TWiV 561: Hot or not
- The Autonomous CollecTWiVe reveal two effective treatments for Ebolavirus infection, how a virus in a fungus confers heat tolerance to a plant, and dampened inflammation as a mechanism for bat tolerance to viral infection. 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
TWiV 560: CEIRS, influenza and company
- From the meeting of the Centers of Excellence for Influenza Research and Surveillance, Vincent speaks with Alan, Florian and Jennifer about their careers, the purpose of CEIRS, universal influenza vaccines, and cellular responses to infection in pediatric populations. 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
TWiV 559: Nectin connection what's your infection?
- The complete TWiV team give a report on the Ebola virus outbreak in DRC, and reveal that cell surface nectin proteins cause the transfer of cytoplasmic cargo, including measles virus, between cells. 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
TWiV 558: Joklik's legacy
- From ASV 2019 at the University of Minnesota, TWiV explores the origins of the American Society for Virology with Sid Grossberg and Pat Spear. 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
TWiM 200: In the company of Elio
- Vincent, Michele, and Michael travel to San Diego to reminisce with Elio about his career, his work in microbiology, and his love for microbes and mushrooms. post
TWiM 199: PhD Balance
- From ASM Microbe 2019, the Microbials meet up with Susanna and Alex to talk about mental health in graduate school and NIH peer review. 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
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
TWiEVO 42: Who's who in your genome
- Nels and Vincent review the contribution of multiple Denisovan lineages to the modern Papuan genome. 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