WTF, Biology?

In celebration of #NationalPollinatorsMonth, my guest and I talk about the lesser known and under-appreciated pollinators--native bees and flies. I am joined by Dr. Lindsie McCabe, an entomologist with the U.S. Department of Agriculture Pollinating Insect-Biology, Management, Systematics Research lab, otherwise known as the bee lab. Check out more on how to make your garden bee friendly here: https://nationaldaycalendar.com/na...

Deserts are extreme places bouncing between too hot and too cold; too dry and too wet. But moss have found a way to buffer those extremes. Join Dr. Jenna Ekwealor and I as we discuss the strange lifestyle of hypolithic moss, namely moss that live underneath rocks. You can learn more about desert mosses at https://3dmoss.berkeley.edu/ Check out Jenna's hero scientists here: https://www.esf.edu/faculty/kimmerer/ https://www.calstatel...

In the United States, May is #NationalWildfireAwarenessMonth. To kick off this month, I welcome Dr. Mike Remke back to the show to discuss wildfire's past, present, and future. 

Check out this article of the Yurok tribe's use of wildfire: https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2019/nov/21/wildfire-prescribed-burns-california-native-americans

Find the wildfire information for your location here: https://www.ready.gov/wildfires&nbs...

Regent's Professor at Northern Arizona University, Dr. Nancy Johnson is a world-famous mycorrhizal researcher. She has roughly 163 publication with over 13,000 citations (according to Google Scholar). So with a track record like that, she deserves an enormous ego, but to her credit, she is the kindest, most down-to-earth, sweetest person who will intellectually bitch-slap you (but only if you deserve it). 

In this mini-episode...

Mycorrhizas are the dual organs created by plant roots and their associated fungi that form typically beneficial partnerships. These (usually) mutualistic symbiotic relationships are super important for many ecological processes, especially in the drylands of the southwestern United States. Dr. Mike Remke and I discuss his research in how understanding the mycorrhizal relationships can be used in restoring dryland ecosystems. 

There is more to Richard Dawkins' books, the Selfish Gene and The Extended Phenotype, than I was able to cover in Episode 6, so I am revisiting this topic. If you haven't heard Episode 6, WTF Biologist, Richard Dawkins with Tom Whitham, please go back and check it out. There are also some never-been-heard portions of my conversation with Dr. Tom Whitham, including the origin story of the Cottonwood Ecology Group's motto: "Sacrifice...

That crunchy black moss ball probably isn't dead...at least maybe not if you are in the desert. Just give it a splash with your water bottle and watch this cool little plant resurrect right before your very eyes! Join Dr. Matt Bowker and I as we discuss the super powers of the resurrection moss. Syntricia contains about 79 species and occur all of the world in drylands in a large variety of habitats, ranging from high-elevation mou...

Richard Dawkins' contributions to evolutionary biology (and pop culture) revolutionized the field of study. He is an emeritus fellow of New College Oxford and was the first University of Oxford's Professor for Public Understanding of Science. He is also my science crush. Dawkins has authored several books, but this episode focuses on his first two, The Selfish Gene (1976) and The Extended Phenotype: The Long Reach of the Gene (1982...

This is called marcescence. Commonly seen on juvenile oaks, hornbeams, and beeches, the why behind marcescence remains a mystery.  Music is by Dr. Ron Deckert. Find him on SoundCloud. If you have question such as "WTF is that thing doing that", drop me a email wtfbiology@gmail.com or send me a message on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and Tik Tok @wtf_biology. I'll try to answer your question in a minisode or maybe even a full ...

Plants are full of microbes! Fungal and bacterial endophytes live inside healthy plant tissue, but WTF are they doing in there? Join Dr. Ron Deckert and me as we get super nerdy about endophytic fungi. We talk about all four types or classes of endophytes that found inside plants and the features that make each type distinct.  Not only is Ron an expert endophytologist, he is also the musical mastermind behind the show. You can...

In this minsode, I answer a WTFer's question about mRNA. I explain the Central Dogma of Biology...how genes get are expressed as proteins, and how mRNA can be used to train an immune system to recognize an invader. If you have a nature question, send me an email at wtfbiology@gmail.com, or send a message via Facebook, Instagram, Twitter or TikTok @wtf_biology on all platforms. I'll try to answer your question as a minisode or maybe...

Dr. Gene Bozniak, or just plain old Boz, and I discuss so many things....biases and why they exist, how forcing people to become Christian resulted in ecosystem destruction, and where the mysterious place "away" is. 

As always, music this week is by Dr. Ron Deckert. His music can be found on SoundCloud. Not only is Ron the mastermind behind the music for this show, he is also a research studying the ecology of plant-associated...

Did you know that a lot of Darwin's evidence for evolution through natural selection came from experiments that he conducted at home? During this pandemic, many of us find ourselves working from home...productive or otherwise. In this first ever minisode of WTF Biology, I describe a simple experiment that Darwin did to understand competition and natural selection. This experiment is so simple that 1000s of school children have repl...

PhD candidate, Sneha Vissa, and I discuss all the little buddies that mountain pine beetles pack around with them, including mites and fungi. We talk about beetle sex, elk hiding in fog, and where not to leave condoms. Music this week is Pondo Funk by Ron Deckert. Find his music on SoundCloud. Look for a Cool Ass Nature Shit video on my YouTube channel where I show you beetle galleries and how the lumber used the power of branding ...

Even nearly 60 years after Rachel Carson's death, many of the issues she faced are still with us. My guests and I discuss biases in science, the need for effective science communication, and, of course, environmental issues. 

Randy Swaty runs the Data Conservation Lab. Check out their blog.

Melissa Sevigny is a science writer. Find out more about her books and other writings at her website. 

The music on this episode is T...

Join Dr. Ehren Moler and me as we discuss a host swapping alien invader. We discuss this master of disguise of a fungal disease and what it means for forests of North America. We even have a throw-back to the Magic School Bus of our youths. Photo: White bark pine (Pinus albicaulis) affected by white pine blister rust disease near Yellowstone National Park. Copyright Ehren Moler, used with permission. The life cycle of Cronartium ri...

With a load of dogs, a load of kids, a dissertation to write, and a full-time job, why did I decide to make a podcast? And why this podcast? In this bonus episode, I explain how this podcast came to be and why it is so important to me. I hope you join me in getting a fresh take on the natural world.  If you like the show, consider supporting me on Patreon. Find me https://www.patreon.com/wtfbiology. You can also follow me on F...