Biology Interviews

Unlocking secrets of the West African manatee

Exploring the mysterious lives of and a threatened marine mammal.Lucy Keith Diagne, Sea to Shore

Critter of the Month - Stoplight fish

Bioluminescence expert Edie Widder chooses a sneaky deep sea fish for Critter of the MonthEdie Widder, Ocean Conservation and Research Association

Fooling the Brain with Diet Foods

Could diet foods be making you fat? We investigate whether low calorie foods such as sweeteners and low fat alternatives can fool our brains into underestimating the energy content of the full fat versions...Susie Swithers, Purdue University

Eating Behaviour and Appetite

The eating habits we develop early in life can be very hard to change. Marion Hetherington discusses why this is and how it could be changed...Marion Hetherington, University of Leeds

Elephants in the Outback

Introducing new species has proved disasterous for the Australian ecosystem. So it's no wonder that ecologist David Bowman has met controversy with his suggestion that, to stablise the system, we may need to introduce even more...David Bowman, University of Tasmania

Mapping a Mushroom Trip, Speedy genes and Magnetic Soap!

How mapping a mushroom trip could provide treatments for depression, the gene behind a winning racehorse, the world's first magnetic soap and the social networks of our ancestors...Robin Carhart-Harris, Imperial College London; Emmeline Hill, University College Dublin; Julian Eastoe, University of Bristol; Coren Apicella, Harvard Medical School.

Vitamin D and Cancer

An international consortium last year confirmed that aspirin can protect people with a genetic predisposition to bowel cancer. Now, they are turning their attention to finding out what Vitamin D could do for cancer...Professor Sir John Burn, Newcastle University

New Species at Hydrothermal Vents - Planet Earth Online

We explore the disovery of new species in the hydrothermal vents of Antarctica...Katrin Linse and Ali Graham, British Antarctic Survey

Vitamin D Deficiency and Multiple Sclerosis

How is Vitamin D linked to autoimmunity and the central nervous system? With us to discuss the research is Prof. George Ebers from Oxford University, expert in Multiple Sclerosis....Professor George Ebers, Oxford University

Evolving Multicellularity

Prior to about 1 billion years ago, all life on earth consisted of single-celled organisms. Then something happened to trigger squads of these cells to team up together to produce the first multicellular organisms, like our bodies, and this was a watershed in the evolution of life on Earth. Now, researchers at the University of Minnesota have managed to make yeasts do something similar, but in this case it only took them about 60 days...Professor Michael Travisano, University of Minnesota

Suicidal Comets and Dancing Beetles

Comets plummeting into the Sun's atmosphere, why exercise can keep diabetes at bay, how the public are helping seismology research and why Dung beetles like to dance...Carey Lisse, John Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory; Congcong He, University of Texas Southwestern medical centre; Richard Allen, UC Berkeley; Emilay Baird, University of Lund

Critter of the Month - Cuttlefish

Heather Mason Jones chooses a clever, colourful critter this month.Heather Mason Jones, University of Tampa

Moving Important Bird Areas into the sea

We hear about a new global network of protected areas for seabirds.Ben Lascelles, Birdlife International

Parkour and Primate Movement - Planet Earth Online

Free-runing, or parkour, is helping scientists understand how orang-utans move across a forest canopy...Suzanna Thorpe, University of Birmingham

Spiderworms, Exploring Vents, Clues to deafness and Bulking up!

Silkworms producing spider silk, new species discovered at hydrothermal vents in Antarctica, a gene providing new insight to deafness and the science behind bulking up this new year...Randy Lewis, Utah State University; Alex Rogers, University of Oxford; David Ornitz, University of Washington; Athanassia Soritopoulos, INSERM

Why do Brussels Sprouts make you fart?

We explore just what goes on inside our bodies to cause the flatulence resulting from eating Brussels sprouts...Sarah Castor-Perry

The Death of Biostatistics?

Given that people are increasingly using crowd source data in their research, are old style stats still up to the job? Arnoldo Frigessi explores...Arnoldo Frigessi, University of Oslo in Norway

Bed Bugs, Night Shifts and Deterring the Affections of Fish...

Bed Bugs travelling from abroad, why night shifts increase a female's chance of diabetes and how to deter the unwanted affection of a fish...Coby Schal, North Carolina State Universitys; An Pan, Harvard University; Safi Darden, Exeter University

Critter of the Month - Cleaner wrasse

We're keeping things spick and span in Critter of the Month, with a little fish that likes to tidy up.Joshua Drew, Field Museum of Natural History, Chicago

Adopt a baby lobster

This Christmas, why not adopt a baby lobster?