Biopedia

It's the fourth of seven episodes of Island Folk! Among subjects of discussion are reindeer on South Georgia, invasion and extinction on islands more broadly and a discussion of the Caribbean. Feel free to give the show a listen at the link below: https://open.spotify.com/episode/3qaiLb44t4IPICE1iOoRzm?si=9358f712ea9e4d0c

Namesaking is the practice of naming a child for someone else- usually a close relative. Today, we will be exploring the psychology and impacts of this practice. Sources for this episode: Abel, E. L. (2013), Jr. Naming Etiquette. Names 61(4): 230-238. Bird, A. E. and McAndrew, F. T. (2019), Does Namesaking a Child Influence Attachment Style? North American Journal of Psychology 21(13): 39-44. Buss...

The rewind mini series is back! This time, we're discuss the two forms of eukaryotic cell division, mitosis and meiosis. Sources for this episode: Campbell, N. A., Urry, L. A., Cain, M. L., Wasserman, S. A., Minorsky, P. V. and Reece, J. B. (2018), Biology: a global approach, 11th edition (Global Edition), Harlow, Pearson Education Limited. Hine, R. (2019), A Dictionary of Biology (Oxford Quic...

Following on from the definition of biomes in episode 78, we're zooming in and discussing habitats today. What we'll find is that the term is similar but smaller scale in terms of number of species considered- and that there used to be considerable uncertainty in the literature... Sources for this episode: Allaby, M. (editor) (2020), Oxford Dictionary of Zoology. Oxford: Oxford University...

Returning to the idea of discussing biological thought in other cultures and/or times, today's topic is the Four Humours. This is an ancient idea of how the body worked coming from the thinkers of Ancient Greece and Rome. Sources for this episode: Jouanna, J. (2012), Greek Medicine from Hippocrates to Galen: Selected Papers. Leiden: BRILL. Stelmack, R. M. and Stalikas, A. (1991), Galen and the...

There are two species of dormice in the UK. Today, we will be exploring the legislation around dormice, as well as the study which first pioneered the use of nest boxes for their study. Sources for this episode: Chanin, P. and Gubert, L. (2011), Surveying hazel dormice ( Muscardinus avellinarius ) with tubes and boxes: a comparison. Mammal Notes. Morris, P. A., Bright, P. W. and Woods, D. (1990),...

Today, two terms which, in a sense, extend our discussion of twins from episode 27. Sources for this episode: Blickstein, I. (2003), Superfecundation and superfetation: lessons from the past on early human development. The Journal of Maternal-Fetal & Neonatal Medicine 14(4): 217-219. Segal, N. L. and Nedelec, J. L. (2021), Heteropaternal twinning: Unique case of opposite-sex twins with differe...

Skeletons are on the menu today- and the different kinds organisms can have. Sources for this episode: Campbell, N. A., Urry, L. A., Cain, M. L., Wasserman, S. A., Minorsky, P. V. and Reece, J. B. (2018), Biology: a global approach, 11th edition (Global Edition), Harlow, Pearson Education Limited. Clennett, C., Locke, J. and Jackson, T. (editorial consultants) (2023), How Biology Works. LonondM Da...

Bee declines feature prominently in the news today. But what are the causes for it? Using the example of the UK, we follow the Woodland Trust to explore this issue. Plus, we also discuss two papers which hold differing viewpoints about the pollination crisis generally... Sources for this episode: Briggs, H., BBC News (2019), Bees: Many British pollinating insects in decline, study shows (online) (...

Time for a common ecological term to get the treatment it deserves. Today, we're exploring the biome. Not only that, but the term ecoregion is getting thrown in as an extra... Sources for this episode: Clennett, C., Locke, J. and Jackson, T. (editorial consultants) (2023), How Biology Works. LonondM Darling Kindersley Ltd. Hine, R. S. (2019), Oxford Dictionary of Biology (8th edition). Oxford:...

Climate change as a topic is a well-known one. However, we are going to be dissecting a paper published recently which deals with the potential economic impact of a warming world... Sources for this episode: Ainsworth, E. A., Lemonnier, P. and Wedow, J. M. (2019), The influence of rising tropospheric carbon dioxide and ozone on planet productivity. Plant Biology 22 (Suppl. 1): 5-11. Balch, J. K.,...

Today's episode is going to feature one of the later monarchs from the Hellenistic era- Mithridates VI of Pontus. This is because his practice of trying to make himself immune to poison- called mithridatism- is biologically relevant and and continues to be influential until the 18th century. Sources for this episode: Jarcho, S. (1972), Medical Numismatic Notes, VII: Mithridates IV. Bulletin of...

The Black Death in the 14th century is engrained in the popular consciousness. But how familiar is the first wave of the disease that happened in the 500s? In this episode, we explore what plague is, its evolution, strains and impact on the world of the 6th century according to Procopius. Sources for this episode: Achtman, M., Zurth, K., Morelli, G., Torrea, G., Guiyoule, A. and Carniel, E. (1999)...

1-2% of the world's population have red hair. So, we're giving the phenomenon its own episode! Today, we discuss the gene/protein that causes red hair, as well as its psychological and possible medical effects... Sources for this episode: Bryant, NIH Research Matters (2021), Study finds link between red hair and pain threshold (online) (Accessed 12/01/2024). Gradwohl, S. C., Aranake, A., A...

You asked, I delivered! In a sequel to our discussion in episode 58, we're going to shine a spotlight on two more thinkers during the Islamic Golden Age. Along the way we'll also see connections with later thinkers and a cameo from episode 69... Sources for this episode: Guerber, H. A. (1929), The Myths of Greece & Rome: Their Stories Signification and Origin. London: George G. Harrap...

Darwin Day is upon us for the fourth time! To celebrate, let's follow Charles Darwin on the first part of his famous voyage between late 1831 and early 1832. We'll see him pour over cuttlefish, travel with veterans of the Napoleonic Wars and arrive in a young Brazilian Empire... Sources for this episode: Bannerman, W. M., Lobban, R. A. and Shaw, C. S., Encyclopedia Britannica (2023), History of Ca...

A series of 5000 flowers pressed in the 16th century near Bologna have given scientists an opportunity to see human impacts and the rise of alien species. All while giving us an excuse to touch on what the Columbian exchange actually is... Sources for this episode: Anteric, I., Basic, Z., Vilovic, K., Kolic, K. and Andjelinovic, S. (2014), Which Theory for the Origin of Syphilis is True? Journal o...

It takes our sun 220 million years to orbit around the middle of our home galaxy. But that kind of timescale can be difficult to picture. So, using the International Stratigraphy Chart as a guidance for what different time periods mean in terms of millions of years, let's zoom out to the scale of a galactic year and see what happened in Earth's prehistory one cycle ago, two and so on. Sour...

Most people will have come across this term before, but what does it actually mean? Today, we'll be dissecting the terms microbiome and microbiota and looking at what can impact them. Sources for this episode: Amon, P. and Sanderson, I. (2017), What is the microbiome? Archives of Disease in Childhood- Education and Practice 102-258-261. Cremon, C., Barbaro, M. R., Ventura, M. and Barbara, G. (...

Saint Helena is an island in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean, perhaps most famous as the final residence of Napoleon I, Emperor of the French from 1804 to 1814 and again briefly in 1815. However, there is also plenty of interesting ecology and anthropogenic impact to talk about. Join myself and my co-host on an old episode of Island Folk to find out more! The episode can be found at the following...

This episode discusses what it says on the tin- two different models of the pace at which evolution happens. Punctuated equilibrium comes to us courtesy of Niles Eldredge and Steve Gould in the 1970s. We won't do a deep dive on which model is considered correct in this episode. However, punctuated equilibrium was appropriated by creationists in the 1980s as this issue became political- leading...

Woolly mammoths are an iconic feature of the Ice Age in popular imagination. However, on today's episode, we will also see that they are the basis of a fun fact that may change your perception of the past... Sources for this episode: Ashman, D., Nature (2000), The sky was the limit for the Pyramid builders (online) [Accessed 10/10/2023]. Bartlett, C. (2014), The Design of the Great Pyramid of...

A throwaway comment on Big Bang Theory got me thinking- could hybrid animals such as the griffin and the hippogriff be possible from a biological viewpoint? Using these two examples, we will explore the chromosome number of hybrid animals and see what it means for our mythical friends... Sources for this episode: Ewart, J. C. (1910), Are Mules Fertile? Nature 2143(85): 106. Geldenhuys, M. E. (1989...

Introducing my newest venture- being one half of the Autocrat podcast! Autocrat is a podcast which aims to explore Roman civilisation from beginning to end. Beginning with the mythology and the stories of Aeneas and Romulus, the podcast will trace the journey through the Roman Kingdom, the Republic, the Empire and all the way to 1453 and beyond. Who knows if we'll make it that far, but we hope...

It's episode 66, so I thought I'd cover a big event from 66 million years ago- the death of the dinosaurs! But it's not all doom and gloom- we will also take a look at how to prevent asteroid impacts in future. Sources for this episode: Bottke, W. F., Vokrouhlický, D. and Nesvorný, D. (2007), An asteroid breakup 160 Mya as the probable sources of the K/T impactor. Nature 449: 48-53. Br...