Big Biology

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit bigbiology.substack.comWhat is a germ cell and why do animals separate germ and soma (body) cells at all? What molecules determine whether cells become germ or soma, and are some such mechanisms products of horizontal gene transfer?On this episode of Big Biology, we talk with Cassandra Extavour, an evolutionary developmental biologist at Harvard who studies the how's and why's of germ cell differentiation in insects. Recently, Cassandra's lab has been working on oskar, a novel and highly conserved gene that is indispensable for giving insect cells the ability to become sperm or eggs. She and others have found that Oskar effectively acts like a magnet in developing insect cells, keeping together molecules critical to transformation of undifferentiated cells into functional germ cells. Bizarrely, this really important gene is thought to have evolved partly through horizontal gene transfer between insects and particular bacteria. Since then, oskar has also come to have many other functions, including for nerve cell development, even though much of its history was in species without nervous systems. Cassandra thinks that genes like these with complex histories and pleiotropic effects might be very common in living systems, much more than longstanding one gene-one phenotype thinking would lead us to expect.Photo: Hannah Davis

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit bigbiology.substack.comHow has the amount of artificial light changed over the last 150 years? In what ways does artificial light affect human health and wildlife? And how can new lighting technologies ameliorate the effects of light pollution?On this episode of Big Biology we talk to Kevin Gaston (@KevinJGaston), a professor of Biodiversity & Conservation at the University of Exeter. Kevin is an expert on the ecological impacts of artificial light and in particular “sky glow”--the combined glow of all lights coming from cities and towns. In our chat, we discussed how light production has grown over the past several decades and the growing impacts that it's having on our planet. Further, we discuss some of the psychology behind the human desire for bright spaces and what we as individuals can do to reduce the impacts of light pollution on ourselves and the organisms around us.This episode is sponsored by the Zoological Lighting Institute. Recognizing that natural light is a central aspect of animal health and ecological function, The Zoological Lighting Institute promotes scientific research to improve understanding of what artificial changes in light mean for animals and the human communities that depend on them. Through education on light pollution, ZLI hopes that proper and sustainable approaches to care and development of light sources can be taken by communities around the globe.

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit bigbiology.substack.comHow can local and state governments repair the damage done by COVID-19? Is there a vaccine on its way to a pharmacy near you? And what should you expect about lockdowns, facemasks, and new COVID-19 therapies in the coming months?On this episode of Big Biology, a panel of experts discusses the virus’s trajectory and impact, and our options going forward. This conversation was recorded live at Busch Gardens in Tampa, Florida, in partnership with the University of South Florida College of Public Health and Morsani College of Medicine and the City of Tampa.The panel consisted of Jane Castor, the mayor of Tampa, Kami Kim, a physician and professor who specializes in infectious diseases, Edwin Michael, an epidemiologist focused on the population ecology of disease transmission, and Michael Teng, an immunologist with expertise in vaccine development. We moderate as the experts look ahead, and discuss what we can expect long-term.Photo: Allison Long

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit bigbiology.substack.comWhat is the role of chance in explaining variation in biology? How has it shaped the history of life on Earth? And how do scientists incorporate chance into their performing experiments?In this episode of BigBiology, we talk to Sean Caroll, an award-winning scientist, author, educator and, film-producer about his latest book, A Series of Fortunate Events, in which he writes about how chance has shaped life on Earth. In Sean’s view, chance is the creative process and contingency is the aftermath of chance. Consider the asteroid impact that killed off the dinosaurs and paved the way for the rise of mammals and ultimately humans. It could have missed our planet altogether. Or it could have hit 30 minutes earlier, or later, landing in the ocean and having effects that were much less severe.Sean argues that chance is not limited to biology but plays a big role society including the entertainment industry. The common theme between thinkers and comedians is that they tell the truth, but in a very different way. How do comedians get away with bold statements while scientists run into a controversy for the same ideas? Do scientists have something to learn from comedians?

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit bigbiology.substack.comAre whales the biggest animals to have ever lived? Why have they evolved to become so gigantic? What key adaptations support their immense size?On this episode of Big Biology, we talk to Jeremy Goldbogen (@GoldbogenLab), a scientist at the Hopkins Marine Station at Stanford University. For the past few years he has been tracking blue whales, aiming to understand how their physiology sustains their massive size, and how food and environment play a role in whale gigantism. We talk about the evolution of extreme size, whether modern whales are bigger than the largest dinosaurs, how whale hearts are adapted for deep sea diving, and the fascinating innovations that both toothed and baleen whales have evolved to get the most out of a meal.This episode of Big Biology is sponsored by Hopkins Marine Station of Stanford University. Founded in 1892, Hopkins Marine Station is the oldest marine laboratory on America’s west coast conducting research that addresses fundamental questions at every level of marine biology, from genes to ecosystems.

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit bigbiology.substack.comHow did life originate on Earth? Why is it that eukaryotes but not bacteria or archaea evolved large size and complicated body forms? How likely is that life has arisen independently elsewhere in the universe?On this episode, we talk with Nick Lane, a biochemist and professor at University College London, about his 2015 book The Vital Question. Nick argues that protolife arose in alkaline hydrothermal vents deep in the early Earth’s oceans. The key early event was the evolution of metabolism powered by proton gradients. In other words, metabolism came first, and all of the rest of traits we think of as universal to life -- DNA, RNA, proteins, transcription, and translation -- came later. He also invokes an energetic perspective on the origin of eukaryotes, arguing that the acquisition of mitochondria distributed energy production through the cell volume, provided vastly more energy per gene, and allowed the dramatic expansion of eukaryotic genomes that in turn support the astonishing diversity of eukaryotic forms we see today.Photo: Cryo-TEM shots of ‘protocells’ from Nick Lane

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit bigbiology.substack.comHow did the Brown Recluse get its powerful bite? How widespread is venom across the tree of life? How do spiders use their venoms? On this episode of Big Biology, we talk with spider venom expert Greta Binford (@gretabinford), a Biology Professor and Biology Department Chair at Lewis & Clark University. Her lab explores the vast chemical richness of spider venom and how those venoms have evolved. We talked with Greta about the function of venom, how it’s evolved throughout the tree of life, and the surprising role horizontal gene transfer--the idea that genes can jump sideways from one species into another--may have played in the origins of spider venom. Also, we get her candid thoughts on some cult spider horror flicks. We also cover her 2018 paper on venom protein evolution, which you can find herePodcast art: Rosa Pineda

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit bigbiology.substack.comWhere, when, and how did Homo sapiens appear? What do we know about the complex set of ancestral hominins that preceded us? How recently did other hominin lineages live and what happened to them?In this episode we talk with Kate Wong, a senior editor at Scientific American, about her latest article, The Origin of Us. Our understanding of hominin evolution over the past several million years has been transformed by exciting new fossil finds and new DNA sequence data. We talk with Kate about the biggest news, the luxuriant evolutionary bush from which our ancestors emerged in Africa, and her favorite fossil species.Episode art: Comparison of Modern Human and Neanderthal skulls from the Cleveland Museum of Natural History via Wikimedia Commons. hairymuseummatt (original photo), DrMikeBaxter (derivative work) (CC BY-SA 2.0)"

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit bigbiology.substack.comWhich animals are conscious, and how can we tell? Does it matter? Although many people think of insects as simple organisms that react in preprogrammed ways to their environments, scientists know increasingly that insect have subtle and complex forms of behavior and learning. But are they conscious?On this episode, we talk with Lars Chittka, a biologist at Queen Mary University of London who studies the evolution of sensory systems and cognition in insects. Lars studies how bumblebees and other insects solve complex problems, and his results show unequivocally that they are incredibly flexible and creative. They clearly are not organic robots.In Lars’s experiments, bees learn how to roll balls onto targets by watching other bees, they secure rewards by using tools, and they even plan for the future and store representations of objects in their minds. This last trait many scientists thought was restricted just to vertebrates.

This podcast was originally broadcast by Complexity, a podcast from the Santa Fe Institute on April, 20 2020.Big Biology has featured several scientists connected to the Santa Fe Institute, and now SFI has its own podcast called Complexity.You can listen to all of their episodes here: https://complexity.simplecast.com/This episode, as well as show notes, are available here: https://complexity.simplecast.com/episodes/29Complexity features wide-ranging conversations with the Santa Fe Institute’s scientists, mathematicians, philosophers and artists who are trying to understand the deepest mysteries of the universe.The show covers a huge range of topics, delving into social science or economics as often as biology. We really encourage you to check it outOn this podcast, host Michael Garfield and SFI President David Krakauer discuss a series of essays by SFI scientists that try to makes sense of what the world will look like after the coronavirus pandemic. You can read those essays here: https://www.santafe.edu/research/projects/transmission-sfi-insights-covid-19 This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit bigbiology.substack.com/subscribe