Big Biology

Latest episodes

Showing 20 · updated from the feed

Age-old questions with Steve Austad

#19 trending · Life Sciences

Why do we age? What can long-lived animals teach us about healthy aging? Can treatments extend life without costly trade-offs? In this episode, we talk with Steve Austad

Nov 12
1 h 20 min

The Selective Organism with Pim Edelaar

How can organismal choices drive adaptive evolution? Can plasticity act as a kind of selection? In this episode, we talk with Pim Edelaar, a professor in the Department

Oct 22
1 h 36 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 Da

Oct 1
1 h 01 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

Sep 10
1 h 10 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 wit

Aug 13
58 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 epi

Jul 23
1 h 12 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 disbe

Jul 2
48 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 Physi

Jun 4
1 h 20 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 Tallah

May 14
35 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

Apr 23
30 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 b

Apr 2
51 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 so

Feb 12
32 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 Africa

Jan 22
32 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 i

Jan 1
1 h 02 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, c

Dec 11 2025
38 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 evolutio

Nov 20 2025
30 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 ta

Oct 30 2025
1 h 24 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 tran

Oct 9 2025
30 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 ef

Sep 17 2025
35 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 a

Sep 4 2025
1 h 00 min

Chart trend

Position in the Life Sciences chart (US), last 90 days.

#1#71#140AugSepOctNov

#25

all-time peak

days in the top 50 since Aug 2026

Chart positions

Where Big Biology ranks today in each Apple Podcasts chart (US, Nov 14, 2026).

#25 ▲ 87 Life Sciences US

What listeners say

A curated, balanced selection of Apple Podcasts reviews.

This podcast is the biology podcast that I always wanted. Great and curious hosts, who interview not only biology scientists, but anthropologists, philosophers of biology, etc. most episodes are also transcribed in their website and they interview fantastic guests!

Anatarah · Jul 2024

with so much changing and so much at stake, we need scientists who care about the future of our global community. this podcast is essential listening for those who want to better understand where we came from, where we are in this chaotic moment, and how to affect transformative change in the future. these guys care and, frankly, entertaining. that matters. we need complicated information presented in a consumable, actionable way. congratulations. a must listen.

blueback · Feb 2023

Always fascinating, with a broad range of topics, engaging guests, and polished, consistent, no-frills production. Art and Marty ask the right questions and keep a perfect pace so that I can keep up but not have my mind wander.

btlarkin · Dec 2021

This is a fabulous podcast full of ideas and science to make you consider the world anew. Highly recommend!

eviekng · Aug 2021

This podcast is informative and engaging for biologists and non-biologists alike. Covers a wide-range of topics with a heavy focus on one of my favorite topics EVOLUTION

nudibranchs · Mar 2020

They interview overall some good scientists and thinkers who speak well for themselves and their ideas, I have no criticism really. A bit plodding but good for lay audiences maybe not for me. However they made a serious lapse of judgement when they interviewed Alina Chan. I have not idea of their motives for doing so when there were several better qualified and reliable biologists and virologists who had done direct work on the topic for some time. I won’t obviously spell out the whole scientific critique of Chan here. Maybe I would have had less disquiet had they at some point interviewed one of the main body of virologists who actually worked on the issue of the proximate origin. Notably Eddie Holmes or Kristian Anderson. Both of whom are subject to steady harassment now that the conspiracy theories around the Lab are believed by 2/3rds of Americans. The topic is not somehow avoided as these podcasters suggest either. You never hear the end of it actually. I won’t listen to them again myself since, frankly, I don’t trust their judgement.

TudorEynon · Aug 2024

We strive to present a balanced view by showing a diverse range of reviews from Apple Podcasts.