biology

#1179 Jaap de Roode - Doctors by Nature: How Ants, Apes, and Other Animals Heal Themselves

Nov 21, 2025

Dr. Jaap de Roode is Samuel C. Dobbs Professor in the Department of Biology at Emory University. He studies the ecology and evolution of parasites and their hosts, and is interested in co-infections of different parasite species, self-medication in hosts, and local coevolution of hosts and parasites. One of his main interests is the evolution of parasite virulence (i.e. parasite-induced reductions of host fitness). He is the author of Doctors by Nature: How Ants, Apes, and Other Animals Heal Themselves. More»
#1178 Karen Lloyd - Intraterrestrials: Discovering the Strangest Life on Earth

Nov 20, 2025

Dr. Karen Lloyd is the Wrigley Chair in Environmental Studies and Professor of Earth Sciences at the University of Southern California. Her work has appeared in leading publications such as Nature and Science. She is the author of Intraterrestrials: Discovering the Strangest Life on Earth. More»
#1165 Aubrey de Grey: The Science of Aging and Longevity

Oct 20, 2025

Dr. Aubrey de Grey is a biomedical gerontologist. He is the author of The Mitochondrial Free Radical Theory of Aging (1999) and co-author of Ending Aging (2007). Dr. de Grey is known for his view that medical technology may enable human beings alive today not to die from age-related causes. As an amateur mathematician, he has contributed to the study of the Hadwiger–Nelson problem in geometric graph theory, making the first progress on the problem in over 60 years. More»
#1145 Javier Suárez: Units of Selection in Evolution

Sep 4, 2025

Dr. Javier Suárez is Lecturer in the Department of Philosophy at the Universidad de Oviedo. He is a philosopher of biology interested in the study of symbiotic interactions, and their implications for philosophy of biology (the concept of natural selection, the definition of species, etc.), and general philosophy of science (explanation, modelling, methodology of science, etc.). He is the author (with Elisabeth A. Lloyd) of Units of Selection (Cambridge University Press). More»
#1143 Brian Lerch: Same-Sex Sexual Behavior, Indiscriminate Sexual Behavior, Attachment, and Divorce

Aug 29, 2025

Dr. Brian Lerch is a theoretical ecologist and evolutionary biologist who just received a PhD from the University of North Carolina Chapel Hill. He is primarily interested in understanding feedbacks between ecology, evolution, and behavior. More»
#1132 Kevin Mitchell: Free Will, Robert Sapolsky, the Genomic Code, and Human Embryo Editing

Aug 4, 2025

Dr. Kevin Mitchell is Associate Professor of Genetics and Neuroscience at Trinity College Dublin. He is interested in the development of connectivity in the brain, specifically in how this process is controlled by genes and how mutations in such genes affect the connectivity of neuronal circuits, influence behavior and perception and contribute to disease. His latest book is Free Agents: How Evolution Gave Us Free Will. More»
#1131 Alan Love: How Can Development Influence Evolution?

Aug 1, 2025

Dr. Alan Love is Distinguished McKnight University Professor of Philosophy and Winton Chair in the Liberal Arts at the University of Minnesota, as well as Director of the Minnesota Center for Philosophy of Science. His research focuses on conceptual issues in biology and has concentrated on evolutionary developmental biology (Evo-devo), developmental biology, molecular biology, and paleontology (among others). Other areas of interest include the role of history in philosophical research and the nature of intuitions generated by thought experiments in philosophical inquiry. More»
#1127 Jonathan Losos - Improbable Destinies: Fate, Chance, and the Future of Evolution

Jul 24, 2025

Dr. Jonathan Losos is the William H. Danforth Distinguished University Professor and Director of the Living Earth Collaborative at Washington University in St. Louis. He is an internationally renowned scholar in the field of evolutionary biology. In partnership with the Missouri Botanical Garden and the St. Louis Zoo, Dr. Losos leads the Living Earth Collaborative, an academic center dedicated to advancing the study of biodiversity. Within the biology department at Washington University, the primary focus of the Losos Lab is on the behavioral and evolutionary ecology of lizards and the study of evolutionary adaptation of wild species to urban habitats. He is the author of several books, including Improbable Destinies: Fate, Chance, and the Future of Evolution. More»
#1122 Daniela Rodrigues: Communication in Apes and Humans, and the Cognitive Foundations of Language

Jul 11, 2025

Dr. Evelina Daniela Rodrigues is an invited assistant professor at Universidade Católica Portuguesa, where she teaches Master’s students about the cognitive foundations of language. She studies gestural communication in human and non-human primates. Beyond communication, she is also interested in other aspects of social development and cognition, including interactions among social partners (such as hierarchy and social bonds), social learning and culture, object manipulation and tool use, and theory of mind. More»
#1121 Deena Emera: A Brief History of the Female Body

Jul 10, 2025

Dr. Deena Emera is an evolutionary biologist, author, and teacher. She is a Senior Scientist and Writer-in-Residence in the Center for Reproductive Longevity and Equality at the Buck Institute, where she is drawing on her evolutionary background and expertise on female reproduction to investigate the evolution of menopause. She is the author of A Brief History of the Female Body: An Evolutionary Look at How and Why the Female Form Came to Be. More»