Big Biology

At what levels does causation happen in biology? Are metaphors useful for understanding biology?

In this episode, we talk with Phil Ball, a science writer who was also an editor for the journal Nature for over 20 years. Phil has written over 25 books, but our conversation focuses on his most recent: “How Life Works: A User’s Guide to the New Biology.” In the book, Phil covers a wide-range of topics from cells to proteins to biologi...

How should biologists deal with the massive amounts of population genetic data that are now routinely available? Will AIs make biologists obsolete?

In this episode, we talk with Andy Kern, an Associate Professor of Biology at the University of Oregon. Andy has spent much of his career applying machine learning methods in population genetics. We talk with him about the fundamental questions that population genetics aims to answer an...

How should we study complex biological networks? How do cells keep time and stay in sync? What does it mean for a network to be resilient?

In this episode, we talk with Rosemary Braun, Associate Professor at Northwestern University in the Department of Molecular Biosciences and a member of the NSF-Simons Center for Quantitative Biology. Rosemary is broadly interested in learning whether “more is different” when it comes to complex ...

How do biologists strike a productive balance between descriptive natural history and manipulative experiments in the lab or field? Should we bring back species to areas where they’ve gone extinct and what values do we use to make these decisions? What is wildness and how do we cultivate it?

On this episode, we talk with Harry Greene, a herpetologist and adjunct professor of Integrative Biology at the University of Texas at Austin,...

What is an agent, and does an organism have to be conscious to be one? How does organismal agency affect evolution?

In this episode, we talk with Samir Okasha, a Professor of Philosophy of Science at the University of Bristol. Samir studies fundamental philosophical questions in evolutionary biology, most notably how selection acts on various levels of biological organization. Our discussion focuses on his book “Agents and Goals in...

On this episode, we talk with Alina Chan, postdoc at the Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard and co-author with Matt Ridley of Viral: The Search for the Origin of COVID-19. SARS-CoV-2 could have plausibly jumped into humans in Wuhan via one of two paths. The first is zoonotic transfer from wild bats to humans, possibly via an intermediate animal host. The second is some kind of lab accident: researchers working on a SARS-CoV-2-like ...

How can we reconcile the evolutionary problem of cooperation? What can social amoebae tell us about the origins of multicellularity?

In this episode, we talk to Joan Strassmann and David Queller, professors at Washington University in St. Louis, about the evolution of cooperation and conflict. From social insects to humans, we can find instances of individuals seemingly sacrificing fitness for the good of the group. But, truly altr...

If the tape of life were replayed, how recognizable would today’s species and ecosystems be? How and why does power increase over evolutionary time? How have humans unleashed so much power, and what are the consequences of that power for life on Earth? 

In this episode, we talk with Geerat Vermeij, a paleoecologist and evolutionary biologist in the Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences at UC Davis. He is a member of the Nation...

How are cephalopods like us, but also completely alien? How can they become so intelligent when they have such short lives? How do they coordinate a distributed set of brains?

In this episode, we talk with Danna Staaf, a science communicator and marine biologist with a lifelong love of cephalopods. Danna earned a PhD from Stanford University studying baby squid, and she has written several cephalopod-themed books. Our conversation ...

Does biological plasticity have a cost? Are there evolutionary consequences of plasticity and of organisms acting on their environments?

In this episode, we talk with Sonia Sultan, the Alan M. Dachs Professor of Science in the Department of Biology at Wesleyan University. Sonia has spent her career studying the interplay between organisms and their environment. Specifically, she studies how environmental conditions influence the de...

How do small, founding populations establish and thrive in new places? What is biocontrol, and how is it carried out responsibly?

In this episode, we talk with Ruth Hufbauer, a Professor of Applied Evolutionary Ecology at Colorado State University about the ways that organisms successfully establish new populations in new places. Ruth uses lab experiments on Tribolium flour beetles to understand how evolution facilitates or impedes...

How do biologists categorize species? What’s the best and quickest way to describe millions of unknown species?

On this episode, we talk with Michael Sharkey, an entomologist and taxonomist who spent much of his career at the University of Kentucky, and is now the director of the Hymenoptera Institute. Since its inception, taxonomy has relied on careful morphological analysis of specimens to delineate species. In the past few decad...

How do living things exert agency in a world of strict physical and chemical laws? Do humans have free will? 

In this episode, we talk with Kevin Mitchell, an Associate Professor of Genetics and Neuroscience at Trinity College Dublin. The question of free will has been debated for decades by thinkers in physics, philosophy, psychology, and, more recently, biology. In his new book, Free Agents: How Evolution Gave Us Free Will, Kevin...

How has evolutionary biology evolved over time? What does it take to study evolution in natural populations?

On this episode, we talk with Erik Svensson, an evolutionary biologist at Lund University, Sweden. Historically, evolutionary theory has focused largely on population and quantitative genetics, but the complexity of interactions between genetic variation, organisms, and their environments poses challenges to testing the...

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 t...

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.

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 ha...

Where 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 Ins...

What 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 abo...