In this one year anniversary episode we revisit the SARS-Cov-2 virus and talk with Dr. Carlos Goller, a biotechnology specialist from North Carolina State University, about where we are at in the pandemic, how the vaccines to fight this virus work, and what is going on with these variants.
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Medicinal cannabis legalization has introduced a new player in the agricultural industry of many states. But how is medicinal cannabis grown on a large scale? in this episode I interview one of the owners of Smokey Okies Cannabis to learn about how this is done and career options for botanists and others in this growing industry.
This episode continues the story of Nikolai Vavilov and his efforts to protect plant diversity and the field of genetics against Josef Stalin and the pseudoscientist Trofim Lysenko. Hear how Vavilov’s bravery led to tremendous acts of heroism during the siege of Leningrad, and, ultimately, his recognition as one of the greatest biological thinkers of the 20th Century.
Nikolai Vavilov was one of the greatest botanists, geneticists, and plant hunters of the 20th Century. Despite making incredible discoveries, his story is not widely known. In this episode, we follow Vavilov as he travels the globe searching for unique local varieties of crops to add to his seed bank collections and improve agriculture for all people.
In this final episode of the Cooper Bison Skull and Pleistocene series, Dr. Bement concludes his interview by taking us into the field with him on the day he uncovered the painted skull and what it’s like to discover such an important artifact. He also explains why he thinks the skull still has some power in it.
This episode continues my interview with Dr. Leland Bement. He picks up where the previous episode ended by explaining how archaeologists determined the migration behaviors of the ancient bison at the Cooper Bison Kill Site. He also describes other aspects of bison hunting and life of the Folsom people that were learned from studying the Cooper site.
In 1994, archaeologists were investigating an ancient arroyo that contained evidence of three, separate, large bison kills by Folsom culture hunters. In the middle kill, they found a painted bison skull. It’s the oldest painted artifact ever discovered in North America. In this episode, Dr. Leland Bement tells what his research indicates about this hunting technique and the possible significance of the Cooper Bison Skull in the hunt.
The Pleistocene is known for the large mammals that lived during the “Ice Age” and the mass extinction of the mammalian megafauna that occurred as it ended. In this episode, I talk with Tom Luczycki and Dr. Hayley Lanier from the Sam Noble Oklahoma Museum of Natural History to learn about the Pleistocene megafauna of Oklahoma and the probable causes and consequences of their extinction .
With a tree diagram and the simple phrase “I think” written next to it, Charles Darwin gave us a new way to look at evolution. This episode explains the basic principles and processes of reading phylogenetic trees called tree thinking. Dedicated to Dr. V. Funk, the greatest cladist.
