Can robots evolve?

Dr. John Long, a professor of Biology and Cognitive Neuroscience at Vassar College in Poughkeepsie, New York, has been working to bridge the gap between evolution and engineering by building robots that evolve.

You read that correctly — he's attempting to model the early evolution of vertebrates by duplicating that process in simple robots. 

Long discusses his research in an interview on CBC radio's Quicks & Quarks. Listen to this item in the pop up player or visit this link to download an mp3.