TWiV 565: Karolinska virology
- From the Karolinska Institute in Stockholm, Vincent speaks with Niklas Björkström, Ali Mirazimi, and Matti Sällberg about their work on the impact of chronic hepatitis C virus infection on NK cells, Crimean-Congo hemorrhagic fever virus vaccines, and immunotherapy to block entry of hepatitis B and D viruses. post
TWiV 564: Virology Nobel Prizes with Erling Norrby
- From the 16th Smögen Summer Symposium on Virology, Vincent speaks with Erling Norrby about how he has used archival material to provide insight into early Nobel Prizes for research on viruses. post
TWiM 204: Programmable bacteria for antitumor immunity
- Vincent meets up with Nick and Tal to explain how they engineered E. coli to lyse within tumors and deliver an antibody that causes tumor regression in mice. post
TWiP 175: None alone pathognomonic
- The TWiP'ers solve the case of the Sudanese Boy With Fever, and reveal antibodies that slow invasion of red blood cells potentiate other malaria-blocking antibodies post
TWiV Special: Call me David Tuller
- David Tuller returns to talk about his efforts of the past year to expose the methodological and ethical problems with the PACE and Lightning trials for therapy of ME/CFS. post
TWiV 563: BLT on mice
- The TWiVologists consider whether to receive an influenza vaccine in August (in the northern hemisphere), and mice implanted with human lung fragments for studying microbial pathogens. post
TWiEVO 46: Can an old tumor teach us new tricks?
- Nels and Vincent analyze the genomes of canine transmissible tumors to provide insight into the worldwide spread of the disease from its origin in a single dog 4000-8500 years ago, and its diversity, mutation, and evolution. post
TWiM 203: A magnetotacic consortium under the sea
- The TWiM team reveals thousands of small novel genes in the human microbiome, and a mutualistic symbiosis between marine protists covered with magnetosome-containing bacteria. post
Immune 23: How to tell a mouse from a mouse
- The immunosomes explain that widely used inbred laboratory mice are not identical, and how to tell them apart. post
TWiM 202: This frass doesn't stink
- Julie joins the TWiM team to reveal how microbiome and gut anatomy of a wood-feeding beetle promotes lignocellulose deconstruction, and bacteria that degrade PET plastic. post
TWiP 174: Fat cat
- The TWiPloid organisms solve the case of the Doctor with Chronic Epigastric Pain, and reveal how levels of linoleic acid in the intestine enable the sexual cycle of Toxoplasma gondii in cats. post
Immune 22: Engineering B cells
- Immune reveals an alternative to a protective vaccine, engineered B cells that produce antiviral antibodies. post
TWiEVO 45: Microbial secrets of mouse-ear cress
- At ASM Microbe in San Francisco, Nels and Vincent meet up with Talia Karasov who reveals that in contrast to agriculture, wild plants are colonized by multiple lineages of pathogenic bacteria. post
TWiM 201: Microbiology papers for first year students
- Mark Martin joins Vincent and Michael to present compelling papers suitable for teaching microbiology to undergraduate students. post
Curioscity 30: Cells as Model Systems
- Today, we’ll discuss using human cells as models for research and how those “cells-in-dishes” are different than the cells in our very own bodies. Let’s learn to be scientifically conversational. post
TWiP 173: Rose colored spots
- The podcastellani hosts solve the case of the Sailor With Dysentery, and reveal the first virus discovered in Plasmodium species. post
TWiEVO 44: The enemy of my enemy is my phage
- At ASM Microbe in San Francisco, Nels and Vincent meet up with Paul Turner to talk about evolutionary considerations in using bacteriophages to treat infections with antibiotic-resistant bacteria. post
TWiP 172: A painless lesion
- The metacyclic TWiPomastigotes solve the case of the Child With a Painless Leg Lesion, and reveal how to kill mosquitoes with a genetically modified fungus. post
Curioscity 24: Model of the Atom
- What are the fundamental components of an atom? What are elements? How did philosophy and science work together for the discovery of the atom? Let’s learn to be scientifically conversational. post
Immune 21: Islets of Langelhans
- Immune tackles the finding that patients with Type I diabetes have lymphocytes with both TCR and BCR that may drive the pathogenesis of the disease. post
Curioscity 23: A Brief History of Evolution
- Survival of the fittest is a famous anecdote but isn’t always the best way of describing natural selection. Who was Charles Darwin? Whose shoulders did he stand on? What is evolution? post
Curioscity 22: The Endosymbiotic Hypothesis
- Today we will discuss the endosymbiotic hypothesis in terms of mitochondria while keeping in mind that the process is equally applicable to chloroplasts. post
Immune 20: In defense of death
- The Immune trio explains how activation of the inflammasome by a bacterial protein causes blood clotting through a programmed cell death process called pyroptosis. post
TWiEVO 43: Social evolution with a side of shrimp
- Dustin Rubinstein joins Nels and Vincent to discuss coevolution of genome architecture and social behavior, and studying social transitions in sponge-dwelling snapping shrimp. post
BacterioFiles 380: Plant Promoter Produces Polymer
- This episode: A microbe that boosts plant growth needs to make storage polymers for both itself and the plant's sake! post
BacterioFiles 379: Photons Facilitate Faster Flourishing
- This episode: Light increases the growth even of some bacteria that don't harvest its energy! post
BacterioFiles 378: Medusa makes marble microbes
- This episode: Newly discovered giant virus from a hot spring turns its amoeba hosts to stone! post
BacterioFiles 377: Distributed Defense-Defeating Devices
- This episode: Newly discovered CRISPR-inhibiting genes are found in many different bacterial groups! post
Urban Agriculture 29: Gotham Greens
- Dickson travels to indoor farm Gotham Greens in Brooklyn, New York to speak with Co-founder and CEO Viraj Puri. post
Buckyball viruses
- How to build several types of virus particles using the small, powerful magnets called Buckyballs. post
Urban Agriculture 28: The Vertical Farm Institute
- Daniel joins Dickson and Vincent to talk about the Vertical Farm Institute, which provides advice and planning on the design and construction of indoor farms. post
Urban Agriculture 27: The Next Big Things
- Dickson provides an updates on progress towards establishing long-term, sustainable, local, safe food systems based on indoor farming. post
omega tau 239: The Saturn V Launch Vehicle
- David Woods has a new book out, so of course he has to talk about it on omega tau 🙂 His recent book is about the Saturn V launch vehicle, i.e., this time it is about the rocket, not about the spaceship. In this episode we dive into lots of details that we did not cover in the two Apollo episodes (episodes 83 and 97) — make sure you have listened to those before you listen to this one. post
omega tau 238: Societal Complexity, Part II: Today’s Perspective
- In October 2015, Joseph Tainter was my guest in omega tau 184 to discuss his concept of increasing complexity and eventual collapse of societies. In this episode, our guest Paul Arbair discusses these concepts in the light of today’s rising populism in several countries. The episode is based on two articles Paul wrote on his blog: one on Brexit and one on Trump. post
omega tau 237: Synthesizers
- Late 2016, during a trip to the Netherlands, I visted Rutger Vlek of River Creative Technology in his home studio to record an episode about synthesizers. We talked about the basics of sound generation, various enveloping and filtering techniques, sound design, the different fundamental approaches of sound synthesis, as well as a couple of classic synths. Rutger illustrated lots of approaches with samples from some of his many synthesizers. post
omega tau 236: Space flight software
- Last fall I visited ESTEC, ESA’s space research and technology center. In this first of three episodes, I talk with Maria Hernek, who heads the Flight Software Systems section. We talk about the challenges of space flight software, the development processes used by ESA and its vendors, as well as means of ensuring the required quality attributes. This episode can be seen as a continuation of the conversation with Andreas Wortmann in the OHB episode. post
Public Health United 45: Rush Holt on Science & Politics
- From his earliest days, Dr. Rush Holt has been interested in “how the world works (that’s science) and how people get along (that’s politics).” post
Public Health United 44: Ellis Rubinstein, New York Academy of Sciences President
- Ellis Rubinstein, President of the New York Academy of Sciences, discusses how important it is for young scientists to be involved in AAAS and NYAS, and to not limit membership and activism to just those in their later careers as some other scientific societies do. post
Public Health United 43: Modernizing Science Education With Emily Fisher and Arvin Saleh
- Nina teams up with her Communicating Science student Arvin Saleh and his advisor Dr. Emily Fisher to talk about the wave that’s been hitting undergraduate campuses with the aim of improving how we teach science. post
Public Health United 42: Meghan Moran On Persuasive Communication
- Our latest guest, Dr. Meghan Moran, researches how the tobacco industry uses persuasive messaging on youths and teens–and how public health policy makers can use that knowledge to implement prevention campaigns post