Biopedia: Recent Episodes

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Skeletons are on the menu today- and the different kinds organisms can have.

Sources for this episode:

• Campbell, N. A., Urry, L. A., Cain, M. L., Wasserman, S. A., Minorsky, P. V. and Reece, J. B. (2018), Biology: a global approach, 11th edition (Global Edition), Harlow, Pearson Education Limited.
• Clennett, C., Locke, J. and Jackson, T. (editorial consultants) (2023), How Biology Works. LonondM Darling Kindersley Ltd.
• Hine, R. S. (2019), Oxford Dictionary of Biology (8th edition). Oxford: Oxford University Press.
• Schmidt-Nielsen, K. (1997), Animal Physiology: Adaptation and environment. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

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Bee declines feature prominently in the news today. But what are the causes for it? Using the example of the UK, we follow the Woodland Trust to explore this issue. Plus, we also discuss two papers which hold differing viewpoints about the pollination crisis generally...

Sources for this episode:

• Briggs, H., BBC News (2019), Bees: Many British pollinating insects in decline, study shows (online) (Accessed 05/03/2024).
• Engel, M. S., Rasmussen, C. and Gonzalez, V. H. (2021), Bees. In: Starr, C. K. (ed.), Encyclopedia of Insects. Springer Nature Switzerland.
• Ghazoul, J. (2005), Buzziness as usual? Questioning the global pollination crisis. Trends in Ecology and Evolution 20(7): 367-373.
• Hine, R. S. (2019), Oxford Dictionary of Biology. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
• Kennedy, P. J., Ford, S. M., Poidatz, J., Thiéry, D., & Osborne, J. L. (2018). Searching for nests of the invasive Asian hornet (Vespa velutina) using radio-telemetry. Communications Biology, 1, 88.
• Lima, C. G., Sofia Vaz, A., Honrado, J. P., Aranha, J., Crespo, N., & Vicente, J. R. (2022). The invasion by the Yellow-legged hornet: A systematic review. Journal for Nature Conservation, 67, 126173.
• Paxton, R. J. (2010), Does infection by Nosema ceranae cause “Colony Collapse Disorder” in honey bees (Apis mellifera)? Journal of Apicultural Research 49(1): 80-84.
• Rader, R., Bartomeus, I., Garibaldi, L. A. and Woyciechowski, M. (2015), Non-bee insects are important contributors to global crop pollination. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 113(1): 146-151.
• Renner, S. S. and Zohner, C. M. (2018), Climate Change and Phenological Mismatch in Trophic Interactions Among Plants, Insects and Vertebrates. Annual Review of Ecology, Evolution and Systematics 49: 162-182.
• Takahashi, J., Okuyama, H., Kiyoshi, T., Takeuchi, T., & Martin, S. J. (2019). Origins of Vespa velutina hornets that recently invaded Iki Island, Japan and Jersey Island, UK. Mitochondrial DNA Part A, 30(3), 434–439.
• Van Engelsdorp, D., et al. (2009), Colony Collapse Disorder: A Descriptive Study. PLOS ONE 4(8): e6481.
• Varela, C. (2023), Why are bees important? And how you can help them (online) (Accessed 01/03/2023).
• Vogel, G. (2017), Where have all the insects gone? Science 356(6338): 576-579.
• Author unknown, Climate Action Tracker (date unknown), The CAT Thermometer (online) (Accessed 05/03/2024).

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Time for a common ecological term to get the treatment it deserves. Today, we're exploring the biome. Not only that, but the term ecoregion is getting thrown in as an extra...

Sources for this episode:

• Clennett, C., Locke, J. and Jackson, T. (editorial consultants) (2023), How Biology Works. LonondM Darling Kindersley Ltd.
• Hine, R. S. (2019), Oxford Dictionary of Biology (8th edition). Oxford: Oxford University Press.
• Rundel, P. W., Arroyo, M. T. K., Cowling, R. M., Keeley, J. E., Lamont, B. B. and Vargas, P. (2016), Mediterranean Biomes: Evolution of Their Vegetation, Floras, and Climate. Annual Review of Ecology, Evolution and Systematics 47: 383-407.
• Whittaker, R. J. and Fernández-Palacios, J. M. (2007), Island Biogeography: Ecology, Evolution and Conservation (2nd edition). Oxford: Oxford University Press.

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Climate change as a topic is a well-known one. However, we are going to be dissecting a paper published recently which deals with the potential economic impact of a warming world...

Sources for this episode:

TBA

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Today's episode is going to feature one of the later monarchs from the Hellenistic era- Mithridates VI of Pontus. This is because his practice of trying to make himself immune to poison- called mithridatism- is biologically relevant and and continues to be influential until the 18th century.

Sources for this episode:

• Jarcho, S. (1972), Medical Numismatic Notes, VII: Mithridates IV. Bulletin of the New York Academy of Medicine 48(8): 1059-1064.
• Kaberopoulos, D., Karamanou, M. and Androutsos, G. (2012), The art of medicine: The theriac in antiquity. The Lancet 379: 1942-1943.
• Karamanou, M., Androutsos, G., Hayes, A. W. and Tsatsakis, A. (2018), Toxicology in the Borgias period: The mystery of Cantarella poison. Toxicology Research and Application 2: 1-3.
• Valle, G., Stanislao, M., Facciorusso, A., Carmignani, M. and Volpe, A. R. (2010), Mithridates VI Eupator, father of the empirical toxicology. Clinical Toxicology 47(5): 433.
• Author unknown, Wikipedia (date unknown), Antiochus III the Great (online) (Accessed 28/07/2023).
• Author unknown, Wikipedia (date unknown), Demetrius I Soter (online) (Accessed 28/07/2023).
• Author unknown, Wikipedia (date unknown), Laodice IV (online) (Accessed 28/07/2023).
• Author unknown, Wikipedia (date unknown), Laodice VI (online) (Accessed 28/07/2023).
• Author unknown, Wikipedia (date unknown), Mithridates VI Eupator (online) (Accessed 29/07/2023).
• Author unknown, Wikipedia (date unknown), Seleucus II Callinicus (online) (Accessed 28/07/2023).

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The Black Death in the 14th century is engrained in the popular consciousness. But how familiar is the first wave of the disease that happened in the 500s? In this episode, we explore what plague is, its evolution, strains and impact on the world of the 6th century according to Procopius.

Sources for this episode:

• Achtman, M., Zurth, K., Morelli, G., Torrea, G., Guiyoule, A. and Carniel, E. (1999), Yersinia pestis, the cause of plague, is a recently emerged clone of Yersinia pseudotuberculosis. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America 96(24): 14043-14048.
• Dai, R., He, J., Zha, X., Wang, Y., Zhang, X., Gao, H., Yang, X., Li, J., Xin, Y., Wang, Y., Li, S., Jin, J., Zhang, Q., Bai, J., Peng, Y., Wu, H., Zhang, Q., Wei, B., Xu, J. and Li, W. (2021), A novel mechanism of streptomycin resistance in Yersinia pestis: Mutation in the rpsL gene. PLOS Neglected Tropical Diseases 15(4): e0009324.
• Dewing, H. B. (1960), Procopius in Seven Volumes. Volume VI: The Anecdota or Secret History. Cambridge, Massachusetts and London: Harvard University Press and William Heinemann Ltd.
• Dewing, H. B. (1961), Procopius in Seven Volumes. Volume II: History of the Wars: Books III and IV. Cambridge, Massachusetts and London: Harvard University Press and William Heinemann Ltd.
• Dull, R. A., Southon, J. R., Kutterolf, S., Anchukaitis, K. J., Freundt, A., Wahl, D. B., Sheets, P., Amaroli, P., Hernandez, W., Wiemann, M. C. and Oppenheimer, C. (2019), Radiocarbon and geologic evidence reveal Ilopango volcano as source of the colossal ‘mystery’ eruption of 539/40 CE. Quaternary Science Reviews 222: 105855.
• Dykhuizen, D. E. (2000), Yersinia pestis: An instant species? Trends in Microbiology 8(7): 296-298.
• Ke, Y., Chen, Z. and Yang, R. (2019), Yersinia pestis: mechanisms of entry into and resistance to the host cell. Frontiers in Cellular and Infection Microbiology 3(106): 1-9.
• Kousoulis, A. A., Karamanou, M., Tsoucalas, G., Dimitriou, T. and Androutsos, G. (2012), Alexandre Yersin’s Explorations (1892-1894) in French Indochina before the Discovery of the Plague Bacillus. Acto Medico-Historica Adriatica 10(2): 303-310.
• Mikaty, G., Coullon, H., Fiette, L., Pizarro-Cerdá and Carniel, E. (2021), The invasive pathogen Yersinia pestis disrupts host blood vasculature to spread and provoke hemorrhages. PLOS Neglected Tropical Diseases 15(10): e0009832.
• Mordechai, L., Eisenberg, M., Newfield, T. P., Izdebski, A., Kay, J. E. and Poinar, H. (2019), The Justinianic Plague: An Inconsequential Pandemic? Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America 116(51): 25546-25554.
• Moseley, J. E. (1981), Travels of Alexandre Yersin: Letters of a Pastorian in Indochina, 1890-1894. Perspectives in Biology and Medicine 24(4): 607-618.
• Norwich, J. J. (2013), A Short History of Byzantium. London: The Penguin Group.
• Procopius (1985), The Secret History (translated by Williamson, G. A.). Harmondsworth: Penguin Books Ltd.
• Rogers, K., Encyclopedia Britannica (2023), Yersinia pestis (online) (Accessed c.01/03/2024).
• Rosen, W. (2008), Justinian’s Flea: Plague, Empire & the Birth of Europe. London: Pimlico.
• Sarris, P. (2023), Justinian: Emperor, Soldier, Saint. London: Basic Books UK.
• Author unknown, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (date unknown), Protect yourself from plague.
• Author unknown, Wikipedia (date unknown), Plague of Justinian (online) (Accessed 01/03/2024).

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1-2% of the world's population have red hair. So, we're giving the phenomenon its own episode! Today, we discuss the gene/protein that causes red hair, as well as its psychological and possible medical effects...

Sources for this episode:

• Bryant, NIH Research Matters (2021), Study finds link between red hair and pain threshold (online) (Accessed 12/01/2024).
• Gradwohl, S. C., Aranake, A., Abdallah, A. B., McNair, P., Lin, N., Fritz, B. A., Villafranca, A., Glick, D., Jacobsohn, E., Mashour, G. A. and Avidan, M. S. (2015), Intraoperative awareness risk, anesthetic sensitivity, and anesthetic management for patients with natural red hair: a matched cohort study. Canadian Journal of Anesthesia 62: 345 355.
• Massachusetts General Hospital, Science Daily (2021), Research reveals why redheads have different pain thresholds (online) (Accessed 12/01/2024).
• Regan, K. O. (2014), “Red hair in popular culture and the relationship with anxiety and depression”. Thesis submitted for University College, Cork.
• Rees, J. L. (2000), The Melanocortin 1 Receptor (MC1R): More Than Just Red Hair. Pigment Cell Research 13: 135-140.
• Robinson, K. C., Kemény, L. V., Fell, G. L., Hermann, A. L., Allouche J., Ding, W., Yekkirala, A., Hsiao, J. J., Su, M. Y., Theodosakis, N., Kozak, G., Takeuchi, Y., Shen, S., Berenyi, A., Mao, J., Woolf, C. J. and Fisher, D. E. (2021), Reduced MC4R signalling alters nociceptive thresholds associated with red hair. Science Advances 7: eabd1310.
• Author unknown, Wikipedia (date unknown), Nociception (online) (Accessed 12/01/2024).
• Author unknown, Worldometer (date unknown), World Population Clock: 8.1 Billion People (LIVE, 2024) (online) (Accessed11/01/2024).

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You asked, I delivered! In a sequel to our discussion in episode 58, we're going to shine a spotlight on two more thinkers during the Islamic Golden Age. Along the way we'll also see connections with later thinkers and a cameo from episode 69...

Sources for this episode:

• Guerber, H. A. (1929), The Myths of Greece & Rome: Their Stories Signification and Origin. London: George G. Harrap & Company Ltd.
• Kaack, L. H. and Katul, G. G. (2013), Fifty years to prove Malthus right. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America 110(11): 4161-4162.
• Malik, A. H., Ziermann, J. M. and Diogo, R. (2018), An untold story in biology: the historical continuity of evolutionary ideas of Muslim scholars from the 8th century to Darwin’s time. Journal of Biological Education 52(1): 3-17.
• Waterman, A. M. C. (1987), On the Malthusian Theory of Long Swings. The Canadian Journal of Economics 20(2): 257-270.
• Author unknown (1888), The Holy Bible containing the Old and New Testaments: Translated out of the original tongues: and with the former translations diligently compared and revised, by His Majesty’s special command. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
• Author unknown, Wikipedia (date unknown), al-Biruni (online) (Accessed 11/01/2024).

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Darwin Day is upon us for the fourth time! To celebrate, let's follow Charles Darwin on the first part of his famous voyage between late 1831 and early 1832. We'll see him pour over cuttlefish, travel with veterans of the Napoleonic Wars and arrive in a young Brazilian Empire...Sources for this episode: Bannerman, W. M., Lobban, R. A. and Shaw, C. S., Encyclopedia Britannica (2023), History of Cabo Verde (online) (Accessed 08/02/2024). Bethell, L. (1968), The Independence of Brazil and the Abolition of the Brazilian Slave Trade: Anglo-Brazilian Relations, 1822-1826. Journal of Latin American Studies 1(2): 115-147. Bieber, J. (2010), Imperial Brazil (1822-29). In: Holloway, T. H. (2010), A Companion to Latin American History. Chichester: Blackwell Publishing Ltd. Bunker, F. St. P., Brodie, J. A., Maggs, C. A. and Bunker, A. R. (2017), Seaweeds of Britain and Ireland (2nd edition). Plymouth: Wild Natural Press. Darwin, C. (1945), The Voyage of the Beagle. London: J. M. Dent & Sons, Ltd. Diamond, J. (2007), Easter Island Revisited. Science 317(5845): 1692-1694. Jezierski, M. T., Smith, W. J. and Clegg, S. M. (2023), The island syndrome in birds. Journal of Biogeography 00: 1-16. Litchfield, H. (ed.) (1915), Emma Darwin: A Century of Family Letters (Vol. II). New York: D. Appleton and Company. Martin, P. A. (1921), Causes of the Collapse of the Brazilian Empire. The Hispanic American Historical Review 4(1): 4-48. Whittaker, R. J. and Fernández-Palacios, J.-M. (2007), Island Biogeography: Ecology, Evolution, and Conservation (2nd edition). Oxford: Oxford University Press. Author unknown, Wikipedia (date unknown), Charles II of England (online) (Accessed 08/02/2024). Author unknown, Wikipedia (date unknown), Robert FitzRoy (online) (Accessed 08/02/2024). Author unknown, Wikipedia (date unknown), Salvador, Bahia (online) (Accessed 08/02/2024).

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A series of 5000 flowers pressed in the 16th century near Bologna have given scientists an opportunity to see human impacts and the rise of alien species. All while giving us an excuse to touch on what the Columbian exchange actually is...

Sources for this episode:

• Anteric, I., Basic, Z., Vilovic, K., Kolic, K. and Andjelinovic, S. (2014), Which Theory for the Origin of Syphilis is True? Journal of Sexual Medicine 11: 3112-3118.
• Buldrini, F., Alessandrini, A., Mossetti, U., Muzzi, E., Pezzi, G., Soldano, A. and Nascimbene, J. (2023), Botanical memory: five centuries of floristic changes revealed by a Renaissance herbarium (Ulisse Aldrovandi, 1551-1586). Royal Society Open Science 10(11): 230866.
• Guerra, F. (1993), The European-American Exchange. History and Philosophy of the Life Sciences 15: 313-327.
• Hancock, J. F. (2023), Fifty Years Later- The Legacy of Alfred Crosby’s “The Columbian Exchange: Biological and Cultural Consequences of 1492”. Economic Botany 77(1): 82-102.
• Harper, K. N., Zuckerman, M. K., Harper, M. L., Kingston, J. D. and Armelagos, G. J. (2011), The Origin and Antiquity of Syphilis Revisited: An Appraisal of Old World Pre-Columbian Evidence for Treponemal Infection. Yearbook of Physical Anthropology 54: 99-133.
• Lees, D., Lopez-Vaamonde, C., Augustin, S., Biodiversity Heritage Library, Field Museum et al. (2009), Cameraria ohridella Deschka & Dimic 1986. Encyclopedia of Life, MacArthur Foundation, Sloan Foundation. Ffhal-02824036.
• McCook, S. (2011), The neo-Columbian exchange: the second conquest of the Greater Caribbean, 1720-1930. Latin American Research Review: 46(S1): 11-31.
• Milliken, W., Walker, B. E., Howes, M.-J. R., Forest, F. and Lughadha, E. N. (2021), Plants used traditionally as antimalarials in Latin America: Mining the tree of life for potential new medicines. Journal of Ethnopharmacology 279: 114221.
• Sanz-Biset, J., Campos-de-la-Cruz, J., Epiquién-Rivera, M. A. and Cañigueral, S. (2009), A first survey on the medicinal plants of the Chazuta valley (Peruvian Amazon). Journal of Ethnopharmacology 122: 333-362.
• Stefanaki, A., Walter, T. and van Andel, T. (2022), Tracing the introduction history of the tulip that went wild (Tulipa sylvestris) in sixteenth-century Europe. Nature Scientific Reports 12: 9786.
• Weston, P., the Guardian (2023), ‘Inestimable importance’: 500-year-old cache of pressed flowers reveals new secrets (online) (Accessed 17/11/2023).

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It takes our sun 220 million years to orbit around the middle of our home galaxy. But that kind of timescale can be difficult to picture. So, using the International Stratigraphy Chart as a guidance for what different time periods mean in terms of millions of years, let's zoom out to the scale of a galactic year and see what happened in Earth's prehistory one cycle ago, two and so on.

Sources for this episode:

• Bach, J. R. (2013), Paradigm paralysis in the management of neuromuscular disease. Journal of Personalized Medicine 11: 24-29.
• Bottjer, E. J. (2005), The Early Evolution of Animals. Scientific American 293(2): 42-47.
• Brusatte, S. L., Butler, R. J., Barrett, P. M., Carrion, M. T., Evans, D. C., Lloyd, G. T., Mannion, P. D., Norell, M. A., Peppe, D. J., Upchurch, P. and Williamson, T. E. (2015), The extinction of the dinosaurs. Biological Reviews 90: 628-642.
• Cameron, G. G. (1968), Zoroaster the Herdsman. Indo-Iranian Journal 10(4): 261-281.
• Clack, J. A. (2006), Devonian climate change, breathing, and the origin of the tetrapod stem group. Integrative and Comparative Biology 47(4): 510-523.
• Cohen, K. M., Finney, S. C., Gibbard, P. L. and Fan, J.-X. (2013; updated). The ICS International Chronostratigraphic Chart. Episodes 36: 199-204.
• Downs, J. P., Daeschler, E. B., Jenkins, F. A. and Shubin, N. H. (2008), The cranial endoskeleton of Tiktaalik roseae. Nature 455: 925-929.
• Ellery, A. (2003), Book Review: Impossible Extinction- Natural catastrophes and the supremacy of the microbial world. International Journal of Astrobiology 2(2): 153-154.
• Galway-Whitham, J. and Stringer, G. (2018), How did Homo sapiens evolve? Science 360(6395): 1296-1298.
• Hazen, R. M. (2010), How Old is Earth, and How Do We Know? Evolution: Education and Outreach 3: 198-205.
• Hess, F. L. (1925), The Age of the Earth. The Scientific Monthly 20(6): 597-602.
• Kemp, B. and Zink, A. (2012), Life in Ancient Egypt: Akhenaten, the Amarna Period and Tutankhamun. RCC Perspectives No. 3- Sickness, Hunger, War and Religion: Multidisciplinary Perspectives: 9-24.
• Kvĕt, R. (1991), Complete Periodical Geological Time Table. GeoJournal 24(4): 417-420.
• Kvĕt, R. (1995), On the Dependence of Life Evolution on Geotectonic Stages. GeoJournal 37(4): 413-417.
• Lemberg, J. B., Daeschler, E. B. and Shubin, N. H. (2021), The feeding system of Tiktaalik roseae: an intermediate between suction feeding and biting. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America 118(7): e2016421118.
• MacIver, M. A., Schmitz, L., Mutan U., Murphey, T. D. and Mobley, C. D. (2020), Massive increase in visual range preceded the origin of terrestrial vertebrates. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America: E2375-E2384.
• Meiri, S. (2022), Population sizes of T. rex cannot be precisely estimated. Frontiers of Biogeography 14(2): e53781.
• Roney, J. C. (2017), 1776, Viewed from the West. Journal of the Early Republic 37(4): 655-700.
• Sereno, P. C. (1997), The Origin and Evolution of Dinosaurs. Annual Review of Earth and Planetary Sciences 25: 435-489.
• Vandepoele, K., De Vos, W., Taylor, J. S., Meyer, A. and Van de Peer, Y. (2004), Major events in the genome evolution of vertebrates: Paranome age and size differ considerably between ray-finned fishes and land vertebrates. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America 101(6): 1638-1643.
• Vittinghof, F. (1985), Reviewed Work(s): The Roman Empire 27 B. C. - A. D. 476. A Study in Survival by Chester G. Starr. Gnomon 57 Bd., H. 6: 572-574.
• Zhuralev, A. Y. and Wood, R. A. (2018), The two phases of the Cambrian Explosion. Scientific Reports 8: 16656.
• Życiński, J. (2006), Ethics in medical technologies: The Roman Catholic viewpoint. Journal of Clinical Neuroscience 13: 518-523.

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Most people will have come across this term before, but what does it actually mean? Today, we'll be dissecting the terms microbiome and microbiota and looking at what can impact them.

Sources for this episode:

• Amon, P. and Sanderson, I. (2017), What is the microbiome? Archives of Disease in Childhood- Education and Practice 102-258-261.
• Cremon, C., Barbaro, M. R., Ventura, M. and Barbara, G. (2018), Pre- and probiotic overview. Current Opinion in Pharmacology 43: 87-92.
• Kim, H., Sitarik, A. R., Woodcroft, K., Johnson, C. C. and Woratti, E. (2019), Birth Mode, Breastfeeding, Pet Exposure and Antibiotic Use: Associations With the Gut Microbiome and Sensitization in Children. Current Allergy and Asthma Reports 19: 22.
• Mariat, D., Firmesse, O., Levenez, F., Guimarăes, V. D., Sokol, H., Doré, J., Corthier, G. and Furet, J.-P. (2009), The Firmicutes:Bacteroidetes ratio of the human microbiota changes with age. BMC Microbiology 9:123.
• Rautava, S. (2016), Early microbial contact, the breast milk microbiome and child health. Journal of Developmental Origins of Health and Disease 7(1): 5-14.
• Rees, T., Bosch, T. and Douglas, A. E. (2018), How the microbiome challenges our concept of self. PLoS Biology 16(2): e2005358.
• Sender, R., Fuchs, S. and Milo, R. (2016), Revised estimates for the number of human and bacteria cells in the body. PLoS Biology 14(8): e1002533.
• Tojo, R., Suárez, A., Clemente, M. G., de los Reyes-Gavilán, C. G., Margolles, A., Gueimonde, M. and Ruas-Madiedo, P. (2014), Intestinal microbiota in health and disease: Role of bifidobacteria in gut homeostasis. World Journal of Gastroenterology 20(41): 15163-15176.
• Vongsa, R., Hoffman, D., Shepard, K. and Koenig, D. (2019), Comparative study of vulva and abdominal skin microbiota of healthy females with high and average BMI. BMC Microbiology 19:16.
• Author unknown, NHS (date unknown), Irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) (online) (Accessed 16/11/2023).

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Saint Helena is an island in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean, perhaps most famous as the final residence of Napoleon I, Emperor of the French from 1804 to 1814 and again briefly in 1815. However, there is also plenty of interesting ecology and anthropogenic impact to talk about. Join myself and my co-host on an old episode of Island Folk to find out more!

The episode can be found at the following link: https://open.spotify.com/episode/1yP66nlH0ReAaZUWETXEHp?si=e894e255600c4bc0

Hope you enjoy!

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This episode discusses what it says on the tin- two different models of the pace at which evolution happens. Punctuated equilibrium comes to us courtesy of Niles Eldredge and Steve Gould in the 1970s. We won't do a deep dive on which model is considered correct in this episode. However, punctuated equilibrium was appropriated by creationists in the 1980s as this issue became political- leading us to a convenient tangent on what exactly creationist philosophy is.

Sources TBA.

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Woolly mammoths are an iconic feature of the Ice Age in popular imagination. However, on today's episode, we will also see that they are the basis of a fun fact that may change your perception of the past...

Sources for this episode:

• Ashman, D., Nature (2000), The sky was the limit for the Pyramid builders (online) [Accessed 10/10/2023].
• Bartlett, C. (2014), The Design of the Great Pyramid of Khufu. Nexus Network Journal 16: 299-311.
• Clayton, P. A. and Price, M. J. (eds.) (2002), The Seven Wonders of the Ancient World. London and New York: Routledge.
• The Editors, Encyclopedia Britannica (2023), Pyramid (online) [Accessed 10/10/2023].
• Fernie, J. D. (2004), Marginalia: Astronomy and the Great Pyramid. American Scientist 92(5): 406-409.
• Foster, K. P. (2014), The Hanging Gardens of Nineveh. IRAQ 66: 207-220.
• Haynes, G. (2002), The catastrophic extinction of North American mammoths and mastodons. World Archaeology 33(3): 391-416.
• Hofreiter, M. and Lister, A. (2006), Mammoths. Current Biology 16(10): R347-R348.
• Miller, J. H. and Simpson, C. (2022), When did mammoths go extinct? Nature 612: E1-E3.
• Spence, K. (2000), Ancient Egyptian chronology and the astronomical orientation of the pyramids. Nature 408: 320-324.
• Vartanyan, S., Arslanov, K., Karhu, J., Possnert, G., & Sulerzhitsky, L. (2008), Collection of radiocarbon dates on the mammoths (Mammuthus Primigenius) and other genera of Wrangel Island, northeast Siberia, Russia. Quaternary Research, 70(1), 51-59.
• Wee, Y. K., World Atlas (2019), Did Cleopatra Really Live Closer In Time To The First Lunar Landing Than The Great Pyramids? (online) [Accessed 10/10/2023].
• Author unknown, Wikipedia (date unknown), Radiocarbon dating (online) [Accessed 10/10/2023].

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A throwaway comment on Big Bang Theory got me thinking- could hybrid animals such as the griffin and the hippogriff be possible from a biological viewpoint? Using these two examples, we will explore the chromosome number of hybrid animals and see what it means for our mythical friends...

Sources for this episode:

• Ewart, J. C. (1910), Are Mules Fertile? Nature 2143(85): 106.
• Geldenhuys, M. E. (1989), Die kariotipering van di lieu (Panthera leo). Journal of the South African Veterinary Association 60(1): 41-49.
• Johnson, F. (1976), Mythical Beasts Coloring Book. New York: Dover Publications, Inc.
• Mead, D., Ogden, R., Meredith, A., Peniche, G., Smith, M., Corton, C., Oliver, K., Skelton, J., Betteridge, E., Doulcan; J., Holmes, N., Wright, V., Loose, M., Quail, M. A., McCarthy, S. A., Howe, K.,Chow, W., Torrance, J., Collins, J., Challis, R., Durbin, R. and Blatter, M. (2021), The genome sequence of the European golden eagle, Aquila chrysaetos chrysaetos Linnaeus 1758 (version 1; peer review: 3 approved). Wellcome Open Research 6: 112.
• Rodriguez, M., Understanding Genetics, The Tech Interactive (2007), Chimeras, Mosaics, and Other Fun Stuff: Why can't mules breed? I understand that a horse and a donkey make a mule but why can't 2 mules have a baby mule? (online) (Accessed 29/07/2023).
• Rosen, B. (2009), Mythical Creatures Bible: The Definitive Guide to Legendary Beings. New York: Sterling Publishing Co., Inc.
• Ryder, O. A. (1993), Przewalski`s Horse: Prospects for Reintroduction into the Wild. Conservation Biology 7(1): 13-15.
• Author unknown, Wikipedia (date unknown), Golden eagle (online) (Accessed 20/07/2023).

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Introducing my newest venture- being one half of the Autocrat podcast! Autocrat is a podcast which aims to explore Roman civilisation from beginning to end. Beginning with the mythology and the stories of Aeneas and Romulus, the podcast will trace the journey through the Roman Kingdom, the Republic, the Empire and all the way to 1453 and beyond. Who knows if we'll make it that far, but we hope to have fun with it!

The podcast can be found at https://open.spotify.com/show/30Muilr1O66yA4UDcj76SW?si=891136d533c446a5 or on YouTube at youtube.com/@autocratpodcast. If the show sounds fun, feel free to come and join us!

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It's episode 66, so I thought I'd cover a big event from 66 million years ago- the death of the dinosaurs! But it's not all doom and gloom- we will also take a look at how to prevent asteroid impacts in future.

Sources for this episode:

• Bottke, W. F., Vokrouhlický, D. and Nesvorný, D. (2007), An asteroid breakup 160 Mya as the probable sources of the K/T impactor. Nature 449: 48-53.
• Brusatte, S. (2018), The Rise and Fall of the Dinosaurs: The Untold Story of a Lost World. London: Picador.
• Chapman, C. R. (2004), The hazard of near-Earth asteroid impacts on earth. Earth and Planetary Science Letters 222: 1-15.
• Chapman, C. R. and Morrison, D. (1994), Impacts on the Earth by asteroids and comets: assessing the hazard. Nature 367: 33-40.
• Cohen, K. M., Finney, S. C., Gibbard, P. L. and Fan, J.-X. (2013, updated), The ICS International Chronostratigraphy Chart. Episodes 36: 199-204.
• Dodson, P. (1990), Counting dinosaurs: how many kinds were there? Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America 87(19): 7608- 7612.
• The Editors, Encyclopedia Britannica (2023), sublimation(online) [Accessed 29/07/2023].
• Ostrom, J. H. and Padian, K., Encyclopedia Britannica (2023), dinosaur (online) [Accessed 14/07/2023].
• Pope, K. O., Baines, K. H., Ocampo, A. C. and Ivanov, B. A. (1994), Impact winter and the Cretaceous/Tertiary extinctions: Results of a Chicxulub asteroid impact model. Earth and Planetary Science Letters 128: 719- 725.
• Schulte, P., Alegret, L., Arenillas, I., Arz, J. A., Barton, P. J., Brown, P. R., Barlower, T. J., Christeson, G. L., Claeys, P., Cockell, C. S., Collins, G. S., Deutsch, A., Goldin, T. J., Goto, K., Grajales Nishmura, J. M., Grieve, R. A. F., Gulick. S. P. S., Johnson, K. R., Kiessling, W., Koeberl, C., Kring, D. A., MacLeod, K. G., Matsui, T., Melosh, J., Montanari, A., Morgan, J. V., Neal, C. R., Nichols, D. J., Norrison, R. D., Pierazzo, E., Ravizza, G., Rebolledo-Vieyra, M., Reimold, W. U., Robin, E., Salge, T., Speijer, R. P., Sweet, A. R., Urrutia-Fucugauchi, J., Vajida, V., Whalen, M. T. and Willumsen, P. S. (2010), The Chicxulub Asteroid Impact and Mass Extinction at the Cretaceous-Palaeogene Boundary. Science 327(5970): 1214- 1218.
• Starrfelt, J. and Liow, L. H. (2016), How many dinosaur species were there? Fossil bias and true richness estimated using a Poisson sampling model. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences 371(1691): 20150219.
• Yousuf, I., Encyclopedia Britannica (2023), Empire State Building (online) [Accessed 27/07/2023].

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Enrico Fermi is the man behind today’s episode, as we’re going to talk all about the Fermi paradox. In essence, why do we not see anyone else out there in the universe besides ourselves? Well, a number of solutions have been proposed- and they have to do with the second concept in today’s episode: the Great Filter. Sources for this episode: 1) Bailey, M. M. (2023), Could AI be the Great Filter? What Astrobiology can Teach the Intelligence Community about Anthropogenic Risks. arXiv preprint arXiv:2305.05653. 2) Borger, J., the Guardian (2022), Cuban missile crisis 60 years on: new papers reveal how close the world came to nuclear disaster (online) [Accessed 08/07/2023]. 3) Buser, R. (2000), The Formation and Early Evolution of the Milky Way Galaxy. Science 287(5450): 69-74. 4) The Editors of Scientific American (2015), Exoplanets: Worlds Without End. New York: Scientific American. 5) Laughlin, R. B. and Pines, D. (2000) The Theory of Everything. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America 97(1): 28-31. 6) Raschky, P. A. and Wang, L. C. (2017), Reproductive behaviour at the end of the world: the effect of the Cuban Missile Crisis on U.S. fertility. Applied Economics 49(56): 5722- 5727. 7) Re, F. (2022), Can the Theory of Everything be the Great Filter? 8) Stern, S. M. (2005), The Week the World Stood Still: Inside the Secret Cuban Missile Crisis. Stanford, California: Stanford University Press. 9) Author unknown, NASA (date unknown), Hubble’s New Shot of Proxima Centauri, our Nearest Neighbour (online) [Accessed 09/07/2023]. 10) Author unknown, NASA Exoplanet Exploration (date unknown), Largest Batch of Earth-size Habitable Zone Planets Found Orbiting TRAPPIST-1 (online) [Accessed 09/07/2023]. 11) Author unknown, Wikipedia (date unknown), Parsec (online) [Accessed 08/07/2023]. 12) Author unknown, Wikipedia (date unknown), Tau Ceti (online) [Accessed 09/07/2023].

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Hello everyone, just a quick note that the YouTube comments are active on all videos and in the community tab. Feel free to drop me a line there as an alternative to the show's email address and stay tuned for extra features such as polls in future!

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In July 2023, the world experienced three consecutive days which were the hottest day on record. In fact, an interview with the Washington Post cited that it was the hottest day for 125,000 years. What does that mean? Well, today's episode will put that number into prehistorical and historical context, as well as compare our current global warming to an example of change from the Cretaceous.

1) Blum, M. G. B., and Jakobsson, M. (2010), Deep Divergence of Human Gene Trees and Models of Human Origins. Molecular Biology and Evolution 28(2): 889- 898. 2) Cavalheiro, L., Wagner, T., Steinig, S., Bottini, C., Dummann, W., Esegbue, O., Gambacorta, G., Giraldo-Gómez, V., Farnsworth, A., Flögel, S., Hofmann, P., Lunt, D. J., Rethemeyer, J., Torricelli, S. and Erba, E. (2021), Impact of global cooling on Early Cretaceous high pCO2 world during the Weissert event. Nature Communications 12: 5411. 3) Dee, M., Wengrow, D., Shortland, A., Stevenson, A., Brock, F., Flink, L. G. and Ramsey, C. B. (2013), An absolute chronology for early Egypt using radiocarbon dating and Bayesian statistical modelling. Proceedings of the Royal Society A 469: 20130395. 4) Gómez-Robles, A. (2019), Dental evolutionary rates and its implications for the Neanderthal–modern human divergence. Science Advances 5(5): eaaw1268. 5) Haber, M., Jones, A. L., Connell, B. A., Asan, E. A., Yang, H., Thomas, M. G., Xue Y. and Tyler-Smith, C. (2019), A Rare Deep-Rooting D0 African Y-Chromosomal Haplogroup and Its Implications for the Expansion of Modern Humans Out of Africa. Genetics 212(4): 1421-1428. 6) Hublin, J.-J. (2017), The last Neanderthal. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America 114(40): 10520- 10522. 7) Jones, D. (2007), The Neanderthal within. New Scientist 193(2593): 28-32. 8) Osborne, M., Smithsonian Magazine (2023), Earth Faces Hottest Day Ever Recorded- Three Days In A Row (online) [Accessed 07/07/2023]. 9) Pettitt, P. B. (1999) Disappearing from the World: An Archaeological Perspective on Neanderthal Extinction. Oxford Journal of Archaeology 18: 217-240. 10) Plant, V., Exeposé (2019), Things are Heating Up (online) [Accessed 07/07/2023]. 11) Sands, L., Washington Post (2023), This July 4 was hot. Earth’s hottest day on record, in fact (online) [Accessed 07/07/2023]. 12) Stringer, C. (2012), The Status of Homo heidelbergensis (Shoetenstack 1908). Evolutionary Anthropology: Issues, News and Reviews 21(3): 87- 125. 13) Su, D., The Conversation (2022), How many ice ages has the Earth had, and could humans live through one? (online) [Accessed 07/07/2023]. 14) Zhang, S., truthout (2023), July 3 Was the Hottest Day on Record. Then July 4 Came Along. (online) [Accessed 07/07/2023]. 15) Author unknown, CNN (2023), Global temperatures break heat record (online) [Accessed 07/07/2023]. 16) Author unknown, Smithsonian Museum of Natural History (date unknown), Homo neanderthalensis (online) [Accessed 07/07/2023]. 17) Author unknown, Wikipedia (date unknown), Mesozoic (online) [Accessed 09/07/2023]. 18) Author unknown, Wikipedia (date unknown), Palaeogene (online) [Accessed 09/07/2023].

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On today's episode, we're going to range out into the cosmos for our inaugural episode in the world of astrobiology! We're going to ask the question: how many people could our galaxy support? Using some assumptions and approximations, we're going to see that the number dwarfs our current numbers here on Earth by quite some margin...

1) Asimov, I. (1952, 2016 edition), Foundation and Empire. London: HarperCollins Publishers Ltd. 2) Briggs, J. C. (2017), Emergence of a sixth mass extinction? Biological Journal of the Linnean Society 122: 243- 248. 3) Chamie, J. (2022), Population Levels, Trends and Differentials: More Important Population Matters. Cham, Switzerland: Springer Nature Switzerland AG. 4) Chu, J., MIT News (2023), Astronomers snap first ever image of supermassive black hole Sagittarius A* (online) [Accessed 02/07/2023]. 5) Cowie, R. H., Bouchet, P. and Fontaine, B. (2022): The Sixth Mass Extinction: fact, fiction or speculation? Biological Reviews 97: 640- 663. 6) de Almeida, G. (2004), The Milky Way. Chapter in: Navigating the Night Sky. Patrick Moore’s Practical Astronomy Series. London: Springer. 7) The Editors of Scientific American (2015), Exoplanets: Worlds Without End. New York: Scientific American. 8) Hodge, P. W. (1981), The Andromeda Galaxy. Scientific American 244(1): 92-101. 9) Hodge, P. W., Encyclopedia Britannica (2017), Magellanic Cloud (online) [Accessed 02/07/2023]. 10) Hodge, P. W., Encyclopedia Britannica (2023), Milky Way Galaxy (online) [Accessed 02/07/2023]. 11) Kurzgesagt- In a Nutshell, YouTube (2022), The Last Human- A Glimpse Into The Far Future (online) [Accessed 02/07/2023]. 12) Ramakrishna, S. (2021), Circular economy and sustainability pathways to build a new-modern society. Drying Technology 39(6): 711-712. 13) Ritchie, H., Our World in Data (2023), The UN has made population projections for more than 50 years- how accurate have they been? (online) [Accessed 02/07/2023]. 14) Sender, R., Fuchs, S. and Milo, R. (2016), Revised estimates for the number of human and bacteria cells in the body. PLOS Biology 14(8): e1002533. 15) Stellato, J. (2020), The Milky Way and Lentil Beans. Science Scope 43(6): 44- 49. 16) Stevenson, D. (2015), Milkomeda and the Fate of the Milky Way. Chapter in: The Complex Lives of Star Clusters. Astronomers’ Universe. Cham, Switzerland: Springer. 17) University of Göttingen, Phys.org (2021), Breaking the warp barrier for faster-than-light travel (online) [Accessed 02/07/2023]. 18) van den Heuvel, E. (2016), How Distant Are the Stars? Chapter in: The Amazing Unity of the Universe. Astronomers’ Universe. Cham, Switzerland: Springer. 19) Author unknown, NASA Exoplanet Exploration: Planets Beyond Our Solar System (date unknown, updated July 2023), Discovery (online) [Accessed 02/07/2023]. 20) Author unknown, United Nations (2022), Day of Eight Billion, 15 November 2022 (online) [Accessed 02/07/2023]. 21) Author unknown, Wikipedia (date unknown), Names of large numbers (online) [Accessed 02/07/2023].

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Climate change is a big topic, and one we're not going to cover here. However, there are international efforts to try and do something about it. Today's topic is the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC to its friends), which was first set up in the nineties. What exactly did it lead to? Well, that's what we're here for...

Sources for this episode: 1) Bowman, W. D., Hacker, S. D. and Cain, M. L. (2017). Ecology (4th International Edition).Oxford: Oxford University Press. 2) Campbell, N. A., Urry, L. A., Cain, M. L., Wasserman, S. A., Minorsky, P. V. and Reece, J. B. (2018), Biology: a global approach, 11th edition (Global Edition), Harlow, Pearson Education Limited. 3) The Editors, Encyclopaedia Britannica (2023), Industrial Revolution (online) [Accessed 04/06/2023]. 4) The Editors, Encyclopaedia Britannica (2023), Kyoto Protocol (online) [Accessed 12/06/2023]. 5) Hughes, T. P., Kerry, J. T., Álvarez-Noriega, M., Álvarez-Romero, J. G., Anderson, K. D., Baird, A. H., Babcock, R. C., Beger, M., Bellwood, D. R., Berkelmans, R., Bridge, T. C., Butler, I. R., Byrne, M., Cantin, N. E., Comeau, S., Connolly, S. R., Cumming, G. S., Dalton, S. J., Diaz-Pulido, G., Eakin, C. M., Figueira, W. F., Gilmour, J. P., Harrison, H. B., Heron. S. F., Hoey, A. S., Hobbs, J.-P. A., Hoogenboom, M. O., Kennedy, E. V., Kuo, C.-Y., Lough, J. M., Lowe, R. J., Liu, G., McCulloch, M. T., Malcolm, H. A., McWilliam, M. J., Pandolfi, J. M., Pears, R. J., Pratchett, M. S., Schoepf, V., Simpson, T., Skirving, W. J., Sommer, B., Torda, G., Wachenfeld, D. R., Willis, B. L. and Wilson, S. K.(2017), Global warming and recurrent mass bleaching of corals. Nature, 543(7645): 373–377. 6) Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (2019), Global Warming of 1.5°C. 7) Kinley, R., Cutajar M. Z., de Boer, Y. and Figueres, C. (2021), Beyond good intentions, to urgent action: Former UNFCCC leaders take stock of thirty years of international climate change negotiations. Climate Policy, 21(5): 593-603. 8) O’Neill, B. C. and Oppenheimer, M. (2002), Dangerous Climate Impacts and the Kyoto Protocol. Science 296(5575): 1971-1972. 9) United Nations. (1992), United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change United Nations. 10) Author unknown, Climate Action Tracker (2021), Warming Projections Global Update- November 2021. 11) Author unknown, UC San Diego (date unknown), The Keeling Curve (online) [Accessed 12/06/2023]. 12) Author unknown, United Nations Climate Change (date unknown), Conference of the Parties (COP) (online) [Accessed 04/06/2023]. 13) Author unknown, United Nations Climate Change (date unknown), The Paris Agreement (online) [Accessed 12/06/2023]. 14) Author unknown, United Nations Climate Change (date unknown), What is the Kyoto Protocol? (online) [Accessed 12/06/2023]. 15) Author unknown, Wikipedia (date unknown), List of parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (online) [Accessed 04/06/2023].

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Hello everyone, Vince here with a quick update on how the podcast schedule is probably going to work from now on. I'm likely as not going to try out a monthly schedule- meaning that a new After Alexander will show up on the first Saturday of every month and a Biopedia on the third Sunday- although that may vary depending if I have more or less time for it in a given month. Who knows, there may well be more than one episode a month if I'm lucky!

There may also be some extra content in the 'Community' tab of the podcasts' YouTube pages as well. I'm trying this new schedule in order to walk the line between not releasing any content at all and burning out due to trying to juggle everything at once. I'm also releasing this update on After Alexander's feed.

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It's that time of year again! This time round, I thought I'd put Charles Darwin's life into a little bit of historical context. This is because I imagine most people have a stereotypical image of him in their heads as a model Victorian gentleman. However, his life saw quite a few other historical events that wouldn't really spring to mind. For instance, would it have occurred to you that Darwin witnessed the closing years of the Napoleonic Wars? So, in honour of Darwin's birthday, let's explore a few of the events in his life it might not occur to you he witnessed...

Sources for this episode: 1) Chisholm, E., Encyclopaedia Britannica (1911, Vol. II), Peninsular War (eBook) [Accessed 10/02/2023]. 2) Cronin, V. (1971), Napoleon. London: Harper Collins Publishers LLC. 3) Cussans, T. (2017), The Times Kings & Queens of the British Isles: A History of Monarchy. Marlborough: Times Books Ltd. 4) Current, R. N., Encyclopaedia Britannica (2023), Abraham Lincoln (online) [Accessed 05/02/2023]. 5) Darwin, C. R. (1945), The Voyage of the Beagle. The Temple Press Letchworth: J. M. Dent & Sons Ltd. 6) The Editors, Encyclopaedia Britannica (2008), Confederation of the Rhine (online) [Accessed 10/02/2023]. 7) Hoyer, K. (2021), Blood and Iron: The Rise and Fall of the German Empire 1871-1918 (eBook). Cheltenham: The History Press [Accessed 10/02/2023]. 8) Littlewood, I. (2002), The Rough Guide: History of France. London: Rough Guides Ltd. 9) Roberts, A. (2014), Napoleon the Great (eBook) [Accessed 10/02/2023]. 10) Author unknown, Wikipedia (date unknown), Cape Verde (online) [Accessed 11/02/2023]. 11) Author unknown, Wikipedia (date unknown), Charles Darwin [Accessed 10/02/2023]. 12) Author unknown, Wikipedia (date unknown), Santiago, Cape Verde (online) [Accessed 11/02/2023]. 13) Author unknown, Wikipedia (date unknown), 2005 (online) [Accessed 10/02/2023].

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This episode is going to be a return to genetics with an introduction to some phylogenetic terms. Groups can be monophyletic, paraphyletic or polyphyletic depending on who exactly is included. Confused? Well, that's what Biopedia is here to solve...

Sources for this episode: 1) Campbell, N. A., Urry, L. A., Cain, M. L., Wasserman, S. A., Minorsky, P. V. and Reece, J. B. (2018), Biology: a global approach, 11th edition (Global Edition), Harlow, Pearson Education Limited. 2) Herron, J. C., and Freeman, S. (2015), Evolutionary Analysis. Harlow: Pearson Education Ltd. 3) Hine, R. (2019), A Dictionary of Biology (Oxford Quick Reference), 8th edition, Oxford, Oxford University Press. 4) Author unknown, Wikipedia (date unknown), Polyphyly (online) [Accessed 16/01/2023].

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Another day, another episode of Island Folk! Sean Dettman and I discussed the concept of the island fortress as it was perceived in WW2 Britain. Basically, this is the idea that the inhabitants of the UK took comfort in the island nature of their country and the sea protecting them against hostile forces. Sean's upcoming publication on this subject was the focus of the episode's discussion. Along the way, we discuss connections to contemporary events, the paradigm of Britain's lack of invasions since 1066, and draw it all back to how important the way perceptions of unique culture and biology on islands are built up is...

The episode can be found at: https://open.spotify.com/episode/1fODK3wb2qd7yQZWrLzvIS?si=d44bbb9396034d42. Enjoy!

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In today's episode, we revisit an old blog post from all the way back in January 2021. George III of the United Kingdom is probably the person most famously associated with porphyria. However, what isn't as often discussed is what exactly it is. Moreover, as we will introduce in today's episode, it isn't just George Hanover who was affected with the condition; his wider family seems to have suffered from it too. We don't touch on this that much in the episode, but it in fact seems to stretch back to Peter I of Bourbon in the 14th century...

Sources for this episode: 1) Cussans, T. (2017), The Times Kings & Queens of the British Isles: A History of Monarchy. Marlborough: Times Books Ltd. 2) Dean, G. and Barnes, H. D. (1955), The Inheritance of Porphyria. British Medical Journal 2(4931): 89-94. 3) Hurst, L. C. (1982), Porphyria revisited. Medical History 26(2): 179-182. 4) Macalpine, I., Hunter, R. and Rimington, C. (1968), Porphyria in the Royal Houses of Stuart, Hanover and Prussia: A Follow-up Study of George III's Illness. British Medical Journal 1: 7-18. 5) Roy, R., New Scientist (2011), Dracula's disease (online) [Accessed 11/12/2022]. 6) Author unknown, British Liver Trust (date unknown), Porphyria (online) [Accessed 11/12/2022]. 7) Author unknown, Genetics Home Reference (2016), porphyria (online) [Accessed 11/12/2022 via Internet Archive]. 8) Author unknown, Wikipedia (date unknown), Peter I, Duke of Bourbon (online) [Accessed 11/12/2022].

NOTE: Original access dates for webpages weren't listed on my blog post, so dates are for pre-podcast access.

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My inaugural Island Folk episode has launched! In it, Sean Dettman and I discuss the history of Rapa Nui in relation to the removal of the island's trees, and whether it was this that proved the death knell for the civilisation or the arrival of Europeans. This is a big topic with a lot more nuance than either our discussion or my preceding research was able to fit in or find, but I aim to come back to it in one or more future Biopedia episodes. If people are interested, I will add some references for my pre-reading ahead of our discussion to this episode description.

The episode itself can be found at: Pod 1 Rapa Nui 10 Nov 2022 - Island Folk - On HAU - RADIO - Hautlieu Radio | Podcast on Spotify

Enjoy!

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Hello everyone, quick announcement- I've been offered the chance to host a radio programme! Island Folk- the show where we talk about islands and play folk music- forms part of Hautlieu Radio. My background means I'll mostly be discussing island biology, but other aspects such as island history or culture also fall within the show's remit. It usually goes live on Thursdays (3-4 pm) before being uploaded to SoundCloud. It's a very different project to any audio experience I've had before, but I'm looking forward to it! The link to Hautlieu Radio's SoundCloud link is https://soundcloud.com/hautlieu-school, and it can be found on Spotify at https://open.spotify.com/show/6zhcEz3lcZgiNs1uYSlasm?si=9cba6ae13460439c. If it sounds like something you might be interested in, feel free to check it out!

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James Ephraim Lovelock, best known for the Gaia hypothesis, died on the 26th of July 2022, on his 103rd birthday. In his honour, this episode is going to detail some of his achievements. During our discussion, we're going to examine his contribution to Martian life detection in the form of a paper published in 1965, as well as outline what the Gaia hypothesis actually refers to...

Sources for this episode: 1) Campbell, N. A., Urry, L. A., Cain, M. L., Wasserman, S. A., Minorsky, P. V. and Reece, J. B. (2018), Biology: a global approach, 11th edition (Global Edition), Harlow, Pearson Education Limited. 2) Hine, R. (2019), A Dictionary of Biology (Oxford Quick Reference), 8th edition, Oxford, Oxford University Press. 3) Lovelock, J. E. (1965), A Physical Basis for Life Detection Experiments. Nature 207(4997): 568-570. 4) Lovelock, J. E. (first published 1979, reprinted 2000), Gaia: A new look at life on Earth (eBook) 5) Lovelock, J. E., James Lovelock (date unknown), Home (online) [Accessed c. 30/07/2022 and 08/11/2022]. 6) Rafferty, J. P., Encyclopaedia Britannica (2022), James Lovelock (online) [Accessed 30/07/2022]. 7) Tao, A., Encyclopaedia Britannica (2022), Lynn Margulis (online) [Accessed 30/07/2022]. 8) Web of Stories- Life Stories of Remarkable People, YouTube (2017), James Lovelock- Detecting life on Mars (10/17) (online) [Accessed 30/07/2022]. 9) Wright, P. and Radford, T., The Guardian (2022), James Lovelock obituary (online) [Accessed 30/07/2022]. 10) Author unknown, BBC (2022), James Lovelock: Influential green thinker dies aged 103 (online) [Accessed 30/07/2022]. 11) Author unknown, NASA (date unknown), SETI: The Search for ExtraTerrestrial Intelligence (online) [Accessed 04/11/2022].

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The traditional narrative of the history of biology as a field focusses on the West. As such, other regions of the world are underdiscussed- which is important when discussing how to decolonise our curriculum and therefore what needs to be included and reflected. In this episode, we're going to step back in time to the Islamic Golden Age and discuss evolutionary theory- centuries before Charles Darwin was even born.

Sources for this episode: 1) Fuentes, A. (2021), "The Descent of Man", 150 years on. Science 372(6544): 769. 2) Haensch, S., Bianucci, R., Signoli, M., Rajerison, M., Schultz, M., Kacki, S., Vermunt, M., Weston, D. A., Hurst, D., Achtman, M., Carniel, E. and Bramanti, B. (2010), Distinct Clones of Yersinia pestis Caused the Black Death. PLOS Pathogens 6(10): e1001134. 3) Issawi, C., Encyclopaedia Britannica (2022), Ibn Khaldūn (online) [Accessed 19/07/2022]. 4) Malik, A. H., Ziermann, J. M. and Diogo, R. (2018), An untold story in biology: the historical continuity of evolutionary ideas of Muslim scholars from the 8th century to Darwin’s time. Journal of Biological Education 52(1): 3-17. 5) Singer, C. (1950), A history of biology: a general introduction to the study of living things, 2nd edition, London: Lewis. 6) Author unknown, Keele University (2018), Keele Manifesto for decolonising the curriculum (online) [Accessed 16/06/2022]. 7) Author unknown, Wikipedia (date unknown), Islamic Golden Age (online) [Accessed c.20/03/2022 and 23/06/2022]. 8) Author unknown, Wikipedia (date unknown), Muqaddimah (online) [Accessed 19/07/2022].

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Today's topic is a return to the world of biochemistry with a discussion of Benedict's test- used to test for reducing sugars and, with some modifications, non-reducing sugars. We won't be discussing the precise methodology- and the subtle differences in methods/reagents between the sources I accessed- but we'll discuss what exactly a reducing sugar is and introduce the topic of food tests along the way.

Sources for this episode: 1) Fullick A., Locke, J. and Bircher, P. (2015), A Level Biology for OCR A. Oxford: Oxford University Press. 2) Hine, R. (2019), A Dictionary of Biology (Oxford Quick Reference), 8th edition, Oxford, Oxford University Press. 3) Thain, M. and Hickman, M. (2014), Dictionary of Biology (Eleventh Edition). London: Penguin Books Ltd. 4) Author unknown, Wikipedia (date unknown), Benedict's reagent (online) [Accessed 12/03 and 02/04/2022]. 5) Author unknown, Wikipedia (date unknown), Stanley Rossiter Benedict (online) [Accessed 12/03/2022].

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As of February 12th 2022, it's been 113 years since Charles Robert Darwin was born. As such, we're back with another Darwin Day episode! This time around, we turn our attention to His Majesty's Ship Beagle, which Darwin would famously sail on. However, most people probably don't know a lot about the ship besides this fact. So, let's explore the Beagle's past and its possible connection to the present...

Sources for this episode: 1) Burchett, M. (1996), Oceanography and Marine Biology: Water Movements and Oceanic Circulation Patterns. In: Waller, G. (ed.), Dando, M. and Burchett, M. (principal contributors) (1996), SeaLife: A Complete Guide to the Marine Environment. Pica Press: Smithsonian Institution Press. 2) Darwin, C. R. (1945), The Voyage of the Beagle. The Temple Press Letchworth: J. M. Dent & Sons Ltd. 3) Dubowsky, N., and Dubowsky, S. M. (1994), The final mission of HMS Beagle: clarifying the historical record. BJHS 27: 105-111. 4) The Editors, Encyclopaedia Britannica (2014), Arafura Sea (online) [Accessed 09/02/2022]. 5) Goodin, M. M., Zaitlin, D., Naidu, R. A. and Lommel, S. A. (2008), Nicotiana benthamiana: Its History and Future as a Model for Plant–Pathogen Interactions. Molecular Plant-Microbe Interactions 21(8): 1015-1026. 6) Thomson, K. S., Encyclopaedia Britannica (2019), Beagle (online) [Accessed 03/02/2022]. 7) Author unknown, National Geographic (date unknown), HMS Beagle: Darwin's trip around the World (online) [Accessed 05/02/2022]. 8) Author unknown, Royal Museums Greenwich (date unknown), HMS Beagle: Discover more about the ship that took Darwin around the world (online) [Accessed 03/02/2022]. 9) Author unknown, Wikipedia (date unknown), Beagle Channel (online) [Accessed 07/02/2022]. 10) Author unknown, Wikipedia (date unknown), Beagle Gulf (online) [Accessed 09/02/2022]. 11) Author unknown, Wikipedia (date unknown), HMS Beagle (online) [Accessed 03/02/2022]. 12) Author unknown, Wikipedia (date unknown), Robert FitzRoy (online) [Accessed 07/02/2022].

Darwin Day: Author unknown, Galapagos Conservation Trust (2015), Darwin Day Comic Strip (online) [Accessed 06/02/2022].

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Natural selection is not just one phenomenon, but can be spliced into different types depending on what its action results in. Today's episode will examine disruptive selection, stabilising selection and directional selection; what they are, what their effects on populations are and some examples we see in the natural world.

Sources for this episode: 1) Allaby, M., (2020), A Dictionary of Zoology (Oxford Quick Reference), 5th edition, Oxford, Oxford University Press. 2) Cain, M. L., Bowman, W. D. and Hacker, S. D. (2011), Ecology (Second Edition). Sunderland, Massachusetts, Sinauer Associated Ltd 3) Campbell, N. A., Urry, L. A., Cain, M. L., Wasserman, S. A., Minorsky, P. V. and Reece, J. B. (2018), Biology: a global approach, 11th edition (Global Edition), Harlow, Pearson Education Limited. 4) Hine, R. (2019), A Dictionary of Biology (Oxford Quick Reference), 8th edition, Oxford, Oxford University Press. 5) Thain, M. and Hickman, M. (2014), Dictionary of Biology (Eleventh Edition). London: Penguin Books Ltd.

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Cultured cells are useful, but have their limitations. For instance, B cells- white blood cells which produce antibodies- have a limited lifespan in vitro, meaning their use for making antibodies commercially is limited. The solution to this is the topic of today's episode: the hybridoma.

Sources for this episode: 1) Fullick, A. and Coates, A. (ed. Ryan, L.) (2016), GCSE AQA Biology (Third Edition). Oxford: Oxford University Press. 2) Madigan, M. T., Martinko, J. M., Dunlap, P. V. and Clark, D. P. (2009), Brock Biology of Microorganisms (12th Edition, International Edition), San Francisco: Pearson Benjamin Cummings Ltd. 3) Thain, M. and Hickman, M. (2014), Dictionary of Biology (Eleventh Edition). London: Penguin Books Ltd.

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Perhaps you've never thought much about bonsai trees. However, their existence does raise some biologically relevant questions. For instance, how is a bonsai tree created? Moreover, as we'll see in today's episode, they have also been considered as a tool in conservation...

Sources for this episode: 1) Cain, M. L., Bowman, W. D. and Hacker, S. D. (2011), Ecology (Second Edition). Sunderland, Massachusetts, Sinauer Associated Ltd. 2) The Editors, Encyclopaedia Britannica (2021), Bonsai (online) [Accessed 15/06/2021, 18/08/2021 and 19/08/2021]. 3) Joshi, A. R. and Joshi, K. (2009), Bonsai: A Technique for Conservation of Species, Bonsai and Conservation 1(1): 3-4. 4) Perrott, R., Synge, P. M. and Herklots, G. A. C., Encyclopaedia Britannica (2020), Gardening (online) [Accessed 18/08/2021]. 5) Wyman, D. (1954), Japanese dwarfed trees. Arnoldia 14(1): 1-7. 6) Author unknown, RHS Gardening (date unknown), Bonsai (online) [Accessed 15/06/2021 and 18/08/2021].

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We're going to explore a particular kind of hybridisation today- the kind that produces grolar bears. As the name might suggest, this refers to the offspring of a grizzly bear and a polar bear. Its existence- and that of cases like it- also allow us to put something called the biological species concept under scrutiny...

Sources for this episode: 1) Cain, M. L., Bowman, W. D. and Hacker, S. D. (2011), Ecology (Second Edition). Sunderland, Massachusetts, Sinauer Associated Ltd. 2) Callaway, E., New Scientist (2010), Neanderthal genome reveals interbreeding with humans (online) [Accessed 03/08/2021]. 3) Campbell, N. A., Urry, L. A., Cain, M. L., Wasserman, S. A., Minorsky, P. V. and Reece, J. B. (2018), Biology: a global approach, 11th edition (Global Edition), Harlow, Pearson Education Limited. 4) Cooke, F., Dingle, H., Hutchinson, S., McKay, G., Schodde, R., Tait, N. and Vogt, R. (2008), The Encyclopedia of Animals: A Complete Visual Guide (p.370). Sydney: Weldon Owen Pty Ltd. 5) Wei-Haas, M., National Geographic (2018), Ancient Girl's Parents Were Two Different Human Species (online) [Accessed 03/08/2021]. 6) Author unknown, BBC Newsround (2021), Have you ever heard of a 'pizzly' bear? (online) [Accessed 02/08/2021]. 7) Author unknown, Understanding Evolution (berkeley.edu), (date unknown), Misconceptions about evolution (online) [Accessed 03/08/2021].8) Author unknown, WWF (date unknown), Top 10 facts about polar bears (online) [Accessed 03/08/2021].

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Back in episode 49, I mentioned the Great American Interchange, which took place three million years ago when North America and South America collided and were connected by the isthmus of Panama. However, I largely glossed over it as it was only of tangential relevance to the topic of the Wallace Line. So, today, let's correct that oversight and explore the Great American Interchange...

Sources for this episode: 1) Domingo, L., Tomassini, R. L., Montalvo, C. I., Sanz-Pérez, D. and Alberdi, M. T. (2020), The Great American Biotic Interchange revisited: a new perspective from the stable isotope record of Argentine Pampas fossil mammals, Scientific Reports 10(1): 1608. 2) Marshall, L. G., Webb, S. D., Sepkoski, J. J. and Raup, D. M. (1982), Mammalian Evolution and the Great American Interchange, Science 215(4538): 1351-1357. 3) Weir, J. T., Bermingham, E. and Schluter, D. (2009), The Great American Biotic Interchange in birds, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 106(51): 21737-21742. 4) Author unknown, Wikipedia (date unknown), Great American Interchange (online) [Accessed 15/06/2021 and 13/08/2021]. 5) Author unknown, Wikipedia (date unknown), δ13C (online) [Accessed 10/08/2021]. 6) Author unknown, Wikipedia (date unknown), δ18O (online) [Accessed 10/08/2021].

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Photosynthesis has proven a useful tool in life's arsenal, but it isn't perfect. This is because one of its enzymes- RuBisCo for short- is not equipped to deal with our oxygenated world and as such sometimes creates toxic by-products which the organism then has to expend energy to deal with. However, some plants have evolved strategies to deal with this issue. Instead of simply working with vanilla-flavoured C3 photosynthesis, they have switched to alternative strategies known as C4 or CAM photosynthesis...

Sources for this episode: 1) Cain, M. L., Bowman, W. D. and Hacker, S. D. (2011), Ecology (Second Edition). Sunderland, Massachusetts, Sinauer Associated Ltd. 2) Campbell, N. A., Urry, L. A., Cain, M. L., Wasserman, S. A., Minorsky, P. V. and Reece, J. B. (2018), Biology: a global approach, 11th edition (Global Edition), Harlow, Pearson Education Limited. 3) Hirst, K. K., ThoughtCo (Updated 13/11/2019), Adaptations to Climate Change in C3, C4 and CAM Plants (online) [Accessed 27/07/2021]. 4) Thain, M. and Hickman, M. (2014), Dictionary of Biology (Eleventh Edition). London: Penguin Books Ltd.

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Altruism- or actions by organisms which ultimately provide a benefit to other organisms- have been puzzling evolutionary scientists since Darwin's time. As such, attempts have been made to explain how this phenomenon comes about. One of these explanations is the subject of today's episode- kin selection and Hamilton's rule. Now, I am not going to go into the arguments and evidence for and against it, which is probably a topic for future episodes. For now, it's probably best to say that my previous studies on the topic have taught me that there is a tangible divide within biology on this topic...

Sources for this episode: 1) Campbell, N. A., Urry, L. A., Cain, M. L., Wasserman, S. A., Minorsky, P. V. and Reece, J. B. (2018), Biology: a global approach, 11th edition (Global Edition), Harlow, Pearson Education Limited. 2) Dugatkin, L. A. (2007), Inclusive Fitness Theory from Darwin to Hamilton, Genetics 176(3): 1375- 1380. 3) The Editors, Encyclopaedia Britannica (2018), Kin selection (online) [Accessed 18/06/2021]. 4) Herron, J. C. and Freeman, S. (2015), Evolutionary Analysis (Fifth Edition, Global Edition). Harlow: Pearson Education Limited. 5) Oshaka, S., OUPblog (Oxford University Press, 2015), Kin selection, group selection and altruism: a controversy without end? (online) [Accessed 17/06/2021]. 6) Thain, M. and Hickman, M. (2014), Dictionary of Biology (Eleventh Edition). London: Penguin Books Ltd.

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If Alfred Russell Wallace (1823- 1913) is thought of at all, he is an after-thought to his far more famous counterpart Charles Darwin and the theory of natural selection. However, he has also had an impact in other fields. Today, we'll be exploring the Wallace Line and Wallace's contribution to zoogeography.

Sources for this episode: 1) Cain, M. L., Bowman, W. D. and Hacker, S. D. (2011), Ecology (Second Edition). Sunderland, Massachusetts, Sinauer Associated Ltd. 2) Camerini, J. R., Encyclopaedia Britannica (2021), Alfred Russell Wallace (online) [Accessed 10/06/2021]. 3) The Editors, Encyclopaedia Britannica (2019), Wallace Line (online) [Accessed 10/06/2021]. 4) Marshall, M., New Scientist (2021), The other humans: The emerging story of the mysterious Denisovans (online) [Accessed 11/06/2021]. 5) Scoville, H., ThoughtCo (2020), What Is the Wallace Line? (online) [Accessed 10/06/2021]. 6) Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute, Phys (2016), Recent connection between North and South America reaffirmed (online) [Accessed 10/06/2021]. 7) Tang, C. M., Encyclopaedia Britannica (2018), Tethys Sea (online) [Accessed 11/06/2021]. 8) Thain, M. and Hickman, M. (2014), Dictionary of Biology (Eleventh Edition). London: Penguin Books Ltd. 9) University of Adelaide, Phys (2013), Mysterious ancient human crossed Wallace's Line (online) [Accessed 10/06/2021]. 10) Author unknown, Understanding Evolution (Berkeley, date unknown), Biogeography: Wallace and Wegener (online) [Accessed 11/06/2021]. 11) Author unknown, Wikipedia (date unknown), Wallacea (online) [Accessed 11/06/2021].

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It's a well-known fact that humans have 23 pairs of chromosomes- 46 chromosomes in total. However, chimpanzees have 48 chromosomes, as do the other 'great apes'. Why is this? Well, it centres around human chromosome 2.

Sources for this episode: 1) Fullick A., Locke, J. and Bircher, P. (2015), A Level Biology for OCR A. Oxford: Oxford University Press. 2) IJdo, J.W., Baldini, A., Ward, D. C., Reeders S. T. and Wells, R. A. (1991) Origin of human chromosome 2: an ancestral telomere-telomere fusion, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America 88(20): 9051-9055. 3) Willey, J. M., Sherwood, L. M. And Woolverton, C. J. (2017), Prescott’s Microbiology, 10th edition (International Edition). New York, McGraw-Hill Education. 4) Young, W. J., Merz, T., Ferguson-Smith, M. A. and Johnston, A. W. (1960), Chromosome Number of the Chimpanzee, Pan troglodytes, Science 131(3414): 1672-1673. 5) Author unknown, Wikipedia (date unknown), Chimpanzee genome project (online) [Accessed 02/06/2021]. 6) Author unknown, WWF (date unknown) Great apes (online) [Accessed 06/06/2021].

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Moving away from previous topics somewhat, we're going to dive back into ecological theory and discuss the concept of sibling species. What is a sibling species? Well, they're species which appear broadly very similar, but do have some differences when you get up close. As we'll see in today's episode, sibling species are essentially part of the process of speciation..

Sources for this episode: 1) Eisenmann, E., Amadon, D., Banks, R. C., Blake, E. R., Howell, T. R., Johnson, N. K., Lowery, G. H., Parkes, K. C. and Storer, R. W. (1973), Thirty-Second Supplement to the American Ornithologists' Union Check-List of North American Birds, Auk 90(2): 411-419. 2) Gittleman, J. L., Encyclopaedia Britannica (2019), Species (online) [Accessed 29/05/2021]. 3) Nelson, D., OSU Bio Museum (2015), Examples of sibling species (online) [Accessed 02/06/2021]. 4) Thain, M. and Hickman, M. (2014), Dictionary of Biology (Eleventh Edition). London: Penguin Books Ltd. 5) Author unknown, Wikipedia (date unknown), Alder flycatcher (online) [Accessed 02/06/2021].

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Today, we're going to be discussing the Ediacaran fauna. This is a faunal assemblage that came before the Cambrian Explosion (535-525 Mya) but is less well known. Unlike the Cambrian Explosion- which saw the creation of most of the phyla we know today- the Ediacaran biota is much less familiar. It also appears to be quite confusing in terms of what category its constituent organisms fall under...

Sources for this episode: 1) Campbell, N. A., Urry, L. A., Cain, M. L., Wasserman, S. A., Minorsky, P. V. and Reece, J. B. (2018), Biology: a global approach, 11th edition (Global Edition), Harlow, Pearson Education Limited. 2) Ebling, F. J. G., Encyclopaedia Britannica (2017), Integument (online) [Accessed 29/05/2021]. 3) Flannery, T. F., Encyclopaedia Britannica (2019), Cambrian explosion (online) [Accessed 27/05/2021]. 4) Grazhdankin, D. (2011), Ediacaran Biota. In: Reitner J. and Thiel, V. (eds) Encyclopedia of Geobiology. Encyclopedia of Earth Sciences Series. Springer, Dordrecht. 5) Herron, J. C. and Freeman, S. (2015), Evolutionary Analysis (Fifth Edition, Global Edition). Harlow: Pearson Education Limited. 6) Rafferty, J. P., Encyclopaedia Britannica (2018), Ediacaran Period (online) [Accessed 28/05/2021]. 7) Shen, B., Dong, L., Xiao, S. and Kowalewski, M. (2008), The Avalon Explosion: Evolution of Ediacara Morphospace, Science 319(5859): 81-84. 8) Thain, M. and Hickman, M. (2014), Dictionary of Biology (Eleventh Edition). London: Penguin Books Ltd. 9) Virginia Tech, ScienceDaily (2008), Two Explosive Evolutionary Events Shaped Early History Of Multicellular Life (online) [Accessed 28/05/2021]. 10) Windley, B. F., Encyclopaedia Britannica (2019), Ediacara fauna (online) [Accessed 28/05/2021]. 11) Author unknown, Wikipedia (date unknown), Ediacaran biota (online) [Accessed 28/05/2021]. 12) Author unknown, Wikipedia (date unknown), Marinoan glaciation (online) [Accessed 28/05/2021].

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Almost no French king is more famous than Louis XVI, reigning during the turbulent times of the French Revolution at the tail-end of the eighteenth century. Previous studies have attempted to characterise his Y-chromosomal single tandem repeat (STR) profile, but were ultimately unsuccessful due to contradictions. So, today, let's explore a 2016 study which analysed a loyalist-owned lock of hair and compared it to three living male-line relatives.

Sources for this episode: 1) Lucotte, G., Thomasset, T. and Wen, S. (2016), The DNA Y-STRs Profile of Louis XVI (1754-1793). International Journal of Sciences 5(4): 68-93. 2) Popkin, J. D. and Goodwin, A., Encyclopaedia Britannica (2021), Louis XVI (online) [Accessed 16/05/2021]. 3) Author unknown, Wikipedia (date unknown), Family tree of French monarchs (simplified) (online) [Accessed 15/08/2021]. 4) Author unknown, Wikipedia (date unknown), Karl Wilhelm Naundorff (online) [Accessed 16/05/2021 and 06/09/2021].

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Point mutations can have a huge impact on the genome depending on where in the genetic code they occur. To illustrate this, we're going to be looking at a case study in the form of almonds- formerly poisonous nuts which had their metaphorical fangs taken out by a single base change...

Sources for this episode: 1) Hardy, E. R., Encyclopaedia Britannica (2021), Saint Basil the Great (online) [Accessed 22/05/2021]. 2) Herron, J. C. and Freeman, S. (2015), Evolutionary Analysis (Fifth Edition, Global Edition). Harlow: Pearson Education Limited. 3) Leman, J., Scientific American (2019), The Bitter Truth: Scientists Sequence the Almond Genome (online) [Accessed 18/05/2021]. 4) Petruzzello, M., Encyclopaedia Britannica (2021), almond (online) [Accessed 18/05/2021]. 5) Sánchez-Pérez, R., Pavan, S., Mazzeo, R., Molodovan, C., Cigliano, R. A., Del Cueto, J., Ricciardi, F., Lotti, C., Ricciardi, L., Dicenta, F., López-Marquéz, R. L. and Møller, B. L. (2019), Mutation of a bHLH transcription factor allowed almond domestication, Science 364(6445): 1095-1098. 6) Author unknown, Wikipedia (date unknown), Almond (online) [Accessed 18/05/2021].

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Bacteria are far simpler in molecular terms than eukaryotes. However, they still need to be able to sense and respond to their environment. How do they do this? Enter the two-component system; a two-protein system which allows stimuli to be detected and gene expression altered using phosphate transfer.

Sources for this episode: 1) Madigan, M. T., Martinko, J. M., Dunlap, P. V. and Clark, D. P. (2009), Brock Biology of Microorganisms (12th Edition, International Edition), San Francisco: Pearson Benjamin Cummings Ltd. 2) Thain, M. and Hickman, M. (2014), Dictionary of Biology (Eleventh Edition). London: Penguin Books Ltd. 3) Willey, J. M., Sherwood, L. M. and Woolverton, C. J. (2017), Prescott's Microbiology (10th Edition, International Edition), Singapore: McGraw Hill Education Ltd. 4) Author unknown, Wikipedia (date unknown), Osmotic concentration (online) [Accessed 27/05/2021].

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No, the episode name isn't a typo. Rather, it's the name of a subspecies of zebra we're going to be discussing today. Along the way, we will explore clines, the purpose of zebra stripes and an attempt to breed back the quagga from its zebra cousins. Why don't we hear more about it? Well, because it no longer exists...

Sources for this episode: 1) Bryden, H. A. (1889), Kloof and karroo: Sport, legend and natural history in Cape Colony, with a notice of the game birds, and of the present distribution of antelopes and larger game, London and New York: Longmans, Green and Co. Available at: Internet Archive [Accessed 14/05/2021]. 2) Cain, M. L., Bowman, W. D. and Hacker, S. D. (2011), Ecology (Second Edition). Sunderland, Massachusetts, Sinauer Associated Ltd. 3) Davis, N., The Guardian (2019), Why the zebra got its stripes: to deter flies from landing on it (online) [Accessed 14/05/2021]. 4) Douglas, G. (1821), A Communication of a Singular Fact in Natural History, Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London (1776-1886) 111: 20–22. Available at Internet Archive [Accessed 14/05/2021]. 5) The Editors, Encyclopaedia Britannica (2018), Quagga (online) [Accessed 14/05/2021]. 6) Heywood, P. (2020), Sexual dimorphism of body size in taxidermy specimens of Equus quagga quagga Boddaert (Equidae), Journal of Natural History 53(45-46): 2757-2761. 7) Author unknown, The Quagga Project (date unknown), Home (online) [Accessed 14/05/2021]. 8) Author unknown, Wikipedia (date unknown), Quagga (online) [Accessed 14/05/2021].

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Biological warfare has been around for centuries. However, it itself isn't the topic of today's episode. Rather, today we're going to talk about experiments conducted with anthrax on Gruinard Island in the United Kingdom.

Sources for this episode: 1) Johnson, M. P., Pye, S. and Allcock, L. (2008), Dispersal mode and assessments of recovery on the shores of Gruinard, the 'anthrax island', Biodiversity Conservation 17: 721-732. 2) Madigan, M. T., Martinko, J. M., Dunlap, P. V. and Clark, D. P. (2009), Brock Biology of Microorganisms (12th Edition, International Edition), San Francisco: Pearson Benjamin Cummings Ltd. 3) Riedel, S. (2004), Biological warfare and bioterrorism: a historical warfare, BUMC Proceedings 17: 400-406. 4) Author unknown, BBC News (2001), Britain's 'Anthrax Island' (online) [Accessed 21/05/2021]. 5) Author unknown, Gov.uk (date unknown), The Truth About Porton Down (online) [Accessed 21/05/2021]. 6) Author unknown, Wikipedia (date unknown), Gruinard Island (online) [Accessed 26/04/2021].

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Today is more of a follow-up episode building on episode 39. Specifically, we're going to examine two different schools of thought about plant succession, known as the Gleasonian and Clementsian models...

Sources for this episode: 1) Cain, M. L., Bowman, W. D. and Hacker, S. D. (2011), Ecology (Second Edition). Sunderland, Massachusetts, Sinauer Associated Ltd. 2) Hagen, J., Encyclopaedia Britannica (2020), Frederic Edward Clements (online) [Accessed 25/04/2021]. 3) Author unknown, Wikipedia (date unknown), Henry A. Gleason (botanist) (online) [Accessed 25/04/2021].

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Our discussion this week is going to head back into ecology and focus on succession- a change in the species composition of a community across space or time.

Sources for this episode: 1) Cain, M. L., Bowman, W. D. and Hacker, S. D. (2011), Ecology (Second Edition). Sunderland, Massachusetts, Sinauer Associated Ltd. 2) Thain, M. and Hickman, M. (2014), Dictionary of Biology (Eleventh Edition). London: Penguin Books Ltd. 3) Thompson, J. N., Encyclopaedia Britannica (2018), Ecological succession (online) [Accessed 10/04/2021]. 4) Author unknown, Encyclopaedia.com (updated 2018), Plagioclimax (online) [Accessed 10/04/2021].

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Haemophilia is a genetic condition which is characterised by one of the blood clotting factors, usually encoded for on the X chromosome, not being encoded for properly for various reasons- whether it's a mobile genetic element inserting itself into the gene or a simple mutation. On the show today, we describe the cause and symptoms of haemophilia, as well as using the case study of Queen Victoria to show that new mutations are a surprisingly common root cause...

Sources for this episode: 1) Francioli, L. C., et al. (2015), Genome-wide patterns and properties of de novo mutations in humans. Nature Genetics 47(7): 822- 826. 2) Mannucci, P. M. and Tuddenham, E. G. D. (2001), The Haemophilias- From Royal Genes to Gene Therapy. The New England Journal of Medicine 344(23): 1773- 1779. 3) Thain, M. and Hickman, M. (2014), Dictionary of Biology (Eleventh Edition). London: Penguin Books Ltd. 4) Author unknown, The Haemophilia Society (date unknown), Bleeding Disorders > Haemophilia (online) [Accessed 08/04/2021]. 5) Author unknown, Wikipedia (date unknown), Factor VIII (online) [Accessed 08/04/2021]. 6) Author unknown, Wikipedia (date unknown), Queen Victoria (online) [Accessed 08/04/2021].

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We're all familiar with populations, but what about a metapopulation? Put simply, these are populations of populations. Thanks to our sources and also my interpretation of the subject from back when I studied the concept, that's the notion we're going to unravel today...

Sources for this episode: 1) Cain, M. L., Bowman, W. D. and Hacker, S. D. (2011), Ecology (Second Edition). Sunderland, Massachusetts, Sinauer Associated Ltd. 2) Thompson, J. N., Encyclopaedia Britannica (2016), Metapopulation (online) [Accessed 17/04/2021]. 3) Wu, J., Encyclopaedia Britannica (2019), Patch dynamics (online) [Accessed 18/04/2021]. 4) In this episode, I use an analogy from how I understood the concept from back when I was taught the concept at university, which I've signposted.

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Back in the early 20th century, an English mathematician and a German scientist both independently came up with an equation to portray the frequency of different phenotypes in a hypothetical population. As we'll see today, this equation rests on some pretty big assumptions which effectively exclude evolution. Why is this useful? Well, because we can use it to see if evolution might be occurring...

Sources for this episode: 1) Chen, B., Cole, J. W. and Grond-Ginsbach, C. (2017), Departure from Hardy Weinberg Equilibrium and Genotyping Error. Frontiers in Genetics 8(167). 2) Herron, J. C. and Freeman, S. (2015), Evolutionary Analysis (Fifth Edition, Global Edition). Harlow: Pearson Education Limited. 3) TED-Ed, YouTube (2012), Five fingers of evolution- Paul Anderson (online) [Accessed 18/04/2021]. 4) Thain, M., and Hickman, M. (2014), The Penguin Dictionary of Biology, 11th edition. London: Penguin Publishing Group. 5) Author unknown, Wikipedia (date unknown), G. H. Hardy (online). 6) Author unknown, Wikipedia (date unknown), Wilhelm Weinberg (online).

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Today, we're going to discuss classification. We're going to briefly skim over how people historically used to organise life, before the establishment of the prokaryote-eukaryote division which would stay in place until an American scientist called Carl Woese rocked the taxonomic boat...

Sources for this episode: 1) Craine, A. G., Encyclopaedia Britannica (2020), Carl Woese (online) [Accessed 10/04/2021]. 2) Author unknown, Wikipedia (date unknown), Taxonomy (online) [Accessed 10/04/2021]. 3-4) Some of the discussion is based on my previous education on the subject and my completion of a Massive Open Online Course 'Emergence of Life' covering this topic in 2018.

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On the show today, we discuss the tuatara- two (or possibly only one) species of reptile which are the final representatives of an ancient lineage. I didn't really go into it in the main episode, but there appears to be some debate about whether or not the tuatara is one species or two. All the sources I'd used in this week's episode list two species, but I afterwards discovered an article from the journal 'Conservation Genetics' which concluded that the tuatara should probably be thought of as one species instead of two. I might come back to it in a future episode. The paper in question is: Hay, J. M., Sarre, Stephen D., Lambert, D. M., Allendorf, F. W. and Daugherty, C. H. (2010), Genetic diversity and taxonomy: a reassessment of species designation in tuatara (Sphenodon: Reptilia), Conservation Genetics 11: 1063-1081.

Sources for this episode: 1) Blythe, C. A., Encyclopaedia Britannica (2021), New Zealand (online) [Accessed 28/03/2021]. 2) Campbell, N. A., Urry, L. A., Cain, M. L., Wasserman, S. A., Minorsky, P. V. and Reece, J. B. (2018), Biology: a global approach, 11th edition (Global Edition), Harlow, Pearson Education Limited. 3) Cooke, F., Dingle, H., Hutchinson, S., McKay, G., Schodde, R., Tait, N. and Vogt, R. (2008), The Encyclopedia of Animals: A Complete Visual Guide (p.370). Sydney: Weldon Owen Pty Ltd. 4) Thain, M. and Hickman, M. (2014), Dictionary of Biology (Eleventh Edition). London: Penguin Books Ltd. 5) Author unknown, Wikipedia (date unknown), Rhynchocephalia (online) [Accessed 28/03/2021].

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At A Level, we are taught that dominant: recessive traits are in a 3:1 ratio for any trait in which only one gene encodes for it. However, it's not always that simple. Enter lethal alleles...

Sources for this episode: 1) Gao, Z., Waggoner, D., Stephens, M., Ober, C. and Przeworski, M. (2015), An Estimate of the Average Number of Recessive Lethal Mutations Carried by Humans. Genetics 199: 1243- 1254. 2) Roos, R. A. C. (2010), Huntingdon's disease: a clinical review. Orphanet Journal of Rare Diseases 2010 5:40. 3) Author unknown, Wikipedia (date unknown), Lethal allele (online) [Accessed 26/03/2021]. 4) Author unknown, Wikipedia (date unknown), Manx cat (online) [Accessed 27/03/2021].

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Usually, we get two copies of each chromosome. However, the finely tuned process of meiosis and fertilisation can go awry such that a new zygote ends up with three copies. Depending on the chromosome, this can have serious consequences...

Sources for this episode: 1) For an explanation of non-disjunction which I found helpful when I was at sixth form, see: Amoeba Sisters, YouTube (2017), Meiosis (Updated) (online) [Accessed 25/03/2021]. 2) Xu, X., Zhang, X., Han, J.-W., Adamu, Y. and Zhang, B. (2020), Potential Increased Risk of Trisomy 18 Observed After a Fertilizer Warehouse Fire in Brazos County and TX. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health 17: 2561- 2571. 3) Author unknown, NHS (date unknown), Edwards' syndrome (trisomy 18) (online) [Accessed 25/03/2021].

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We often think about animals as an insular group. However, as with any genetic grouping, animals do have close relatives. On the show today, we discuss choanoflagellates- considered the closest relatives to animals today, and possibly a good candidate for what the common ancestor of all animals would have looked like.

Sources for this episode: 1) Campbell, N. A., Urry, L. A., Cain, M. L., Wasserman, S. A., Minorsky, P. V. and Reece, J. B. (2018), Biology: a global approach, 11th edition (Global Edition), Harlow, Pearson Education Limited. 2) The Editors, Encyclopaedia Britannica (2021), Choanoflagellate (online) [Accessed 13/03/2021]. 3) Holland, S. M., Encyclopaedia Britannica (2021), Ordovician Period (online) [Accessed 13/03/2021]. 4) Marshall, M., New Scientist (2009), Timeline: The evolution of life (online) [Accessed 13/03/2021]. 5) Philippe, H., et al. (2009), Phylogenomics Revives Traditional Views on Deep Animal Relationships. Current Biology 19: 706- 712.

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Biodiversity is often mentioned as one concept in popular culture. However, it can be split into different components depending on who you ask. Today, we're going to explore two different ways of chopping biodiversity up.

Sources for this episode: 1) Cain, M. L., Bowman, W. D. and Hacker, S. D. (2011), Ecology (2nd edition). Sunderland: Sinauer Associates Ltd. 2) Author unknown, Wikipedia (date unknown), Gamma diversity (online) [Accessed 06/03/2021].

There are ways of working out biodiversity values, which we won't discuss in this episode. For a formula for the Shannon-Weiner index of biodiversity (which I'm going to try and discuss in a future episode), see: Thain, M. and Hickman, M. (2014), Dictionary of Biology (Eleventh Edition). London: Penguin Books Ltd. For Simpson's biodiversity index, see: Fullick A., Locke, J. and Bircher, P. (2015), A Level Biology for OCR A. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

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This week, we're going to discuss sympatric speciation- the counterpart to allopatric speciation where no physical barrier is needed.

Sources for this episode: 1) Campbell, N. A., Urry, L. A., Cain, M. L., Wasserman, S. A., Minorsky, P. V. and Reece, J. B. (2018), Biology: a global approach, 11th edition (Global Edition), Harlow, Pearson Education Limited. 2) Thain, M., and Hickman, M. (2014), The Penguin Dictionary of Biology, 11th edition. London: Penguin Publishing Group. 3) Author unknown, National Geographic (date unknown), Speciation (online) [Accessed 28/02/2021]. 4) Author unknown, Understanding Evolution (date unknown), Sympatric speciation (online). Available at: 'berkeley.edu' [Accessed 28/02/2021].

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Bonus episode! Today, I'm going to focus on a less well-known story from the Darwin family. Specifically, let's look at William Erasmus Darwin, the eldest child of the family. In 1877, Darwin published an article about his observations of William's development.

Sources for this episode: 1) Darwin, C. R. (1877), A biographical sketch of an infant. Scientific American Supplement 86: 1373- 1374 (online). Available at: Internet Archive [Accessed 25/03/2021]. 2) Author unknown, Wikipedia (date unknown), William Erasmus Darwin (online) [Accessed 25/03/2021]. 3) Author unknown, Wikipedia (date unknown), The Descent of Man (online) [Accessed 26/03/2021].

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The Great Wall of China is one of the most imposing monuments humanity has ever created- after all, it's not for nothing that the claim goes around that you can see it from space. However, it's not just an effective barrier for humans. In fact, a 2003 study indicates that it's causing speciation in the region...

Sources for this episode: 1) Campbell, N. A., Urry, L. A., Cain, M. L., Wasserman, S. A., Minorsky, P. V. and Reece, J. B. (2018), Biology: a global approach, 11th edition (Global Edition), Harlow, Pearson Education Limited. 2) The Editors, Encyclopaedia Britannica (2021), Great Wall of China (online) [Accessed 19/02/2021]. 3) Oltermann, P., et al., The Guardian/Observer (2010), The Ancient World (booklet series), Day 6: China. Associated with the British Museum. 4) Su, H., Qu., L.-J., He, K., Zhang, Z., Wang, J., Chen, Z. and Gu, H. (2003), The Great Wall of China: a physical barrier to gene flow? Heredity 90: 212- 219.

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We're always taught that twins can either be identical or non-identical. But what is the basis for this? And is there ever a situation where twin type is not quite so binary?

Sources for this episode: 1) Davis, N., the Guardian (2019), Scientists stunned by discovery of 'semi-identical' twins (online) [Accessed 07/02/2021]. 2) Author unknown, BBC (2019), Semi-identical twins 'identified for only the second time' (online) [Accessed 07/02/2021]. 3) Author unknown, Wikipedia (date unknown), Twin (online) [Accessed 08/02/2021].

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The term 'Anthropocene' (roughly translated as 'Age of Man') is a term that is sometimes thrown about on the radio or in science. But what is it exactly? As we'll see today, the concept itself is relatively simpler, but nailing down the specifics is somewhat harder than it seems...

Sources for this episode: 1) Ashley, S., National Trust (date unknown), What is the Anthropocene? (online) [Accessed 30/01/2021]. 2) Author unknown, Encyclopaedia Britannica (2020), Anthropocene Epoch (online) [Accessed 30/01/2021]. 3) Author unknown, Wikipedia (date unknown), Chinese industralization (online) [Accessed 02/02/2021].

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Science has to change with the evidence if it is to be trusted. One example of this comes with Dollo's Law, named after the French Belgian biologist Louis Dollo. His original theory was that evolution would never, under any circumstances, retrace its path. However, as we're going to see on the podcast today, that isn't always the case. With new evidence came the need for a revamp of Dollo's Law...

Sources for this episode: 1) The Editors, Encyclopaedia Britannica (2018), Peppered moth (online) [Accessed 27/01/2021]. 2) Zimmer, C., National Geographic (2003), Recoil from Dollo's Law (online) [Accessed 24/01/2021]. 3) Author unknown, Encyclopaedia Britannica (2018), Dollo's Law (online) [Accessed 24/01/2021]. 4) Author unknown, Wikipedia (date unknown), Dollo's Law of irreversibility (online) [Accessed 24/01/2021].

NOTE: I think I get a bit mixed up in my speech at one point with the gastropod example. What I should have said is that shells started out coiled, uncoiled itself and then recoiled on at least two occasions.

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In our third Rewind episode, I'm going to go back over the concept of dominant vs. recessive as a mechanism of genetic inheritance, which I've touched upon before but not really in any great detail.

Sources for this episode: 1) Fullick A., Locke, J. and Bircher, P. (2015), A Level Biology for OCR A. Oxford: Oxford University Press. 2) Thain, M., and Hickman, M. (2014), The Penguin Dictionary of Biology, 11th edition. London: Penguin Publishing Group. 3) Author unknown, Wikipedia (date unknown), Eye color (online) [Accessed 19/01/2021].

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This episode is really going to do what it says on the tin- discuss the question of how many species there are in the world. This might seem a simple question, but a simple answer has eluded the scientific community for some years now. On the show today, I'm going to go through some of the methods past research has used to answer this question and what figures they came up with.

Sources for this episode: 1) Latty, T. and Lee, T., 'Phys.org' (2019), How many species on Earth? A simple question that's hard to answer (online) [Accessed 16/01/2021]. 2) Mora, C., Tittensor, D. P., Adl, S., Simpson, A. G. B. and Worm, B. (2012), How Many Species Are There on Earth and in the Ocean? PLOS Biology 9(8): e1001127. 

NOTE- at one point I mention seven taxonomic levels, but I should have said six.

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Hi everyone, just a quick plug for my other show- After Alexander. This is a history podcast where we examine what happened between Alexander the Great's death in 323 and the destruction of the last of the Hellenistic kingdoms by the Romans and Parthians. Specifically, it focuses on the Seleucid dynasty, descended from Seleucus I Nicator and eventually rulers over most of Alexander's old empire in their glory days. If that sounds like it might be for you, feel free to head over and join us! Regular content resumes next week.

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The Central Indo-Pacific (or CIP if you're stuck for time) is a highly diverse region of the ocean. But how did it get to be this way? It's this question which is the topic for today's episode.

Sources for this episode: 1) Ivany, L. C., Patterson, W. P. and Lohmann, K. C. (2000), Cooler winters as a possible cause of mass extinctions at the Eocene/Oligocene boundary. Nature 407: 887- 890. 2) Jones, K. R., Klein, C. J., Halpern, B. S., Venter, O., Grantham, H., Kuempel, C. D., Shumway, N., Friedlander, A. M., Possingham, H. P. and Watson, J. E. M. (2018), The Location and Protection Status of Earth’s Diminishing Marine Wilderness. Current Biology 28: 2506- 2512. 3) Miller, E.C., Hayashi, K. T., Song, D., Wiens, J. J., (2018) Explaining the ocean’s richest biodiversity hotspot and global patterns of fish diversity. Proceedings of the Royal Society B 285: 20181314. 4) Renema, W., Bellwood, D. R., Braga, J. C., Bromfield, K., Hall, R., Johnson, K. G., Lunt, P., Meyer, C. P., McMonagle, L. B., Morley, R. J., O'Dea, A., Todd, J. A., Wesselingh, F. P., Wilson, M. E. J. and Pandolfi, J. M. (2008), Hopping Hotspots: Global Shifts in Marine Biodiversity. Science (321): 654- 657. 5) Siqueira, A. C., Bellwood, D. R. and Cowman, P. F. (2019), Historical biogeography of herbivorous coral reef fishes: The formation of an Atlantic fauna. Journal of Biogeography. 6) Author unknown, Wikipedia (date unknown), Coral (online) [Accessed 17/01/2021]. 7) Author unknown, Wikipedia (date unknown), Eocene (online) [Accessed 17/01/2021].

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Building on our discussion of the Red Queen hypothesis last week, we're going to go through a theorem which is similarly chess-themed but goes against our hypothesis from episode 20. This theory holds that, rather than continual evolution being necessary for a species to survive, natural selection can sometimes allow genes to be lost from the gene pool.

Sources for this episode: 1) Allen, R. C., Popat, R., Diggle, S. P. and Brown, S. P. (2014), Targeting virulence: can we make evolution-proof drugs? Nature Reviews Microbiology 12(4): 300- 308. 2) Morris, J. J., Lenski, R. E. and Zinser, E. R. (2012), The Black Queen Hypothesis: Evolution of Dependencies through Adaptive Gene Loss. mBio 3(2): e00036-12. 3) Willey, J. M., Sherwood, L. M. and Woolverton, C. J. (2017), Prescott's Microbiology (Tenth Edition, International Edition). New York: McGraw Hill Education. 4) Author unknown, Wikipedia (date unknown), Black Queen hypothesis (online) [Accessed 15/01/2021].

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This week, I'm going to discuss the Red Queen Hypothesis, which sounds intimidating but is actually rather straightforward. Not only is it an evolutionary theory, but it's also a reminder that biologists really like finding obscure reasons to name things...

Sources for this episode: 1) Scoville, H., ThoughtCo (updated 2019), What Is the Red Queen Hypothesis? (online) [Accessed 14/01/2021]. 2) Thain, M. and Hickman, M. (2004), The Penguin Dictionary of Biology (11th edition). London: Penguin Books Ltd. 3) Author unknown, Wikipedia (date unknown), Red Queen Hypothesis (online) [Accessed 14/01/2021].

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Happy Darwin Day! On the anniversary of Darwin’s birthday on 12th February 1809, I thought it would be fun to release a special episode covering some aspect of Darwin’s life or theories. Today, we’re going to discuss the health of Darwin’s children and of Darwin’s immediate family.

Sources for this episode: 1) Hayman, J., Álvarez, G., Ceballos, F. C. and Berra, T. M. (2017), The illnesses of Charles Darwin and his children: a lesson in consanguinity. Biological Journal of the Linnean Society 121: 458- 468. 2) Information on the immediate family of Charles Darwin can also be found on Wikipedia, whether his article or the article on the Darwin-Wedgewood family.

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This week, I’m going to do something a little different and talk through a process we hear a lot about, but which isn’t often discussed as a process outside biology classrooms very much- evolution. This episode will be a little different from my usual, as it’s mainly going to be me talking rather than drawing on sources. Instead, this discussion is going to be based on my biological education so far.

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Apoptosis is the phenomenon by which cells commit suicide in an orderly and programmed fashion. But why is it important? And what happens if it goes wrong? Today, we're just going to introduce the topic briefly and give some examples of why it is biologically useful.

Sources for this episode: 1) Alberts, Johnson, Lewis, Raff, Roberts, and Walter (2008), Molecular Biology of the Cell, Fifth Edition. Abingdon: Garland Science, ‘Taylor and Francis Group LLC’. 2) Thain, M., and Hickman, M. (2014), The Penguin Dictionary of Biology, 11th edition. London: Penguin Publishing Group.

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Eye colour is one of the first examples of genetic inheritance talked about in schools across the country. But what is it that these genes really do? What causes eye colour from a functional perspective? As we'll see on the podcast today, it's all to do with the pigment melanin...

Sources for this episode: 1) Alberts, Johnson, Lewis Raff, Roberts, and Walter (2008), Molecular Biology of the Cell, Fifth Edition. Abingdon: Garland Science, Taylor and Francis Group LLC. 2) Sturm, R. A. and Frudakis, T. N. (2004), Eye colour: portals into pigmentation genes and ancestry. Trends in Genetics 20(8): 327- 332.

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Assortative mating is essentially the recognition that theory isn’t always perfect and that, however desperately biologists might want some simplicity in the world, organisms don’t just encounter each other like gas molecules- it’s not a random process. In fact, it can even give evolution a helping hand…

Sources for this episode: 1) Nishi, A., Alexander, M., Fowler, J. H. and Christakis, N. A. (2020), Assortative mating at loci under recent natural selection in humans. BioSystems 187 (2020) 104040. 2) Thain, M., and Hickman, M. (2014), The Penguin Dictionary of Biology, 11th edition. London: Penguin Publishing Group.

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Hi everyone, Vince here with a quick update- the podcast now has an accompanying website! From now on, you can head to 'www.biopedia.co.uk' to access all our episodes, as well as a blog featuring some extra content. Thank you all for continuing to listen to the show and I'm excited to add new content!

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The adaptive landscape is an important method for biologists, ecologists, and geneticists to visualise the process of evolution. But what is it, and how does it work? This week, we’re going to discuss what the adaptive landscape actually is, so while there are going to be some sources listed, there's also a bit of general discussion as well.

Some sources for this episode: 1) Martin, C. H. and Wainwright, P. C. (2013), Multiple fitness peaks on the adaptive landscape drive adaptive radiation in the wild. Science 339: 208- 211. 2) Author unknown, Wikipedia (date unknown), Fitness Landscape (online) [Accessed 2021, date not known]. 3) Script writing was reinforced by my previous education on the topic.

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Bonus episode! In the main episode on Sunday, I briefly mentioned NRAMP1, a mutation in which can influence how susceptible someone is to the leprosy bacterium, Mycobacterium leprae. But what exactly is the NRAMP1 protein and why is it important?

Sources for this episode: 1) Cannone-Hergaux, F., Calafat, J., Richer, E., Cellier, M., Grinstein, S., Borregaard, N. and Gros, P. (2002), Expression and subcellular localisation of NRAMP1 in neutrophil granules. Blood 100(1): 268- 275. 2) Forbes, J. R. and Gros, P. (2003), Iron, manganese, and cobalt transport by Nramp1 (Slc11a1) and Nramp2 (Slc11a2) expressed at the plasma membrane. Blood 102(5): 1884- 1892. 3) Hennigar, S. R. and McClung, J. P. (2016), Nutritional Immunity: Starving Pathogens of Trace Minerals. American Journal of Lifestyle Medicine 10(3): 170- 173. 4) Rørvig, S., Østergaard, O., Heegaard, N. H. H. and Borregaard, N. (2013), Proteome profiling of human neutrophil granule subsets, secretory vesicles, and cell membrane: correlation with transcriptome profiling of neutrophil precursors. Journal of Leukocyte Biology 94: 711- 721.

A paper that mentions cell lysis in the context of pathogens surviving phagocytosis: Natural Resistance to Infection with Intracellular Pathogens: The Nramp1 Protein Is Recruited to the Membrane of the Phagosome.

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Happy new year! In our inaugural episode of 2021, we’re going to go back to the 1100s and focus on the famous case of the Leper King Baldwin IV, who ruled as king of Jerusalem from 1174 to 1185. What exactly is leprosy, and what causes it? We’ll use the test case of Baldwin as an opening to talking a bit about the bug Mycobacterium leprae and how exactly leprosy works.

Sources for this episode: 1) Abel, L., Sánchez, F. O., Oberti, J., Thuc, N. V., Van Hoa, L., Lap, V. D., Skamene, E., Lagrange, P. H. and Schurr, E. (1998), Susceptibility to Leprosy Is Linked to the Human NRAMP1 Gene. The Journal of Infectious Diseases 177: 133- 145. 2) Fullick A., Locke, J. and Bircher, P. (2015), A Level Biology for OCR A. Oxford: Oxford University Press. 3) Guerrero-Peral, A. L. (2009), Neurological manifestations of the leprosy of King Baldwin IV of Jerusalem. Revista de Neurologica 49(8). 4) Turner, J. J., Hektoen International, The remarkable Baldwin IV: leper and king of Jerusalem (online). 5) Author unknown, Microbiology Society (2014), Mycobacterium leprae, the cause of leprosy (online) [Accessed 11/12/2020]

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Proteins are often mentioned on the show, but what about the building blocks that they consist of? This week, we’re going to tackle amino acids in our second rewind episodes. There are some topics that naturally branch off from this one, such as interactions between amino acids and how DNA encodes for different ones, but they will probably be topics for future episodes.

Sources for this episode: 1) Campbell, N. A., Urry, L. A., Cain, M. L., Wasserman, S. A., Minorsky, P. V. and Reece, J. B. (2018), Biology: a global approach, 11th edition (Global Edition), Harlow, Pearson Education Limited. 2) Compound Interest, Compound Interest (2014), A Brief Guide to the Twenty Common Amino Acids (online) [Accessed c.2020, date not known]. 3) Fullick A., Locke, J. and Bircher, P. (2015), A Level Biology for OCR A. Oxford: Oxford University Press. 4) Ritchie, R. and Ghent, D. (2015), A Level Chemistry for OCR A. Oxford: Oxford University Press. 5) Thain, M., and Hickman, M. (2014), The Penguin Dictionary of Biology, 11th edition. London: Penguin Publishing Group.

NOTE: In case this wasn’t clear in the audio, variable groups, R groups and side chains all refer to the same functional group- namely, the variable part of an amino acid.

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Building on our discussion of both signalling pathways and G-protein coupled receptors from a few weeks ago, this week we’re going to discuss the Wnt signalling pathway- a pathway which is crucial in aspects of development and can have widespread impacts on the cell. It all sounds rather intimidating, but there’s actually surprisingly few steps involved in this pathway- and we’re only going to be focusing on one part of the signalling network, which makes life a lot less complicated!

Sources for this episode: 1) Alberts, Johnson, Lewis, Raff, Roberts, and Walter (2008), Molecular Biology of the Cell, Fifth Edition, p.948- 950. Abingdon: Garland Science, Taylor and Francis Group LLC. 2) Janda, C. Y., Waghray, D., Levin, A. M., Thomas, C. and Garcia, K. C. (2012), Structural basis of Wnt recognition by Frizzled. Science 337: 59- 63. 3) Author unknown, National Center for Biotechnology Information (2020), PubChem Compound Summary for CID 445638, Palmitoleic acid (online) [Accessed 29/11/2020].

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In the first of our ‘Rewind’ episodes, we go back to basics and discuss cells- where they came from and the famous cell theory of 1839, which is still present in textbooks today. There are more stories than we can cover which lead up to cell theory, so just see this as an introductory episode until when and if we can come back to these famous names and discoveries.

Sources for this episode: 1) Silver (1987), Virchow, the Heroic Health Model in Medicine: Health Policy by Accolade. AJPH 77(1): 82- 88. 2) Author unknown, National Geographic, date unknown, Cell Theory (Encyclopaedic entry, online) [Accessed c.2020, date not known].

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As discussed in previous episodes, the actin cytoskeleton is vital to allow cells to move. But what about the specifics? In this episode, we’re going to be dissecting the lamellipodium- a meshwork actin structure that some cells use to move.

Sources for this episode: 1) Alberts, Johnson, Lewis, Raff, Roberts, and Walter (2008), Molecular Biology of the Cell, Fifth Edition. Abingdon: Garland Science, Taylor and Francis Group LLC. 2) Berro, Michelot, Blanchoin, Kovar and Martiel (2007), Attachment Conditions Control Actin Filament Buckling and the Production of Forces. Biophysical Journal 92(7): 2546- 2558. 3) Kiuchi, Ohashi, Kurita and Mizuno (2007), Cofilin promotes stimulus-induced lamellipodium formation by generating an abundant supply of actin monomers. The Journal of Cell Biology 177(3): 465- 476. 4) ‘Mechanobiology Institute, Singapore’, YouTube (2013), Arp2/3 complex mediated actin nucleation (online) [Accessed 23/11/2020].

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We’re all familiar with the platypus, but it still has surprises up its sleeve. On the show today, we get to know its bumper-sized cousin- Obdurodon tharalkooschild.

Sources for this episode: 1) Dell’Amore, C., National Geographic (2013), Giant Platypus Found, Shakes Up Evolutionary Tree (online) [Accessed 17/11/2020].2) Pian, R., Archer, M. And Hand, S. J. (2013), A new, giant platypus, Obdurodon tharalkooschild, sp. nov. (Monotremata, Ornithorhynchidae), from the Riversleigh, World Heritage Area, Australia. Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology 33(6): 1255- 1259.

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Killer whales are an icon of the world's oceans. However, genetic studies show that they haven't always been doing so well- especially during the last Ice Age. What's the story? And what relevance does the millennia-old plight of the orca have today? On the podcast today, we're going to use a genetic study from 2014 to explore just that.

Sources for this episode: 1) Moura, A. E. et al (2014), Killer Whale Nuclear Genome and mtDNA Reveal Widespread Population Bottleneck during the Last Glacial Maximum. Molecular Biology and Evolution 31(5): 1121- 1131. 2) General dates for some of the geological epochs discussed are widely available and can be found at sources such as Wikipedia.

A small housekeeping note: the lamellipodium episode is taking longer than expected and so has had to be pushed back a bit until November 25th (episode 10).

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On the podcast today, we cover the concept of localised mRNA, which can be relevant to cell polarity.

Sources for this episode: 1) Martin, K. C. And Ephrussi, A. (2009), mRNA Localisation: Gene Expression in the Spatial Dimension. Cell 136: 719- 730.

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Antibiotic resistance we’ve all heard of by now, but what about antibiotic persistence? Join us as we explore the phenomenon of persistence, which allows bacterial infections to reappear even after antibiotic treatment. And all while being genetically identical to their susceptible neighbours!

Sources for this episode: 1) Balaban, N. Q., Helanie, S., Lewis, K., Ackermann, M., Aldridge, B., Andersson, D. I., Brynildsen, M. P., Bumann, D., Camilli, A., Collins, J. J., Dehio, C., Fortune, S., Ghigo, J.-M., Hardt, W.-D., Harms, A., Heinemann, M., Hung, D. T., Jenal, U., Levin, B. R., Michiels, J., Storz, G., Tan, M.-W., Tenson, T., Van Melderen, L., Zinkernagel, A. (2019), Definitions and guidelines for research on antibiotic persistence. Nature Reviews 17: 441- 448. 2) Fisher, R. A., Gollan, B. and Helanie, S. (2017), Persistent bacterial infections and persister cells. Nature Reviews Microbiology 15: 453- 464. 3) Wiley, J. M., Sherwood, L. M. and Woolverton, C. J. (2017), Prescott’s microbiology, 10th edition (International Edition), New York, McGraw-Hill Education. 4) Some of the discussion is based on my previous education on the topic.

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It is common knowledge that bees as a whole are declining as a result of climate change, although bee decline as a larger topic is not in itself the subject of today's episode. But what about individual species? On the podcast today, we cover a 2019 study which predicted that the Australian small carpenter bee, Ceratina australensis, might go against this trend....

Sources for this episode: 1) Breeze, T. D., Roberts, S. P. M. and Potts, S. G. (2012), The Decline of England's Bees: Policy Review and Recommendations (University of Reading). Available at: Friends of the Earth (published 2017, online) [Accessed 09/09/2021]. 2) Dew, R. N., Silva, D. P. And Rehan, S. M. (2019), Range expansion of an already widespread bee under climate change. Global Ecology and Conservation 17 (2019): e00584. 3) Author unknown, Friends of the Earth (2017), What are the causes of bee decline? (online) [Accessed 09/09/2021].

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This episode builds on content covered in episode 3, so be sure to check it out if you haven’t listened to it already. This week, we explore an example of the GTPase content we discussed last time. Specifically, we look at the diploid mating of baker’s yeast in stressful environments.

Source for this episode: 1) Alberts, Johnson, Lewis Raff, Roberts and Walter (2008), Molecular Biology of the Cell, Fifth Edition. Abingdon: Garland Science, Taylor and Francis Group LLC.

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On the podcast today, we scratch the surface of cell polarity and how enzymes known as GTPases are linked to this process.

Sources for this episode: 1) Alberts, Johnson, Lewis Raff, Roberts and Walter (2008), Molecular Biology of the Cell, Fifth Edition, Abingdon: Garland Science, Taylor and Francis Group LLC. 2) Thain, M. And Hickman, M. (2014), The Penguin Dictionary of Biology, 11th edition. London: Penguin Publishing Group. 3) Some of the discussion is also based on my studies.

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It’s genetics time! Back in 2012, a skeleton was unearthed in a car park in Leicester, which was later positively identified as Richard III of England. But how? Join us as we delve into how genetics cracked a 500 year old case wide open...

Sources: 1) King, T. E., Fortes, G. G., Balaresque, P. Thomas, M. G., Balding, D., Delser, P. M., Neumann, R., Parson, W., Knapp, M., Walsh, S., Tonasso, L., Holt, J., Kayser, M., Appleby, J., Forster, P., Ekserdjian, D., Hofreiter, M., and Schürer, K. (2014), Identification of the remains of King Richard III. Nature Communications 5:5631, DOI: 10.1038/ncomms6631. 2) Shakespeare, W., Richard The Third (play), Act 1, Scene 3. 3) Author unknown, BBC news (2015), Richard III: Leicester Cathedral reburial service for king (online) [Accessed 29/10/2020]. 4) Author unknown, BBC (2018), 'The discovery of Richard III's skeleton changed my life' (online) [Accessed 29/10/2020].

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Welcome to our first proper episode! This week, we tackle the problem of biofilms- an extracellular matrix which can protect the species inside it and is a source of frustration to doctors and dentists alike.

Sources for this episode: 1) Lopez, D. Vlamakis, H. And Kolter, R. (2010), Biofilms. Cold Spring Harbor Perspectives in Biology 2(7): a000398. DOI: 10.1101/cshperspect.a000398. 2) Short, F. L., Murdoch, S. L. And Ryan, R. P. (2014), Polybacterial human disease: the ills of social networking. DOI: 10.1016/j.tim.2014.05.007. 3) Thain, M. And Hickman, M. (2014), The Penguin Dictionary of Biology, 11th edition. London: Penguin Publishing Group. ISBN: 978-0-141-01396-1. 4) Wiley, J. M., Sherwood, L. M. And Woolverton, C. J. (2017), Prescott’s Microbiology, 10th edition (International Edition). New York, McGraw-Hill Education. ISBN: 978-981-3151-26-0.

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Welcome to Biopedia! This episode is a bit of an explanation as to who I am, what the podcast is all about and some caveats about my schedule.

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Welcome to Biopedia! This is a podcast that aims to go through various aspects of biology one at a time for listeners of all levels. Enjoy the show!