Biopedia

Vince's Podcasts

Biology is a fascinating subject which is well worth exploring. Its scope stretches from individual DNA strands and viruses to blue whales, metapopulations and the biosphere. We will shine the spotlight on a different biological concept in every episode. Topics I've covered in the past include the origins of cell theory, Dollo's law and the Anthropocene; however, there is still plenty more to discover. Our focus will range from the very smallest scales to the very largest; from virions to the Gaia hypothesis. So come and explore the fascinating world of biology, one episode at a time!

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151 episodes
Updated Sunday

Episodes151

Newest first

Mar 28, 2021 · 4 min
25- Dollo's Law
Science has to change with the evidence if it is to be trusted. One example of this comes with Dollo's Law, named after the French Belgian biologist Louis Dollo. His original theory was that evolution would never, under any circumstances, retrace its path. However, as we're going to see on the podcast today, that isn't always the case. With new evidence came the need for a revamp of Dollo's Law... Sources for this episode: The Editors, Encyclopaedia Britannica (2018), Peppered moth (online) [Accessed 27/01/2021]. Zimmer, C., National Geographic (2003), Recoil from Dollo's Law (online) [Accessed 24/01/2021]. Author unknown, Encyclopaedia Britannica (2018), Dollo's Law (online) [Accessed 24/01/2021]. Author unknown, Wikipedia (date unknown), Dollo's Law of irreversibility (online) [Accessed 24/01/2021]. NOTE: I think I get a bit mixed up in my speech at one point with the gastropod example. What I should have said is that shells started out coiled, uncoiled itself and then recoiled on at least two occasions.
Mar 21, 2021 · 3 min
24- Rewind: Dominant and Recessive
In our third Rewind episode, I'm going to go back over the concept of dominant vs. recessive as a mechanism of genetic inheritance, which I've touched upon before but not really in any great detail. Sources for this episode: Fullick A., Locke, J. and Bircher, P. (2015), A Level Biology for OCR A. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Thain, M., and Hickman, M. (2014), The Penguin Dictionary of Biology, 11th edition. London: Penguin Publishing Group. Author unknown, Wikipedia (date unknown), Eye color (online) [Accessed 19/01/2021].
Mar 14, 2021 · 5 min
23- How Many Species?
This episode is really going to do what it says on the tin- discuss the question of how many species there are in the world. This might seem a simple question, but a simple answer has eluded the scientific community for some years now. On the show today, I'm going to go through some of the methods past research has used to answer this question and what figures they came up with. Sources for this episode: Latty, T. and Lee, T., 'Phys.org' (2019), How many species on Earth? A simple question that's hard to answer (online) [Accessed 16/01/2021]. Mora, C., Tittensor, D. P., Adl, S., Simpson, A. G. B. and Worm, B. (2012), How Many Species Are There on Earth and in the Ocean? PLOS Biology 9(8): e1001127. NOTE- at one point I mention seven taxonomic levels, but I should have said six.
Mar 7, 2021 · 2 min
Introducing- After Alexander
Hi everyone, just a quick plug for my other show- After Alexander. This is a history podcast where we examine what happened between Alexander the Great's death in 323 and the destruction of the last of the Hellenistic kingdoms by the Romans and Parthians. Specifically, it focuses on the Seleucid dynasty, descended from Seleucus I Nicator and eventually rulers over most of Alexander's old empire in their glory days. If that sounds like it might be for you, feel free to head over and join us! Regular content resumes next week.
Feb 28, 2021 · 4 min
22- The Central Indo-Pacific
The Central Indo-Pacific (or CIP if you're stuck for time) is a highly diverse region of the ocean. But how did it get to be this way? It's this question which is the topic for today's episode. Sources for this episode: Ivany, L. C., Patterson, W. P. and Lohmann, K. C. (2000), Cooler winters as a possible cause of mass extinctions at the Eocene/Oligocene boundary. Nature 407: 887- 890. Jones, K. R., Klein, C. J., Halpern, B. S., Venter, O., Grantham, H., Kuempel, C. D., Shumway, N., Friedlander, A. M., Possingham, H. P. and Watson, J. E. M. (2018), The Location and Protection Status of Earth’s Diminishing Marine Wilderness. Current Biology 28: 2506- 2512. Miller, E.C., Hayashi, K. T., Song, D., Wiens, J. J., (2018) Explaining the ocean’s richest biodiversity hotspot and global patterns of fish diversity. Proceedings of the Royal Society B 285: 20181314. Renema, W., Bellwood, D. R., Braga, J. C., Bromfield, K., Hall, R., Johnson, K. G., Lunt, P., Meyer, C. P., McMonagle, L. B., Morley, R. J., O'Dea, A., Todd, J. A., Wesselingh, F. P., Wilson, M. E. J. and Pandolfi, J. M. (2008), Hopping Hotspots: Global Shifts in Marine Biodiversity. Science (321): 654- 657. Siqueira, A. C., Bellwood, D. R. and Cowman, P. F. (2019), Historical biogeography of herbivorous coral reef fishes: The formation of an Atlantic fauna. Journal of Biogeography. Author unknown, Wikipedia (date unknown), Coral (online) [Accessed 17/01/2021]. Author unknown, Wikipedia (date unknown), Eocene (online) [Accessed 17/01/2021].
Feb 21, 2021 · 5 min
21- The Black Queen Hypothesis
Building on our discussion of the Red Queen hypothesis last week, we're going to go through a theorem which is similarly chess-themed but goes against our hypothesis from episode 20. This theory holds that, rather than continual evolution being necessary for a species to survive, natural selection can sometimes allow genes to be lost from the gene pool. Sources for this episode: Allen, R. C., Popat, R., Diggle, S. P. and Brown, S. P. (2014), Targeting virulence: can we make evolution-proof drugs? Nature Reviews Microbiology 12(4): 300- 308. Morris, J. J., Lenski, R. E. and Zinser, E. R. (2012), The Black Queen Hypothesis: Evolution of Dependencies through Adaptive Gene Loss. mBio 3(2): e00036-12. Willey, J. M., Sherwood, L. M. and Woolverton, C. J. (2017), Prescott's Microbiology (Tenth Edition, International Edition). New York: McGraw Hill Education. Author unknown, Wikipedia (date unknown), Black Queen hypothesis (online) [Accessed 15/01/2021].
Feb 14, 2021 · 2 min
20- The Red Queen Hypothesis
This week, I'm going to discuss the Red Queen Hypothesis, which sounds intimidating but is actually rather straightforward. Not only is it an evolutionary theory, but it's also a reminder that biologists really like finding obscure reasons to name things... Sources for this episode: Scoville, H., ThoughtCo (updated 2019), What Is the Red Queen Hypothesis? (online) [Accessed 14/01/2021]. Thain, M. and Hickman, M. (2004), The Penguin Dictionary of Biology (11th edition). London: Penguin Books Ltd. Author unknown, Wikipedia (date unknown), Red Queen Hypothesis (online) [Accessed 14/01/2021].
Feb 12, 2021 · 5 min
Darwin Day 2021- The Children of Darwin
Happy Darwin Day! On the anniversary of Darwin’s birthday on 12th February 1809, I thought it would be fun to release a special episode covering some aspect of Darwin’s life or theories. Today, we’re going to discuss the health of Darwin’s children and of Darwin’s immediate family. Sources for this episode: Hayman, J., Álvarez, G., Ceballos, F. C. and Berra, T. M. (2017), The illnesses of Charles Darwin and his children: a lesson in consanguinity. Biological Journal of the Linnean Society 121: 458- 468. Information on the immediate family of Charles Darwin can also be found on Wikipedia, whether his article or the article on the Darwin-Wedgewood family.
Feb 7, 2021 · 5 min
19- How Evolution Works
This week, I’m going to do something a little different and talk through a process we hear a lot about, but which isn’t often discussed as a process outside biology classrooms very much- evolution. This episode will be a little different from my usual, as it’s mainly going to be me talking rather than drawing on sources. Instead, this discussion is going to be based on my biological education so far.
Jan 31, 2021 · 4 min
18- Apoptosis
Apoptosis is the phenomenon by which cells commit suicide in an orderly and programmed fashion. But why is it important? And what happens if it goes wrong? Today, we're just going to introduce the topic briefly and give some examples of why it is biologically useful. Sources for this episode: Alberts, Johnson, Lewis, Raff, Roberts, and Walter (2008), Molecular Biology of the Cell, Fifth Edition. Abingdon: Garland Science, ‘Taylor and Francis Group LLC’. Thain, M., and Hickman, M. (2014), The Penguin Dictionary of Biology, 11th edition. London: Penguin Publishing Group.
Jan 24, 2021 · 3 min
17- How To Make An Eye Colour
Eye colour is one of the first examples of genetic inheritance talked about in schools across the country. But what is it that these genes really do? What causes eye colour from a functional perspective? As we'll see on the podcast today, it's all to do with the pigment melanin... Sources for this episode: Alberts, Johnson, Lewis Raff, Roberts, and Walter (2008), Molecular Biology of the Cell, Fifth Edition. Abingdon: Garland Science, Taylor and Francis Group LLC. Sturm, R. A. and Frudakis, T. N. (2004), Eye colour: portals into pigmentation genes and ancestry. Trends in Genetics 20(8): 327- 332.
Jan 17, 2021 · 3 min
16- Assortative Mating
Assortative mating is essentially the recognition that theory isn’t always perfect and that, however desperately biologists might want some simplicity in the world, organisms don’t just encounter each other like gas molecules- it’s not a random process. In fact, it can even give evolution a helping hand… Sources for this episode: Nishi, A., Alexander, M., Fowler, J. H. and Christakis, N. A. (2020), Assortative mating at loci under recent natural selection in humans. BioSystems 187 (2020) 104040. Thain, M., and Hickman, M. (2014), The Penguin Dictionary of Biology, 11th edition. London: Penguin Publishing Group.
Jan 13, 2021 · 2 min
Announcement- Website
Hi everyone, Vince here with a quick update- the podcast now has an accompanying website! From now on, you can head to 'www.biopedia.co.uk' to access all our episodes, as well as a blog featuring some extra content. Thank you all for continuing to listen to the show and I'm excited to add new content!
Jan 10, 2021 · 4 min
15- The Adaptive Landscape
The adaptive landscape is an important method for biologists, ecologists, and geneticists to visualise the process of evolution. But what is it, and how does it work? This week, we’re going to discuss what the adaptive landscape actually is, so while there are going to be some sources listed, there's also a bit of general discussion as well. Some sources for this episode: Martin, C. H. and Wainwright, P. C. (2013), Multiple fitness peaks on the adaptive landscape drive adaptive radiation in the wild. Science 339: 208- 211. Author unknown, Wikipedia (date unknown), Fitness Landscape (online) [Accessed 2021, date not known]. Script writing was reinforced by my previous education on the topic.
Jan 6, 2021 · 3 min
14a- The Function of NRAMP1
Bonus episode! In the main episode on Sunday, I briefly mentioned NRAMP1, a mutation in which can influence how susceptible someone is to the leprosy bacterium, Mycobacterium leprae. But what exactly is the NRAMP1 protein and why is it important? Sources for this episode: Cannone-Hergaux, F., Calafat, J., Richer, E., Cellier, M., Grinstein, S., Borregaard, N. and Gros, P. (2002), Expression and subcellular localisation of NRAMP1 in neutrophil granules. Blood 100(1): 268- 275. Forbes, J. R. and Gros, P. (2003), Iron, manganese, and cobalt transport by Nramp1 (Slc11a1) and Nramp2 (Slc11a2) expressed at the plasma membrane. Blood 102(5): 1884- 1892. Hennigar, S. R. and McClung, J. P. (2016), Nutritional Immunity: Starving Pathogens of Trace Minerals. American Journal of Lifestyle Medicine 10(3): 170- 173. Rørvig, S., Østergaard, O., Heegaard, N. H. H. and Borregaard, N. (2013), Proteome profiling of human neutrophil granule subsets, secretory vesicles, and cell membrane: correlation with transcriptome profiling of neutrophil precursors. Journal of Leukocyte Biology 94: 711- 721. A paper that mentions cell lysis in the context of pathogens surviving phagocytosis: Natural Resistance to Infection with Intracellular Pathogens: The Nramp1 Protein Is Recruited to the Membrane of the Phagosome.
Jan 3, 2021 · 5 min
14- Leprosy and 'The Leper King'
Happy new year! In our inaugural episode of 2021, we’re going to go back to the 1100s and focus on the famous case of the Leper King Baldwin IV, who ruled as king of Jerusalem from 1174 to 1185. What exactly is leprosy, and what causes it? We’ll use the test case of Baldwin as an opening to talking a bit about the bug Mycobacterium leprae and how exactly leprosy works. Sources for this episode: Abel, L., Sánchez, F. O., Oberti, J., Thuc, N. V., Van Hoa, L., Lap, V. D., Skamene, E., Lagrange, P. H. and Schurr, E. (1998), Susceptibility to Leprosy Is Linked to the Human NRAMP1 Gene. The Journal of Infectious Diseases 177: 133- 145. Fullick A., Locke, J. and Bircher, P. (2015), A Level Biology for OCR A. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Guerrero-Peral, A. L. (2009), Neurological manifestations of the leprosy of King Baldwin IV of Jerusalem. Revista de Neurologica 49(8). Turner, J. J., Hektoen International, The remarkable Baldwin IV: leper and king of Jerusalem (online). Author unknown, Microbiology Society (2014), Mycobacterium leprae, the cause of leprosy (online) [Accessed 11/12/2020].
Dec 27, 2020 · 4 min
13- Rewind: Amino Acids
Proteins are often mentioned on the show, but what about the building blocks that they consist of? This week, we’re going to tackle amino acids in our second rewind episodes. There are some topics that naturally branch off from this one, such as interactions between amino acids and how DNA encodes for different ones, but they will probably be topics for future episodes. Sources for this episode: Campbell, N. A., Urry, L. A., Cain, M. L., Wasserman, S. A., Minorsky, P. V. and Reece, J. B. (2018), Biology: a global approach, 11th edition (Global Edition), Harlow, Pearson Education Limited. Compound Interest, Compound Interest (2014), A Brief Guide to the Twenty Common Amino Acids (online) [Accessed c.2020, date not known]. Fullick A., Locke, J. and Bircher, P. (2015), A Level Biology for OCR A. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Ritchie, R. and Ghent, D. (2015), A Level Chemistry for OCR A. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Thain, M., and Hickman, M. (2014), The Penguin Dictionary of Biology, 11th edition. London: Penguin Publishing Group. NOTE: In case this wasn’t clear in the audio, variable groups, R groups and side chains all refer to the same functional group- namely, the variable part of an amino acid.
Dec 20, 2020 · 6 min
12- The Wnt Signalling Network
Building on our discussion of both signalling pathways and G-protein coupled receptors from a few weeks ago, this week we’re going to discuss the Wnt signalling pathway- a pathway which is crucial in aspects of development and can have widespread impacts on the cell. It all sounds rather intimidating, but there’s actually surprisingly few steps involved in this pathway- and we’re only going to be focusing on one part of the signalling network, which makes life a lot less complicated! Sources for this episode: Alberts, Johnson, Lewis, Raff, Roberts, and Walter (2008), Molecular Biology of the Cell, Fifth Edition, p.948- 950. Abingdon: Garland Science, Taylor and Francis Group LLC. Janda, C. Y., Waghray, D., Levin, A. M., Thomas, C. and Garcia, K. C. (2012), Structural basis of Wnt recognition by Frizzled. Science 337: 59- 63. Author unknown, National Center for Biotechnology Information (2020), PubChem Compound Summary for CID 445638, Palmitoleic acid (online) [Accessed 29/11/2020].
Dec 13, 2020 · 3 min
11- Rewind: Cell Theory
In the first of our ‘Rewind’ episodes, we go back to basics and discuss cells- where they came from and the famous cell theory of 1839, which is still present in textbooks today. There are more stories than we can cover which lead up to cell theory, so just see this as an introductory episode until when and if we can come back to these famous names and discoveries. Sources for this episode: Silver (1987), Virchow, the Heroic Health Model in Medicine: Health Policy by Accolade. AJPH 77(1): 82- 88. Author unknown, National Geographic, date unknown, Cell Theory (Encyclopaedic entry, online) [Accessed c.2020, date not known].
Dec 6, 2020 · 6 min
10- The Lamellipodium
As discussed in previous episodes, the actin cytoskeleton is vital to allow cells to move. But what about the specifics? In this episode, we’re going to be dissecting the lamellipodium- a meshwork actin structure that some cells use to move. Sources for this episode: Alberts, Johnson, Lewis, Raff, Roberts, and Walter (2008), Molecular Biology of the Cell, Fifth Edition. Abingdon: Garland Science, Taylor and Francis Group LLC. Berro, Michelot, Blanchoin, Kovar and Martiel (2007), Attachment Conditions Control Actin Filament Buckling and the Production of Forces. Biophysical Journal 92(7): 2546- 2558. Kiuchi, Ohashi, Kurita and Mizuno (2007), Cofilin promotes stimulus-induced lamellipodium formation by generating an abundant supply of actin monomers. The Journal of Cell Biology 177(3): 465- 476 ‘Mechanobiology Institute, Singapore’, YouTube (2013), Arp2/3 complex mediated actin nucleation (online) [Accessed 23/11/2020].