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PODCAST

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

science life sciences

All Episodes

00:09:03

48- The Creation of Chromosome 2

Biopedia ·

2021/09/05

It's a well-known fact that humans have 23 pairs of chromosomes- 46 chromosomes in total. However, chimpanzees have 48 chromosomes, as do the other 'great apes'. Why is this? Well, it centres around human chromosome 2. Sources for this episode: 1) Fullick A., Locke, J. and Bircher, P. (2015), A Level Biology for OCR A. Oxford: Oxford University Press. 2) IJdo, J.W., Baldini, A., Ward, D. C., Reeders S. T. and Wells, R. A. (1991) Origin of human chromosome 2: an ancestral telomere-telomere fusion,

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00:04:41

47- Sibling Species

Biopedia ·

2021/08/29

Moving away from previous topics somewhat, we're going to dive back into ecological theory and discuss the concept of sibling species. What is a sibling species? Well, they're species which appear broadly very similar, but do have some differences when you get up close. As we'll see in today's episode, sibling species are essentially part of the process of speciation.. Sources for this episode: 1) Eisenmann, E., Amadon, D., Banks, R. C., Blake, E. R., Howell, T. R., Johnson, N. K., Lowery, G. H.,

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00:07:39

46- Ediacaran Biota

Biopedia ·

2021/08/22

Today, we're going to be discussing the Ediacaran fauna. This is a faunal assemblage that came before the Cambrian Explosion (535-525 Mya) but is less well known. Unlike the Cambrian Explosion- which saw the creation of most of the phyla we know today- the Ediacaran biota is much less familiar. It also appears to be quite confusing in terms of what category its constituent organisms fall under... Sources for this episode: 1) Campbell, N. A., Urry, L. A., Cain, M. L., Wasserman, S. A., Minorsky, P.

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00:06:30

45- The DNA of Louis XVI

Biopedia ·

2021/08/14

Almost no French king is more famous than Louis XVI, reigning during the turbulent times of the French Revolution at the tail-end of the eighteenth century. Previous studies have attempted to characterise his Y-chromosomal single tandem repeat (STR) profile, but were ultimately unsuccessful due to contradictions. So, today, let's explore a 2016 study which analysed a loyalist-owned lock of hair and compared it to three living male-line relatives. Sources for this episode: 1) Lucotte, G., Thomasset,

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00:04:43

44- Point Mutations and Almonds

Biopedia ·

2021/08/08

Point mutations can have a huge impact on the genome depending on where in the genetic code they occur. To illustrate this, we're going to be looking at a case study in the form of almonds- formerly poisonous nuts which had their metaphorical fangs taken out by a single base change... Sources for this episode: 1) Hardy, E. R., Encyclopaedia Britannica (2021), Saint Basil the Great (online) [Accessed 22/05/2021]. 2) Herron, J. C. and Freeman, S. (2015), Evolutionary Analysis (Fifth Edition, Global

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00:05:29

43- Two-Component Systems

Biopedia ·

2021/08/01

Bacteria are far simpler in molecular terms than eukaryotes. However, they still need to be able to sense and respond to their environment. How do they do this? Enter the two-component system; a two-protein system which allows stimuli to be detected and gene expression altered using phosphate transfer. Sources for this episode: 1) Madigan, M. T., Martinko, J. M., Dunlap, P. V. and Clark, D. P. (2009), Brock Biology of Microorganisms (12th Edition, International Edition), San Francisco: Pearson

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00:06:57

42- The Quagga

Biopedia ·

2021/07/25

No, the episode name isn't a typo. Rather, it's the name of a subspecies of zebra we're going to be discussing today. Along the way, we will explore clines, the purpose of zebra stripes and an attempt to breed back the quagga from its zebra cousins. Why don't we hear more about it? Well, because it no longer exists... Sources for this episode: 1) Bryden, H. A. (1889), Kloof and karroo: Sport, legend and natural history in Cape Colony, with a notice of the game birds, and of the present distribution

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00:06:12

41- Gruinard Island

Biopedia ·

2021/07/18

Biological warfare has been around for centuries. However, it itself isn't the topic of today's episode. Rather, today we're going to talk about experiments conducted with anthrax on Gruinard Island in the United Kingdom. Sources for this episode: 1) Johnson, M. P., Pye, S. and Allcock, L. (2008), Dispersal mode and assessments of recovery on the shores of Gruinard, the 'anthrax island', Biodiversity Conservation 17: 721-732. 2) Madigan, M. T., Martinko, J. M., Dunlap, P. V. and Clark, D. P. (2009),

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00:03:44

40- Two Views on Communities

Biopedia ·

2021/07/11

Today is more of a follow-up episode building on episode 39. Specifically, we're going to examine two different schools of thought about plant succession, known as the Gleasonian and Clementsian models... Sources for this episode: 1) Cain, M. L., Bowman, W. D. and Hacker, S. D. (2011), Ecology (Second Edition). Sunderland, Massachusetts, Sinauer Associated Ltd. 2) Hagen, J., Encyclopaedia Britannica (2020), Frederic Edward Clements (online) [Accessed 25/04/2021]. 3) Author unknown, Wikipedia (date

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00:05:52

39- Succession and Climax Communities

Biopedia ·

2021/07/04

Our discussion this week is going to head back into ecology and focus on succession- a change in the species composition of a community across space or time. Sources for this episode: 1) Cain, M. L., Bowman, W. D. and Hacker, S. D. (2011), Ecology (Second Edition). Sunderland, Massachusetts, Sinauer Associated Ltd. 2) Thain, M. and Hickman, M. (2014), Dictionary of Biology (Eleventh Edition). London: Penguin Books Ltd. 3) Thompson, J. N., Encyclopaedia Britannica (2018), Ecological succession

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00:05:05

38- Haemophilia

Biopedia ·

2021/06/27

Haemophilia is a genetic condition which is characterised by one of the blood clotting factors, usually encoded for on the X chromosome, not being encoded for properly for various reasons- whether it's a mobile genetic element inserting itself into the gene or a simple mutation. On the show today, we describe the cause and symptoms of haemophilia, as well as using the case study of Queen Victoria to show that new mutations are a surprisingly common root cause... Sources for this episode: 1)

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00:04:39

37- Metapopulations

Biopedia ·

2021/06/20

We're all familiar with populations, but what about a metapopulation? Put simply, these are populations of populations. Thanks to our sources and also my interpretation of the subject from back when I studied the concept, that's the notion we're going to unravel today... Sources for this episode: 1) Cain, M. L., Bowman, W. D. and Hacker, S. D. (2011), Ecology (Second Edition). Sunderland, Massachusetts, Sinauer Associated Ltd. 2) Thompson, J. N., Encyclopaedia Britannica (2016), Metapopulation

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00:07:29

36- Hardy-Weinberg Equilibrium

Biopedia ·

2021/06/13

Back in the early 20th century, an English mathematician and a German scientist both independently came up with an equation to portray the frequency of different phenotypes in a hypothetical population. As we'll see today, this equation rests on some pretty big assumptions which effectively exclude evolution. Why is this useful? Well, because we can use it to see if evolution might be occurring... Sources for this episode: 1) Chen, B., Cole, J. W. and Grond-Ginsbach, C. (2017), Departure from Hardy

en

00:04:45

35- Five Kingdoms, Three Domains

Biopedia ·

2021/06/06

Today, we're going to discuss classification. We're going to briefly skim over how people historically used to organise life, before the establishment of the prokaryote-eukaryote division which would stay in place until an American scientist called Carl Woese rocked the taxonomic boat... Sources for this episode: 1) Craine, A. G., Encyclopaedia Britannica (2020), Carl Woese (online) [Accessed 10/04/2021]. 2) Author unknown, Wikipedia (date unknown), Taxonomy (online) [Accessed 10/04/2021]. 3-4) Some

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00:03:04

34- The Tuatara

Biopedia ·

2021/05/30

On the show today, we discuss the tuatara- two (or possibly only one) species of reptile which are the final representatives of an ancient lineage. I didn't really go into it in the main episode, but there appears to be some debate about whether or not the tuatara is one species or two. All the sources I'd used in this week's episode list two species, but I afterwards discovered an article from the journal 'Conservation Genetics' which concluded that the tuatara should probably be thought of as one

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00:03:43

33- Lethal Alleles

Biopedia ·

2021/05/23

At A Level, we are taught that dominant: recessive traits are in a 3:1 ratio for any trait in which only one gene encodes for it. However, it's not always that simple. Enter lethal alleles... Sources for this episode: 1) Gao, Z., Waggoner, D., Stephens, M., Ober, C. and Przeworski, M. (2015), An Estimate of the Average Number of Recessive Lethal Mutations Carried by Humans. Genetics 199: 1243- 1254. 2) Roos, R. A. C. (2010), Huntingdon's disease: a clinical review. Orphanet Journal of Rare Diseases

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00:05:20

32- Trisomies and Non-Disjunction

Biopedia ·

2021/05/16

Usually, we get two copies of each chromosome. However, the finely tuned process of meiosis and fertilisation can go awry such that a new zygote ends up with three copies. Depending on the chromosome, this can have serious consequences... Sources for this episode: 1) For an explanation of non-disjunction which I found helpful when I was at sixth form, see: Amoeba Sisters, YouTube (2017), Meiosis (Updated) (online) [Accessed 25/03/2021]. 2) Xu, X., Zhang, X., Han, J.-W., Adamu, Y. and Zhang, B

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00:05:15

31- Choanoflagellates

Biopedia ·

2021/05/09

We often think about animals as an insular group. However, as with any genetic grouping, animals do have close relatives. On the show today, we discuss choanoflagellates- considered the closest relatives to animals today, and possibly a good candidate for what the common ancestor of all animals would have looked like. Sources for this episode: 1) 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

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00:03:32

30- Measures of Diversity

Biopedia ·

2021/05/02

Biodiversity is often mentioned as one concept in popular culture. However, it can be split into different components depending on who you ask. Today, we're going to explore two different ways of chopping biodiversity up. Sources for this episode: 1) Cain, M. L., Bowman, W. D. and Hacker, S. D. (2011), Ecology (2nd edition). Sunderland: Sinauer Associates Ltd. 2) Author unknown, Wikipedia (date unknown), Gamma diversity (online) [Accessed 06/03/2021]. There are ways of working out biodiversity

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00:04:47

29- Sympatric Speciation

Biopedia ·

2021/04/25

This week, we're going to discuss sympatric speciation- the counterpart to allopatric speciation where no physical barrier is needed. Sources for this episode: 1) 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. 2) Thain, M., and Hickman, M. (2014), The Penguin Dictionary of Biology, 11th edition. London: Penguin Publishing Group. 3) Author unknown,

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135 results

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