Lizard See, Lizard Do: First Evidence of Imitation in a Reptile

Episode 68 by Mary Bates (Click here to directly access the MP3)

Bearded Dragon
Reptiles aren’t exactly known for the smarts. But maybe they’re just the victim of bad press. A new study shows lizards are capable of social learning through imitation, an ability previously thought to be limited to mammals and birds. 

Listen to the Podcast to learn more!

Further Reading:

Kis, A., Huber, L., and Wilkinson, A. (2014). Social learning by imitation in a reptile (Pogona vitticeps). Animal Cognition. doi: 10.1007/s10071-014-0803-7.

Manrod, J. D., Hartdegen, R., and Burghardt, G. M. (2008). Rapid solving of a problem apparatus by juvenile black-throated monitor lizards (Varanus albigularis albigularis). Animal Cognition 11(2): 267-273. doi: 10.1007/s10071-007-0109-0.

Wilkinson, A., Coward, S., and Hall, G. (2009). Visual and response-based navigation in the tortoise (Geochelone carbonaria). Animal Cognition 12(6): 779-787. doi: 10.1007/s10071-009-0237-9.

Mary Bates is a freelance science writer living in Boston. She has a Ph.D. in psychology from Brown University where she studied bat echolocation. You can visit her website at www.marybateswriter.com and follow her on Twitter at @mebwriter.
  • November 26
  • , 2014

Ebola: Questions and Answers

Episode 67 by Cris Felipe-Alves (Click here to directly access the MP3)

Electron micrograph of the Ebola Virion from the CDC public images & Wiki Commons.
The current Ebola outbreak has claimed the lives of thousands of people in West Africa since February 2014. Just recently, the UN declared the disease as a “threat to international piece and security”.

This week, Experimental hit the streets to answer some of the questions the public have about Ebola. Listen to this latest Experimental podcast to learn more about this terrible disease.

Listen to the podcast to learn more.

References:

http://www.cdc.gov/vhf/ebola/; CDC webpage

http://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-29262968; Ebola ‘threat to world security’- UN Security Council

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/09/13/world/africa/ebola-who-africa.html?_r=0; Ebola Outpaces Global Response, W.H.O. Says

Science. 2014 Sep 12;345(6202):1369-72. “Genomic surveillance elucidates Ebola virus origin and transmission during the 2014 outbreak”

Journal of Virology 77 (18): 9733–9737. “Ebola Virus Pathogenesis: Implications for Vaccines and Therapies”

Emerg Infect Dis. 2005 Mar;11(3):385-90. “Ebola virus antibody prevalence in dogs and human risk”

Chris Felipe-Alves

Cris Felipe-Alves has worked as a researcher in both academic and private environments. He’s currently finishing a postdoctoral fellowship at the University of Otago (UoO) in New Zealand before moving permanently to the West Coast of Canada. He’s also an alumni of the UoO’s Centre for Science Communication with specialization in Natural History Filmmaking and Communications. Watch some of his YouTube movies. Learn more about Cris from his LinkedIn resume. 


  • October 24
  • , 2014

Mystery of the Floating Plastic

Episode 66 by Cris Felipe-Alves (Click here to directly access the MP3)

(Access the full transcript)

Plastic floating in the ocean
Plastic is a one of the most revolutionary inventions of all times. They are cheap and easy to produce, can be shaped to many functions and last for a long time. But what happens after you discard them for good? Listen to this podcast to find out about the mystery of the floating plastic.

Reference

Plastic debris in the open ocean - Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the USA.

Chris Felipe-Alves

Cris Felipe-Alves has worked as a researcher in both academic and private environments. He’s currently finishing a postdoctoral fellowship at the University of Otago (UoO) in New Zealand before moving permanently to the West Coast of Canada. He’s also an alumni of the UoO’s Centre for Science Communication with specialization in Natural History Filmmaking and Communications. Watch some of his YouTube movies. Learn more about Cris from his LinkedIn resume. 


  • September 2
  • , 2014

Rubber Made From DANDELIONS!

Episode 65 by Meredith Hanel (Click here to directly access the MP3)

(Access the full text transcript)

Rubber boots and dandelion
In suburban North America, dandelions are nothing but an annoying weed to be extracted from lawns. The dandelion may soon rise from its lowly status, because of something valuable in its roots – rubber. We use natural rubber from the rubber tree for many things from tires to birthday balloons. Dandelion rubber car tires and dandelion latex products may be in the near future, but scientists need to find a way to extract it more efficiently and coax the dandelions to produce as much rubber as possible. Find out why rubber tree plantations may not keep up with world rubber demands and why the Russian dandelion could be an environmentally friendly addition to the rubber industry.

Listen to the Podcast to learn more!

For More Information:

On the Rebound: Scientists revive search for new rubber sources. Science News, August 2013. 

Fraunhofer and Continental come together when the dandelion rubber meets the road. Fraunhofer Press Release, October 2013. 

Dutch Biotech Firm to Make Car Tires From Hybrid Dandelions. Inhabitat weblog, February 2013. 

Abbotsford company’s Russian dandelion could provide eco-friendly rubber. The Vancouver Sun, May 2014.

Continental Wins GreenTec Award 2014 for Dandelion rubber. Continental Press Release, May 2014.

Meredith Hanel
Meredith Hanel earned her Ph.D. in Medical Genetics at University of Alberta and spent many years doing research in molecular and developmental biology related to medicine. Meredith presents hands-on biology workshops in elementary schools, and writes teacher resource materials, with the science outreach charity Scientists in School. She enjoys writing about science and loves to dig into the biology behind anything in nature. You can read her blog at http://biologybizarre.blogspot.ca
  • August 19
  • , 2014

Pandas: How Carnivorous Bears Became Vegetarians

Episode 64 by Mary Bates (Click here to directly access the MP3)

(Access the full text transcript)

Giant Panda eating bamboo - from Wikipedia CCL
At first glance, the giant panda seems ill-suited to survive almost exclusively on bamboo. But new research reveals the latest in a suite of physical and behavioral adaptations that help it make the most of its vegetarian diet.

Listen to the Podcast to learn more!

For More Information:

Nie, Y., Zhang, Z., Raubenheimer, D., Elser, J. J., Wei, W., Wei, F. (2014), Obligate herbivory in an ancestrally carnivorous lineage: the giant panda and bamboo from the perspective of nutritional geometry. Functional Ecology. 

Ruiqiang Li et al. (2010). The sequence and de novo assembly of the giant panda genome. Nature 463 (21): 311–317.

Zhu, L., Wu, Q., Dai, J., Zhang, S., and Wei, F. (2011). Evidence of cellulose metabolism by the giant panda gut microbiome. PNAS 108(43): 17714-17719. 

Mary Bates is a freelance science writer living in Boston. She has a Ph.D. in psychology from Brown University where she studied bat echolocation. You can visit her website at www.marybateswriter.com and follow her on Twitter at @mebwriter.
  • August 12
  • , 2014

The Meaning of Life

Episode 63 by Cris Felipe-Alves (Click here to directly access the MP3)

(Access the full transcript)

Bacteriophages attacking a bacterial cell - From Wikipedia, public domain
What’s alive? What does it take to be alive? It’s easy to point at a big thing like a giraffe or a human and say “That’s definitely alive.” But what about cells? Bacteria? And Viruses? The question of what is “alive” has been debated and explored by scientists for generations - Listen to our podcast to learn more!

For more information, check out the scientific discussion in “Nature Reviews: Microbiology”

Ten reasons to exclude viruses from the tree of life

Reasons to include viruses in the tree of life

Six comments on the ten reasons for the demotion of viruses

Ten good reasons not to exclude giruses from the evolutionary picture

There is no such thing as a tree of life (and of course viruses are out!)

Viral genomes are part of the phylogenetic tree of life

Compelling reasons why viruses are relevant for the origin of cells

Chris Felipe-Alves
Cris Felipe-Alves has worked as a researcher in both academic and private environments. He’s currently finishing a postdoctoral fellowship at the University of Otago (UoO) in New Zealand before moving permanently to the West Coast of Canada. He’s also an alumni of the UoO’s Centre for Science Communication with specialization in Natural History Filmmaking and Communications. Watch some of his YouTube movies. Learn more about Cris from his LinkedIn resume. 
  • August 5
  • , 2014

EINSTEIN! Still the Champion… Of Physics!

Episode 62 by Scott Unger (Click here to directly access the MP3)

(Access the full text transcript)

Gravitational Lensing - Wikipedia
Gravitational Lensing - the Gravity of the galaxy in the middle is bending the light from farther away around it - allowing observers from Earth to focus on the far-away celestial bodies.

Einstein. One of the biggest minds science has ever known and arguably the most important scientist to the advancement of our understanding of the universe the world has ever known. And much like a prize fighter – some would seek to prove Einstein wrong. Defeat the Champ and you win the belt.

Enter the ring, Dr. Edward Dowdye, former NASA scientist, arguing that Einstein got it wrong with the Theory of Relativity… But hold up! You have to check the facts before you accept that the Champ has been defeated… And listen to this podcast to learn more!

For more information:

Epoch Times - Former NASA Physicist Disputes Einstein’s Theory of Relativity (But … if you look into it more, you’ll see, he’s wrong.)

Gravity Lens - Dr. Karl S. Kruszelnicki, ABC Science

Extinction Shift Principle (Written & Published by Dr. Edward Dowdye)

Einstein’s Theory of General Relativity - Space.com

Team of scientists use gravitational lensing to examine unseen galaxies

Scott UngerScott Unger is the producer / director of Experimental.  He’s also a career science communicator with a background in Microbiology, and spent seven years working in a series of laboratories before moving into science writing.  He is an alumni of the Banff Science Communications Program. Learn more about Scott from his LinkedIn résumé. You can also follow Scott on Twitter @scottu487.


  • July 22
  • , 2014

Cancer: Taking Over the World One Mutation at a Time

Episode 61 by Cris Felipe-Alves (Click here to directly access the MP3)

(Access the full text transcript)

Enhanced electron microscope image of lung cancer cells during division
Cancer affects millions of people worldwide each year. By undergoing mutations, cancer cells start dividing uncontrollably until they form tumors and metastasize. But how does that occur? Find out how cancer develops by listening to the podcast.

For more information:

Hanahan, D. and Weinberg, R. 2000. The hallmarks of cancer. Cell; 100 (1): 57-70.

Hanahan, D. and Weinberg, R. 2011. Hallmarks of cancer: the next generation. Cell; 144 (5): 646-74.

Chris Felipe-Alves
Cris Felipe-Alves has worked as a researcher in both academic and private environments. He’s currently finishing a postdoctoral fellowship at the University of Otago (UoO) in New Zealand before moving permanently to the West Coast of Canada. He’s also an alumni of the UoO’s Centre for Science Communication with specialization in Natural History Filmmaking and Communications. Watch some of his YouTube movies. Learn more about Cris from his LinkedIn resume. 
  • July 8
  • , 2014

Shark Skin from a 3D Printer!

Episode 60 by Mary Bates (Click here to directly access the MP3)

(Access the full text transcript)

Carribean reef shark
Scientists and engineers have long been intrigued by how the shark’s rough skin helps it glide effortlessly through the water. Now, a team of scientists have used 3D printing to create an artificial shark skin. Tests with their synthetic skin show just how shark skin saves energy and boosts swimming speed.

Listen to the Podcast to learn more!

For more information:

Wen, L., Weaver, J. C. and Lauder, G. V. (2014). Biomimetic shark skin: design, fabrication and hydrodynamic function. J. Exp. Biol. 217, 1656-1666.

Mary Bates is a freelance science writer living in Boston. She has a Ph.D. in psychology from Brown University where she studied bat echolocation. You can visit her website at www.marybateswriter.com and follow her on Twitter at @mebwriter.
  • June 17
  • , 2014

The World’s Greatest Pandemic (You’ve Never Heard Of)

Episode 59 by Stefanie Vogt (Click here to directly access the MP3)

(Access the full text transcript)

Mosquito biting a human
A pandemic is raging worldwide, with millions already infected. But instead of being humanity’s downfall, this pandemic could actually save us from diseases like dengue fever and malaria.

Listen to the podcast to learn more…

Sources:

LePage and Bordenstein. (2013) Wolbachia: Can we save lives with a great pandemic? Trends in Parasitology29:385-393.

 Eliminate Dengue Program

Werren et al. (2008) Wolbachia: Master manipulators of invertebrate biology. Nature Reviews Microbiology 6:741-751.

Stefanie VogtStefanie Vogt is a postdoctoral fellow studying microbiology at the University of British Columbia and an alumna of the 2012 Banff Science Communications Program.  She has shared her love of science with thousands of kids by organizing science competitions, science activities in rural Alberta, and a science-themed Harry Potter Day.  Follow her on Twitter: @StefanieVogt.


  • May 9
  • , 2014