GradCast

Biodiesel provides an alternative fuel option for gasoline combustion engines, reducing the output of greenhouse gases into the atmosphere. Usually the production of biodiesel requires the fermentation of bio-products such as soy or sugarcane, however the process is slow and cannot compete with fossil fuel production. Now with the help of bacteria, everything is about to change. In this weeks epis...

Canadian perception of immigrant minority groups is the topic of this week’s episode, as we welcome back to the show Ilinca Olariu, MA student in the History department. This time, Ilinca discusses what it meant to be a Romanian immigrant in Canada during WWI, and why a proportion of Romanian citizens were considered “enemy aliens”. Hosted by Yimin Chen and Viki Tellios. Produced by Roger Hudson.

This week, hosts Roger Hudson and Nicholas Handfield Jones interview PhD Candidate Andrew Roebuck from the University of Saskatchewan via Skype for another #GradCastOnTour episode! Roger and Andrew recently attended the Gordon Research Conference in Spain for Cannabinoids in the Central Nervous System where they had a chance to discuss all things cannabis-related. Andrew is using cutting edge neur...

On this episode, hosts Gavin and Greg discuss game theory with a PhD Candidate in Economics, Adam Rooney. From childhood, Adam has been an avid poker fanatic often hosting poker tournaments with his friends. When he came to university, he started with $50 in his bank account, which he used as a buy in for online poker tournaments. After winning many tournaments, he cashed out with an undergraduate...

Second year biology master's student Rosie Savage is passionate about plankton! From the Pacific coast of Western Canada to the genetics lab at the University of Western Ontario, hosts Yimin Chen and Ariel Frame hear all about Rosie's adventures collecting, sequencing, and studying tiny marine zooplankton and their even tinier parasites. Produced by Gavin Tolometti

Hosts Ariel Frame and Roger Hudson welcome our first Visual Arts Department student to the show, Ellen Moffat. After 20 years of working as a professional artist, Ellen tells us how she is now doing both theoretical and practical work towards getting a PhD in Studio. In this episode, find out how Ellen makes art from her creative research on acoustic properties of various materials. To hear a samp...

We’re bringing you another #Gradlife episode with a special guest - Demetri Pananos! Demetri is co-host of the podcast Two Broke Grads and is currently completing his PhD here at Western in Biostatistics. In this episode, Monica, Demetri and Viki talk about finances - conferences, grocery shopping, and stresses related to money. They also share some of their tips for saving money! Like this episod...

In this episode, hosts Connor Chato and Monica Molinaro speak to Amy Lewis, a qualitative researcher completing her MScN! They discuss the development of competencies for health care providers to engage in teaching policy advocacy and engage in policy activities. The benefits of listening to stories and personal experience, as well as the importance of qualitative methods in health research are al...

The world is a crappy place. That is, according to Arthur Schopenhauer. On this week’s Gradcast, hosts Nick Handfield-Jones and Connor Chato interview Ignacio Moya, who tells us about this famous German philosopher’s arguments for philosophical pessimism. We talk about why Schopenhauer thought the world is this way and what he proposed to do about that. Plus, we ask Ignacio what his own thoughts a...

On tour in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, GradCast hosts Roger Hudson and Ariel Frame attended Canada's largest neuroscience conference and had an insightful chat with Bryan Jenkins, a PhD candidate in the Neurobiology of Dual Disorders Lab at the Ontario Veterinary College and the University of Guelph in Canada. Bryan tells us about his work in Dr. Jibran Khokhar's lab on the effects of cannabis in an...

Take a trip to the Beaufort Sea in the Northwest Territories with Anthropology PhD student Rebecca Goodwin as she works to document and share the cultural history of Inuit peoples of the Western Canadian arctic. Join hosts Yimin Chen and Nikol Posnov as we hear some of the stories told by Inuvialuit elders and knowledge holders about current and past life in the far north. Plus, tips on how to eat...

Hosts Nikol Posnov and Ariel Frame speak with Will Yingling, an MSc student in geology and planetary science, about his work on impact melt pools on Mars. Using various sources of data from Mars orbiters, Will explains what he is learning about mapping the topography of Mars (the landscape) and how meteorite impacts have shaped its surface. To find out more about Will you can contact him on twitte...

Have you ever watched somebody look off in the distance at something behind you and then immediately turn to look at whatever it is their seeing? That exact response is what PhD Student Borna Mahmoudian studies. It's a fascinating little feature that helps gives social skills to us humans and some other animals (Including the Old-World Monkeys Borna Studies). Hosts Nikol Posnov and Connor Chato ch...

In this episode, neuroscience Ph. D. student and fellow GradCast colleague Roger Hudson joins hosts Gregory Robinson and Nikol Posnov to speak about his research on the interactions between THC and CBD in the brain within the context of recent events related to cannabis legalization in Canada. Roger shares with us the knowledge he has acquired over his years of conducting cannabis research. Topics...

In part 2 of GradCast's coverage of the 2019 Western Research forum, Yimin Chen brings you conversations with nursing PhD student Yasin Yasin, psychology PhD student Laura Johnson, and physical chemistry master's student Sarai Guerrero. Host: Yimin Chen Produced by Gregory Robinson

In part 1 of GradCast's coverage of the 2019 Western Research forum, Roger Hudson and Yimin Chen bring you conversations with mechanical and material engineering master's student Sara Holland, master's of education student Bella Wang, and health and rehabilitation PhD student Humberto Omana. Hosts: Yimin Chen & Roger Hudson Produced by Gregory Robinson

In this episode, hosts Roger Hudson and Monica Molinaro talk to Dr. Mariya Goncheva, a post-doctoral fellow in the Department of Microbiology and Immunology. Our hosts and Mariya talk about the infamous Staphylococcus aureus. They discuss the mutant purr gene that Mariya studies, how antibiotics work, and her experience finishing her PhD and starting her post-doc as an international student in Can...

The humble spider-mite is a cousin of the spider with an incredibly diverse diet, letting them live and feast on plants all over the world. In their talk with master's student David Letwin - hosts Connor Chato and Nikol Posnov get down to the genetic code that makes these tiny critters and what it's like to share a lab with thousands of them. We learn about the evolutionary factors that allow anim...

The Society for Neuroscience annual conference remains the largest international conference for neuroscience research, hosting upwards of 25,000 neuroscientists each year. GradCast had the opportunity to interview two conference attendees about their cutting-edge research for Neuroscience 2018. In part 2 of this 2-part series, hosts Viki Tellios and Joyla Furlano discuss effective MRI image analys...

In this entertaining episode, GradCast hosts Chantal and Nikol talk with masters student in biology Zoran Culo and his partner-in-crime, Peanut, about the spider-mite research labs at western. Zoran explains why the tiny spider-mite is a big pest for plant lovers, and what western researchers are doing to develop alternative pest control strategies for sustainable agriculture.   http://www.spiderm...

The Society for Neuroscience annual conference remains the largest international conference for neuroscience research, hosting upwards of 25,000 neuroscientists each year. GradCast had the opportunity to interview two conference attendees about their cutting-edge research for Neuroscience 2018. In part 1 of this 2-part series, hosts Roger Hudson and Viki Tellios learn about novel methods associate...

Did you know there are an estimated 1 million species of mites? They are found on every continent. They can live on both plants and animals, and you have microscopic mites living on your face right now (that are harmless, hopefully!) And yet, mites are often overlooked and poorly studied. To date, only 50,000 species of mites have been described. Luckily, you can learn more about the mighty mite w...

How do different regions of the brain work together to recognize and make sense of the sounds that you hear? Our guest today is Sonia Varma, who is completing her Master's in neuroscience investigating auditory processing. Hosts Monica Molinaro and Yimin Chen get a crash course in how hearing works, plus some surprising insights into the film preferences of hearing research participants. You can c...

This week we’re bringing you our very first #Gradlife episode! Based on popular demand, our first episode is on Impostor Syndrome! Impostor Syndrome, or feeling like you are a fraud, affects many graduate students, regardless of their success or accomplishments. In this episode, hosts Viki Telios, Monica Molinaro, and Gavin Tolometti discuss their experiences of feeling like frauds in their time i...

Ever heard of the kudzu? Depending on where you're from, you might have a different idea of this dubious plant. Introduced as a way to nourish Southern US soil, it quickly spread throughout much of the eastern coast. Now, it is everywhere from Georgia to New York State. On today's episode, hosts Nick Handfield-Jones and Roger Hudson interview Master's student Kenny Reilly about the kudzu vine. He...