The Naked Mole Rat

This story is about a creature with a head like a furry shovel, and a body about the size of a sneaker. By rodent standards, the sandy blind mole rat is huge. But it’s special for another reason too. The sandy blind mole rat is found only in a small area of Ukraine, near the front-lines of Russia’s war against its neighbor. And we wouldn’t know of its existence but for the efforts of a small numbe...

People who suffer from retinitis pigmentosa lose their vision as the light-sensitive cells in their eyes start to break down. But what if they could be implanted with light-sensitive cells taken from other organisms, such as algae or coral? A few years ago, a French ophthalmologist was nearly laughed out of a scientific conference when he proposed this idea. But he didn’t lose heart, and his hunch...

Caution! The holiday season is upon us. Terrible holiday jingles blast out of every speaker and get stuck in your head, there’s so much to do before the end of the year, and then we’ll be stress-eating and washing it all down with alcohol. All that while promising ourselves that we’ll definitely change things in the new year (though we likely won’t). In this special episode, we explore the science...

In the late 19th century, a deadly illness spread across Asia and into Europe, infecting millions, and prompting what may have been the world’s first “infodemic” — with news (and rumors) about the infection traveling in realtime, via telegram. A teenaged Winston Churchill even wrote a poem about it. Sometimes called “Russian flu” or “American fever” the illness rarely affected children, but caused...

Ukraine is a country that produces a lot of talented math and programming students, and Yuliya Zdanovska was among the most promising. But it was the choices she made about how to live her life that really set her apart. After graduating university, Yuliya dedicated herself to teaching ordinary students at a rural school. Then, when Russia invaded Ukraine, she went to Kharkiv, close to the front-l...

The world is quickly running out of effective antibiotics to treat fast-evolving bacteria. Even routine dental work or knee replacements could soon result in many more deadly infections because of drug resistance. Recently, scientists have identified a promising new source of antibiotics: the genetic remains of our extinct hominid cousins.  The Naked Mole Rat is a podcast by Libo/Libo. Visit our w...

There are few noises as guaranteed to chill the blood as that of a group of chimpanzees attacking another group of chimps. Wild chimps are notoriously savage. But they are also our closest relatives. And their behaviour can tell us a lot about our own nature. But while humans can be skilled killers, aggression is in fact rare among homo sapiens. So why is that? One answer to the question may be th...

Humans have been fascinated by elephants since forever. But until a few decades ago, we didn’t know the most basic things about them, like how they choose a mate, or how their society is organized. In this episode, Ilya meets Cynthia Moss, a former magazine journalist who has contributed more than anyone else to our knowledge of the largest land mammals. The Naked Mole Rat is a podcast by Libo/Lib...

Strangely enough, we don’t quite know. Only a few mammals regularly shed their entire uterine lining.  According to one hypothesis, menstruation evolved as a defence against an invasion by paternal genes. Host Ilya Kolmanovsky talks to evolutionary biologists David Haig and Deena Emera about how mother and fetus are made to compete for resources in pregnancy.  The Naked Mole Rat is a podcast by Li...

For decades, scientists believed that humans gradually evolved — more or less in a straight line — from knuckle-walking apes to upright-walking, sneaker-wearing humans. But it turns out the story is not so simple. In East Africa, researchers are discovering the fossilized bones of our ancient relatives, and revising their ideas about where humans come from. The Naked Mole Rat is a podcast by Libo/...

The Naked Mole Rat is where scientist-turned-storyteller Ilya Kolmanovsky explores what bizarre creatures and real scientists can teach us about ourselves. Once he studied animal evolution, now he tells stories about human nature, evolution, and the people behind discoveries. THE NAKED MOLE RAT reveals the unexpected connections between science and our lives. This is a podcast by Libo/Libo. Visit...