professor
UC Berkeley
Gül Dölen, Ph.D., is a Professor and the Bob & Renee Parsons Endowed Chair in the Department of Neuroscience, and Department of Psychology, the Berkeley Center for the Science of Psychedelics and the Helen Wills Neuroscience Institute at UC Berkeley. Dr Dölen, who has won many prestigious awards for her teaching and research, also maintains an Adjunct Professorship in Neuroscience and Neurology at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine.
J.P. Harpignies
