Our Website: https://www.findinggeniuspodcast.com/ Subscribe and review our Podcast on iTunes: https://apple.co/2L6tN88 Follow us on: Facebook: https://web.facebook.com/futuretechpodcast/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/finding_genius Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/findinggeniuspodcast/ LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/finding-genius-podcast/ Most of us dread the sight of an ant in the kitchen, and might squash it without pause. But what if we knew that a single ant is just one part of an ‘individual’, that individual being the ant colony as a whole? What if we truly understood the social complexity, diversity, and evolutionary success of ants? What if we knew that an ant queen can live up to 29 years? Tune in to enter the life of an ant, and discover: 1. Why ants in warmer environments tend to be pale in color, and ants in colder environments tend to be dark in color, and how this is linked with body size 2. How certain types of ants use leaves as fertilizer by growing fungus on them, which they feed on 3. How pitfall trapping is used to collect and study ants from various habitats Tom Rhys Bishop is an ecologist and Extraordinary Lecturer at University of Pretoria, South Africa, whose research is focused on trying to understand the factors that drive the distribution and diversity of different ant species, both on a small and large scale. His primary field site is in the Maloti-Drakensberg Mountains of Southern Africa, where he samples ants up and down the mountain range to determine how and why different types and quantities of ant species live in different locations and habitats along the mountain. The second component of his research is larger in scale, aimed at uncovering patterns of ant diversity globally—which includes the potential study of all 15,000 species of ant that have been described to date. With a dataset containing incredible details—including leg length, size of mandible, and broadness of shoulders—on about 4,000 of these ant species sampled from every continent, Bishop and other researchers are trying to better understand evolutionary and ecological convergence. In describing the scope of this research and more, Bishop touches on a number of interesting topics, such as the different caste systems within an ant colony, how colony lifespan differs between species, environmental factors that impact the distribution of ant species, how ants stay warm without much hair, the ecological role of ants, ant colony structure, techniques for trapping ants from their natural environment for study, surprising ant abilities, and more. For more information about Bishop’s research, visit https://www.tomrhysbishop.com/. Available on Apple Podcasts: apple.co/2Os0myK #ants #antkeeping #Findinggeniuspodcast #in ... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rVKFn3qvIjE

Our Website: https://www.findinggeniuspodcast.com/ Subscribe and review our Podcast on iTunes: https://apple.co/2L6tN88 Follow us on: Facebook: https://web.facebook.com/futuretechpodcast/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/finding_genius Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/findinggeniuspodcast/ LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/finding-genius-podcast/ Like a lot of health practitioners, Dr. J. Dunn's quest to heal from her own lifelong conditions of depression and chronic fatigue brought her to a foundational response to genetic testing. Listen and learn 1. How, while genes and inheritance produce a specific code, her program offers ways to adjust the expression of those genes, 2. How her company created an algorithm that uses results of genetic and epigenetic testing alongside a symptom profile to offer specific actions for improvement, and 3. What the actual testing process looks like, how to find participating practitioners, and a coupon code for a price break on the program. Dr. J. Dunn is the founder of My Happy Genes, a company that facilitates genetic testing for eight biochemical processes and pathways including brain chemistry, energy production, inflammation, detox, the immune system, and histamines. She's a chiropractor who has been practicing for over 32 years in natural and functional medicine. She has had a lot of success in her work, but still had some questions around issues that seemed unreachable, such as her own depression. After researching genetic and epigenetic testing and the roles of epigenetics versus genetics, she went full throttle on a better understanding of methylation, which is how genes affect our biochemistry at the cellular level. Gene expression determines how we make energy among other processes and depends on our genes and genetic code, but there's something we can do to alter the expression.  That's where she focuses, that step between what the genes code for and how the processes are carried out. She says that, "if we can get precise on genes affecting our biochemistry, we can adjust cofactors and coenzymes to help get balanced with these pathways." For example, she learned she doesn't make the vitamin D receptor. Low vitamin D leads to low dopamine levels and affects brain chemistry. She finally had a specific answer on why she struggled with depression and got to work. Once she supplemented with specific cofactors, she was able to improve her vitamin D levels and her brain chemistry: she'd made epigenetic changes, clearing the path for her happy genes. She tells listeners about the testing process and the algorithm they've created as well as the individual nature of the solutions. She also gives listeners a code for a nice break on the price of the initial test. For more, see the company's web ... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a8U5Nyl4O_w

Our Website: https://www.findinggeniuspodcast.com/ Subscribe and review our Podcast on iTunes: https://apple.co/2L6tN88 Follow us on: Facebook: https://web.facebook.com/futuretechpodcast/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/finding_genius Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/findinggeniuspodcas 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 1. How radiation exposure compares across different positions, from earth to plane flight to moon walking, 2. 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 3. 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 travel and to astronauts in the space station.  As we go about our daily activities on earth, our atmosphere and magnetic field protects us from radiation exposure. But Sarah Baatout focuses on the cases where that changes, from those needing radiation treatments to space station inhabitants. Furthermore, there are several different types of radiation in space that must be accounted for. Conversely, there are several different ways to protect the body, or radiation protectors, to stop the damage induced by cosmic radiation. Her work includes boosting the way cells repair DNA damage as well as understanding how sensitivity to damage varies across different people. She's also developing pharmaceuticals to make radiation exposure much less dangerous by protecting healthy cells and improving the radiation to target cancer more specifically. For more about her work, see the SCK•CEN website. Available on Apple Podcasts: apple.co/2Os0myK #radiation #astronauts #Findinggeniuspodcast #radiobiology #space #nasa #astronomy #astronaut #science #spaceexploration #Healthpodcast #InternalMedicinepodcast #Biosciencespodcast ... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N_gtPp-aa0I

Our Website: https://www.findinggeniuspodcast.com/ Subscribe and review our Podcast on iTunes: https://apple.co/2L6tN88 Follow us on: Facebook: https://web.facebook.com/futuretechpodcast/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/finding_genius Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/findinggeniuspodcas A winner of an episode, this is the last in a series of interviews for Richard's upcoming Understanding Viruses book. Professor James A. Shapiro treats listeners to his thoughts on virus behaviors and characteristics gleaned from researching virus-host relationships and virus-cell interactions. Listen and learn 1. How virus evolution over time is really a story of the weaving of life systems pulling from all directions, 2. What are surprising characteristics of viruses such as primordial vector activity, how frequently viruses lend advantages to their hosts, and other significant virus evolution impact factors, and 3. How to consider if viruses are living or nonliving and why Professor Shapiro pushes for a more non reductionist view on the origin and evolution of viruses . James Shapiro is a professor in the Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology at the University of Chicago. In addition to numerous publications, he's a part of the website The Third Way of Evolution, which considers evolution in the era of genomics and epigenomics. As Richard holds this final interview to investigate how viruses persist, James Shapiro offers his own fascinating answers to questions such as are viruses alive, do they participate in quorum-sensing, and why so many differing incubation periods. For example, not only are endogenous retroviruses responsible for mammal placenta formation, these retroviral proteins are unique for each order of mammal. This diverges from the classic view of evolution that starts with a characteristic branching out into other organisms. It's as if "the placenta was invented over and over again," he adds. As he addresses the huge variety in viral behavior, he says that many factors determine this variety—viruses can recombine with each other, for example, and produce recombinant viruses. The holobiont model exemplifies this: a large organism like a human isn't just human cells but also microbial cells living on and in us. We can think of viruses in our genome as holobiont elements: we should take a systemic view of entity development, with mosaics and amalgams determining multiple aspects of life. He adds, "we can't reduce what happens in life to some simple formula that is good for every from of life, because variety is an inherent aspect of the living world." Listen in for more rich conversation about the stuff of life.  For more about James A. Shapiro, see his website: shapiro.bsd.uchicago.edu. Available on Apple Podcasts: apple.co/ ... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V1_sNoVJQIQ