PhDrinking

Have you ever wondered how the variety of tea types could all come from a single plant? It turns out, single species is responsible for all your favorite teas (not including chai)! But like all plants, tea plants are under threat by our changing climate. Eric Scott studies how climate change in China is affecting a bug-bitten wulong tea called Oriental Beauty.

Suggested Reading:

Eric's Personal Website: www.ericrscott.com

Eric's blogpost on his research: https://worldoftea.org/oriental-beauty-bug-bitten-teas/

Tea & climate change: https://www.eater.com/drinks/2016/7/8/12111038/climate-change-tea-leaves-flavor

Follow me: [email protected], @PhDrinking, @SadieWit, www.facebook.com/PhDrinking/

Follow Eric Scott: @LeafyEricScott

Thanks to www.bensound.com/ for the intro/outro

Thanks to @TylerDamme for audio editing

Alanna's research is at the intersection of biology, chemistry, and medical research. In particular, she studies the chemical signals sent between bacteria that help them communicate. In particular, she's interested in how bacteria form biofilms (think that gross stuff that grows in your shower if you haven't cleaned it in a while)and how we can apply this research to medical interventions.

Suggested Reading:

Alanna's Lab Website: https://www.sanchezlab.science/

University of Illinois Chicago Department Website: https://pharmacy.uic.edu/departments/medicinal-chemistry-pharmcognosy

Follow me: [email protected], @PhDrinking, @SadieWit, www.facebook.com/PhDrinking/

Follow Alanna Condren: [email protected]

Thanks to www.bensound.com/ for the intro/outro

Thanks to @TylerDamme for audio editing

Does our knowledge of a person change the way that we see them? Chris' research says yes! Chris studies the intersection of sexual orientation and perceived racial appearance, focusing on how learning a person is gay affects how they are viewed.

Suggested Reading:

Stanford sociologist Aliya Saperstein briefly describing about how we study race as a social construction: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jiwieME2tis

Article showing that perceiving a person's status can bias they way you perceive that person's race: http://journals.plos.org/plosone/article/file?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0025107&type=printable

Chris' research on how people discriminate against men at the intersections of race and sexual orientation: https://www.academia.edu/34859780/Race_Crime_Congruency_Effects_Revisited_Do_We_Take_Defendants_Sexual_Orientation_Into_Account

Follow me: [email protected], @PhDrinking, @SadieWit, www.facebook.com/PhDrinking/

Follow Chris Petsko: @chris_petsko

Thanks to www.bensound.com/ for the intro/outro

Thanks to @TylerDamme for audio editing

Have you ever wondered why identical twins can share exactly the same DNA, but still seem to have differences? Well part of that may be due to epigenetics, or how DNA is coiled up within a cell such that some parts are easier to access and use than others. Today's guest Tess Korthout studies the epigenetics of yeast cells to answer questions about gene regulation and cancer.

Suggested Reading:

Tess' chromatin proteome research paper:

https://www.biorxiv.org/content/early/2017/12/09/229955

Tess' lab website:

https://www.nki.nl/divisions/gene-regulation/van-leeuwen-fr-group/

Pioneering article in Discover Magazine:

http://discovermagazine.com/2006/nov/cover

Finally a great TED talk about epigenetics:

https://www.ted.com/talks/moshe_szyf_how_early_life_experience_is_written_into_dna

Follow me: [email protected], @PhDrinking, @SadieWit, www.facebook.com/PhDrinking/

Follow Tess Korthout: @tesskorthout

Thanks to www.bensound.com/ for the intro/outro

Thanks to @TylerDamme for audio editing

Classic game theory asks the question of whether rational decision-makers choose between conflict or cooperation and how that impacts their outcomes. Alex takes this idea to a new level by applying game theory to economics where the players are really world powers. In particular, he's interested in how international policy can be reflected through game theory.

Suggested Reading:

John Oliver's piece on hard & soft power: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QCjk_NPsIqU&feature=youtu.be

A fun blog of digressions on game theory, politics, and economics:

https://cheaptalk.org/

A paper Alex mentioned about Bayesian statistics: http://faculty.chicagobooth.edu/emir.kamenica/documents/bayesianPersuasion.pdf

In depth blog on Econ research from a Northwestern grad: https://afinetheorem.wordpress.com/

Follow me: [email protected], @PhDrinking, @SadieWit, www.facebook.com/PhDrinking/

Follow Alex Theisen: @alex-theisen

Thanks to www.bensound.com/ for the intro/outro

Thanks to @TylerDamme for audio editing

Just like Star Trek, Jessica's research has been to 'Boldly Go' and study one of the most exciting moons of Jupiter. Europa, one of the Galilean moons, is an interesting planetary body to study both because of it's icy crust with the potential for liquid water and it's fascinating surface features and what they can tell us about the moon's history. In this conversation, we cover the history of the Galilean moons, NASA's space programs, and how Jessica uses images of Europa to study what's happening on the surface.

Suggested Reading:

NASA's choice for instruments to study Europa: https://www.nasa.gov/press-release/nasa-s-europa-mission-begins-with-selection-of-science-instruments

About the Europa mission in general:

http://www.planetary.org/blogs/jason-davis/2017/nasas-audacious-europa.html

Jessica's conference paper about her research: https://www.hou.usra.edu/meetings/lpsc2018/pdf/2707.pdf

Follow me: [email protected], @PhDrinking, @SadieWit, www.facebook.com/PhDrinking/

Follow Jessica Noviello: @jessicanoviello, [email protected]

Thanks to www.bensound.com/ for the intro/outro

Thanks to @TylerDamme for audio editing

Most people know that everything from cancer types to nose shapes 'run in the family,' but what if it's not just our own genetic code? Ryan Mork studies how staph could run in families - i.e. we might be able to inherit traits of the skin microbiome. It's not just the gut that has it's own ecosystem, in this episode we talk about how our skin is the playground of many microorganisms that can either keep us healthy or make it easier for us to get sick.

Suggested Reading:

Broad overview of the human microbiome: https://www.nature.com/articles/nrg3182

As referenced in the podcast:(publicly-available data may give us more information than previously expected) http://science.sciencemag.org/content/339/6117/321

Description of major study by NIH to examine the human microbiome across 5 body sites in hundreds of people: https://hmpdacc.org/hmp/

Follow me: [email protected], @PhDrinking, @SadieWit, www.facebook.com/PhDrinking/

Follow Ryan Mork: https://biophysics.uchicago.edu/the-students/ryan_mork/

Thanks to www.bensound.com/ for the intro/outro

Thanks to @TylerDamme for audio editing

Did you know our bodies are basically just a bunch of tubes? That's how today's guest sees it anyways. It may seem like a strange idea, but our brains, hearts, and airways are basically all just fancy tubes made up of lots of our cells. Saoirse researches the fly trachea as a model organism for how these tubes develop.

Suggested Reading:

Short video by Saoirse on her research: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hU-bMomr9jE&feature=youtu.be

Cancer Research UK describing the etiology of cancer: http://www.cancerresearchuk.org/about-cancer/what-is-cancer/how-cancer-starts

Academic article about the fly trachea as a model organism: http://dev.biologists.org/content/127/15/3271.long

Academic article about size control: http://journals.plos.org/plosbiology/article?id=10.1371/journal.pbio.0000086

Follow me: [email protected], @PhDrinking, @SadieWit, www.facebook.com/PhDrinking/

Follow Saoirse McSharry: @Taako_Belle

Thanks to www.bensound.com/ for the intro/outro

Thanks to @TylerDamme for audio editing

What is the brain doing when it seems to be not doing anything? That confusing question is at the core of Anzar's work on what researchers call the default mode network. We talk imaging brains, what this data can tell us, and why you should care.

Suggested Reading:

What a 'resting brain' means: https://www.wired.com/2016/12/watch-brain-flicker-activity-rests/

New boundaries of the brain: https://www.wired.com/2016/07/new-map-brain-redraws-boundaries-neuroscience/

Follow me: [email protected], @PhDrinking, @SadieWit, www.facebook.com/PhDrinking/

Follow Anzar Abbas: @anzabbas

Thanks to www.bensound.com/ for the intro/outro

Thanks to @TylerDamme for audio editing

Hey guys, happy new year! I decided not to put out a full episode today since I'm taking the holiday off. I did, however, want to give a heartfelt thank you to everyone who has helped support me with this project.

Don't worry, your regular episodes will return with the new year! Welcome to 2018!

Follow me: [email protected], @PhDrinking, @SadieWit, www.facebook.com/PhDrinking/

Thanks to www.bensound.com/ for the intro/outro