Finding Genius Podcast

Bees as ant trackers? Turning off a species’ immune or motor neuron system? Drones used for precision delivery of products? These are just a couple of the topics explored by ant specialist and researcher Dr. Ben Hoffman. Press play to discover: Why ants are particularly good at becoming invasive, and what features tend to be shared by ants that become invasive How bees have been trained to find and hover around ants for monitoring purposes, and the challenges posed by this strategy How ants from one area of the world can easily end up in another part of the world, and what can be done to try to prevent this Dr. Ben Hoffman is Principal Research Scientist at Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO) in Australia. He specializes in the study of ants—specifically how ants become invasive, what parts of biology contribute to their success in becoming invasive, and how they can be better managed. Dr. Hoffman focuses his efforts on ongoing research in t...

Can the immune response to viral infection be strengthened to the point that the impact of the infection is greatly reduced, and later or latent infection is prevented? This is the question at the crux of Ebony Monson’s research in the Department of Physiology, Anatomy & Microbiology at Latrobe University in Australia. Tune in to learn: Why ‘lipid droplets’—previously thought to be only a storage location for lipids—may actually play a critical role in the immune response to viral infection What happens from the moment a virus enters the body to the time it creates pathogenesis in the host What significant functions interferon and cytokines fill during viral infection, and what leads to an exaggerated immune response that actually harms the host Monson's work focuses primarily on viruses that infect humans—flaviviruses specifically, such as Zika, dengue, and hepatitis C. She studies the innate immune response that’s produced immediately after an infection, with the...

“…Their society and community is so complicated, that in fact you cannot really have a straight answer for why something is happening. You need to see it from a global perspective, and look at it from different angles…it’s the complexity that makes it fascinating for me,” says Dr. Fani Hatjina of bees, which have been the subject of her work for her entire professional life. She focuses specifically on social honey bees , and joins the show to discuss her current research goals and insights. Press play to discover: What royal jelly is, and how it is used by bees and humans How nectar is converted to honey Why beekeepers and scientists are particularly interested in studying and monitoring beehives during the winter months, and the challenges to doing so How bees carry pollen back to the beehive Dr. Hatjina is Director of the Institute of Animal Science & Department of Apiculture in Greece. After completing her PhD on the pollination behavior of bees, she went on to pursue...

The world’s first human bionic eye is here, which means several conditions leading to blindness might (eventually) not be. What does it look like? How does a bionic eye work? What will the patient experience? Press play for the answers to these questions and more. You’ll discover: How the human bionic eye processor stacks up against an HD TV Why this type of implant has the potential to treat many more conditions than other types of eye implants What makes the surgical implantation of this bionic eye technology more stable and less risky than earlier models Arthur Lowery is a professor at Monash University and a fellow at ARC Laureate Fellow Department of Electrical and Computer Systems Engineering, and for the past several years, he’s been developing the world’s first human bionic eye. Most people think of some sort of glass eyeball when they think of a bionic eye , but that’s not what this is. Instead, it is a pair of sunglasses equipped with a camera and processing sys...

It's easy to overlook an ant, but look again. As one not-so-small part of the ecological role of insects, ants have a profound impact, from their mutualistic relationship with plants to their ability to farm and grow fungus for food. Ecologist Tom Fayle shares many of these fascinating ant facts. Listen and learn How ants live inside plant species, protecting them from other pests and getting a habitat in return to house their ant colony structure , How some ants and plants even have an exclusionary mutualism, where each particular species is dependent on the other, and What other ant life cycle habits stand out, from ants infected by a fungus that changes their behavior to ant queen competition for a plant domatia.  Tom Fayle is an ecologist and research scientist at the Czech Academy of Sciences. As an ecologist, he researches nature's networks, examining how species interact and impact each other alongside abiotic factors like elevation and human-generated impacts...

Bees can generate five pounds of honey a day under prime nectar-gathering conditions. Numerous factors make that possible and researchers like William Meikle work on modeling honey bee populations, keeping track of how different stressors might affect honey bee colony health. Listen and learn What measures are important for beehive modeling and why, How bees are able to keep their brood area at a constant warm temperature, and What bee health productivity stressors are being analyzed and why, such as neonicotinoid exposure.  Willliam G. Meikle is a research entomologist with the United States Department of Agriculture. He studies the colony-level behavior of bees through placing sensors on colonies and monitoring them over long periods of time. This can gather evidence for how they might respond to sub lethal pesticides and other stressors. He's therefore constantly measuring things like hive weight, temperature, CO2, and internal humidity. These measures are akin to nu...

Pesticides, poor nutrition, pests, and parasites: these are the four factors influencing bee health around the world, and the amount of information we have about each—how exactly they impact bees, whether each relates to the others, and what can be done about them—is constantly growing. Press play to learn: How a particular fungicide may be altering the bioavailability of a critical micronutrient for bees Where bees are kept during commercial pollination, and how this may be contributing to poor nutrition What indicates health within a bee colony, and what metrics are used to measure the health of a bee colony Priyadarshini Chakrabarti Basu is a postdoctoral research associate at Oregon State University Honey Bee Lab, and for over a decade now, she’s been studying environmental impacts on bee populations. Basu’s current work focuses on two specific areas within this field of research: pesticides and poor nutrition. She’s not only investigating each individually, but explori...

The rabies virus kills at least 60,000 people a year, worldwide. Because it is far more prevalent in lower economic status countries, it doesn't receive adequate funding for better vaccines or treatment. Researchers like Yves Gaudin are trying to change this. He works on understanding the mechanisms of rhabdovirus transmission . Listen and learn How rhabdoviruses enter cells and install their viral factories, which are protected by liquid phase separation,  Why the polymerase is key to making the viral particle infectious, and How their efforts to destabilize the liquid phase separation that contains the viral factory is one main avenue to a possible treatment. Yves Gaudin is a researcher with CNRS and the Institut de Biologie Intégrative de la Cellule. CNRS is France's National Center for Scientific Research. He's a virologist studying the rhabdovirus family, which includes the rabies virus, Chandipura virus (CHAV), and vesicular stomatitis virus (VSV). He describ...

The queen bee has to get it right when she mates, because she only has one intense mating session for the duration of her life. The queen bee's anatomy and basic honey bee biology work together for success and Julian Rangel Posada tells listeners how. Listen and learn Why the queen flies a mile away to mate as well as other interesting details of honey bee social behavior,  What the exact mechanics of honey bee mating are and why drones are "expensive" to maintain, and What she's researching about pollen choice and lipid-to-protein ratios that help bees maintain health and improve recovery from viruses they contract from types of mites. Juliana Rangel Posada is an associate professor of apiculture in the Department of Entomology and leads the Texas A&M University Honey Bee Research Program. She studies biotic and abiotic factors affecting bee health. The number one problem for honey bees is the varroa mite, and she starts the conversation addressing how ...

From smelly footprints and dances to furry coats and long tongues, Professor Dave Goulson from the University of Sussex talks about it all. We often refer to “bees” as though there’s only one kind, but in fact, over 20,000 species of bee have been identified. Goulson shares fascinating data and insights primarily on two: the bumblebee and the honeybee . Press play to discover: How bumblebees and honeybees differ (in many, many ways!) What two critical pieces of information are conveyed by the waggle dance of honeybees What sensing ability of bees explains why a bee may or may not choose to land on a flower for pollen or nectar Goulson’s lifelong captivation by insects led to a fascination of bees in his adult life, and for the past 25 years, he’s been studying them. Initially, the focus of his research was on the foraging strategies of different species of bee, but it’s since shifted to an investigation of why bee populations are declining, and what can be done about it. As ...

Disinfectant compounds are touted as virus killing but what else can they do to our health? Are disinfectants and COVID-19 both cause for concern? An exposure scientist helps listeners untangle some of these issues. Listen and learn What are disinfectants and how they work , How studies indicate possible long-term development and reproductive effects from disinfectant exposures, and What safer alternatives to disinfectants exist including soap and water and masks.  A Chemical Exposure scientist discusses EPA's List N, which is a list of over 400 compounds that meet the EPA's criteria for use to kill SARS-CoV-2 particles. Two hundred of those listed are actually harmful "quats," or quaternary ammonium compounds. She helps listeners understand what this means and brings her big-picture thinking to our current reactive climate of applying disinfectants uniformly. Her work includes researching chemicals in consumer products we come in contact with in our daily ...

One in every three bites you take are made possible by honey bee pollination. Keeping bees healthy and productive is essential. Honey bee reproduction depends on a queen's ability to have one mating session, store sperm for years, and lay about 1,000 eggs a day during the warmer months: an amazing honey bee characteristic among many. Brandon Hopkins shares fascinating honey bee behavioral adaptations in this discussion. Listen and learn How a queen's anatomy and sperm morphology work to make this reproduction effective, What storage methods are best for honey bees to make the large almond yield in California possible, and How these storage methods also work best to deter certain types of mites from overtaking colonies.  Brandon Hopkins is an assistant research professor and the apiary and laboratory manager with the Washington State University Apiary Program. Studying reproductive biology across different animals led him to a honey bee obsession. "They're f...

Better diabetes care includes more than nutrition and fitness facts or discussions on the relationship between obesity and type 2 diabetes. "If we empower people with their own data, how do they take and use it?" asks Dr. Sandra Indacochea Sobel. Her primary goal is to enable an individual to understand the disease process and what the numbers and variables mean. Listeners will get a helpful lesson in the numbers and technology in modern type 1 and type 2 diabetes treatments . Tune in and learn What exactly an A1C is as well as other measures doctors may list at a visit, How these number and tests determine labels like type 1, type 2, and prediabetes, and What cutting-edge technologies are getting the medical community closer to an artificial pancreas for a hands-off closed-loop system. Sandra Indacochea Sobel is an endocrinologist and clinical assistant professor of medicine at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine. She works in her clinical work to be...

Bee keeping is an ancient practice: even prehistoric cave paintings in Spain depict a keeper reaching for a hive to collect honey while holding a smoker to calm the bees. Cameron Jack shares some of the more interesting details of this ancient art with lucky listeners. Tune in and hear How honey bee characteristics , bee anatomy , and evolution have led to optimal frame and hive size for beekeepers to follow, Why bees are considered a superorganism, which means a honey bee can't survive on its own, and is organized by queen, brooders, and workers, and Why Cameron Jack's prime interest is managing honey bee diseases and pests and what are the main areas of concern.  Cameron Jack holds the unusual position of one-hundred percent lecturer at the University of Florida. He's still involved in research and extension work, but his full lecturer designation means his beekeeping course list at the University of Florida is probably the most extensive college-level beekeepin...

We think about heart disease prevention, but what about bone health? Margie Bissinger brings listeners numerous bone health boosters and facts, keeping listeners flexible and stronger. Listen and learn What two components designate porous bones as well as the mechanics of bone structure, How to keep your bones healthy, from good bone health vitamins to ways to seek bone density testing, and Why it's important to identify the root cause of osteoporosis as you seek treatment. Margie Bissinger is the host of the Happy Bones, Happy Life podcast. She's a physical therapist, author, nutritionist, and health coach with an expertise in orthopedic physical therapy. Years ago, a group of doctors asked her to focus on struggling osteoporosis patients and the experience opened her eyes to how patients didn't even know where to start. She started working on a state level in New Jersey with osteoporosis outreach programs and wrote a book to reach a nationwide audience. As she...

He set out to prove his wife wrong. That's what lead Physician Assistant Kevin Davis to first research keto diet plans and efficacy. But the more he researched, the more he found she might be on to something. Listen and learn Why while many turn to the ketogenic diet for weight loss , they stay for the long-term therapeutic effects, How practitioners like Kevin Davis work with clients on personalized keto diet plans and nutrition guidelines to achieve hormone balance, and What aspects of the ketogenic diet like fasting periods achieve for bodily health and wellbeing. Kevin Davis is the host of Our Ketogenic Life podcast and works with clients to craft an appropriate ketogenic diet meal plan to fit their needs through different life stages. He's worked as a Physician Assistant since 1994, and after his wife suffered unexplained inflammation and pain, he researched the ketogenic life style based on her own findings that it might help her issues. The more he researc...

They're everywhere, even the trees. Petr Klimes researches the ecological roles of insects, especially ants in Papa New Guinea, where many species are less accessible for research. He shares interesting ant facts and tales along with questions he's pursing. Listen and learn How, despite both being social insects, ants interact with their food and world in much more diverse ways than their bee cousins,  What interesting examples of parasitism, symbiosis, and mutualism exist in ant species, and What next steps Petr Klimes plans to take by researching how ants are responding to climate change and different habitat types available. Petr Klimes is the laboratory head of the Laboratory of Ecology and Evolution of Social Insects with the University of South Bohemia Biology Centre CAS. He's interested in ants that live in tropical trees and spread across the islands in the pacific, specifically their evolution and interaction with plants and other animals. One remarkable ...

All light is not the same, and Eran Ben-Shmuel has produced a technology that will make that clearer than ever. They've remade how light is produced, resulting in a high-quality, high-functioning, and versatile smart light. Listen and learn How they use a silicon chip and its reflections to increase surfaces that produce light, How this evolves into an artificial intelligence lighting control, and What applications their light "foam" can be used for, including street lighting design, horticulture, medical use, office space, and home use.  Eran Ben-Shmuel is the CEO and Founder of Juganu, which brings new light technology to multiple applications. They are transforming the infrastructure of light to a digitized area—marking multiple points and making that area "smart." They transform the colors with a different technology, taking a silicon chip and immersing it inside a light guide, causing total reflections to catch surfaces of light. This process allows...

Those tiny ants are actually heavy weights. In terms of biomass, ants make up about 10% of all animal weight on earth. That means if humans are on one side of the scale, ants can balance us out on the other. The ant life cycle is as interesting as this weight implies. Listen and learn How ant life cycles progress, including dramatic differences between male and female, reproduction by both parthenogenesis and sex, and why this offers an advantage, How the ant colony structure is organized, from ant queen to workers and foragers, and How researchers are able to tag and study these insects, including a discussion of their time-lapse photography efforts. Laurent Keller is a professor at the University of UNIL in Switzerland with the Department of Ecology and Evolution. He researches the social behavior of ants and describes some amazing elements of ant behavior. His lab has identified a supergene in two fire ant species. Found in cooperation with a colleague from the University ...

It's estimated that 20% of our food is dependent on honey bee pollination. Meanwhile, recent news has highlighted concerns like viral diseases of the honey bee to mites to invading "killer" bees. It's hard to keep straight where honey bee diseases and treatments stand. This conversation does the trick, leaving listeners with a clear and fascinating vision of what's up with the honey bee. Listen and learn Where do our current North American honey bee populations stand and where do they fit in the larger picture of bees worldwide, What pests and diseases of the honey bee and control measures are entomologists most involved with, and How do these concerns fit within agricultural, ecology, and the backyard beekeeper. Jamie Ellis is the Gahan Endowed Professor in the Entomology and Nematology Department at the University of Florida. Fascinated with bees since childhood, he took care of his first honey bee hive at age 12 and hasn't looked back since. He...

Cancer prevention and early detection programs hold a major place in today's research, and one company is releasing an assay that takes a major step forward with an early cancer detection test for multiple cancers. Listen and learn How numerous deadly cancers have no screening method or early cancer symptoms , What challenges early cancer detection companies face and how GRAIL solved them, and How their assay was developed to identify methylation patterns and find signature markers for 50 cancers. Dr. Josh Ofman is GRAIL's Chief Medical Officer. In addition to time in academia, he's worked in the biotech field for several years. He brings good news to listeners as he describes a cancer detection machine-learning system they've developed that detects multiple cancer types with one test. At this point, numerous cancers are only found when they're advanced and deadly. He says that we only have the capability to screen for 5 cancers in this country, and m...

We know how artificial intelligence "remembers," utilizing data encoding techniques to translate information into a complex pattern of 1s and 0s. But human memory storage continues to pose many fascinating mysteries. Researchers like Jason Shepherd are tackling these neuroscience puzzles on a molecular level. His lab investigates how our neural network is able to store information and retain a lifetime of memories despite the short life of proteins within cells. Listen and learn What the mechanisms and basic maps are for short-term to long-term memory conversion, How his lab is researching a specific gene utilized in this encoding and modulation between cells called ARC, which they believe evolved from an ancient viral infection, and Why a better understanding of the Arc capsid function holds a key to the entire process. Jason Shepherd is an associate professor of neurobiology and anatomy and an adjunct associate professor of ophthalmology and visual sciences at the ...

The Behavioral Diabetes Institute brings clinicians, researchers, and resources together to address diabetes. President William Polonsky drops the listener in the midst of this informative team, providing a helpful image of what it means to manage type 2 diabetes . Listen and learn How preconceptions of type 2 diabetes causes, like the diabetes and obesity relationship, can make seeking help more difficult, What are best practices for type 2 diabetes management, including the type of support, and What "big three" data points should type 2 diabetics seek on a regular basis. William Polonsky is the president of the Behavioral Diabetes Institute and an associate clinical professor at the University of California, San Diego. While the institute offers resources educating patients on the mechanisms of type 1 & 2 diabetes, considerations for insulin pumps versus injections for type 1 diabetics, and nutrition intervention for obesity, their primary focus is emotional ...

It's hard to mimic the pancreas, despite the stellar treatment technology available to type 1 diabetics. Researchers like Juan Domínguez-Bendala are working hard on a cure for type 1 diabetes pathogenesis and, simultaneously, for even more hands-off treatment options. Listen and learn What various avenues toward beta cell repair and transplants researchers are working on, How these approaches work alongside existing pancreatic cells and islet function by introducing new beta cells and insulin production, and How soon the transplant technology will be available for clinical use and what challenges to a cure still exist. Juan Domínguez-Bendala is Director of Stem Cell Development Research and an associate professor of surgery at the Diabetes Research Institute at the University of Miami's Miller School of Medicine. The primary goal of his researcher is to cure type 1 diabetes , and he addresses these efforts as well as exciting steps forward in a transplant therapy. ...

What a week! You hit your best times for each run. But the following week, it's as if you are jogging with weights tied to your ankles. What's going on? Well, hormones and functions can have an impact in your physiology down to cell hydration. Dr. Beth Westie explains more in this discussion on hormone balance and health and fitness tie-ins. Listen and learn How her own story of painful ovarian cysts lead her to research menstrual cycle phases and hormonal imbalance treatments beyond western medicine, What eastern medicine's take on "eating for my hormones" means regarding basal temperature fluctuations, and How all this adds up to "leaning in" to the ebb and flow of your hormone levels and why it makes a difference in how you will feel.  Dr. Beth Westie is a chiropractor, author, and speaker and hosts the Female Health Solution Podcast. Years ago, she suffered painful ovarian cysts that would burst monthly and reform. When she sought help in...

Nerve injury types have multiple causes, from physical trauma to diseases like multiple sclerosis and other neurodegenerative disorders. Nerve damage repair has been an elusive science, but Dr. Silver shares an exciting therapy on the verge of phase one clinical trials. Listen and learn The difference between central and peripheral nervous system functions and damage as well as nerve injury classifications, How a compound in our system prevents nerves from growing where they shouldn't but also inhibits nerve repair , and How NervGen's peptide works to block that compound briefly to engender sprouting mechanisms for nerve repair.  Dr. Jerry Silver is a co-inventor and scientific advisor at NervGen Pharma as well as professor of neurosciences at Case Western Reserve University's School of Medicine. He's won numerous awards, including the Christopher Reeve-Irvine Research Medal. Currently, he's performing a focused group of experiments with NervGen's r...

The excitement of space travel can obscure the dangers, and radiation exposure is one such forgotten factor. Sarah Baatout is a radiobiologist who helps protect astronauts in space and minimize space radiation effects on the human body. Listen and learn How radiation exposure compares across different positions, from earth to plane flight to moon walking, What are space radiation effects such as damage to DNA and how they are able to identity the type and nature of the damage, and What materials protect from radiation and what are some exciting future materials in the works.  Sarah Baatout is the head of the radiobiology unit at the Belgian Nuclear Research Centre (SCK•CEN). She investigates the impact of ionizing radiation on health through radiobiology and radiation protection. She works to maximize benefits that radiation can offer in cancer treatments and improve radiotherapy safety. In addition, she does research to better predict the risks of exposure for space trav...

Dr. Fareeha Al Siddiq shares exciting advancements in remote cardiac monitoring in this episode on cardiac health care. Listen and learn How their devices offer diagnostic and post-diagnostic solutions with real time monitoring and how that's different from other systems, What happens if the device records an event that's outside of the programmed parameters, and What are future trends in cardiology devices and remote patient monitoring . Dr. Fareeha Al Siddiq is a top medical expert at Biotricity and explains how their technology works and improves treatment for the number one health concern in the U.S., heart disease . Its near real-time monitoring component means that if a wearer has a cardiac event or has something life-threatening occur, their physician is notified immediately. Their medical team can then get a head start on treatment for the patient and can reach out if there's an immediate concern that needs addressing.  The pandemic has helped them see ga...