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Tom's SciCast
Tom's SciCast episodes
- 55. What makes an animal different from all other life?
What makes animals different from all other organisms? I discuss the evolutionary origins and unique features of animals along with a few other fun facts. And find out why I don't think sponges are animals.
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42 min - 54. Plants have relationships too!
The more I learn about plants, the more I'm amazed. From insects to fungus and bacteria, plants form many relationships. Some plants even talk to each other through the air or underground, while others form three-way relationships with ants and fungus.
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40 min - 53. If our solar system was like Star Wars
Tatooine, Dagobah, Hoth, or the Death Star, how Star Wars resembles our solar system. I couldn't help myself, I had to do an episode comparing our solar system to my favorite movie. Learn how the Earth was like Mustafar. (Yes, I did say wookies were on Endor, Ewoks were supposed to be wookies)
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37 min - 52. Photosynthesis, light, the Calvin Cycle, energy, and electrons
From the nature of light, to the light reaction and through the Calvin Cycle I explain how photosynthesis works. I cover how light energy transformed into chemical energy and follow the electrons from water to the Calvin Cycle.
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45 min - 51. Biology is the Apex of Science
After a few memes with cats sitting on biology books making references to biology being soft and textbooks calling chemistry the central science, I figured it's time to start calling biology the Apex Science, or the apex of science. Drawing from my own experience, I explain how biology is special because it incorporates almost every other field of the natural sciences, putting it at the top
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43 min - 50. From AI to Giant Space Telescopes: A look back at 2022
These are some of the biggest discoveries, events. and breakthroughs of 2022, from huge volcanoes, long-lived bacteria, breakthroughs in cancer treatments, AI, and why the James Web Telescope is one of the most important things we have done as a society.
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1 hr - 49. The future of science
How we do science is changing. I use my own experiences from graduate school to understand science and where it is going from question driven science to the importance of natural history and keeping up with Artificial Intelligence.
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1 hr 1 min - 48. Can we Move Beyond the Kardashev Scale?
Can one number be used to rank a civilization's advancement? I discuss the Kardashev Scale and how we might expand upon it by looking at other measures of advancement beyond energy use.
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1 hr 4 min - 47. How gene regulation makes our life possible
Do you have mutant super powers like eating ice cream without it hurting your stomach? How can diet and exercise slow down aging, or why do age in the first place? Does what happen to you affect your children? How do we make more proteins than we have protein-coding genes for? Lastly, how can two black labs have both chocolate and yellow lab puppies? We can find answers to these questions by knowing how our genes are regulated. I discuss gene regulation including operons, alternative mRNA splicing, epistasis, and epigenetics,
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1 hr 11 min - 46. DNA: replication, cancer, and aging.
Why are some cancer cells immortal? What can we learn about aging from a lobster? Why does a gene from a human work in a bacteria? The answers lies in genetics. In this episode I explain how understanding the basics of DNA replication, the genetic code, and mutations improves our lives from treating cancer, slowing aging, to making medicines.
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52 min
About Tom's SciCast
From the publisher's feed
Let's explore the universe while pushing the limits of what we know with our imaginations, some speculation, and philosophy. A podcast about all things science. Stay Curious!