Science for the People

Yes, bumble bees are important pollinators. But they're also fascinating, cute and colorful. This week's episode can trace its origins to a flowery Sierra Nevada meadow where host Carolyn Wilke reported on guest Michelle Duennes' project of catching bumble bees to study their health. Three years and hundreds of bees later, we check in on the project. Hear all about the adventures of working with bumble bees, from flash freezing bees in the field to baking pollen cookies for lab colonies. We also talk bee conservation, bumble bee colors, and a bit of roller derby. Related links: Duennes Lab Michelle Duennes YouTube channel Bumble bee conservation at the Xerxes Society View photos of Bombus rufofasciatus, a bumble bee that lives in the Himalayas

We're taking a step back from our scheduled episode this week to ensure the important discussions around Black Lives Matter continue to stay in focus. Black voices are leading conversations about deep-rooted racism they have experienced and witnessed. These conversations aren't hard to find. We've included a few resources below to get you started if you aren't sure where or how to get started, but don't let these be the only things you engage with. General Black Lives Matter website Ways You Can Help Books How to Be an Antiracist by Ibram X. Kendi Between the World and Me by...

By now we're all good and scared about antibiotic resistance, one of the many things coming to get us all. But there's good news, sort of. News antibiotics are coming out! How do they get tested? What does that kind of a trial look like and how does it happen? Host Bethany Brookeshire talks with Matt McCarthy, author of "Superbugs: The Race to Stop an Epidemic", about the ins and outs of testing a new antibiotic in the hospital.

This week on Science for the People, we're diving into the world of DNA barcoding. We speak with Mehrdad Hajibabaei, Associate Professor in the Department of Integrative Biology and the Centre for Biodiversity Genomics at the University of Guelph, about the International Barcode of Life. And we discuss how you can contribute to the field of DNA barcoding with Sujeevan Ratnasingham, Associate Director of Informatics and Adjunct Professor at the Centre for Biodiversity Genomics at the University of Guelph. This episode is hosted by Anika Hazra. Related links: Hajibabaei Lab Centre for Biodiversity Genomics International Barcode of Life Sujeevan Ratnasingham and his Twitter feed LifeScanner

Like many people these days, you might be spending your time at home making bread. Maybe you couldn't find instant yeast and decided that sourdough didn't sound that hard. But the colony of wild yeast you've nurtured is more marvelous than you probably expect. Today host Marion Kilgour discusses a small corner of the wonderful world of yeast with Sudeep Agarwala from Ginkgo Bioworks. Related links: A Twitter thread on sourdough advice from Sudeep Agarwala A Twitter thread on lentil-based sourdough from Sudeep Agarwala

One of the most amazing things modern medicine does is organ transplants: literally taking organs like the lungs or the heart from recently dead people and using them to replace the failing organs in living, critically ill people, giving them a second shot at living a fuller life. How and when did we first figure out how to do this? What does a modern transplant look like? And what is it like to be the doctor who takes from death to give life? This week host Rachelle Saunders talks with Dr Joshua Mezrich, Associate Professor of Surgery in the Division of Multi-Organ Transplantation at the University of Wisconsin and author of the new book "When Death Becomes Life: Notes from a Transplant Surgeon", about the history of transplant surgery and his own history as a transplant surgeon and its ups and downs.

Medicines. We all need to take them. And it seems like the prices are just getting higher and higher. Luckily, generics offer a cheaper alternative. And we are told that they are both the same drug and do the same thing, we assume in the same way. But it turns out that's not really quite true. This week, we're talking with Katherine Eban about her book "Bottle of Lies: The Inside Story of the Generic Drug Boom". Related links: After a scandal, a one-sided warning against generic drugs by Jeremy Greene in The Washington Post Ranbaxy's empty promises by Katherine...

With many schools closed and parents looking for resources to help keep children stuck at home engaged and still learning, the hosts of Science for the People stuck on our curation caps and did some digging to create a list of STEM themed online resources for students of all ages and interests. This week we take a break from our usual format so that hosts Bethany Brookshire and Rachelle Saunders can showcase these great resources and hopefully help you find a few that your at-home student is keen to explore. Find a link to every learning resource we talk about...

It's 2020 and times are tough. Maybe some of us are learning about social distancing the hard way. Maybe we just are all a little anxious. No matter what, we could probably use a friend. But what is a friend, exactly? And why do we need them so much? This week host Bethany Brookshire speaks with Lydia Denworth, author of the new book "Friendship: The Evolution, Biology, and Extraordinary Power of Life's Fundamental Bond". This episode is hosted by Bethany Brookshire, science writer from Science News.

It's everywhere, and it felt disingenuous for us here at Science for the People to avoid it, so here is our episode on Coronavirus. It's ok to give this one a skip if this isn't what you want to listen to right now. Check out the links below for other great podcasts mentioned in the intro. Host Rachelle Saunders gets us up to date on what the Coronavirus is, how it spreads, and what we know and don't know with Dr Jason Kindrachuk, Assistant Professor in the Department of Medical Microbiology and infectious diseases at the University of Manitoba. And...