The Last Show with David Cooper
FULL EPISODE: What Color's Your Best Nest? - February 26, 2026
27 Feb 2026
Chapter 1: What is the main topic discussed in this episode?
Unfiltered discussions.
Chapter 2: What color do zebra finches prefer for their nests?
Unexpected guests. No topic is off-limits. From sex and relationships to the human condition. Personal anxieties and so much more. The only talk show of its kind in the world. World This Is.
Hey, pull up a bar stool. Welcome to The Last Show. We've got so much to cover tonight.
Chapter 3: Is teasing among friends a sign of affection or harm?
You'll learn a lot. Here are some of the topics we'll hit. Is teasing your friends, joking around with them, a sign of closeness, a way to bond, or is it low-grade emotional warfare with a giggle? There's psychology behind when just kidding builds connection with your friends and when it crosses a line. In 10 minutes time, we'll unpack the difference.
Then a look at the viral monkey that was rejected by other monkeys in its pen in Japan. And everyone on the internet's heart sunk. Don't worry, that story that we'll cover halfway through the hour has a happy ending. But for now, let's dive into the show. Our top story tonight, answering the question on the top of everybody's mind.
Chapter 4: What can a viral monkey's attachment to a plushie teach us?
Do birds prefer pink nests? Because new research suggests some zebra finches would rather defy their flock than compromise on decor. And honestly, same. I'm here with someone who's done research in this area. She's an animal cognition researcher at the University of Alberta. Her name is Julia Self. Julia, what a joy it is to have you here. Thank you. It's great to be here.
I love that you chose as your research area, the color, the preferred color of a certain type of bird's nest.
Chapter 5: How does sepsis relate to pet interactions?
What got you interested in this as a research area? Yeah. So I got into this in my undergrad and I just love animals. And I think birds and the way that they build is just so cool to have this architect in a different species. And I was also interested in how birds make decisions.
And so we used color as a stimuli, but it's just really exciting to see how they build and who doesn't want to know what an animal's favorite color is. Right? Mine's sparkle. Is that even a color?
Chapter 6: What insights does tracking the phrase 'feeling sexy' reveal?
I don't know. How do you even discover whether a bird wants a certain color of nest? Like, how do you set up an experiment like that? Yeah, so we give them different choices of material, and we found that some birds just very strongly preferred one over the other.
Like, they would spend hours and hours playing and interacting with and building with pink, for instance, and they wouldn't even, you know, glance at the green string. And so it was cool because we saw that some birds had these very strong preferences. And anytime you see this variation in what animals do, it's exciting because you're wondering why. they have this variation.
And so, yeah, giving them these options allowed us to see their favorite colors. What does it actually mean to say that this bird, the zebra finch, has a color preference?
Chapter 7: How does the presence of eyes on robots affect our perception?
Like, how do you know it's not just random or just that string was closer to me? That's a great question. So we know this because we can change a bunch of other variables like where in the cage the string is and have these birds build multiple nests and they'll just keep choosing the same color. It doesn't matter where it is.
And so we also see that, you know, if you're a bird who likes green, you're going to keep liking green, you know, like my experiment finds, even if, you know, you're in a group that all builds with pink. So, these preferences are robust over time within these individuals, and there's variation among birds in terms of what they like, which is cool. And how much do these birds like these colors?
Are they basically like ignoring what all their peers are doing, getting obsessed with the color, or are they just kind of like, yeah, I guess I prefer pink, but whatever? Yeah, so that's the cool part is it depends on the strength of the preference. So some birds are kind of ambivalent.
Chapter 8: Should dating be viewed as a marketplace?
They're kind of like, eh, you know, whatever. Whereas others are just, they will not even, you know, look at the other color or touch the other color. And so it really depends. The birds who have really strong preferences will just ignore you know, what their friends are doing. They don't care what anybody else does. They're sticking with what they like.
Whereas these other birds where they kind of don't care, you know, maybe they like pink a little, they like green a little, they use a little bit of both. We see that they will change their mind and that they will, you know, copy their friends and stick to the flock basically if they don't care so much. Honestly, kind of relatable.
Like when I was a kid, if my parents bought me a new Lego set, you know, once every quarter or whenever they did, my friends wanted to hang out. I'm like, no, thank you. I'm going to stay in the basement and play with these small blocks. Is that what these birds are doing? They're just like, don't care about what's going on. And why would they not care what's going on with their peers?
Why would they love this color so much? Yeah, so I had the same questions when I first saw these results, seeing how, you know, they could have a flock of birds doing something else and they're like, you know, forget them. I love pink. But then when I thought about humans and how we behave, kind of like how you mentioned with the Lego, it made sense to me.
I mean, I think we all know someone where you're like... Doesn't matter what I tell them. This person is never changing their mind. You know, might be politics or religion or something that really matters to this person. Or even, you know, concepts we have within ourselves. I know I have strong opinions about some things.
And so in humans, we see that if we have these strong opinions, it doesn't really matter what other people say. And so I think it's kind of the same with birds, right? They have a really strong opinion. It doesn't really matter what others are doing. You know, in my own life, if I don't care so much, if I, you know, don't care, it's a coin toss in terms of what I like.
I'm probably more likely to copy what other people are doing than if I'm really convicted, in my opinion. And so when I think about it in terms of humans, it makes a lot more sense than when we just think about it in terms of birds. And it just goes to show scientifically birds are people too, said no scientist ever.
Okay, for the birds that have these strong preferences, do the males do certain things with the nest building pink stuff than the females do? Yes, this is really exciting. So in zebra finches, the males select and deposit the majority of the nest material. And for a long time, we've referred to the male bird as the primary builder. And we thought that he did almost everything.
But there's new research coming from our lab led by Dr. Ben Whitaker that shows that actually the females are doing a lot more than we thought. And so in my experiment, we examined the male behavior because of previous research. But I'm excited to see the females' role in nest building. being more examined here in the future. I mean, this mirrors the last 10,000 years of human history too.
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