Evolutionary Biology podcasts

Susanne Renner and Alan Cohen reflect on Bob Ricklefs’s contributions to ecology and evolutionary biology. The discussion considers biogeography, life-history research and the value of sustained, careful scientific work. Ricklefs is the subject of the tribute, rather than a participant in this recording.

Sarah Crespi and Richard Stone discuss the spread of disease-carrying Hyalomma ticks as the climate changes, drawing on reporting from Kosovo and the role of surveillance. Evolutionary ecologist Veronika Bókony then explains research on agile frogs whose development changes with temperature, including the reproductive consequences for genetically female frogs that develop male traits. The episode connects climate, disease ecology and amphibian reproduction. The publisher supplies a transcript and external audio.

Hosted by Sarah Crespi

David George Haskell discusses the evolution and ecological importance of flowering plants. The conversation follows the innovations that enabled their diversification and their relationships with animals and ecosystems.

Hosted by Clayton Glasgow

This eLife episode explores trade-offs between body size and sperm production in gorillas, fever-driven changes in malaria-infected cells, the neuroscience of gambling machines, whether infants are predisposed to dance, and high-altitude adaptations in bird eggs.

Science journalist Rowan Hooper joins the Nature Podcast to explore symbiosis, cooperation, and the importance of organisms working together across the living world.

Nature staff discuss rhythmic laughter in apes, what it may reveal about the evolution of speech, and evidence that AI use can erode skills in medicine and computing.

Lene Liebe Delsett discusses fossils, extinct animals and the methods used to reconstruct life in the distant past. Conversation in Norwegian.

Dag Hessen discusses scientific questions about life's origins and the possible transition from chemistry to living systems. Conversation in Norwegian.

Steven Strogatz explores the origins of life with Jack Szostak and Betül Kaçar. Szostak considers how early-Earth chemistry, including cyanide-bearing environments, could give rise to precursors of RNA and DNA, and discusses competing settings for life’s beginnings. Kaçar explains how reconstructing ancient genes helps researchers investigate the evolution of essential biological processes. Together, the conversations examine what experiments can reveal about the earliest steps toward life and whether replaying evolutionary history would produce different outcomes.

Hosted by Steven Strogatz

Erik Tunstad and Vibeke Riiser-Larsen discuss Neanderthals and how evidence has changed accounts of their lives and relationship with humans. In Norwegian.

Hanna Nyborg Støstad discusses how evolution explains biological diversity and the unusual adaptations found in nature. Conversation in Norwegian.