Naturally Speaking

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*Note – we are highlighting this archived episode in celebration of Pint of Science, which will be held this coming week, May 20-22, 2019: https://pintofscience.co.uk/events/glasgow

Scientists are increasingly finding creative ways to share their research with a broader audience. In this episode of Naturally Speaking, Martina Quaggiotto and Taya Forde speak with Institute of Biodiversity, Animal Health and Comparative Medicine researchers who recently participated in Pint of Science – an international festival where scientists talk about their research over a beer (or a few) at evening events hosted in pubs. Join us as we chat with Lucy Cotgrove, Eleni Christoforou, Jack Hollins, Ruedi Nager and Robyn Womack about their experiences presenting at Pint of Science in Glasgow this past May 2018, as well as Agnes Olin and Elle Lyndsay who helped organize the event. Find out why these researchers found participating to be such a fun and important way to engage over science!

Feature image: Original artwork courtesy of PhD researcher Eleni Christoforou, 2018©

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Intro and outro music sampled from: “The Curtain Rises” and “Early Riser” Kevin MacLeod [CC BY 3.0]

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“Beauty is in the eye of the beholder,” but nature has the magical ability to charm everyone. Scientists want to know more about its secrets through research, while artists study every minute detail to portray it on canvas.

Naturally Speaking brings you some insights into the work and experiences of Derek Robertson, a Scottish landscape and wildlife artist. Following an exhibition in February, Derek was interviewed by our in-house artist Eleni Christoforou (@EleniChri_) on his project “Migrations” where he skillfully combined the trails of migratory birds with the devastating refugee flight, all in search of a better living environment.

Derek’s Poetic Narrative Paintings, Assemblage and Sculpture can be found at www.creativepastures.com

Feature image: “The Desert is Full of Promises”, taken from the artist’s website by permission.

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Intro and outro music sampled from: “The Curtain Rises” and “Early Riser” Kevin MacLeod [CC BY 3.0]

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Every year on the 12th of February, Charles Darwin’s birthday, the scientific community recognises Darwin Day. This is a celebration of evolutionary biology and all that we have learnt since Darwin introduced us to the concept of natural selection. To mark the event, the Institute holds an annual Darwin Lecture. This is a highly prestigious evening in the IBAHCM’s calendar, where a researcher at the forefront of their field is invited to present their work and share their insights on this foundational theory in biology.

This year we were honoured to host Prof. Sonia Sultan from Wesleyan University (Connecticut, USA). Prof. Sultan has gained a wealth of research experience over the course of more than two decades: she literally wrote the textbook on how organisms interact with their environments. Here, Prof. Sultan talks to us about her research on phenotypic plasticity and transgenerational effect in plants, and shares her thoughts on one of most controversial ideas currently circulating in mainstream evolutionary biology: the so-called ‘extended evolutionary synthesis’.

The feature image for this post shows two phenotypically different, yet genetically identical, individuals of Polygonum cespitosum. It was taken from: Sultan, S.E. and Matesanz, S. (2017) An ideal weed: plasticity and invasiveness in Polygonum cespitosum. Ann N Y Acad Sci. 1360:101-19.

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Intro and outro music sampled from: “The Curtain Rises” and “Early Riser” Kevin MacLeod [CC BY 3.0]

Episode 59: Resilience in Academia

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It’s unlikely that anyone has ever said that a career in academic research is easy. It is highly competitive, requires an incredibly large skill set, and “rejection” is essentially part of the job description. However, despite all these challenges, most of us couldn’t imagine doing anything else!

In this episode, Naturally Speaking editors Taya Forde and Karen Hotopp chat with Institute of Biodiversity, Animal Health and Comparative Medicine researchers Shaun Killen, Katie Hampson, Richard Reeve, Barbara Helm and Dan Haydon to hear about their often-bumpy career paths, the challenges they’ve faced, and their strategies for overcoming them. Critically – don’t forget that this career should be fun!

Feature image: Original artwork courtesy of PhD researcher Eleni Christoforou, 2018©

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Intro and outro music sampled from: “The Curtain Rises” and “Early Riser” Kevin MacLeod [CC BY 3.0]

Episode 58: Lumped together – explaining species co-existence

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The competitive exclusion principle states that in the long term, the number of species should never exceed the number of available resources. Phytoplankton species paradoxically violate this rule. Instead, species with similar traits co-exist in “clumps” in which there is redundancy among species occupying the same niche, helping ensure the delivery of certain ecosystem services in the face of natural fluctuations in nutrient availability.

In this Naturally Speaking podcast, marine ecologist Sofie Spatharis (@SofieSpatharis) and computational ecologist Rebecca Mancy (@RebeccaMancy) tell Naturally Speaking editors Martina Quaggiotto (@mmquaggiotto) and Taya Forde (@TayaForde) about their recent paper published in the high-impact journal PNAS – a paper that represents a critical step towards understanding the mechanisms underpinning the coexistence of species in a naturally fluctuating environment. You will also get to hear about their research interests and how they creatively developed and advanced previous theories through their important findings.

Featured publication: Sakavara A, Tsirtsis G, Roelke DL, Mancy R and Spatharis S. Lumpy species coexistence arises robustly in fluctuating resource environments. PNAS 2018. 115 (4):738-743; DOI 10.1073/pnas.1705944115

Feature image: Original artwork courtesy of PhD researcher Eleni Christoforou, 2018©

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Intro and outro music sampled from: “The Curtain Rises” and “Early Riser” Kevin MacLeod [CC BY 3.0]

Episode 57: Of Mice and microbes

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Are parasites always harmful? How diverse are the microbial communities living within individual hosts? These are questions that Dr Sarah Knowles – a researcher at the Royal Veterinary College in London – has set out to address. She visited IBAHCM in January as a guest lecturer in the Institute’s weekly seminar series. In this podcast, Naturally Speaking editors Steve Larcombe and Taya Forde catch up with Sarah Knowles to discuss her work.

Feature image: Original artwork courtesy of Eleni Christoforou, 2018©

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Intro and outro music sampled from: “The Curtain Rises” and “Early Riser” Kevin MacLeod [CC BY 3.0]

Episode 56: Seasonal Cheer at IBAHCM

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Every year in December, the Institute of Biodiversity, Animal Health and Comparative Medicine takes a look back on the year and celebrates its successes in the form of a potluck and  Ceilidh (traditional Scottish dance). This year, Naturally Speaking editors Jacqueline Jacot and Laurie Baker interviewed Institute members at this festive event to reflect on their favourite moments of 2017, and some of their resolutions for the new year.

Photos: Jacqueline Jacot

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Intro and outro music sampled from: “The Curtain Rises” and “Early Riser” Kevin MacLeod [CC BY 3.0]

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Autumn seems to have run away with us… just too many exciting things happening! In this episode, the Naturally Speaking team reflect on some of the Institute’s many achievements of the last few months (July – October, 2017). Steve Larcombe, James Burgon and Taya Forde discuss some of their favourite publications, highlight funding and PhD viva successes, and welcome the newest (and largest ever!) group of Master’s students to IBAHCM, including a new editor for NS, Jacqueline Jacot.

1. Stewart, R. A., Clark, T. J., Shelton, J., Stringfellow, M., Scott, C., White, S. A. and McCafferty, D. J. (2017) Urban grasslands support threatened water voles. Journal of Urban Ecology, 3(1), jux007.

2. Cram, D. L., Monaghan, P., Gillespie, R. and Clutton-Brock, T. (2017) Effects of early-life competition and maternal nutrition on telomere lengths in wild meerkats. Proceedings of the Royal Society B. 284(1861), pii: 20171383.

3. Hoffmann, C., Zimmermann, F., Biek, R., et al. and Leendertz, F.H. (2017) Persistent anthrax as a major driver of wildlife mortality in a tropical rainforest. Nature 548(7665), 82–86.

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Intro and outro music sampled from: “The Curtain Rises” and “Early Riser” Kevin MacLeod [CC BY 3.0]

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The Naturally Speaking editors come together for another review of the research and news from the Institute. In a rare event, all five editors—James Burgon, Laurie Baker, Stephen Larcombe, Taya Forde and Karen Hotopp—join the discussion to look back at the highlights from May and June. Join us as we talk about new research, PhD successes, and staff promotions! We also celebrate our new logo, which we unveiled in May—we’re even on iTunes now!

1. Lempereur, Laetitia, Stephen D. Larcombe, Zeeshan Durrani, Tulin Karagenc, Huseyin Bilgin Bilgic, Serkan Bakirci, Selin Hacilarlioglu, Jane Kinnaird, Joanne Thompson, William Weir and Brian Shiels. 2017. Identification of candidate transmission-blocking antigen genes in Theileria annulata and related vector-borne apicomplexan parasites. BMC Genomics. 18:438 DOI: 10.1186/s12864-017-3788-1

2. Recknagel H, Hooker OE, Adams CE, Elmer KR. Ecosystem size predicts eco-morphological variability in a postglacial diversification. Ecol Evol. 2017;00:1–11. https://doi.org/10.1002/ece3.3013

3. Killen, S.S., Norin, T. and Halsey, L.G. (2017) Do method and species lifestyle affect measures of maximum metabolic rate in fish? Journal of Fish Biology, 90(3), pp. 1037-1046. (doi:10.1111/jfb.13195) (PMID:27778342) (PMCID:PMC5347950)

4. Schwabl, P., Llewellyn, M. S., Landguth, E. L., Andersson, B., Kitron, U., Costales, J. A., Ocaña, S. and Grijalva, M. J. (2017) Prediction and prevention of parasitic diseases using a landscape genomics framework. Trends in Parasitology, 33(4), pp. 264-275. (doi:10.1016/j.pt.2016.10.008) (PMID:27863902)

Don’t forget you can subscribe to automatically receive all our latest content, or just our podcasts. We are also available on iTunes and other podcast catchers.

Intro and outro music sampled from: “The Curtain Rises” and “Early Riser” Kevin MacLeod [CC BY 3.0]