Big Biology

The biggest and best  biology and science podcast!! If you enjoy  science podcasts featuring in-depth conversations with scientists  subscribe now. 

Big Biology covers breaking  research and original thinking regarding evolution, genetics,  physiology, psychology, wildlife, nature, conservation, epidemiology and  more.



Everything biological, anything mysterious, anything philosophical, everything scientific, you'll find it here!

What are model organisms? Why have they been so important to biology?

Much of biological research over the past 50 years has relied on model organisms. These species – which include mice, rats, fruit flies, and others – have yielded many insights and led to the development of better molecular tools and a scientific culture centered on sharing. At the same time, the money and effort devoted to model organisms may have undermined work on a broader diversity of species, more representative of life as a whole. In this episode, we talk with Sabina Leonelli and Rachel Ankeny, two philosophers of biology, about the history of model organisms and the positives and negatives of studying them.

Sabina Leonelli is a professor and director of the Exeter Center for the Study of Life Sciences. Rachel Ankeny is a professor in the School of Humanities at the University of Adelaide. They are also authors of the book Model Organisms, a philosophical exploration of the concept of the 'model organism' in contemporary biology.

Cover art: Keating Shahmehri

Season 5 of Big Biology starts next week, so this week we are thrilled to highlight Genetics Unzipped, another one of the great science podcasts out there. Genetics Unzipped is the official podcast of the Genetics Society, one of the oldest learned societies dedicated to promoting  research, training, teaching and public engagement in all areas of genetics. 

Hosted and produced by Drs Kat Arney and Sally Le Page, Genetics Unzipped entertains listeners with fascinating stories about all things genetics and DNA. In this episode, learn the science behind the macabre question, "when should you eat your relatives?" A look at kin-selection and all the wild scenarios in nature where this question arises, this episode is one of our favorites for all the “family dinner” puns alone!  

Visit www.geneticsunzipped.com to learn more and see full episode transcripts, subscribe to Genetics Unzipped wherever you get podcasts, and say hello on Twitter @GeneticsUnzip

Why do some rove beetles look like ants? Why do living things evolve similar solutions to common problems? Is there predictability within the evolutionary process?

On this episode, Art and Marty talk with Joe Parker, an entomologist at Caltech. Joe has been collecting beetles since the age of 16, when he first became amazed by their incredible diversity. He now focuses on rove beetles and studies their evolutionary relationship with ants to understand how different species converge upon similar traits.

Will cancer ever become just another chronic but manageable disease? What can a squirrel biologist teach us about treating cancer?

In this episode, Marty and Art talk with Joel Brown about how to contain cancer using basic ideas from ecology and evolution. To Joel, cells in tumors are like organisms in ecosystems, and fighting cancer means using what we know about species in nature to tilt the playing field against the worst kinds of cancer cells. He and his team at the Moffit Cancer Research Center in Tampa, Florida, are starting to have some remarkable success treating different kinds of cancer.

We interviewed Joel in front of a live audience at Circa 1949 in Tampa, FL—our first live event!

How do mantis shrimp punch as fast as a bullet… underwater? How do they break open one of the toughest materials on earth?

Tune into this podcast to hear Art and Marty talk to Sheila Patek about how mantis shrimp pack such a powerful punch and why we should care. For example, mantis shrimp hammers can be used hundreds of thousands of times to break open the tough shells of snails and clams, and this research may help inspire lightweight, heavy duty military armor.

Sheila studies the mechanics of ultrafast movements at Duke University. You may have seen her work featured by Science News (and numerous others) about the rules of animal fight clubs. But we can't talk about those.

How do animals construct tissues, organs, and limbs in the right places during development? How do some animals manage to regenerate missing body parts?

On this episode of Big Biology, we talk with Michael Levin, a biologist at Tufts University who studies how electric fields inside animals guide cells during development and regeneration. His work shows that electric fields play fundamental roles in structuring body plans and, in some species, can even be inherited across generations.

How do we properly study complex traits? How does organismal function relate to how organisms evolve?

All animals use oxygen to convert sugars and other substrates into energy using a multi-step pathway called the oxygen cascade. This cascade involves many, many parts of the respiratory, circulatory, and metabolic systems, making it a complex trait. Complex traits pose at least two major challenges to biologists: how do such multifaceted systems operate effectively and how do they evolve in the first place. Where does selection act in such systems: on the whole thing, on individual parts, or on the genes that underpin the functions of parts?

On this episode, we talk to Graham Scott, a physiologist from McMaster University who studies the oxygen cascade in mice living on mountaintops, extreme environments for such small organisms. We discuss the concept of symmorphosis, the function and evolution of the oxygen cascade, and several clever experiments involving rat marathons and mighty mountain mice.

Cover art: Keating Shahmehri

What’s behind the infamous zombie ant story? How does a fungus take control of an insect? Are zombies common in nature? How do biologists study the phenomenon of adaptive manipulation?

Interns RB Smith and Natasha Dhamrait hijack the Big Biology channel to explore their favorite biology horror story, zombie ants! In this Little Biology episode, they dive into the unfortunate fate of these fungus-controlled ants and discuss some of the complicated evolutionary questions surrounding adaptive manipulation.

Written and presented by: Natasha Dhamrait and RB Smith

Cover art: Keating Shahmehri

What makes a mammal a mammal? How did mammals survive the KT event when dinosaurs mostly went extinct? And why did mammals become so dominant?

When we think of the Cretaceous, or the Jurassic, we immediately think of dinosaurs. But mammals were there too! Although they weren’t the mammals you would recognize today. So what is it that makes a mammal a mammal?

On this episode of Big Biology, we talk with Steve Brusatte, professor of Paleontology and Evolution at the University of Edinburgh. Steve is the author of a new book: The Rise and Reign of the Mammals, which charts the evolution of our own mammalian ancestors, from those living in the time of the dinosaurs, through mass extinctions, to the diversity of mammals that dominate Earth today. We also talk to Steve about some of the remarkable people behind the discoveries that comprise what we know today.

In the last half of the show, we talk about Steve’s previous book: The Rise and Fall of the Dinosaurs, which caught the attention of Colin Trevorrow, director of Jurassic World.  Based on that book, Colin brought Steve on as the scientific advisor for the new film: Jurassic World Dominion. We chat with Steve about his role in the making of the film and what we can expect from the new dinos (spoiler: FEATHERS!)

Cover art: Keating Shahmehri