TWiV 553: Polio with David Oshinsky
- Vincent speaks with David Oshinsky, the Pulitzer Prize-winning author of Polio: An American Story, about the history of poliovirus vaccines. post
TWiV 552: Delta and the amazing technicolor dreamcoat
- Team TWiV reveals DNA polymerases that do not require a primer, and packaging of hepatitis delta virus by the envelope glycoproteins of diverse viruses. 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
TWiV 551: Golden hands
- At Retroviruses 2019 in Cold Spring Harbor, Vincent speaks with virologist Bryan Cullen about his work and his career, together with former associates Ann Skalka, Paul Bieniasz, and Michael Malim. 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
TWiV 550: Covering up the shiny parts
- TWiV explains the use of a neuronal cell line to study herpes simplex virus latency and reactivation, and a strategy for creating vaccines that induce antibodies against specific epitopes. post
TWiM 198: Unexpectedly pathogenic bacteriophages
- The TWiM team presents an extracellular bacterium associated with Paramecium, and induction of antiviral immunity by a bacteriophage that prevents bacterial clearance. 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
TWiP 171: Better than a sharp stick in the eye
- The Leishmaniacs solve the case of the Child With Band Keratopathy, and reveal a eukaryotic parasite with functional mitochondria but without mitochondrial genomes. post
Curioscity 21: Big Data and Machine Learning
- How do humans use computational resources to analyze data? What is big data and machine learning? post
TWiP 170: A worm's eye view
- The TWiPlicates solve the case of the Child With Retinal Granuloma, and discuss an association of the complement protein collectin-11 with the pathophysiology of Chagas disease. post
TWiM 197: Intercellular microbial trade
- The Microbials reveal how a chemosynthetic symbiont stores energy for its marine flatworm host, and extraction of nutrients from host cells by E. coli injectisome components. post
TWiEVO 42: Who's who in your genome
- Nels and Vincent review the contribution of multiple Denisovan lineages to the modern Papuan genome. post
Immune 19: Mom's the word
- The Immune team discusses immunization of pregnant mice to protect offspring from neonatal herpes simplex virus disease. post
TWiP 169: What goes on in the snail
- The TriTWiPomonads solve the case of the Child Who Passed a Worm, and reveal recombination between bovine and human schistosome species. 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
TWiM 196: I hear you
- The Microbials discuss how ambrosia beetles utilize ethanol to farm fungi, and how cleaved cochlin protein sequesters bacteria in the inner ear to preserve hearing function. post
Immune 18: Biting off more TCR than you can chew
- The immunophiles discuss T cell antigen discovery by trogocytosis - the transfer of membrane patches among cells in close contact. post
BacterioFiles 379: Photons Facilitate Faster Flourishing
- This episode: Light increases the growth even of some bacteria that don't harvest its energy! post
TWiEVO 41: Where do baby genes come from?
- Nels and Vincent explore the evolution of new protein-coding genes de novo from nocoding DNA sequences, using the antifreeze protein of northern codfish as a model. 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
TWiM 195: Gingipain in the Alzheimer brain
- Michael and Vincent discuss the finding of immunity to Cas9 protein in humans, and a potential role for an oral bacterium in Alzheimer’s disease. post
TWiEVO 40: Eau de bee
- Nels and Vincent move back to reproductive isolation - this time, pre-zygotic, in the charismatic orchid bee where the males make chemically distinct perfumes to attract mates of the same species. 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