The Molecular Ecologist is trying out a new medium for the first time since we launched: audio! That’s right, TME contributors, talking about the science we’ve been reading and writing about, recorded for easy listening on any internet-capable device. As a starting point for material, we’ll recap and discuss some of our favorite recent posts to the blog — if this turns out to be something folks like, we may branch out into podcast-only content like interviews.
We’re distributing over the hosting service Anchor.fm, which makes a lot of the backend logistics very simple, including hooking up the RSS feed to standard podcast subscription services like Spotify and Apple Podcasts (coming soon) — we’ll also post new episodes to the blog as they come out.
Take a listen below, and let us know what you think!
In the inaugural episode of The Molecular Ecologist Podcast:
- Kelle Freel talks about a nifty study of the microbes that help whales digest plankton, by Carolyn A. Miller et al. (doi: 10.1038/s41396-019-0549-y)
- Patrícia Pečnerová describes how endangered Alpine Ibex populations have lost genetic diversity but are still purging deleterious mutations, as described in a paper by Christine Grossen et al. (doi: 10.1038/s41467-020-14803-1)
- R. Shawn Abrams recaps his post about the history of African Americans studying evolution, and what it will take to broaden the diversity of the field, citing a recent paper by Joseph Graves (doi: 10.1186/s12052-019-0110-5)
- Jeremy Yoder discusses a study that finds substantial hybridization between the endemic Northwest crow and the much more widespread American crow, by David Slager et al. (doi: 10.1111/mec.15377)
The music in this episode is Leroy Anderson’s “The Syncopated Clock,” performed on piano by Markus Staab and available under a Creative Commons license via Musopen.
