This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit bigbiology.substack.com What role do genes play in complex human behaviors? If behavior is largely shaped by a combination of experience and luck, how should we rethink blame, punishment, and forgiveness? In this episode, we talk with Kathryn Paige Harden , a Professor of Psychology at the University of Texas at Austin, where she leads the Developmental Behavior Genetics lab and…...
This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit bigbiology.substack.com What are eco‑evolutionary dynamics and how can we study them in the wild? Why do some fish evolve placentas? In this episode, we talk with David Reznick , Distinguished Professor of Biology at the University of California, Riverside. David has spent much of his career studying Trinidadian guppies to understand adaptation in the wild. In our conversation, …...
This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit bigbiology.substack.com How are camera traps used in the conservation of cryptic species such as the African golden cat? How can local communities be engaged to foster the success of conservation? In this episode, we talk with Mwezi Mugerwa, winner of the 2025 Indianapolis Prize Emerging Conservationist , a National Geographic Explorer, and President of the Society for Conservat…...
How 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 ...
This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit bigbiology.substack.com How and when did humans domesticate the horse? How did horses shape our language, culture, and history? On this episode, we talk with Dr. Ludovic Orlando , a research director for the French National Center for Scientific Research and founding director of the Centre for Anthropobiology & Genomics of Toulouse. Ludovic is also the author of the new book Hor…...
This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit bigbiology.substack.com How do animals use medication and can humans learn from them? What are the evolutionary consequences of animal self-medication? In this episode, we talk with Jaap de Roode , the Samuel Candler Dobbs Professor of Biology at Emory University and author of the book Doctors by Nature: How Ants, Apes, and Other Animals Heal Themselves . Jaap’s research on monar…...
What impact has the Trump administration had on biology and the scientific community? How do scientists study genomic adaptation and vulnerability? On this episode we talk with Dr. Katie Lotterhos , Associate Professor in the Department of Marine and Environmental Sciences at Northeastern University. Katie is also the Secretary for the American Society of Naturalists, and she helped to coordinate and implement a survey of scientists to understand the impacts of the Trump administration’s policie...
This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit bigbiology.substack.com What’s the value of risk-taking in research? How is studying the mechanisms of transgenerational inheritance in C. elegans unorthodox and insightful? How can AI help improve aspects of biology, namely the peer review process? In this episode, we talk with Oded Rechavi , professor in the Faculty of Life Sciences and the Sagol School of Neuroscience at Tel …...
This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit bigbiology.substack.com How do non-adaptive processes shape biological diversity and complexity? What is effective population size and what important role does it play in evolution? On this episode of Big Biology, we talk with Dr Mike Lynch , Regents Professor and the Director of the Biodesign Center for Mechanisms of Evolution at Arizona State University. We talk with Mike abou…...
Where, 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? On this episode, we talk with Kate Wong, a senior editor at Scientific American, about her 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 bigge...
What can we learn from the COVID-19 pandemic, and how do we apply that knowledge moving forward? On this special episode of Big Biology, we’re bringing you the highlights from a conference called “Covid Conversations,” which was hosted at the University of South Florida last December. The event brought together scientists, public health experts, medical doctors, historians, students, philosophers, and community leaders—for one big, open conversation about COVID-19. The episode shares the differe...
How can grad students advocate for science policy? How can science communication make research more accessible and inclusive? On this episode of Big Biology, we bring back our “Student Spotlight” segment. We talk with JP Flores , a PhD student studying bioinformatics and computational biology at UNC Chapel Hill. JP does more than just research, he is also deeply engaged in science communication and hosts the award-winning podcast From where does it STEM? He has also worked in science policy as a...
This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit bigbiology.substack.com What role does media play in conservation efforts and inspiring future generations of scientists? How can science communication make scientific knowledge accessible to the public, especially for communities underrepresented in science? On this episode, we talk with Dr Rae Wynn-Grant a researcher at the Bren School of Environmental Science and Management …...
This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit bigbiology.substack.com What biological "superpowers" do marine invertebrates possess? What challenges do they face and will their resilience protect them from anthropogenic change? On this episode, we talk with Drew Harvell , Professor Emerita of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology at Cornell University, Affiliate Faculty at the University of Washington, former Science Envoy for O…...
Why is the National Science Foundation important? What is the potential impact of the proposed budget cut to the NSF? How can we stand up for federally-funded science in the US? In this episode, we talk with Bill Zamer and Sam Scheiner , two former BIO program officers at the NSF. Much of the conversation focuses on the recently proposed 56% budget cut to the NSF and what the impacts of such a spending cut would be on science in the US. We discuss how the NSF came to be, the proposal selection p...
Watch how our amazing artist Keating Shahmehri created the cover art for our last episode "Feel the heat”. 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
How do scientists measure thermal tolerance and predict organismal responses in the wild? What kind of other data is needed to make predictive models better at helping us understand species responses to high temperatures? In this special episode, roving podcaster Cameron Ghalambor went on the road to the University of Granada in Spain where he spoke about his own research in the symposium, Predictive Ecology in a Warming World . While there, Cam was inspired to get a few of the other experts int...
This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit bigbiology.substack.com How are new technologies allowing biologists to look beyond simple genetic variation to whole genome structure? What is a pangenome? In this episode, we talk with Scott Edwards , the Alexander Agassiz Professor of Zoology and Curator of Ornithology at Harvard University. On this episode, we talk to Scott about the new ways we can describe and understand l…...
In this post-match chat, Marty and Cam discuss our most recent episode “A direct hit”, with guest Holden Thorp. This is a quickly evolving situation, and on Friday last week, a federal judge continued to block the cut to the NIH indirect cost rate. And just a few days ago, Holden wrote another editorial Come together, right now . He writes about the continued onslaught of cuts, firings, and changes to the science system in the United States, and how members of the scientific community can respon...
Will a change in policy at the National Institutes of Health derail science in the US? How does the “indirect cost rate” for federal research grants fuel research? In this episode, we talk with Holden Thorp , a chemist and editor-in-chief of Science , about his recent editorial A Direct Hit . In it, he writes about the NIH announcing a significant cut to their indirect cost rate and the consequences to science in the US if this change takes effect. “Indirect” or “overhead” costs are the portions...
Here’s a little sneak peek into what goes on behind the scenes when we choose a title for an episode. In this snippet, Cam and Marty discuss the title of our most recent episode: “Beaks on (fitness) peaks.” 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.com Which factors lead to the evolution of reproductive isolation? What role does hybridization play in speciation? Why are there so many bird species in the tropics? In this episode, we host Trevor Price , a Professor in the Department of Ecology and Evolution at the University of Chicago and a Fellow of the Royal Society to talk about the evolutionary proce…...
This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit bigbiology.substack.com How does human behavior contribute to disease transmission? What can our history with infectious disease teach us about modern epidemics? On this episode, we talk with Sabrina Sholts, Curator of Biological Anthropology in the Department of Anthropology at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of Natural History (NMNH). Sabrina’s research explores the interse…...
This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit bigbiology.substack.com What role does development play in evolution? How can biology incorporate a broader, more complex definition of what it means to be an organism? In this episode, we talk with Scott Gilbert and Tobias Uller , two of the authors who wrote Evolution Evolving: The Developmental Origins of Adaptation and Biodiversity . Tobias is a professor of Biodiversity and …...
This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit bigbiology.substack.com How have organisms changed the Earth and what can humans learn from its deep past? On this episode, we talk with Stephen Porder , a Professor of Ecology, Evolution, and Organismal Biology and the Associate Provost for Sustainability at Brown University. Stephen is also the author of Elemental: How Five Elements Changed Earth’s Past and Will Shape Our Futu…...
How do natural selection and sexual selection interact? What can observing adaptive radiation in the wild teach us about evolution? On this episode, we talk with Dale Broder , an Assistant Professor at American University, and Robin Tinghitella , an Associate Professor at the University of Denver. They study the Pacific field cricket, a fascinating organism that exemplifies both adaptive radiation and the interaction of natural selection and sexual selection. This species uses song for mate attr...
This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit bigbiology.substack.com What are spiny mice and why are they so social? What about their brains makes them gregarious? Might network neuroscience be a useful framework for understanding spiny mice behavior? On this episode, we talk with Aubrey Kelly , an Assistant Professor in Psychology at Emory University. Aubrey is a behavioral neuroscientist working on many vertebrate specie…...
This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit bigbiology.substack.com What was life like in wartime England for a young female scientist? What about living and doing research for months each year with your daughters and husband on a remote island? On this episode, we talk with Rosemary Grant , Emeritus Professor of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology at Princeton University. Rosemary is best-known for her foundational research on the Darwin’s Finches of the Galapagos Islands, conduc...
This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit bigbiology.substack.com How do biologists study the influence of heat on organisms and how can this be applied to the study of climate change? What impacts mountaineer survival at high altitudes? On this episode of Big Biology, we talk with Professor Emeritus at University of Washington and recently elected member of the National Academy of Sciences, Ray Huey . Ray is well known…...
Can we study evolution in the wild? Are some species “super-evolvers”? On the episode, we talk with Alison Derry , a professor of biology at the University of Quebec in Montreal, and Andrew Hendry , a professor in the Department of Biology at McGill University, Canada. This episode is the second we’ve done on the team’s work, and Andrew was also a guest on our first episode in the series. This conversation was recorded live in front of an audience at Kenai Peninsula College, in Soldotna, Alaska....
