Question: what has been you most succsessful investigation? And How long were you trying to find out the answer?

Laurel Fogarty answered on 21 Jun 2010:

My most successful investigation so far was trying to find out what the best way to learn in a changing environment. Animals use different strategies the tell them who to learn from and when they should learn. We set up a huge computer world where people could send in these strategies and we would let them fight it out! The prize for the winner was £10,000 and we published the results in April.

We found out that social learning, learning from what others do, is hands down the best way to learn and that spreading your learning out so that you continue to learn throughout your life is the best way to learn.

We have a game version of the tournament where anyone can take part. We are bringing it to the Royal Society exhibition in London next week but you can have a go here if you like,
http://www.cultureevolves.org/caseStudy5.aspx
just click on the bottom where it says you can try the online version of the experiment (below the little blue men!). The video on that page is my lab group demonstrating the idea of the tournament- worth a look!