Ask A Biologist Podcast

The evening news, your local paper, online websites, blogs, Twitter, Facebook, and yes, podcasts all are communicating the latest science news. In this mix of messages are often conflicting stories about what is good and bad for you. It also seems that every other day there is a cure for cancer or some other disease. With all this messaging, who do you trust? Dr. Biology sits down with Joe Palca ,...

Cooperation is something that humans and animals are known to do. It turns out that the 30 trillion cells in our body also need to cooperate. Like some humans, there are cells that are cheaters when it comes to cooperation. They do not do their share of the work and cause a lot of other problems. These are cancer cells. Cooperation theorist Athena Aktipis talks with Dr. Biology about her research...

Life in the year 2050, what will it look like? Will it be the age of intelligent computers? Could this happen even sooner? Physicist and author Max Tegmark talks about the future of artificial intelligence and how it might impact biological life on this planet. Dr. Biology learns about the future of smart computers. Will they become too smart for humankind? What precautions should we put in place...

Hacking is a word that is often tied to something bad. However, there are times when hacking can be for something good. Think of it as a tool that can be put to use for good or bad. We also think of hacking as something only done with computers, but can we hack other things? Dr. Biology sits down with scientist Klaus Lackner to talk about how he is hacking the environment in order to pull carbon d...

Television portrays the lives and work of forensic artists, but what is it like to really be a forensic artist? Are the tools you see on the big and little screen really used by the people who recreate the face of someone when there might only be a skull or parts of a scull to use as a starting point? Dr. Biology visits with forensic artist and author Catyana Falsetti to learn the answers to these...

Life on Earth is tied to carbon and water, but would this be the same for life forms that evolved on other worlds? This is just one of many questions that Biochemist and author Nick Lane talks about while visiting with Dr. Biology. Listen in as Nick explores not only life on our Earth, but also what it might be like on other planets. Nick also reads from his book, The Vital Question, and weighs in...

In the tiny world of DNA, we might call genomes monsters. These huge sets of information include all the codes for all the genes present in an organism. From genomes, we can learn about the traits, diseases, and evolution of a species, and that’s just a start. What might such a monster set of data do for us if it was about our very own North American monster – the Gila monster? Computational biolo...

Did you know the westerly winds in the Southern Ocean have been helping to keep our planet livable? Yes, they have been responsible for soaking up half of the human-made carbon dioxide (CO2) along with a whole lot of excess heat. Dr. Biology has the opportunity to talk with geoscientist Joellen Russell about the research she and a group of scientists have been doing in the southern hemisphere that...

Dead men tell no tales, but their bones can. It just takes a particular kind of scientist to read the clues that tell the story. Dr. Biology sits down with guest Tony Falsetti , a forensic anthropologist who knows his way around a skeleton. They talk about the role of forensic anthropology and some of the mysteries of history Tony has helped to solve. If you have not already, please  subscribe to...

These fluttering icons of North America are a favorite of many people across the world, but they may be having some population problems. Don’t worry though, there are ways you can help. Conservation specialist Gail Morris talks with our student guest host Kayna Lantz about these colorful insects, their identification, migration, and the many groups that are working to better understand them. Spoil...

Around 4,000 years ago, on the wind-swept island of St. Kilda, Scotland, people started creating food storage of sorts. They moved a population of sheep to the island, likely as a backup food resource for when times were tough. Little did they know that their actions would affect 21st-century science. Today, rather than ending up as a meal, sheep from this isolated population are the subjects of r...

The race is on. It is one where biologists and citizen scientists are working as quickly as possible to find and identify all the species on Earth before some go extinct. It might not seem like an important race, but we learn from entomologist Kelly Miller that not knowing what species we are losing might be more important than we think. Today scientists combine traditional and newer computer tool...

If you could travel back in time, what would you find 50 million years ago? What was the climate like? Would you find the same plants? What animals were crawling, walking, and flying around? Paleoentomologist Bruce Archibald takes Dr. Biology back in time to explore the planet during the Eocene Epoch, where things were a bit different than today – there was even a giant flying ant that would make...

You hear that space is the final frontier, but could we have another frontier right here on Earth? The microscopic world offers a limitless opportunity to explore amazing places and life forms. You just need the right tool for the trip – a microscope. Guests Angela Goodacre and Doug Chandler have a conversation with Dr. Biology about the instruments that let us journey into inner space. Angela Goo...

Remember your last paper cut or the bad cold that had you coughing and blowing your nose? It was your immune system that was busy trying to make you better by battling the bacteria or virus that was attacking your body. How your immune system works is the discussion Dr. Biology has with pediatrician Paul Turke . They also talk about how our immune systems have to reboot to keep up with evolving ba...

During a plague year, locusts can swarm over 20 percent of the world’s landmass, affecting one out of every 10 people on the planet. Sounds bad – right? Enter biologist Arianne Cease who has been studying why these insects swarm and how to control them. Dr. Biology learns about her work and an interesting research area called telecoupling. Portrait image by Jacquelyn Cease. If you have not already...

According to an old German proverb, the animal that is the subject of this show was made by the devil. Dr. Biology gets a lesson about this devilish study subject from biologist Raghavendra Gadagkar. They talk about what he has learned from years of observing these misunderstood animals. There is even a surprise ending that we call the 'Queen Switcharoo'.  Spoiler alert – don't read...

What is a media artist doing developing games based on large science data sets? It turns out he is looking into how the planet ticks and also what David McConville calls global weirding. Listen as Dr. Biology learns how a media artist makes his home in the world of science, biology, and mountains of scientific data, which we call big data. Background image by Globaïa and portrait image by Steve Ma...

How does the tobacco plant go from villain hero? After all, tobacco has been shown to be the leading cause of lung cancer, and its use increases the chances of many other cancers. Dr. Biology catches up with Charlie Arntzen, a biologist and pharmer (no, that is not a misspelling), who has been using the tobacco plant as a tool to develop drug treatments. If you have not already, please  subscribe...

Termites are one of the planet's best recyclers. Yes, we usually think of these insects as things that destroy homes and need to be exterminated. It turns out that these critters are tiny 'green machines' that are critical to the planet. Dr. Biology learns about the history, social nature, and the important role termites have from entomologist, Barbara Thorn . If you have not alread...

Natural history museums may not come to life as they do in a Hollywood movie, but they do have some amazing stories. They also have all kinds of cool stuff that many of us never get to see. Paleontologist Richard Fortey talks about the life and some of the treasures hidden behind locked doors at natural history museums that are also part of his book Dry Store Room No.1. If you have not already, pl...

If you think of the instruments used to study and explore the world of biology it is clear that most are visual.  So what if you cannot see? How would you understand the structure of – say a cell?   Dr. Biology discusses a new tool for learning about biology with newly graduated student and biologist Ashleigh Gonzales . If you have not already, please  subscribe to the podcast so you can be notifi...

Extreme environments can be found on Earth, in space, and in the depths of the ocean. Dr. Biology and biologist, astronaut, and mountain climber Scott Parazynski sit down and talk about what life is like to explore these environments. Just what are they teaching us about our bodies and how might they hold up on long voyages in space?  If you have not already, please  subscribe to the podcast so yo...

If you think zombies are only on television and in the movies, think again. There are real live—well maybe not live—zombie ants. Dr. Biology learns the details of a nasty fungus and something called the "death grip" from biologist David Hughes . Listen in and be thankful you are not an ant. Learn more: Zombie Ants (PLOSable) If you have not already, please  subscribe to the podcast so yo...

The Galápagos Islands are home to some of the most amazing plants and animals. One group of animals, the Galapagos finches, have been the focus of biologists ever since Darwin wrote about them in his book, On the Origin of Species. Dr. Biology had the opportunity to sit down with Peter and Rosemary Grant to talk about the more than 30 years they spent studying what has come to be called Darwin’s f...