People Behind the Science Podcast - Stories from Scientists about Science, Life, Research, and Science Careers
758 episodes - English - Latest episode: 13 days ago - ★★★★★ - 282 ratingsAre you searching for great stories to ignite your curiosity, teach you to perform better in life and career, inspire your mind, and make you laugh along the way? In this science podcast, Dr. Marie McNeely introduces you to the brilliant researchers behind the latest scientific discoveries. Join us as they share their greatest failures, most staggering successes, candid career advice, and what drives them forward in life and science.
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Greetings science fans!
We’re elated to welcome you to People Behind the Science where we explore the lives and experiences of the people behind the research and scientific discoveries of today.
People Behind the Science’s mission is to inspire current and future scientists, share the different paths to a successful career in science, educate the general population on what scientists do, and show the human side of science.
In each episode, a different scientist will guide us through their journey by sharing their successes, failures, and passions. We are excited to introduce you to these inspiring academic and industry experts from all fields of science to give you a variety of perspectives on the life and path of a scientist.
Our esteemed guests will tell you:
what motivates them and how they balance their competing responsibilities
how they worked through some of the most challenging times in their careers
advice to help you through your own journey through life and science
Our Podcast
People Behind the Science is a podcast focused on the people doing fascinating research through interviews with top scientists. We are proud to have interviewed so many inspiring scientists, including U.S. National Academy scientists like Josh Sanes, Nick Spitzer, Lou Muglia, Jacob Israelachvili, Gene Robinson, Larry Squire, John Dowling, James Berger, and David Spergel, as well as popular scientists in the media like Donna Nelson (science advisor for the TV show Breaking Bad) and Jack Horner (science advisor for the Jurassic park movies). We are honored to have shared their amazing stories with people in all 50 states in the USA and in over 120 countries across the world.
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Episodes
706: Using Algorithms to Automate Decision-Making in Energy Management, Automobiles, and Manufacturing - Dr. Andrew Alleyne
May 01, 2023 07:01 - 58 minutes - 27.1 MBDr. Andrew Alleyne is the Ralph and Catherine Fisher Professor in the Department of Mechanical Science and Engineering at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, as well as the Director of the National Science Foundation Engineering Research Center on Power Optimization for Electro-Thermal Systems (POETS) headquartered there. He is an engineer who works on control systems, which provide an automated way of making decisions. They take in relevant information and use algorithms to make...
705: Engineering New Enzymes and Predicting the Biochemical Activity of Proteins - Dr. Mary Jo Ondrechen
April 24, 2023 07:00 - 32 minutes - 14.9 MBDr. Mary Jo Ondrechen is Professor of Chemistry and Chemical Biology at Northeastern University. In the lab, Mary Jo uses theory and computation to better understand how molecules work. In particular she works on enzymes which are proteins that catalyze chemical reactions. Mary Jo and her team also develop methods and theories to interpret genomic data, and they work on the computational side of drug discovery, helping medicinal chemists develop new drugs, treatments, and diagnostics. When s...
704: Navigating the Seas of Change Studying Ocean Acidification and Marine Ecosystems - Dr. Tessa Hill
April 17, 2023 07:00 - 47 minutes - 22 MBDr. Tessa Hill is an Associate Professor in the Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences at the University of California, Davis. She is part of the Bodega Ocean Acidification Research group there at the Bodega Marine Laboratory. Research in Tessa’s lab focuses on the ocean and the impacts of climate change on environments in the ocean in the past, present, and future. Outside of work, Tessa, her husband, and their two children spend a lot of time gardening, skiing, hiking, camping, and goi...
703: Using Chemical Genetics to Understand Cell Signaling Networks to Treat Human Diseases - Dr. Kevan Shokat
April 10, 2023 07:30 - 37 minutes - 17.4 MBDr. Kevan M. Shokat is Professor in the Department of Cellular and Molecular Pharmacology at the University of California San Francisco, Professor in the Department of Chemistry at the University of California Berkeley, and an Investigator with the Howard Hughes Medical Institute. Kevan’s lab uses approaches from chemistry to address unsolved challenges and opportunities for discovery in biology and medicine. His goal is to apply chemistry to biology in the most impactful, interesting, and m...
702: Building High-Throughput Technology to Characterize Biological Systems - Dr. Adam Abate
April 03, 2023 07:01 - 47 minutes - 22 MBDr. Adam Abate is an Associate Professor in the Department of Bioengineering and Therapeutic Sciences at the University of California San Francisco. He is also a co-founder of the startup company Mission Bio. The overall goal of Adam’s lab is to make biology a new kind of computer science. It is important to characterize the state of biological systems in detail so you can manipulate the system successfully to get the outcome you want. For example, a disease represents a problem with a biolo...
701: Studying and Preserving the Giant South American River Turtle and Other Species - Dr. Germán Forero-Medina
March 27, 2023 07:00 - 38 minutes - 17.7 MBDr. Germán Forero-Medina is the Science and Conservation Director at the Wildlife Conservation Society Colombia. He also coordinates the projects for the conservation of freshwater turtles and tortoises in the Amazon Orinoco region. In his research, German studies the way animals live in nature and the problems that challenge their survival. He works with local communities and people in Columbia and across Latin America to find solutions for the environmental problems that affect the species...
700: Making Materials and Developing Devices for Extreme Environments - Dr. Debbie Senesky
March 20, 2023 07:00 - 45 minutes - 20.8 MBDr. Debbie G. Senesky is an Assistant Professor in the Aeronautics and Astronautics Department at Stanford University. She is dedicated to creating materials that are tiny and tough enough to operate in extreme environments like outer space. They also study the impacts of space-like conditions on these materials. In particular, they leverage the properties of a class of nanomaterials called wide band gap semiconductors. The ceramic properties of these materials make them resistant to extreme...
699: Battling Antibiotic-Resistant Bacteria and Investigating Microbial Contributions to Neurodegenerative Disease - Dr. Daniel Czyż
March 13, 2023 07:00 - 45 minutes - 20.7 MBDr. Daniel Czyż is an Assistant Professor of Microbiology and Cell Science at the University of Florida. Daniel’s lab has two main research areas. Part of his lab is dedicated to developing new treatments to kill antibiotic-resistant bacteria using methods such as bacteriophages (viruses that kill bacteria), silver nanoparticles, and enhancing the ability of our immune system to fight bacteria. The other part of his lab is working to understand the effects that bacteria in our gut have on ou...
698: A Particle Physicist Accelerating Us Towards a Better Understanding of Our Universe - Dr. Melissa Franklin
March 06, 2023 08:00 - 39 minutes - 18 MBDr. Melissa Franklin is the Mallinckrodt Professor of Physics at Harvard University. Melissa’s research aims to better understand the nature of space and time. To accomplish this, Melissa uses large particle accelerators to collide particles together. This produces a lot of energy in a relatively small space over a relatively short time. She and her colleagues observe what happens when these particles collide under the conditions of excited spacetime that they created. Some of Melissa’s favo...
697: Developing and Producing Antibodies and Other Products to Advance Science and Medicine - Gregory Krug
February 27, 2023 08:00 - 39 minutes - 18.3 MBGregory Krug is Founder, President, and CEO of Lampire Biological Laboratories, a biotech life science company that produces biological reagents used in the diagnostic and pharmaceutical industries. Greg and the team at Lampire Biological Laboratories supply biologic reagents and raw materials for the biotechnology, pharmaceutical, and diagnostic industries. Their products are shipped worldwide, and they are used in a lot of different applications. When he’s not working, Greg enjoys spending...
696: Looking at Lakes to Learn About the Impacts of Climate Change, Invasive Species, and Pollution - Dr. Sapna Sharma
February 20, 2023 08:00 - 41 minutes - 19.2 MBDr. Sapna Sharma is an Associate Professor in Biology at York University. Sapna studies the effects of climate change, invasive species, and pollution on lakes. She is investigating how these effects are manifested through water quality, fish populations, water temperatures, and lake ice. With a young, a lot of Sapna’s time away from science is spent with her family. It has been fun to go to music classes and swimming classes together. She received her PhD in Ecology and evolution from the U...
695: Using Chemistry to Understand the Biology of Diseases with Unmet Medical Need - Dr. Corey Hopkins
February 13, 2023 08:00 - 36 minutes - 16.8 MBDr. Corey Hopkins is a Professor in the Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences at the University of Nebraska Medical Center. In his lab, Corey and his team use chemistry to answer the biological questions behind diseases and how to treat them. They make drug-like compounds and test them in biological systems to investigate whether particular proteins are involved in the disease process. They are particularly interested in diseases with unmet medical needs, including neurological diseases such...
694: Making Great Strides in Understanding Locomotion: From Little Lizards to Robotic Rattlesnakes - Dr. Daniel Goldman
February 06, 2023 08:20 - 47 minutes - 22 MBDr. Daniel Goldman is an Associate Professor of Physics at the Georgia Institute of Technology. His lab studies how animals like lizards and snakes move around in complex natural environments. They use physics to understand movement and test their hypotheses in robotic systems with the goal of developing robots with greater abilities to navigate complex environments. When he's not doing science, Dan spends much of his time with his young daughter. He received his PhD in Physics from the Univ...
693: Using Engineering and Systems Approaches to Understand Aging, Neurodegeneration, and Stress - Dr. Adriana San Miguel
January 30, 2023 08:30 - 31 minutes - 14.7 MBDr. Adriana San Miguel is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering at North Carolina State University. Adriana conducts research using a small roundworm called Caenorhabditis elegans (C. elegans). They use this model organism to better understand processes such as aging, neurodegeneration, and stress. In particular, Adriana’s lab uses engineering tools and approaches to try to conduct research that is highly efficient and quantitative. In her free tim...
692: Keeping a Close Eye On Channels and Vesicle Trafficking in Plant Cell Membranes - Dr. Mike Blatt
January 23, 2023 08:00 - 43 minutes - 19.8 MBDr. Mike Blatt is the Regius Professor of Botany at the University of Glasgow and Adjunct Professor at Pennsylvania State University. Mike is a cell biologist and physiologist who studies cells to understand how the parts fit together to accomplish important functions in plants. He is also passionate about electronics, and he has built much of the equipment they use for their work. Mike loves winter sports, especially downhill and cross country skiing. In fact, he has skied throughout most o...
691: Using Science and Engineering to Create New Nature-Inspired Materials and Structures - Dr. David Kaplan
January 16, 2023 08:00 - 48 minutes - 22.3 MBDr. David Kaplan is the Stern Family Endowed Professor of Engineering at Tufts University, a Distinguished University Professor, and Professor in the Department of Biomedical Engineering. He also holds faculty appointments in the School of Medicine, School of Dental Medicine, and the Departments of Chemistry and Chemical and Biological Engineering. For his research, David looks to nature for sources of inspiration, and he uses scientific and engineering disciplines to create new things. His ...
690: Developing Drugs to Defeat Rare Muscle Diseases - Dr. Barry Byrne
January 09, 2023 08:00 - 38 minutes - 17.9 MBDr. Barry Byrne is the Earl and Christy Powell University Chair in Genetics, Associate Chair of Pediatrics, Director of the Powell Gene Therapy Center, and Professor of Pediatrics and Molecular Genetics and Microbiology at the University of Florida. He conducts research on neuromuscular diseases which may cause problems such as muscle weakness, uncoordinated movements, difficulty speaking, and heart problems. In addition, Barry is a practicing physician who treats patients with these disease...
689: Examining the Neuroscience Behind Food Selection, Diet, and Addiction - Dr. Alexandra DiFeliceantonio
January 02, 2023 08:00 - 44 minutes - 20.4 MBDr. Alex DiFeliceantonio is an Assistant Professor at the Fralin Biomedical Research Institute at Virginia Tech Carilion School as well as Associate Director of the Center for Health Behaviors Research. Alex’s research examines why we eat what we eat in terms of the underlying neuroscience and physiological factors that influence food choice. Diet and food choice have tremendous impacts on health, and these can be targets for interventions to improve health and people’s lives. In her free ti...
688: Resistance on the Rise: Researching the Arms Race of Antibiotic Resistant Bacteria and Potential Transfers from Livestock to Humans - Dr. Tara Smith
December 26, 2022 08:01 - 51 minutes - 23.6 MBDr. Tara C. Smith is an Associate Professor in Epidemiology at Kent State University and Adjunct Associate Professor of Epidemiology at the University of Iowa. She works with bacteria that can be transferred between animals and people, and she often studies antibiotic-resistant bacteria. When not working, Tara spends a lot of time with her family, and is often driving her kids to their sports, music, and other activities. She received her PhD in Microbiology from the Medical College of Ohio ...
687: Studying the Formation and Function of the Gut to Understand Mechanisms of Disease - Dr. Michele Battle
December 19, 2022 08:01 - 41 minutes - 19 MBDr. Michele Battle is an Associate Professor of Cell Biology, Neurobiology & Anatomy at the Medical College of Wisconsin. Michele’s research is focused on studying how organs in the gut form and function in normal health in order to understand how to fix the gut when things go wrong in different disease states. Outside the lab, she likes spending time with family and friends. Whether she is going for walks, enjoying Lake Michigan, hiking, doing ropes adventure courses with her kids, or takin...
686: Battling Antibiotic Resistance Through Development and Discovery of Novel Antibacterial Agents - Dr. Erin Carlson
December 12, 2022 08:00 - 38 minutes - 17.6 MBDr. Erin E. Carlson is an Associate Professor in the Department of Chemistry at the University of Minnesota. Research in Erin’s lab focuses on microbes. They are interested in how these organisms interact with one another, humans, and the environment. Over the course of modern medicine, we’ve come to appreciate that microbes make a lot of potentially important therapeutic agents. In particular, Erin’s group is studying how microbes may be able to continue to provide us with antibacterial age...
685: Conserving Species in Extreme Environments - Dr. Joel Berger
December 05, 2022 08:00 - 39 minutes - 18.3 MBDr. Joel Berger is the Barbara Cox Anthony University Chair of Wildlife Conservation at Colorado State University. He is also a longtime Senior Scientist with the Wildlife Conservation Society, and the author of multiple books, including most recently Extreme Conservation: Life at the Edges of the World. Joel is dedicated to saving animals that are off the radar of most people such as the Takin in Bhutan or the Huemul in Patagonia. These animals live in faraway places, and there are relative...
684: Accumulating Evidence on the Contribution of Free Radicals in Protein Aggregation - Dr. Ohara Augusto
November 28, 2022 08:00 - 33 minutes - 15.5 MBDr. Ohara Augusto is a Professor in the Department of Biochemistry at the Institute of Chemistry at the University of São Paulo. In addition, she is the Director of a network studying the redox process in biomedicine. Ohara seeks to understand how free radicals and related oxidants are produced in organisms and how they affect an organism's physiology. Free radicals are continuously produced in organisms during metabolism and through interactions with the environment, and they play crucial r...
683: Synthesizing Self-Healing Materials Using Squid Proteins - Dr. Melik Demirel
November 21, 2022 08:00 - 28 minutes - 13.3 MBDr. Melik Demirel is a Professor of Engineering Science and Mechanics at The Pennsylvania State University. Melik is fascinated by complexity in living and nonliving systems. He works at the intersection of biology, materials science, and computational science to understand whether patterns in living and nonliving systems follow mathematical and statistical rules, to determine the underlying physical basis of these patterns, and identify relevant mechanisms. He likes listening to music to en...
682: Examining How Microbes Shape Our World by Influencing Evolution and Ecology - Dr. Rosie Alegado
November 14, 2022 07:00 - 40 minutes - 18.8 MBDr. Rosie Alegado is an Associate Professor of Oceanography and Sea Grant at the University of Hawai'i at Mānoa where she is Director for the Center of Ulana ʻIke Center of Excellence and a member of the Center for Microbial Oceanography: Research and Education. She is also Director of the School of Ocean and Earth Science and Technology Maile Mentoring Bridge Program, Chair of the City & County of Honolulu Climate Change Commission, and a Member of The National Academy of Science and Engin...
681: Food for Thought: Research to Reduce Foodborne Disease and Improve Food Safety - Dr. Haley Oliver
November 07, 2022 07:00 - 35 minutes - 16.5 MBDr. Haley Oliver is an Associate Professor of Food Science at Purdue University, as well as an Adjunct Professor at Texas Tech University. The overall goal of Haley’s research is to reduce foodborne disease. She studies bacteria that make people sick and is working to understand where these bacteria may be introduced to food and how they persist on food at every stage of the food system, including in places like grocery stores. Her research aims to improve the safety of foods before they rea...
680: Bringing a Structured Approach to Our Understanding of Degeneration in the Aging Brain - Dr. Greg Petsko
October 31, 2022 07:00 - 40 minutes - 18.9 MBDr. Greg Petsko is the Arthur J. Mahon Professor of Neurology and Neuroscience and Director of the Helen and Robert Appel Alzheimer's Disease Research Institute at Weill Cornell Medical College, as well as the Tauber Professor of Biochemistry and Chemistry, Emeritus, at Brandeis University. Greg is a structural biologist and biochemist by training, but he has entered into a new research field where he is working to find cures for neurodegenerative diseases like Alzheimer's disease, Parkinson...
679: Pioneering Advanced Mass Spectrometry for Proteomics and Metabolomics - Dr. Neil Kelleher
October 24, 2022 07:00 - 39 minutes - 18.1 MBDr. Neil Kelleher is the Walter and Mary Elizabeth Glass Professor of Chemistry, Molecular Biosciences, and Medicine at Northwestern University. Neil is a protein biochemist. He weighs and analyzes proteins found in the human body, and he develops technology that allows scientists to measure new things. When he’s not doing science, Neil likes to play basketball, and he has also been an avid golfer since he was young. He received his B.A. in chemistry from Pacific Lutheran University and his ...
678: Growing Our Understanding of Photosynthesis to Improve Plant Metabolism - Dr. David Stern
October 17, 2022 07:00 - 33 minutes - 15.3 MBDr. David Stern is the President of the Boyce Thompson Institute and Adjunct Professor in the Plant Biology Section at Cornell University. He and his colleagues study how plants use light to make the basic building blocks of life through photosynthesis. He also has a leadership role running a plant research institute that focuses on addressing society’s need to have a stable supply of food by better understanding how plants work and “think”. David and his wife have a farm of about 175 acres ...
677: Studying Signatures of Supermassive Black Holes - Dr. Tamara Bogdanović
October 10, 2022 07:00 - 34 minutes - 15.9 MBDr. Tamara Bogdanović is an Assistant Professor in the Georgia Institute of Technology School of Physics, as well as a member of the Center for Relativistic Astrophysics. She is a theoretical physicist who studies some of the largest black holes in our universe, known as supermassive black holes. She investigates observational signatures associated with the interactions these supermassive black holes have with gas and stars. Her group works to develop theoretical models to predict signatures...
676: Using Algae to Capture CO2 and Create Foods, Biofuels, Chemicals, and Pharmaceuticals - Dr. Thomas Brück
October 03, 2022 07:00 - 40 minutes - 18.8 MBDr. Thomas Brück is the Werner Siemens Chair of Synthetic Biotechnology at the Technical University of Munich in the School of Natural Sciences. Thomas uses biotechnology methods to more efficiently bind CO2 from the atmosphere using plants and algae, and he also creates value-added products from biomass that we can use in daily life. Some examples are carbon fiber materials that can be used in production of cars or proteins that can be used in foods. Outside of science, Thomas enjoys explor...
675: Harnessing the Power of Microbes to Clean Up Toxins and Recover Energy from Wastes - Dr. Gemma Reguera
September 26, 2022 07:00 - 43 minutes - 20 MBDr. Gemma Reguera is an Associate Professor in Microbiology and Molecular Genetics, as well as Plant, Soil, and Microbial Science at Michigan State University. She studies bacteria that help us by cleaning up wastes and pollution. She learns about what these organisms do in the environment, figures out which ones can be brought into the lab, and finds ways to use these microbes to solve real-world problems. When Gemma wants to disconnect from science, she likes exercising at the gym, doing Z...
674: Piecing Together the Patterns and Processes that are Impacting Ecosystems - Dr. Madhur Anand
September 19, 2022 07:00 - 34 minutes - 15.7 MBDr. Madhur Anand is a Professor in the School of Environmental Sciences at the University of Guelph. She is an ecologist who examines the impacts of global ecological changes on ecosystems. This includes studying how things like climate change, pollution, invasive species, and land use changes affect biodiversity, ecosystem services, ecosystem functioning, and ecosystem stability. When she’s not working on science, Madhur likes to read, cook, drink wine, spend time with her family, watch mov...
673: Exploring Pain Science Education and Pain Management in Children - Dr. Joshua Pate
September 12, 2022 07:00 - 38 minutes - 17.9 MBDr. Joshua Pate is a Lecturer in Physiotherapy at the University of Technology Sydney in Australia. He is also a pain researcher, Children's book author, and co-founder of One Thing, a video platform where pain experts share key insights that can help people with pain. Many people don’t realize that chronic pain is relatively common in children. Josh studies how kids think about pain and how that impacts their lives and the lives of others in their household. He is interested in understandin...
672: Scientific Simulations in Stream and Ecosystem Synergies - Dr. Naomi Tague
September 05, 2022 07:00 - 38 minutes - 17.8 MBDr. Christina (Naomi) Tague is an Associate Professor of ecoHydrology in the Bren School of Environmental Science and Management at the University of California, Santa Barbara. Naomi is an ecohydrologist who studies how water, vegetation, and climate interact. She uses computer models and simulations to integrate different systems and understand landscapes as a whole. When she's not hard at work in the lab, Naomi really enjoys dancing has gotten into a particular form of dance that also incl...
671: Dedicating Her Energy to Engineering Solutions to Fuel Our Future - Dr. Susan Krumdieck
August 29, 2022 07:00 - 54 minutes - 24.8 MBDr. Susan Krumdieck is a Professor in Mechanical Engineering and Director of the Advanced Energy and Material Systems Lab at the University of Canterbury. She is also Research Leader with the Geothermal Energy Conversion Research Group, Founder of the Global Association for Transition Engineering, and Director of the From the Ground Up Research Consortium. She is an engineer, and her goal is to observe the world, learn about it, improve it, and ultimately make things work. A focus for Susan ...
670: Chemistry is Key: Studying Self Assembly and the Origins of Life - Dr. Lee Cronin
August 22, 2022 07:00 - 45 minutes - 21.1 MBDr. Lee Cronin is the Regius Professor of Chemistry at the University of Glasgow. Lee is answering a variety of questions that involve chemistry. He is particularly interested in determining how life started and how we can make new life forms from scratch. Other areas of research include molecular devices and self assembly. He spends his time outside of work running, reading, and playing with technology like 3D printers and drones. Since his childhood, he has enjoyed tinkering and taking thi...
669: Conducting Research to Conserve Coral Reefs - Dr. Emily Darling
August 15, 2022 07:00 - 48 minutes - 22.3 MBDr. Emily Darling is Director of Coral Reef Conservation at the Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) and an Adjunct Professor in the Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology at the University of Toronto. Emily’s research focuses on how coral reefs around the world will survive climate change. She examines the different types of corals that are on a reef, as well as the patterns of disturbance, recovery, and influences of climate change. Emily works with large datasets, conducts underwat...
668: Searching the Sediments to Uncover Sources of Food and Water for Early Humans - Dr. Gail Ashley
August 08, 2022 07:00 - 44 minutes - 20.5 MBDr. Gail Ashley is a Distinguished Professor in the Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences at Rutgers University. She is Undergraduate Program Director and Director of the Quaternary Studies Graduate Certificate Program. Early humans are known to have originated in East Africa. Gail works alongside paleoanthropologists to uncover and better understand records of these early humans. As a geologist, Gail focuses on providing context about the environment these early hominins lived in, incl...
667: Roving Roots! Plants Behave More Like Animals than We May Realize - Dr. James Cahill
August 01, 2022 07:00 - 40 minutes - 18.7 MBDr. James (JC) Cahill is a Professor of Ecology in the Department of Biological Sciences at the University of Alberta. JC is an ecologist who studies interactions between plants and their environment. His research seeks to understand how plants interact in their pursuit of food, as well as how communities respond to environmental change. Some of JC's hobbies outside of science include playing tennis, cooking, strumming the guitar, and spending time with his family. He received his PhD in Eco...
666: Developing Nanomaterials to Help Solve Global Energy, Fuel, and Fresh Water Issues - Dr. Mita Dasog
July 25, 2022 07:00 - 38 minutes - 17.9 MBDr. Mita Dasog is an Associate Professor and the Izaak Walton Killam Memorial Research Chair in the Department of Chemistry at Dalhousie University in Canada. Mita’s lab conducts basic research to examine how different nanomaterials form, what dictates their size and shape, and how these features influence their properties. They also do applied research developing nanomaterials to address major global challenges such as energy production, fuel production, and desalination to help with the wa...
665: Researching Relationships and How They Impact Mental Health and Learning in Children - Dr. Jennifer Jenkins
July 18, 2022 07:00 - 42 minutes - 19.8 MBDr. Jennifer Jenkins is the Atkinson Chair of Early Child Development and Education and the Interim Academic Director of the Frazer Mustard Institute of Human Development at the University of Toronto. Her research focuses on things that influence the development of mental health and early learning problems in children. For example, she examines biological, genetic, prenatal risks, and perinatal risks and focuses on how these influence the family relationships that children develop. These rel...
664: Out of This World Research on Extrasolar Planets - Dr. Shawn Domagal-Goldman
July 11, 2022 07:00 - 50 minutes - 23.3 MBDr. Shawn Domagal-Goldman is a Research Space Scientist with NASA at the Goddard Space Flight Center. Shawn spends his days looking for ways to detect signs of alien life. He uses a wide variety of techniques, including mass spectrometers to measure the ratios of isotopes on the surface of Mars or spectrographs to measure the abundance of planetary gases. He spends a lot of his free time being a parent to his 16 month old daughter. When he's not spending quality time with his family, Shawn a...
663: A Career Based on Pairing Research and Public Outreach to Identify Species via DNA - Dr. Karen James
July 04, 2022 07:00 - 49 minutes - 22.9 MBDr. Karen James is a staff scientist at the Mount Desert Island Biological Laboratory in Maine. She is trained in genetics, and she applies her skills to environmental, conservation, and restoration research. In particular, Karen uses DNA to identify animals and plants, including those collected by citizen scientists for conservation and restoration projects. Karen spends her free time outside on the trails of Acadia National Park near where she lives. She does a lot of gardening, hiking, bi...
662: Investigating Important Interactions Between Molecules and Membrane Proteins - Dr. Olaf Andersen
June 27, 2022 07:00 - 1 hour - 30.8 MBDr. Olaf Andersen is a Professor of Physiology and Biophysics at the Weill Medical College of Cornell University and Director of the Tri-Institutional MD-PhD Program in New York City. His research aims to understand all of the mechanisms by which small molecules can manipulate the functions of cells or whole organisms. How do these molecules work and what are they doing? These questions are particularly relevant for pharmacology and toxicity. When he's not doing science, Olaf keeps busy read...
661: Decoding the Genomes of Plants and Plant Pathogens for Key Crops and Medicinal Plants - Dr. Robin Buell
June 20, 2022 07:00 - 37 minutes - 17.4 MBDr. C. Robin Buell is a Georgia Research Alliance Eminent Scholar Chair in Crop Genomics in the Department of Crop & Soil Sciences and the Center for Applied Genetic Technologies at the University of Georgia. Robin studies the DNA of plants to better understand how plants do things like grow, respond to stress, reproduce, and evolve. Her work spans a wide variety of plants including crop plants (corn, potatoes, and sweet potatoes), medicinal plants (those that make anti-cancer drugs), and ot...
660: Speaking Up About Important Topics in Speech Production and Computer-Assisted Communication - Dr. Rupal Patel
June 13, 2022 07:00 - 43 minutes - 20.2 MBDr. Rupal Patel is a Professor in the Department of Communication Sciences and Disorders as well as the College of Computer and Information Science at Northeastern University. She is also Director of the Communication Analysis and Design Laboratory and a Co-Founder and Core Faculty member of the interdisciplinary doctoral program in Personal Health Informatics there. Her research focuses on understanding normal speech production as well as problems that can interfere with speech production. ...
659: Using Genetics to Understand Plant Evolution and Trace back the Roots of Agriculture - Dr. Mike Clegg
June 06, 2022 07:00 - 48 minutes - 22.5 MBDr. Michael Clegg is a Professor Emeritus of Biological Sciences, Ecology, and Evolutionary Biology at the University of California, Irvine. He is also the past Foreign Secretary of the US National Academy of Sciences, and just recently finished serving in his third consecutive term. Mike studies how genes change through time and uses that information to understand the historical relationships between organisms. When not engrossed in science, Mike likes to likes to read history books. He als...
658: Conducting Research to Better Understand and Conserve Marine Mammals - Dr. Howard Rosenbaum
May 30, 2022 07:30 - 43 minutes - 20 MBDr. Howard Rosenbaum is a Senior Conservation Scientist and Director of the Wildlife Conservation Society's Ocean Giants Program, which aims to secure the future of whales, dolphins, and other marine species. He is also a Senior Scientist at the American Museum of Natural History, core faculty member at Columbia University in the Ecology, Evolution, and Environmental Biology Department, a member of the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Cetacean Specialist Group and Import...
657: Sizing Up Species’ Brains to Understand Nervous System Diversity and Development - Dr. Suzana Herculano-Houzel
May 23, 2022 07:00 - 52 minutes - 24.1 MBDr. Suzana Herculano-Houzel is a Professor of Psychology and Biological Sciences at Vanderbilt University. In the lab, she compares brains to find out what they are made of and what difference that makes for the organism in terms of its abilities. She is interested in finding out how many neurons and other cell types brains have, determining whether brain size matters, and examining how numbers of cells correspond to cognitive abilities. Suzana is not only a scientist, but also a musician. F...