Biology

On this edition of ST, an interesting chat with Dr. Walter Piper of the School of Earth and Environmental Sciences at Chapman University (in Orange, California). Dr. Piper is an expert on the common loon -- having studied these diver birds, known for their alluring and distinctive calls, for some 22 years -- and he'll present a free-to-the-public lecture on the social behavior of loons this afternoon (Friday the 14th) at 3pm in Oliphant Hall on the TU campus.

On this edition of ST, we speak by phone with Robert Dudley, who's a Professor of Integrative Biology at the University of California, Berkeley, as well as a Research Associate at the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute in Panama. Prof. Dudley tells us about his interesting "drunken monkey hypothesis," which (per its Wikipedia entry) "proposes that human attraction to ethanol may have a genetic basis due to the high dependence of the primate ancestor of Homo sapiens on fruit as a food source.

Today we welcome Dr. Lewis H. Ziska to StudioTulsa. He's a research plant physiologist who works for the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Agriculture Research Service, where he specializes in crop systems and global change. Dr. Ziska has devoted much of his career to researching how climate change and rising levels of carbon dioxide affect plants and aerobiology as well as the roles they play in agriculture and public health.

Today on ST, we speak by phone with Douglas T. Kenrick, a professor of psychology at Arizona State University. He's also one of the co-authors of a recent book, "The Rational Animal: How Evolution Made Us Smarter Than We Think," which a reviewer for Mother Jones magazine calls "a fun romp through the comedy of human errors. Again and again, the authors find, evolutionary urges and hardwired brains explain behaviors rational economists cannot.

On this encore edition of ST, we listen back to a discussion from April of this year. At that time, we spoke by phone with the acclaimed science writer, biologist, and neuroscientist, Dr. Robert Sapolsky. He's widely seen as one of our leading experts on stress --- namely, on the ways in which stress affects baboons and other primates, and what this, in turn, tells us about the effects of stress on the human condition.

On this encore edition of ST, we speak with Dr. Pamela Soltis, the curator of the Laboratory of Molecular Systematics and Evolutionary Genetics at the Florida Museum of Natural History at the University of Florida. The work of Dr. Soltis has focused on the use of molecular evidence to reconstruct the patterns of plant evolution, and she has contributed significantly to our understanding of the evolution of flowering plants.

"It's the end of the world as we know it," announces a nifty rock song by R.E.M. from 1987, "and I feel fine." Or as T.S. Eliot wrote in "The Hollow Men," a poem first published in 1925: "This is the way the world ends / This is the way the world ends / This is the way the world ends / Not with a bang but a whimper." Ever wonder how it will all come to a close? What doomsday will look like?

On this edition of ST, we listen back to an interview that first aired in May of last year. At that time, we spoke with Dr. Ricki Lewis, a geneticist, journalist, professor, and genetic counselor. She's also the author of one of the most widely used college textbooks about genetics --- "Human Genetics: Concepts and Applications" --- and her latest book, now out in paperback, is "The Forever Fix: Gene Therapy and the Boy Who Saved It." Dr.

On this installment of our show, we speak by phone with Dr. Pamela Soltis, the curator of the Laboratory of Molecular Systematics and Evolutionary Genetics at the Florida Museum of Natural History at the University of Florida. She'll present the fourth annual Paul Buck Memorial Lecture on the TU campus tomorrow night (Wednesday the 17th) in Helmerich Hall. Her lecture --- entitled "Plant Conservation in the 21st Century" --- is free and open to the public, and it begins at 7pm. The scholarly work of Dr.

Our guest on this edition of ST is the acclaimed science writer, biologist, and neuroscientist, Dr. Robert Sapolsky. He's widely seen as one of our leading experts on stress --- namely, on the ways in which stress affects baboons and other primates, and what this in turn tells us about the effects of stress on the human condition. A professor of biology and neurology at Stanford University, a MacArthur "Genius" Fellow, and an author whose works include such popular books as "A Primate's Memoir" and "Why Zebras Don't Get Ulcers," Dr.

What happens to us when we die? Where does the line between life and death really or finally reside? These questions are as old as human consciousness itself. On this edition of ST, we present a very interesting discussion with Dr. Sam Parnia, the director of the well-known AWARE Study (as in, "AWAreness during REsuscitation") and one of the world's leading experts on the scientific study of death and near-death experiences. Dr.

On this edition of ST, we speak with Michael Deem, who is the John W. Cox Professor in Bioengineering as well as a Professor of Physics and Astronomy at Rice University. Later today (Thursday the 31st), Prof. Deem will deliver a Phi Beta Kappa Lecture in Tyrrell Hall here on the TU campus; his address is entitled "In Search of Fundamental Mathematical Laws of Biology." (You can read a detailed bio for Prof.

On this edition of StudioTulsa, we are discussing the interesting characteristics, colonies, mating practices, defense maneuvers, and kinship structures of prairie dogs --- yes, prairie dogs: those once-plentiful-but-now-dwindling rodents that exist in five different species throughout the grasslands of North America. Highly communicative and actually able to "speak" via several distinct and sophisticated (and quite discernable) calls, these burrowing mammals have long been studied --- much like, say, apes or whales --- for social/behavioral reasons.