Podcast · Tech & Science

Big Biology

by Cameron Ghalambor and Marty Martin · English · Tech & Science

The biggest biology podcast for the biggest science and biology fans. Featuring in-depth discussions with scientists tackling the biggest questions in evolution, genetics, ecology, climate, neuroscience, diseases, the origins of life, psychology and more. If it's biological, groundbreaking,…

New episodes: Monthly
Typical length: 38 min
Latest: 1 Oct 2026
Language: English

Latest episode

1 Oct 2026 · 1 hr 2 min

Conservation in a cup with David Lodge

How do you find an invasive species that no net can catch? What happens to the scientist whose research samples end up in federal court? In this episode, we talk with David Lodge , a freshwater ecologist at Cornell University and past president of the Ecological Society of America. In 2009, David’s lab detected invasive carp from DNA in bottles of Illinois River water, including above the electric barrier meant to keep the carp out of the Great Lakes. That result helped found the field of environmental DNA, and it brought congressional testimony, a Supreme Court filing, and five hours of…

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Earlier episodes 29 most recent

10 Sep 2026 · 1 hr 11 min
A tribute to slow science: remembering Bob Ricklefs
This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit bigbiology.substack.com What was distinctive about Bob Ricklefs’ mentorship style, and how did he influence his students and collaborators? What were Bob’s major contributions to biology, and how did these ideas leave a lasting legacy on the field? In this episode, we commemorate the life and work of Bob Ricklefs, who passed away recently. Bob was a giant in the fields of ecolo…
13 Aug 2026 · 58 min
Flower power (Ep 153)
How have flowers shaped the modern world? Why do we and many other species have such intimate and long-term relationships with them? On this special episode, we talk with David George Haskell , a writer and biologist. We discuss his most recent book, How Flowers Made our World , which explores the creative powers of flowering plants. Big Biology blogger and Biology PhD student, Clayton Glasgow , interviews David as an outreach project for the Young Voices of Science program. They discuss how flowers have played key roles in many ecosystems, the genomic innovations that underpinned the…
23 Jul 2026 · 1 hr 13 min
A coevolutionary conundrum (Ep 152)
When a bee visits a flower, what decides the match? How can a neutral model explain community assemblages? Why are long-term ecological studies so important? In this episode, we talk with Diego Vázquez , a community ecologist at CONICET in Mendoza, Argentina, who has spent his career mapping the networks of interaction between plants and pollinators. Textbooks still teach coevolution as tight, faithful pairs, but Diego’s work tells a different story, that specialists mostly interact with generalists, and the best predictor of pollinator visits to plants turns out to be not matching traits or…
2 Jul 2026 · 49 min
The cost of correctness (Ep 151)
This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit bigbiology.substack.com What have so many influential scientists been at some time been ridiculed and disbelieved by their peers or institutions? What reforms could foster bolder and more innovative science? In this episode we talk with Matt Kaplan , a science correspondent at The Economist and author, about his most recent book I Told You So! Scientists Who Were Ridiculed, Exil…
4 Jun 2026 · 1 hr 20 min
Hormones gone wild (Ep 150)
How do hormones help animals cope with stress, seasons, and climate change? What is allostasis? In this episode, our guest is John Wingfield , Emeritus Professor of Physiology and Behavior, at the University of California, Davis. John helped develop many fundamental hypotheses in the field of endocrinology through his work on wild bird populations, in particular the white-crowned sparrow. Fran Bonier, a former PhD student of John’s and now Professor of Biology at Queen’s University in Kingston, Ontario, also joined us for the chat. We talk with John about how he got interested in…
14 May 2026 · 35 min
Invasion of the ecosystem snatchers (Ep 149)
This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit bigbiology.substack.com How do you experimentally test theories of island biogeography? Who were the Tallahassee Mafia? Why do some introduced species become invasive and reshape ecosystems? On this episode, we bring you a live recorded conversation we had with Daniel (Dan) Simberloff at the Laurel Theater in Knoxville, Tennessee. Dan Simberloff is the Nancy Gore Hunger Chair o…
23 Apr 2026 · 30 min
The Voracious Ctenophore and the Silent Sea (Ep 148)
This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit bigbiology.substack.com How is climate change affecting the movements of small predators in the sea? How do diatoms affect ocean carbon cycling? How do Cassiopea jellyfish act like ecosystem engineers? On this episode, we bring you a live conversation from the recent University of South Florida Climate Teach-In where Marty interviewed his colleague, Associate Professor from the…
2 Apr 2026 · 52 min
The Genetics of Vice (Ep 147)
This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit bigbiology.substack.com What role do genes play in complex human behaviors? If behavior is largely shaped by a combination of experience and luck, how should we rethink blame, punishment, and forgiveness? In this episode, we talk with Kathryn Paige Harden , a Professor of Psychology at the University of Texas at Austin, where she leads the Developmental Behavior Genetics lab and…
12 Feb 2026 · 32 min
Evolution at the speed of life (Ep 145)
This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit bigbiology.substack.com What are eco‑evolutionary dynamics and how can we study them in the wild? Why do some fish evolve placentas? In this episode, we talk with David Reznick , Distinguished Professor of Biology at the University of California, Riverside. David has spent much of his career studying Trinidadian guppies to understand adaptation in the wild. In our conversation, …
22 Jan 2026 · 33 min
Heart of gold (Ep 144)
This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit bigbiology.substack.com How are camera traps used in the conservation of cryptic species such as the African golden cat? How can local communities be engaged to foster the success of conservation? In this episode, we talk with Mwezi Mugerwa, winner of the 2025 Indianapolis Prize Emerging Conservationist , a National Geographic Explorer, and President of the Society for Conservat…
1 Jan 2026 · 1 hr 2 min
The Vital Question: The Chemistry of Early Life
How did life originate on Earth? Why is it that eukaryotes but not bacteria or archaea evolved large size and complicated body forms? How likely is that life has arisen independently elsewhere in the universe? On this episode, we talk with Nick Lane , a biochemist and professor at University College London, about his 2015 book The Vital Question . Nick argues that protolife arose in alkaline hydrothermal vents deep in the early Earth’s oceans. The key early event was the evolution of metabolism powered by proton gradients. In other words, metabolism came first, and all of the rest of traits…
11 Dec 2025 · 38 min
From Steppe to Stable (Ep 143)
This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit bigbiology.substack.com How and when did humans domesticate the horse? How did horses shape our language, culture, and history? On this episode, we talk with Dr. Ludovic Orlando , a research director for the French National Center for Scientific Research and founding director of the Centre for Anthropobiology & Genomics of Toulouse. Ludovic is also the author of the new book Hor…
20 Nov 2025 · 31 min
Doctors by Nature (Ep 142)
This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit bigbiology.substack.com How do animals use medication and can humans learn from them? What are the evolutionary consequences of animal self-medication? In this episode, we talk with Jaap de Roode , the Samuel Candler Dobbs Professor of Biology at Emory University and author of the book Doctors by Nature: How Ants, Apes, and Other Animals Heal Themselves . Jaap’s research on monar…
30 Oct 2025 · 1 hr 25 min
Vulnerability in science and in genomes (Ep 141)
What impact has the Trump administration had on biology and the scientific community? How do scientists study genomic adaptation and vulnerability? On this episode we talk with Dr. Katie Lotterhos , Associate Professor in the Department of Marine and Environmental Sciences at Northeastern University. Katie is also the Secretary for the American Society of Naturalists, and she helped to coordinate and implement a survey of scientists to understand the impacts of the Trump administration’s policies on ecology, evolution, marine science and environmental science. In the first half of the…
9 Oct 2025 · 31 min
Biology outside the box (Ep 140)
This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit bigbiology.substack.com What’s the value of risk-taking in research? How is studying the mechanisms of transgenerational inheritance in C. elegans unorthodox and insightful? How can AI help improve aspects of biology, namely the peer review process? In this episode, we talk with Oded Rechavi , professor in the Faculty of Life Sciences and the Sagol School of Neuroscience at Tel …
S8 · E139 · 17 Sep 2025 · 35 min
Evolution across scales (Ep 139)
This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit bigbiology.substack.com How do non-adaptive processes shape biological diversity and complexity? What is effective population size and what important role does it play in evolution? On this episode of Big Biology, we talk with Dr Mike Lynch , Regents Professor and the Director of the Biodesign Center for Mechanisms of Evolution at Arizona State University. We talk with Mike abou…
4 Sep 2025 · 1 hr 1 min
The Origin of Us: Human Evolution
Where, when, and how did Homo sapiens appear? What do we know about the complex set of ancestral hominins that preceded us? How recently did other hominin lineages live and what happened to them? On this episode, we talk with Kate Wong, a senior editor at Scientific American, about her article, The Origin of Us . Our understanding of hominin evolution over the past several million years has been transformed by exciting new fossil finds and new DNA sequence data. We talk with Kate about the biggest news, the luxuriant evolutionary bush from which our ancestors emerged in Africa, and her…
S7 · E138 · 14 Aug 2025 · 46 min
Covid Conversations (Ep 138)
What can we learn from the COVID-19 pandemic, and how do we apply that knowledge moving forward? On this special episode of Big Biology, we’re bringing you the highlights from a conference called “Covid Conversations,” which was hosted at the University of South Florida last December. The event brought together scientists, public health experts, medical doctors, historians, students, philosophers, and community leaders—for one big, open conversation about COVID-19. The episode shares the different perspectives these speakers had on the virus, the pandemic response, and our future…
S7 · E137 · 24 Jul 2025 · 36 min
Student Spotlight: Finding passion in science communication and advocacy (Ep 137)
How can grad students advocate for science policy? How can science communication make research more accessible and inclusive? On this episode of Big Biology, we bring back our “Student Spotlight” segment. We talk with JP Flores , a PhD student studying bioinformatics and computational biology at UNC Chapel Hill. JP does more than just research, he is also deeply engaged in science communication and hosts the award-winning podcast From where does it STEM? He has also worked in science policy as an intern at the NIH and is part of the Science Policy and Advocacy Group at UNC. Earlier this…
3 Jul 2025 · 33 min
The call of the wild (Ep 136)
This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit bigbiology.substack.com What role does media play in conservation efforts and inspiring future generations of scientists? How can science communication make scientific knowledge accessible to the public, especially for communities underrepresented in science? On this episode, we talk with Dr Rae Wynn-Grant a researcher at the Bren School of Environmental Science and Management …
12 Jun 2025 · 32 min
Not all heroes have spines (Ep 135)
This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit bigbiology.substack.com What biological "superpowers" do marine invertebrates possess? What challenges do they face and will their resilience protect them from anthropogenic change? On this episode, we talk with Drew Harvell , Professor Emerita of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology at Cornell University, Affiliate Faculty at the University of Washington, former Science Envoy for O…
22 May 2025 · 54 min
#SaveNSF (Episode 134)
Why is the National Science Foundation important? What is the potential impact of the proposed budget cut to the NSF? How can we stand up for federally-funded science in the US? In this episode, we talk with Bill Zamer and Sam Scheiner , two former BIO program officers at the NSF. Much of the conversation focuses on the recently proposed 56% budget cut to the NSF and what the impacts of such a spending cut would be on science in the US. We discuss how the NSF came to be, the proposal selection process, and some of the scientific breakthroughs that have come out of the NSF-supported basic…
1 May 2025 · 29 min
Microplastics, macro-problems (Ep 133)
This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit bigbiology.substack.com What are microplastics and why are they an issue for the environment? How can global policy address plastic pollution? On this episode, we talk with Martin Wagner , a Professor of Environmental Toxicology at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology. We talk with Martin about the potential harms of microplastics and plastic-derived chemicals to our health and the health of natural ecosystems. We also discuss Martin’s work as part of the International Negotiating Committee set up to produce the UN…
4 Apr 2025 · 2 min
Cover art behind the scenes: Feel the heat
Watch how our amazing artist Keating Shahmehri created the cover art for our last episode "Feel the heat”. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit bigbiology.substack.com/subscribe
27 Mar 2025 · 1 hr 16 min
Feel the heat (Ep 132)
How do scientists measure thermal tolerance and predict organismal responses in the wild? What kind of other data is needed to make predictive models better at helping us understand species responses to high temperatures? In this special episode, roving podcaster Cameron Ghalambor went on the road to the University of Granada in Spain where he spoke about his own research in the symposium, Predictive Ecology in a Warming World . While there, Cam was inspired to get a few of the other experts into a room to talk about the broader field of predictive ecology, and this episode is the result.…
6 Mar 2025 · 25 min
Secrets in the structure (Ep 131)
This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit bigbiology.substack.com How are new technologies allowing biologists to look beyond simple genetic variation to whole genome structure? What is a pangenome? In this episode, we talk with Scott Edwards , the Alexander Agassiz Professor of Zoology and Curator of Ornithology at Harvard University. On this episode, we talk to Scott about the new ways we can describe and understand l…
26 Feb 2025 · 6 min
Post-match chat: A direct hit
In this post-match chat, Marty and Cam discuss our most recent episode “A direct hit”, with guest Holden Thorp. This is a quickly evolving situation, and on Friday last week, a federal judge continued to block the cut to the NIH indirect cost rate. And just a few days ago, Holden wrote another editorial Come together, right now . He writes about the continued onslaught of cuts, firings, and changes to the science system in the United States, and how members of the scientific community can respond. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to…
21 Feb 2025 · 59 min
A Direct Hit (Ep 130)
Will a change in policy at the National Institutes of Health derail science in the US? How does the “indirect cost rate” for federal research grants fuel research? In this episode, we talk with Holden Thorp , a chemist and editor-in-chief of Science , about his recent editorial A Direct Hit . In it, he writes about the NIH announcing a significant cut to their indirect cost rate and the consequences to science in the US if this change takes effect. “Indirect” or “overhead” costs are the portions of grants that are allocated to support research grant but aren’t for the research itself. Things…
20 Feb 2025 · 2 min
Behind the scenes audio
Here’s a little sneak peek into what goes on behind the scenes when we choose a title for an episode. In this snippet, Cam and Marty discuss the title of our most recent episode: “Beaks on (fitness) peaks.” This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit bigbiology.substack.com/subscribe

About Big Biology

Big Biology is a English tech & science podcast from Cameron Ghalambor and Marty Martin. Melo plays each episode straight from the publisher's own feed — no ads added, no account needed — and remembers where you stopped, in this browser only.

Publisher: Cameron Ghalambor and Marty Martin
Language: English
Category: Tech & Science
New episodes: Monthly
Typical length: 38 min
Latest episode: 1 Oct 2026
Feed: RSS — paste into any podcast app
Apple Podcasts: podcasts.apple.com/podcast/id1321630019
Website: bigbiology.substack.com/podcast
Rights: Big Biology

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