BioScience Talks

Latest Episodes:

Blackologists and the Promise of Inclusive Sustainability Jul 12, 2021

Show notes

Historically, shared resources such as forests, fishery stocks, and pasture lands have often been managed with an aim toward averting "tragedies of the commons," which are thought to result from selfish overuse. Writing in BioScience, Drs. Senay Yitbarek (University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill), Karen Bailey (University of Colorado Boulder), Nyeema Harris (Yale University), and colleagues critique this model, arguing that, all too often, such conservation has failed to acknowledge the complex socioecological interactions that undergird the health of resource pools.
The authors, who describe themselves as Blackologists (“'not simply scholars that are Black but, rather, are scholars who deliberately leverage and intersect Blackness into advancing knowledge production"), elucidate a model in which researchers' life experiences provide "unique perspectives to critically examine socioecological processes and the challenges and solutions that arise from them."
In this episode of BioScience Talks, Yitbarek, Bailey, and Harris join us to discuss this model of inclusive sustainability and the ways in which it can be brought to bear in service of ecosystems and the humans who inhabit them.

Please visit Dr. Bailey's podcast, The Creature Connection.
DEI

The COVID-19 Pandemic, Viral Evolution, Vaccines, and Variants Jun 24, 2021

Show notes

In this episode, we're joined by Dr. Charlie Fenster, Professor at South Dakota State University, Director of Oak Lake Field Station, and President of the American Institute of Biological Sciences (AIBS), Dr. Pam Soltis of the Florida Museum of Natural History at the University of Florida, Director of University of Florida Biodiversity Institute, AIBS Board Member, and Past President of the American Society of Plant Taxonomists, and Paul Turner, Rachel Carson Professor of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology at Yale University and Microbiology Faculty Member at the Yale School of Medicine. They describe their recent article in BioScience, "Pandemic Policy in the Vaccine Era: The Long Haul Approach," in which they discuss vaccines, viral evolution, and the ways that the life sciences community must contribute to a robust international response in order to meet the present and future global challenges to human health and wellbeing.

Environmental DNA and RNA May Be Key in Monitoring Pathogens such as SARS-CoV-2 May 27, 2021

Show notes

A discussion of environmental DNA and RNA (eDNA and eRNA, respectively) and its potential for pathogen monitoring. eDNA and eRNA approaches work through the collection of a sample (often from an aquatic source), whose genetic contents are then sequenced to reveal the presence and prevalence of pathogens. This conversation focuses on two cases, that of a herpesvirus that causes cancers among as turtles, and SARS-CoV-2, the virus responsible for the COVID-19 pandemic. Our guests are Jessica Farrell and David Duffy of the University of Florida's Whitney Lab and Sea Turtle Hospital and Liam Whitmore, of the University of Limerick, in Ireland.

Read the article in BioScience here.

The authors' case study is written up here.

In Their Own Words: John E. Burris Apr 14, 2021

Show notes

This episode is the next in our oral history series, In Their Own Words. These pieces chronicle the stories of scientists who have made great contributions to their fields, particularly within the biological sciences. Each month, we will publish in the pages of BioScience, and on this podcast, the results of these conversations. John E. Burris is emeritus president of the Burroughs Wellcome Fund. He is also a past president of AIBS. Note: Both the text and audio versions have been edited for clarity and length.

Read this article in BioScience.

Urban Ecology, Segregation, and the Work of the Baltimore Field Station Apr 08, 2021

Show notes

Dr. Morgan Grove of the USDA Baltimore Field Station joins us to discuss urban ecology, segregation, environmental justice, DEI, and the efforts of the USDA Forest Service's Baltimore Field Station, including the Stillmeadow Peace Park and the Baltimore Wood Project. Learn more.

Using Citations to Find Scientific Communities Mar 17, 2021

Show notes

George Chacko (University of Illinois) and Steve Gallo (American Institute of Biological Sciences) discuss using article citations to generate "clusters" that reflect scientific communities. The clustering methodology may have broad implications for science, ranging from better peer review and DEI to the uncovering fraud, bias—and more. Read the article.

In Their Own Words: Thomas Lovejoy Feb 15, 2021

Show notes

This episode is the next in our oral history series, In Their Own Words. These pieces chronicle the stories of scientists who have made great contributions to their fields, particularly within the biological sciences. Each month, we will publish in the pages of BioScience, and on this podcast, the results of these conversations. Dr. Lovejoy is a Professor at George Mason University, in Fairfax, Virginia, Explorer at Large with the National Geographic Society, and Senior Fellow at the United Nations Foundation. He is also a past president of AIBS.

Note: Both the text and audio versions have been edited for clarity and length.

Indigenous Systems of Management for Healthier Fisheries Feb 10, 2021

Show notes

Before European colonization, populations of Pacific salmon were successfully managed by the Indigenous communities of the Pacific Northwest since time immemorial. Colonization and its associated fisheries management practices have depleted stocks and disrupted the complex social–ecological systems that underlie them.

In this episode, we're joined by Will Atlas, a salmon watershed scientist with the Wild Salmon Center; Andrea Reid, citizen and member of the Nisga’a Nation, in British Columbia, and an assistant professor with the University of British Columbia; and William G. Housty of the Heiltsuck First Nation and the Heiltsuk Integrated Resource Management Department. Our guests describe how a return to traditional management and other DEI efforts may revitalize these fisheries and bolster the fishing communities that depend on them.

SlothBot: Engaging the Public with Robot Ecology Jan 27, 2021

Show notes

Despite having a professed trust in the science, many members of the public fall short when it comes to making choices that protect the environment and support informed decision-making. To help excite and inspire broad audiences to have a greater appreciation for and engagement with science, our guests today, Jonathan Pauli, associate professor in the Department of Forest and Wildlife Ecology at the University of Wisconsin, Madison, and Magnus Egerstedt, robotics professor at Georgia Tech, have created SlothBot. The forest-canopy-dwelling robot, which mirrors its biological counterparts in many ways, offers an exciting platform for learning—about robotics, ecology, and more.

In Their Own Words: Peter Raven Jan 08, 2021

Show notes

This episode is the next in our oral history series, In Their Own Words. These pieces chronicle the stories of scientists who have made great contributions to their fields, particularly within the biological sciences. Each month, we will publish in the pages of BioScience, and on this podcast, the results of these conversations. Today, we are joined by Peter Raven, president emeritus of the Missouri Botanical Garden, in St. Louis, Missouri. He is also a past president of AIBS.

Note: Both the text and audio versions have been edited for clarity and length.