Big Biology

Professors Joan Strassmann and David Queller from Washington University discuss the evolution of cooperation and conflict. They focus on their work with the social amoeba Dictyostelium discoideum, which helps understand the impact of relatedness on cooperation and the origins of multicellular organisms. They also touch on Joan's new book Slow Birding: The Art and Science of Enjoying the Birds in Your Own Backyard.

Can we predict evolutionary outcomes if we know starting conditions? Do the products of evolution in nature differ from those studied in well-controlled lab experiments?On this episode, we talk to Katie Peichel, head of the Division of Evolutionary Ecology at the University of Bern, Switzerland, and Andrew Hendry, professor in the Department of Biology at McGill University, Canada. Katie and Andrew are part of a massive research team working on the evolution of threespine sticklebacks as they are reintroduced into lakes in Alaska. Sticklebacks have been a favorite species for evolutionary biologists since almost the origins of modern evolutionary theory. Traits like spine size and lateral plate armor evolve rapidly when populations colonize new habitats, leading populations to barely resemble one another. Unlike traditional evolutionary experiments, which try to infer what occurred in the past, the Alaska  project is tracking in unparalleled detail changes in the phenotypes and genotypes of fish that went into each lake population. We talk to Katie and Andrew about the origins of this incredible project, the pros and cons of different approaches to studying evolution, and the need for long-term experimental studies of evolution in the wild. This is the first of a series of episodes we will be doing on the Alaskan research project, so stay tuned!Cover art: Keating Shahmehri. Find a transcript of this episode on our website. 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

Alina Chan, postdoc at the Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard, discusses the search for COVID's origin. The podcast explores the possibilities of zoonotic transfer and lab-leak theory. The lack of conclusive evidence and the co-opting of the investigation are also highlighted. The conversation delves into the implications for future pandemics and the importance of following the data.

Season 6 of Big Biology will kick off at the beginning of September - woohoo! Before then, we have a quick message to share:We’re looking for a new producer to join the Big Biology team! If you are a passionate team player with experience in podcast production, then please consider applying! The producer position is a part-time, remote position. Please send us an email at info@bigbiology.org to learn more. 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

Why can some animals regrow limbs while others can’t? Will understanding regeneration in other vertebrates help us regrow arms one day?Our intern team has taken over the channel to talk about one of their favorite biology topics, limb regeneration! In the episode, Dayna and Kyle break down the mechanisms of regeneration and discuss why some animals can regrow organs and limbs, and why the evolutionary paths of other animals may have led to alternative responses to limb loss.Thanks for listening! This episode of Little Biology was written and presented by Dayna De La Cruz and Kyle Smith. If you enjoyed it, please give them a hand!Cover photo: Keating Shahmehri 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

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit bigbiology.substack.comWhere does biological innovation come from? Why do some innovations wait millions of years for their spotlight?Life must constantly innovate for evolution to occur, but many forms of biological innovation often lie dormant, sometimes for millions of years. In this episode, we speak to Andreas Wagner about his recent book, Sleeping Beauties: The Mystery of Dormant Innovations in Nature and Culture. Andreas is a professor at the Institute of Evolutionary Biology and Environmental Studies at the University of Zurich in Switzerland. In the book, Andreas explains how novel traits sometimes have to wait until the environment changes to become useful, leading to speciation or offering novel solutions to ecological problems. These long fuses are also evident in our own history, namely the life-changing technologies that we invent but don’t fully exploit until the right social or economic context arises.Cover art by Keating Shahmehri

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit bigbiology.substack.comWhat makes a pest? Why are some animals revered in one culture and vilified in another? How do our ways of life bring us into conflict versus companionship, and what do these interactions mean for us and them?Rats, squirrels, coyotes, pigeons...often, we view animals like these as pests. We usually don't like them, even try to get rid of them…but what makes a species a pest? On this episode, we talk with Bethany Brookshire about her new book, Pests: How Humans Create Animal Villains. Bethany is a science journalist interested in human-animal conflict, and in the book, she tells the story of how both historical and cultural context explains why the same animal species can be viewed as a friend or foe. Bethany is also the host of the podcast Science for the People - check them out!Cover art by Keating Shahmehri

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit bigbiology.substack.comWhat is inherency? What are the potential flaws with our understanding of biological function?On this episode, we talk with Stuart Newman, professor at New York Medical College. In his recent paper, “Inherency and agency in the origin and evolution of biological functions,” Stuart argues against the commonly held view that functions of traits necessarily arise from the process of natural selection. He instead advocates for an alternative called inherency, which suggests that groups of cells naturally possess traits that determine their potential morphology, which can then be modified further by natural selection. He supports this idea with examples of extant species - placozoans and sponges - that closely resemble the earliest animals. We discuss Stuart’s provocative paper, the concept of inherency, and its potential role in evolution.Cover art by Keating Shahmehri. Find a transcript of this episode on ⁠our website⁠.

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit bigbiology.substack.comWhat is NEON? What hopes and concerns do we have for large-scale research projects in ecology?On this episode of Big Biology, we talk about the challenges of doing…big biology! The National Ecological Observatory Network, or NEON, is a US National Science Foundation-funded project that has started collecting massive amounts of data from terrestrial and freshwater habitats across a network of sites distributed across the United States. Scott Collins, a professor at the University of New Mexico, and Alan Knapp, a professor at Colorado State University, have been involved in developing, promoting, and sometimes criticizing NEON. We discussed with them the successes and potential of NEON and the major challenges and controversies that it has faced.  We also talked about how they believe NEON can have positive impacts in the future.Cover art by Keating Shahmehri. Find a transcript of this episode on ⁠our website⁠.

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit bigbiology.substack.comBig Biology celebrates its 100th episode! You’re only 100 once, and though we hope there will be many more episodes to come, we wanted to celebrate this milestone with something special. A recurring theme from many of our conversations with guests on the show has been agency. This is a BIG and oftentimes controversial topic in biology, and in this episode we try to pull together the different threads from our past guests’ approaches to agency and discuss what agency means and why we think it is so important for us to better understand it. We also hear from our recent addition to the podcast team, Cameron Ghalambor, who has very different thoughts on agency to Art and Marty, making for a fascinating discussion. Of course, we don’t have all the answers, but that’s never been what this show is about. It’s an invitation to think and converse about the biggest questions in biology. And that’s exactly what we do here.Cover art by Keating ShahmehriDonate to our spring fund drive! Or, become a patron! Or both – hey, we’re not picky!