Biology and Evolution

Biology and Evolution

episodes

Interviews with biologists and evolutionary scientists about their new books.

Monika Krause, "Model Cases: On Canonical Research Objects and Sites" (U Chicago Press, 2021)

July 10, 2024

Model Cases

Monika Krause
Hosted by Miranda Melcher

In Model Cases: On Canonical Research Objects and Sites (University of Chicago Press, 2021), Dr. Monika Krause asks about the concrete material resear…

Joshua Schuster, "What Is Extinction?: A Natural and Cultural History of Last Animals" (Fordham UP, 2023)

June 28, 2024

What Is Extinction?

Joshua Schuster
Hosted by Cody Skahan

Life on Earth is facing a mass extinction event of our own making. Human activity is changing the biology and the meaning of extinction. What Is Extin…

Tessa Hill and Eric Simons, "At Every Depth: Our Growing Knowledge of the Changing Oceans" (Columbia UP, 2024)

June 14, 2024

At Every Depth

Tessa Hill and Eric Simons
Hosted by Vincent Yang

At Every Depth: Our Growing Knowledge of the Changing Oceans (Columbia UP, 2024) takes readers on a journey from California tidepools to Antarctic pol…

Duana Fullwiley, "Tabula Raza: Mapping Race and Human Diversity in American Genome Science" (U California Press, 2024)

June 13, 2024

Tabula Raza

Duana Fullwiley
Hosted by Reighan Gillam

In Tabula Raza: Mapping Race and Human Diversity in American Genome Science (University of California Press, 2024), Duana Fullwiley has penned an inti…

At Every Depth: Our Growing Knowledge of the Changing Oceans

May 16, 2024

At Every Depth

Tessa Hill and Eric Simons

Today’s book is: At Every Depth: Our Growing Knowledge of the Changing Oceans (Columbia UP, 2024), by Tessa Hill and Eric Simons, which takes readers …

Carl Zimmer, "Life's Edge: The Search For What it Means to be Alive" (Dutton, 2022)

May 10, 2024

Life's Edge

Carl Zimmer
Hosted by Renee Garfinkel

Carl Zimmer investigates one of the biggest questions of all: What is life? The answer seems obvious until you try to seriously answer it. Is the appl…

Christian Hansel, "Memory Makes the Brain: The Biological Machinery That Uses Experiences To Shape Individual Brains" (World Scientific, 2021)

April 30, 2024

Memory Makes the Brain

Christian Hansel

If you're interested in memory, you'll find a lot in Memory Makes the Brain: The Biological Machinery That Uses Experiences To Shape Individual Brains…

Charan Ranganath, "Why We Remember: Unlocking Memory's Power to Hold on to What Matters" (Doubleday, 2024)

April 27, 2024

Why We Remember

Charan Ranganath

A new understanding of memory is emerging from the latest scientific research. In Why We Remember: Unlocking Memory's Power to Hold on to What Matters…

Bobby Cherayil, "The Logic of Immunity: Deciphering an Enigma" (Johns Hopkins UP, 2024)

April 16, 2024

The Logic of Immunity

Bobby Joseph Cherayil

Most of us appreciate the importance of the immune system yet have very little knowledge about how it actually works. If you fall into this camp and a…

Miriam Piilonen, "Theorizing Music Evolution: Darwin, Spencer, and the Limits of the Human" (Oxford UP, 2024)

April 15, 2024

Theorizing Music Evolution

Miriam Piilonen
Hosted by Nathan Smith

What did historical evolutionists such as Charles Darwin and Herbert Spencer have to say about music? What role did music play in their evolutionary t…

Rasmus Winther, "Our Genes: A Philosophical Perspective on Human Evolutionary Genomics" (Cambridge UP, 2023)

April 14, 2024

Our Genes

Rasmus Winther
Hosted by Caleb Zakarin

Situated at the intersection of natural science and philosophy, Our Genes: A Philosophical Perspective on Human Evolutionary Genomics (Cambridge Unive…

Max Bennett, "A Brief History of Intelligence: Evolution, Ai, and the Five Breakthroughs That Made Our Brains" (Mariner Books, 2023)

April 1, 2024

A Brief History of Intelligence

Max Bennett

A Brief History of Intelligence: Evolution, Ai, and the Five Breakthroughs That Made Our Brains (Mariner Books, 2023) tells two fascinating stories. O…

Joseph Cone, "Seeing Opera Anew: A Cultural and Biological Perspective" (Routledge, 2023)

March 3, 2024

Seeing Opera Anew

Joseph Cone
Hosted by James Kates

What people ultimately want from music-drama, audience research suggests, is to be absorbed in a story that engages their feelings, even moves them de…

Sten Grillner, "The Brain in Motion: From Microcircuits to Global Brain Function" (MIT Press, 2023)

February 23, 2024

The Brain in Motion

Sten Grillner

C. S. Sherrington said “All the brain can do is to move things". The Brain in Motion: From Microcircuits to Global Brain Function (MIT Press, 2023) sh…

Rob Percival, "The Meat Paradox: Eating, Empathy, and the Future of Meat" (Pegasus, 2022)

February 12, 2024

The Meat Paradox

Rob Percival
Hosted by Caleb Zakarin

Our future diet will be shaped by diverse forces. It will be shaped by novel technologies, by geopolitical tensions, and the evolution of cultural pre…

Joshua Paul Dale, "Irresistible: How Cuteness Wired our Brains and Conquered the World" (Profile Books, 2023)

February 10, 2024

Irresistible

Joshua Paul Dale
Hosted by Miranda Melcher

Why are some things cute, and others not? What happens to our brains when we see something cute? And how did cuteness go global, from Hello Kitty to D…

Michael Devitt, "Biological Essentialism" (Oxford UP, 2023)

February 10, 2024

Biological Essentialism

Michael Devitt
Hosted by Carrie Figdor

What makes a species a species? Aristotle answered the species question by positing unchanging essences, properties that all and only members of a spe…

Use of Bacteriophages as Natural Antimicrobials to Manage Bacterial Pathogens in Aquaculture in Vietnam and Australia

February 2, 2024

Use of Bacteriophages as Natural Antimicrobials to Manage Bacterial Pathogens in Aquaculture in Vietnam and Australia

Carola Venturini
Hosted by Natali Pearson

Aquaculture is the fastest-growing protein production industry globally, with Vietnam one of the top producers and exporters of seafood products. In V…

Ludovic Slimak, "The Naked Neanderthal: A New Understanding of the Human Creature" (Pegasus Books, 2023)

January 26, 2024

The Naked Neanderthal

Ludovic Slimak

What do we really know about our cousins, the Neanderthals? For over a century we saw Neanderthals as inferior to Homo Sapiens. More recently, the pe…

The Future of Images of Human Evolution

January 20, 2024

The Future of Images of Human Evolution

Gowan Dawson

We are all familiar with the “march of progress” image - the representation of evolution that depicts a series of apelike creatures becoming progressi…