Welcome to Big Biology, the podcast that tells the stories of scientists tackling some of the biggest unanswered questions in biology today. Check out our episodes below, and be sure to follow and support us!

Ep 103: Pest-o, change-o: how culture shapes our view of animal commensals (with Bethany Brookshire)

Big BiologyJune 1, 2023pests, rats, animals, elephants, mice, cats, pigeons, species, writing, kevin, new zealand, sparrows, book, bethany, birds, love, bees, maori, big, humans

Ep 92: A journey into the brilliant abyss (with Helen Scales)

Big BiologyNovember 17, 2022deep ocean, deep, people, ocean, species, deep sea, fish, happening, bit, ecosystems, seabed, hydrothermal vents, book, snail, metals, talking, yeti, carbon, crabs, depth

Ep 91: How stealth organs make super soldier ants (with Rajee Rajakumar)

Big BiologyNovember 3, 2022ants, phenotypes, soldiers, development, tissue, colony, species, plasticity, workers, morphology, cast, super soldier, developmental, army ants, cells, wing, called, head, organism, rudimentary

Ep 89: How one gene determines the fate of a food web (with Matt Barbour)

Big BiologyOctober 6, 2022genes, keystone, plant, aphids, variation, allele, species, effects, insects, system, community, starting, thinking, genetic variation, influence, population, experiment, maintained, context, chemical compounds

Ep 87: Life in the lab, are model organisms an asset or impediment to biology? (with Sabina Leonelli and Rachel Ankeny)

Big BiologySeptember 8, 2022model organisms, organisms, biology, people, model, sabina, species, question, study, genes, human genome project, lab, important, genetic, mouse, scope, research, projects, elegans, work

Ep 72: Stability and change: Lessons from the Serengeti (with Tony Sinclair)

Big BiologyNovember 11, 2021serengeti, predators, wildebeest, populations, species, animals, talk, point, regulation, disease, ecosystem, years, elephants, large mammals, baseline, lake victoria, cattle, tony, wildlife, trees

Ep 56: Bee kind: The buzz on global insect declines (with Dave Goulson)

Big BiologyJanuary 28, 2021insects, bumblebees, bees, honeybees, species, declines, pollinators, people, monitoring, world, flowers, trapping, big, neonicotinoids, crops, farmers, diseases, pollinating, gardens, years

Ep 47: The Origin of Us: Human Evolution (with Kate Wong)

Big BiologySeptember 10, 2020homo, sapiens, humans, africa, people, fossils, evolution, brain, species, talking, traits, tools, neanderthals, language, evidence, evolved, early, thought, modern, biological anthropology

Ep 43: Project ICARUS (with Martin Wikelski)

Big BiologyMay 28, 2020homo, sapiens, humans, africa, people, fossils, evolution, brain, species, talking, traits, tools, neanderthals, language, evidence, evolved, early, thought, modern, biological anthropology

Ep 42: Fatal Fungus (with Craig Franklin)

Big BiologyMay 15, 2020homo, sapiens, humans, africa, people, fossils, evolution, brain, species, talking, traits, tools, neanderthals, language, evidence, evolved, early, thought, modern, biological anthropology

Ep 41: Coronavirus II (with Andy Dobson)

Big BiologyApril 30, 2020homo, sapiens, humans, africa, people, fossils, evolution, brain, species, talking, traits, tools, neanderthals, language, evidence, evolved, early, thought, modern, biological anthropology

Ep 38: Coronavirus (with John Drake)

Big BiologyMarch 16, 2020homo, sapiens, humans, africa, people, fossils, evolution, brain, species, talking, traits, tools, neanderthals, language, evidence, evolved, early, thought, modern, biological anthropology