Given the modern reality of industrial farming, Animal Scientists are always looking for ways to raise animals with as little suffering as possible. Chickens often peck each other and pluck out each other’s feathers when placed under stress. Claire Mindus joins us to discuss how to reduce chicken stress with probiotics. Vinny and Katie talk about elephants and mitochondria.

People around the world drink a LOT of coffee and all those grounds go somewhere, often into our garbage dumps. What if we could use it for something other than compost? Our guest Alivia Mukherjee is studying a way to sequester carbon dioxide using coffee grounds to help mitigate climate change. Vinny and Katie talk about Spirit Bears and drilling holes on Mars.

Bioengineering is the field of using and modifying natural processes to produce new materials. This week’s guest, Lizzie Baker, bioengineered a new kind of spider silk to promote the growth of nerves and treat spinal cord injuries. Vinny and Katie share facts about space clocks and hybrid animals.

Tracking toxins in our environment is an important part of our food and health safety. Our guest Isabel Hilgendag talks about tracking the presence and effects of mercury in Arctic food webs. Vinny and Katie talk about fighting infections and bird navigation.

Cierra Stiegelmar joins Vinny and Katie to share her work with robotic prosthetics. Vinny also talks about the smell of petrichor after the rain and Katie dishes the hot goss about protists.

Our guest this week is Saiful Hoque who researches textile science. His specialty is making protective gear for firefighters. Katie and Vinny share facts about coral bleaching and mind-machine interfaces.

This week we meet researcher Amanda Kotila, who is studying glacier retreat, which is the process of how glaciers melt and get smaller. Katie and Vinny talk about fires in winter and decapitated worms.

This week we meet Sujani Gomes who is solving “The Mysterious Case of Bacteria and Nitrogen”. Vinny and Katie talk about wolves saving lives and wiggling tubes.

Meet Tessa Krause who is investigating using lasers to control laser welding and preventing lithium fires. Katie and Vinny talk about protecting the bees from mites and getting rechargeable batteries from the ocean.

Meet Kevin Guo who is exploring new treatments of diabetes using everyone’s favourite organic molecule, Vitamin K. Katie and Vinny talk about bats wearing party hats and a mysterious object that could replace Pluto as the Sun’s ninth planet.