Speaker: Penny Sarchet, Deputy News Editor, New Scientist Do Animals Like Music Too?

As a species, we’re pretty damn proud of our music. But are we unique in our appreciation of melody, rhythm and timbre, or do animals like to get down too? We take a look at dancing parrots, bopping seals and music written for cats, and ask what it all means.

Penny Sarchet is an award-winning science journalist at New Scientist, where she runs the biomedical news team. She has a degree in biological sciences and a doctorate in evolutionary genetics and development from the University of Oxford, and was previously a reporter at the science policy magazines Research Fortnight and Research Europe. She is particularly interested in using genetics and evolution to understand the quirks of animal behaviour and human nature, from love and friendship to music and story-telling. By night, she is a trumpeter in a London soul band.