Valerio Elia is a psychologist, neurobiologist, and PhD student at Suor Orsola Benincasa University. His research focuses on the neural and cognitive mechanisms underlying the ability to understand and actively manipulate the physical world to create tools and technological innovations. Recently, his work has centred on tracing the phylogenetic origins of this capacity. To achieve these goals, he conducts experimental studies with humans and animal models of technical cognition, including birds, cephalopods, and marine mammals. Antonella Brandimonte and Giovanni Federico supervise his doctoral research.