Biopedia

This episode is really going to do what it says on the tin- discuss the question of how many species there are in the world. This might seem a simple question, but a simple answer has eluded the scientific community for some years now. On the show today, I'm going to go through some of the methods past research has used to answer this question and what figures they came up with. Sources for th...

Hi everyone, just a quick plug for my other show- After Alexander. This is a history podcast where we examine what happened between Alexander the Great's death in 323 and the destruction of the last of the Hellenistic kingdoms by the Romans and Parthians. Specifically, it focuses on the Seleucid dynasty, descended from Seleucus I Nicator and eventually rulers over most of Alexander's old empire in...

The Central Indo-Pacific (or CIP if you're stuck for time) is a highly diverse region of the ocean. But how did it get to be this way? It's this question which is the topic for today's episode. Sources for this episode: Ivany, L. C., Patterson, W. P. and Lohmann, K. C. (2000), Cooler winters as a possible cause of mass extinctions at the Eocene/Oligocene boundary. Nature 407: 887- 890....

Building on our discussion of the Red Queen hypothesis last week, we're going to go through a theorem which is similarly chess-themed but goes against our hypothesis from episode 20. This theory holds that, rather than continual evolution being necessary for a species to survive, natural selection can sometimes allow genes to be lost from the gene pool. Sources for this episode: Allen, R. C.,...

This week, I'm going to discuss the Red Queen Hypothesis, which sounds intimidating but is actually rather straightforward. Not only is it an evolutionary theory, but it's also a reminder that biologists really like finding obscure reasons to name things... Sources for this episode: Scoville, H., ThoughtCo (updated 2019), What Is the Red Queen Hypothesis? (online) [Accessed 14/01/2021]. Th...

Happy Darwin Day! On the anniversary of Darwin’s birthday on 12th February 1809, I thought it would be fun to release a special episode covering some aspect of Darwin’s life or theories. Today, we’re going to discuss the health of Darwin’s children and of Darwin’s immediate family. Sources for this episode: Hayman, J., Álvarez, G., Ceballos, F. C. and Berra, T. M. (2017), The illnesses of Charles...

This week, I’m going to do something a little different and talk through a process we hear a lot about, but which isn’t often discussed as a process outside biology classrooms very much- evolution. This episode will be a little different from my usual, as it’s mainly going to be me talking rather than drawing on sources. Instead, this discussion is going to be based on my biological education so f...

Apoptosis is the phenomenon by which cells commit suicide in an orderly and programmed fashion. But why is it important? And what happens if it goes wrong? Today, we're just going to introduce the topic briefly and give some examples of why it is biologically useful. Sources for this episode: Alberts, Johnson, Lewis, Raff, Roberts, and Walter (2008), Molecular Biology of the Cell, Fifth Editio...

Eye colour is one of the first examples of genetic inheritance talked about in schools across the country. But what is it that these genes really do? What causes eye colour from a functional perspective? As we'll see on the podcast today, it's all to do with the pigment melanin... Sources for this episode: Alberts, Johnson, Lewis Raff, Roberts, and Walter (2008), Molecular Biology of the C...

Assortative mating is essentially the recognition that theory isn’t always perfect and that, however desperately biologists might want some simplicity in the world, organisms don’t just encounter each other like gas molecules- it’s not a random process. In fact, it can even give evolution a helping hand… Sources for this episode: Nishi, A., Alexander, M., Fowler, J. H. and Christakis, N. A. (2020)...

Hi everyone, Vince here with a quick update- the podcast now has an accompanying website! From now on, you can head to 'www.biopedia.co.uk' to access all our episodes, as well as a blog featuring some extra content. Thank you all for continuing to listen to the show and I'm excited to add new content!

The adaptive landscape is an important method for biologists, ecologists, and geneticists to visualise the process of evolution. But what is it, and how does it work? This week, we’re going to discuss what the adaptive landscape actually is, so while there are going to be some sources listed, there's also a bit of general discussion as well. Some sources for this episode: Martin, C. H. and Wai...

Bonus episode! In the main episode on Sunday, I briefly mentioned NRAMP1, a mutation in which can influence how susceptible someone is to the leprosy bacterium, Mycobacterium leprae . But what exactly is the NRAMP1 protein and why is it important? Sources for this episode: Cannone-Hergaux, F., Calafat, J., Richer, E., Cellier, M., Grinstein, S., Borregaard, N. and Gros, P. (2002), Expression and s...

Happy new year! In our inaugural episode of 2021, we’re going to go back to the 1100s and focus on the famous case of the Leper King Baldwin IV, who ruled as king of Jerusalem from 1174 to 1185. What exactly is leprosy, and what causes it? We’ll use the test case of Baldwin as an opening to talking a bit about the bug Mycobacterium leprae and how exactly leprosy works. Sources for this episode: Ab...

Proteins are often mentioned on the show, but what about the building blocks that they consist of? This week, we’re going to tackle amino acids in our second rewind episodes. There are some topics that naturally branch off from this one, such as interactions between amino acids and how DNA encodes for different ones, but they will probably be topics for future episodes. Sources for this episode: C...

Building on our discussion of both signalling pathways and G-protein coupled receptors from a few weeks ago, this week we’re going to discuss the Wnt signalling pathway- a pathway which is crucial in aspects of development and can have widespread impacts on the cell. It all sounds rather intimidating, but there’s actually surprisingly few steps involved in this pathway- and we’re only going to be...

In the first of our ‘Rewind’ episodes, we go back to basics and discuss cells- where they came from and the famous cell theory of 1839, which is still present in textbooks today. There are more stories than we can cover which lead up to cell theory, so just see this as an introductory episode until when and if we can come back to these famous names and discoveries. Sources for this episode: Silver...

As discussed in previous episodes, the actin cytoskeleton is vital to allow cells to move. But what about the specifics? In this episode, we’re going to be dissecting the lamellipodium- a meshwork actin structure that some cells use to move. Sources for this episode: Alberts, Johnson, Lewis, Raff, Roberts, and Walter (2008), Molecular Biology of the Cell, Fifth Edition. Abingdon: Garland Science,...

We’re all familiar with the platypus, but it still has surprises up its sleeve. On the show today, we get to know its bumper-sized cousin- Obdurodon tharalkooschild . Sources for this episode: Dell’Amore, C., National Geographic (2013), Giant Platypus Found, Shakes Up Evolutionary Tree (online) [Accessed 17/11/2020]. Pian, R., Archer, M. And Hand, S. J. (2013), A new, giant platypus, Obdurodon tha...

Killer whales are an icon of the world's oceans. However, genetic studies show that they haven't always been doing so well- especially during the last Ice Age. What's the story? And what relevance does the millennia-old plight of the orca have today? On the podcast today, we're going to use a genetic study from 2014 to explore just that. Sources for this episode: Moura, A. E. et al...

On the podcast today, we cover the concept of localised mRNA, which can be relevant to cell polarity. Sources for this episode: Martin, K. C. And Ephrussi, A. (2009), mRNA Localisation: Gene Expression in the Spatial Dimension. Cell 136: 719- 730.

Antibiotic resistance we’ve all heard of by now, but what about antibiotic persistence? Join us as we explore the phenomenon of persistence, which allows bacterial infections to reappear even after antibiotic treatment. And all while being genetically identical to their susceptible neighbours! Sources for this episode: 1) Balaban, N. Q., Helanie, S., Lewis, K., Ackermann, M., Aldridge, B., Anderss...

It is common knowledge that bees as a whole are declining as a result of climate change, although bee decline as a larger topic is not in itself the subject of today's episode. But what about individual species? On the podcast today, we cover a 2019 study which predicted that the Australian small carpenter bee, Ceratina australensis , might go against this trend.... Sources for this episode: B...

This episode builds on content covered in episode 3, so be sure to check it out if you haven’t listened to it already. This week, we explore an example of the GTPase content we discussed last time. Specifically, we look at the diploid mating of baker’s yeast in stressful environments. Source for this episode: Alberts, Johnson, Lewis Raff, Roberts and Walter (2008), Molecular Biology of the Cell, F...

On the podcast today, we scratch the surface of cell polarity and how enzymes known as GTPases are linked to this process. Sources for this episode: Alberts, Johnson, Lewis Raff, Roberts and Walter (2008), Molecular Biology of the Cell, Fifth Edition, Abingdon: Garland Science, Taylor and Francis Group LLC. Thain, M. And Hickman, M. (2014), The Penguin Dictionary of Biology, 11th edition. London:...