biology

Science Communication is Often Done Through Art

November 15, 2021 by Shawn Fitzmaurice

Shawn Fitzmaurice

Science Communication is Often Done Through Art

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Dr. Janna Levin, University of North Carolina School of the Arts

You probably know a lot about science because of art. Think of the expertly built T-Rex at a science museum, the beautiful animations of stars and planets in your favorite sci-fi film, maybe you’re reading your child an illustrated book about bugs, or those creatively shot photos in your biology text?

Art is communication, and when pared with Science, is a powerful tool to inspire, entertain, and educate.

Scientists are often not the greatest communicators, so most often, to bring science to the public requires one or more forms of art. But who teaches the artists, whose job it is to captivate you, about Science?

Dr. Janna Levin, for one, does! She is the Associate Professor in the Division of Liberal Arts at the University of North Carolina School of the Arts, and I was privileged to talk with her about it in this podcast episode of SciWorks Radio.

First Aired Nov. 20, 2015

Evolution and the Predictive Power of Science *

November 11, 2021 by Shawn Fitzmaurice

Shawn Fitzmaurice

Evolution and the Predictive Power of Science *

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Some of the great scientific theories unify our knowledge and have fundamentally changed the way we look at the world. Heliocentrism, for example, is the theory that the earth and other planets revolve around the sun. Though at one time it was soundly rejected by the community at large, it best explained the motions of objects in the sky. In science, a theory is an accepted method of interpreting facts. It’s based on evidence, and careful observation and cannot be disproved. Evolution, the process by which species change over many generations, is one such theory.

I teach a non-major’s intro to bio class. This semester, in fact, we’ll be talking about evolution. And, many of them have had just a few days of it. Some have never had it, even though it’s required in the state standards in North Carolina as a science, and so that can have repercussions.

That’s Dr. Howard Neufeld, professor of biological sciences at Appalachian State University. I asked him, “Why does understanding evolution matter?”

It’s the foundation of all biology, of all life. And so it’s the most important biological subject. It’s important in terms of medicine; if you understand evolutionary biology you can understand how organisms have evolved to be dangerous to humans and other organisms, and you can design strategies to deal with that. It’s important just for understanding science, and where we came from.

But, how can one observe evolution, a process that takes place over great spans of time? Can we see it happening or is it a guess?

We see this all the time; we see antibiotic resistance evolving in bacteria. That’s a form of evolution. And, when we look at the whole spectrum of life, then what we see is the same processes at work. You know, natural selection, organisms that are better adapted to those conditions leave more offspring for the next generation and so-on. And so, this way we can start asking questions about the interrelationships of living organisms and who’s descended from who. The way we do that is, we can look at the DNA and refer relationships, and look at the fossil record. And, you can begin to see that there’s a pattern.

Understanding evolution gives us the power to understand what we cannot see, or have yet to find.

If you look at Neil Shubin’s work, at the University of Chicago, he said “if we postulate that amphibians made the transition onto land and became reptiles, or became terrestrial amphibians, they should have these characteristics, and they should be found in the layers of the earth that are this approximate age.” Well, that’s a prediction, and they went looking over the world. Where are layers of rock that have fossils of that age? And so they looked and looked, and somebody found a snout sticking out of a rock, and there was this organism, Tiktaalik, and it was perfectly intermediate between a fish and amphibian. So in this sense, we used our knowledge of evolutionary science to make a prediction and then Neil Shubin’s group confirmed it.

Score one more for the predictive power of science!

Any student that doesn’t come away with an appreciation of evolution, which is how all life got to be like it is, is missing the main component of biology. And I like to divide it into two parts: evolutionary facts, and then there’s evolutionary theory. The facts are the fossils. The facts are homology and analogy in terms of structure, that many mammals have 5 fingers. If you look at a bat it has five bones in there, and it’s just webbing between them to make the wing, and so-on. And DNA evidence. And, we can see natural selection in action. Those are all evolutionary facts, and as I tell students, you cannot deny a fact. Then the theory is, what are the processes by which evolutionary change occurs? We have natural selection, and we can ask how strong or intense those selection pressures are and what ends up in the next generation. And when we put the whole package together, we have a whole comprehensive science of evolution. So, that’s how we do it, and I let the students make up their mind.

First aired Feb 12, 2016

Boy meets Girl : Moves like Fuxjager *

October 31, 2021 by Shawn Fitzmaurice

Shawn Fitzmaurice

Boy meets Girl : Moves like Fuxjager *

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Humans aren’t the only members of the animal kingdom that work hard to impress and attract a mate. Often, guys battle it out in front of a desirable girl – hissing, flapping, ramming each other with horns. When the competition is over, the girl either accepts or rejects the boy.

In this episode of Sciworks Radio, Shawn Fitzmaurice spoke with Dr.Matthew Fuxjager, Assistant Professor of Physiology in the Department of Biology at Wake Forest University about how evolution has produced such strange mating rituals.

Hear the broadcast version in this player.

Fuxjager

Dr. Fuxjager specializes in studying this behavior in manikins, a tropical bird consisting of about sixty different species with a wide variety of elaborate mating displays. These displays go beyond demonstrating useful survival behaviors. These displays serve two purposes: attracting a mate and fighting with other males. They all come together and display, then a female will choose a mate based on his performance. If there are no females in these large groups, the males will display to each other.

Natural selection is about adapting to one’s environment over multiple generations. This piece focuses on another evolutionary force known as sexual selection – where the lineage of a species is driven by what individuals find attractive. For example – if beautiful purple feathers are found to be attractive, then that trait is more likely to be passed down through following generations.

But what do mating rituals have to do with this? And why is it often males working to impress females?

One theory is that animals’ neuromuscular systems are being shaped in a way that corresponds to hormones that control sex and reproduction. Specifically, testosterone seems to lead to these displays. With the increase in testosterone, muscles grow in strength and flexibility and showing these features corresponds to being a potentially superior suitor. In fact, when testosterone was given to females in labs, THEY began to move like males during courtship.

While birds are the specific model in this case, these elaborate displays can be seen throughout many different animal species.

This Time Round, the theme music for SciWorks Radio, appears as a generous contribution by the band Storyman and courtesy of UFOmusic.com.

First aired October 4th, 2014

The Dinosaurs in your Back Yard – SciWorks Radio Podcast

October 29, 2021 by Shawn Fitzmaurice

Shawn Fitzmaurice

The Dinosaurs in your Back Yard - SciWorks Radio Podcast

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Dinosaurs are still here, and they’re an incredibly successful species.

Ok, what about the fact that earth was hit by an asteroid 65 million years ago, resulting in the extinction of the dinosaurs?

Three decades of evidence have forced us to re-think the story:
Sixty-five million years ago, an astroid collided with Earth, resulting in the extinction of many or most dinosaur species.

Dinosaurs were a specific group of animals. One evolutionary line of them, which shared a close common ancestor with Tyrannosaurus Rex, evolved into birds. That all happened before the extinction!

Birds were flying around other dinosaurs’ heads!

All but that specific line went extinct. That means that that the birds in your backyard are living, breathing dinosaurs!

Today, dinos are more diverse than any other invertebrate group.

In this podcast, Dr. Lindsay Zanno, Director of the Paleontology and Geology lab at the Museum of Natural Sciences in Raleigh, North Carolina and Research Assistant Professor in the Department of Biological Sciences, at NC State University breaks down what we know, and how we know that dinosaurs live among us.

This Time Round, the theme music for SciWorks Radio, appears as a generous contribution by the band Storyman and courtesy of UFOmusic.com.

Investigating the Purpose of Female Beauty in Animals *

October 29, 2021 by Shawn Fitzmaurice

Shawn Fitzmaurice

Investigating the Purpose of Female Beauty in Animals *

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In this episode of Sciworks Radio, Shawn spoke with Dr. Courtney Fitzpatrick, former postdoctoral fellow at Duke University and a co-author of a paper in the journal Evolution investigating the purpose of female animal beauty. And it’s not as straightforward as you might expect.

Male animals are often more “attractive” than their female counterparts – think about the large mane on a lion, the beautiful feathers of a peacock, or the majestic antlers of an elk.

But what about the females?

The females of many species lack such vibrant features, so researchers are studying more subtle aspects of what qualifies as female beauty.

A goal for the males of many species is to pass his DNA onto as many offspring as possible, often through different mates. This might not be as common a goal for the females of those species, according to one mathematical model. Females might not be looking for a quantity of mates, but rather a superior quality. At the same time, however, they still need to attract the male that possesses such quality.

Standing out in the wild, instead of blending into the environment, can lead to increased predation. Though, there might be trade offs: having a mate to watch your back, a suitor that brings you food, or a partner that can build a protective shelter. Females are often less likely to be seen without a mate than males.

So why does this research matter?

Basic, seemingly non-urgent research like this is one of the building blocks for more advanced research and applied sciences – like medical cures and even space habitation. While this one area of exploration might not have a direct impact on humanity, it is important to understand the patterns we see in the living world so that, as we expand our knowledge, there is a solid foundation beneath it.

This Time Round, the theme music for SciWorks Radio, appears as a generous contribution by the band Storyman and courtesy of UFOmusic.com.

First aired Feb 17, 2017

The Carolina Butcher : 2-legged Crocodile Ancestor before the Dinosaurs *

October 29, 2021 by Shawn Fitzmaurice

Shawn Fitzmaurice

The Carolina Butcher : 2-legged Crocodile Ancestor before the Dinosaurs *

00:00 / 4:02

Crocodiles and their ancestors were around a hundred million years before the dinosaurs. One of the largest of the early crocodile family was discovered right here in North Carolina.

It has been investigated and described by Dr. Lindsay Zanno, Director of the Paleontology and Geology lab at the Museum of Natural Sciences in Raleigh, and Research Assistant Professor in the Department of Biological Sciences, at NC State University.

The Carolina Butcher

Or Carnufex Carolinensis, to use the traditional Latin.

…is a new species of ancient crocodile from here in North Carolina. It’s a transitional animal. It’s kind of like a missing link between crocodiles and their closest relatives, Rauisuchids, and Rauisuchids looked a lot like Tyrannosaurs. Some of them walked on two legs. We sort of leaned toward the two legged hypotheses because the front arms are very short in relationship to the skull. However the hind legs could be really short too, and it could just be a really weird creature, so we won’t know for sure until we find the rest of it.

This crocodile ancestor might have walked around North Carolina on two legs, like a nightmare, but the real story is what it tells us about life after Earth’s biggest mass extinction. The loss of 90% of all species marked the end of the Permian and start of the Triassic Geologic periods, 252 Million years ago.

The evolution of triassic animals that came after that extinction event is very interesting. We see the origin of all kinds of groups of animals: turtles, groups of lizards, reptiles, mammals, dinosaurs, crocodiles and all of these kinds of animals that we’re really familiar with in our modern ecosystem. And a great diversity of different kinds of animals filling these predatory roles. So Carnufax shows us that even early crocodilamorphs grew to great sizes and filled top predator roles in the Triassic.

…Like T-Rex in the Jurassic. There were dinosaurs around during the end of the Triassic but they were small tasty meals to Carnufax and other predators.

Things were doing really well when another mass extinction hit at the end of the triassic and again changed the face of ecosystems on the planet. And animals like Carnufax and a lot of other large predators that were living at the time didn’t make it through that extinction event. So after that what we see is dinosaurs sort of taking over and filling all the rolls that used to be occupied by a variety of different animals. Crocodiles become very small. They become secondary predators, more like a jackal or fox, and dinosaurs take over all of these large predator rolls. North Carolina has a very important part of this story to tell. Fossils that we’re finding are some of the oldest evidence of these types of animals anywhere in the world. So Carnufax may be one of the oldest crocodile line animals that we’ve ever found.

So, why do paleontologists bother studying these ancient animals and their ecosystems?

We have this perspective on extinction that reflects scenarios that have already happened. It’s really important because we’re in the middle of a mass extinction right now. The rate at which species are disappearing is on par with what we’ve seen in the past with the mass extinction events. Species don’t have time to adapt and to survive. Most of this is human caused either directly by habitat destruction or indirectly by forcing climate change at rapid rates. Climate is always changing. We live on a dynamic planet. Temperatures go up and down sea levels go up and down. Right now those changes are happening way too fast. And when they happen fast like that animals don’t have time to adapt to those changing conditions and that’s when we see extinction. That’s what happened in all the mass extinction events. We see massive climate change on short time scales. Whether it’s volcanism or asteroid impacts, things that exceed the normal rates of change the planet can accommodate.

This Time Round, the theme music for SciWorks Radio, appears as a generous contribution by the band Storyman and courtesy of UFOmusic.com.

First aired Sep 11, 2015.

Voiceover Nerd Productions, inc.

SciWorks Radio Podcast – Educational and Scientific Narration

Science Communication is Often Done Through Art

Evolution and the Predictive Power of Science *

Boy meets Girl : Moves like Fuxjager *

The Dinosaurs in your Back Yard – SciWorks Radio Podcast

Investigating the Purpose of Female Beauty in Animals *

The Carolina Butcher : 2-legged Crocodile Ancestor before the Dinosaurs *