Carry The One Radio: The Science Podcast

In Part 2 of “How to Build a Human”, we continue our investigation of our unique features that set us apart from other animals. We spoke to Dr. Nathan Young from the University of California San Francisco, who studies the development of the human skeleton and looks at how the variations in our skeletal structure have contributed to our evolution and the development of human civilization.

We humans like to think of ourselves as pretty different from other animals. Language, philosophy, art, technology - we do things it seems like no other animal is capable of. But what makes us this way? In part one of our investigation, we focus on two features of the brain that seem to be particular to people. We start with Arnold Kriegstein of the University of California, San Francisco, who studies a type of stem cell that does something special during human brain development. We then turn to Kira Poskanzer and Anna Molofsky, also of UCSF, who believe the secret to human-ness might lie with a totally different, often neglected kind of brain cell.

Science journalism generally focuses on new discoveries. But this leaves out a part of the process that will make or break you as a scientist: how do you come up with the right questions to ask in the first place? In today’s episode, we talk to Charles Zuker of Columbia University about this process. Listen to find out the two questions he asks to determine whether an experiment is worth doing.

Our ability to diagnose and treat disorders of the mind lags far behind other medical disciplines. For our latest episode, we talked to Dr. Matthew State about why this is the case, and discussed how his research into the genetics of autism is revealing promising paths to future treatments.

Ready to get blasted with science? We recorded five different PhD students as they summarized their entire thesis in 3 minutes or less. The challenge was to describe their research with as little jargon as possible, for a general audience. You’ll hear about everything from cancer, to the developing embryo, to how dieting might make you smarter.

Humankind is fascinated by origin stories. We find them everywhere and they come in many forms... every religion has one, science has lots, they're in biographies, and they're even in superhero movies. In this episode, Dr. Terry Deacon, a biological anthropologist at UC Berkeley, guides us through a novel perspective on how life itself might have started. Music Attribution: Constellation - Podington Bear Dreamlike - Kevin Macleod Erratum: Soccer balls have both hexagons and pentagons!

On average, five pounds of our body weight is made up of bacteria. But what are they doing there? Do they keep us healthy, make us sick, or are they just along for the ride? In this two-part episode, we will explore the mysterious and complex function of these microscopic critters that collectively make up our micro biome. In part 1, we talk with Katie Pollard, a UCSF professor who studies the microbiome. Katie explains the current state of microbiome research and how critical her work is to forming appropriate conclusions about the relationship between our microbial ecosystem and disease. In part 2, we take a plunge into a man's toilet bowl! (Not-so-average) Joe Hiatt shares an audio diary of his experiences with two extreme diets and the changes he sees in his microbiome. Join him as he chronicles both his bathroom habits along with his microbial diversity.

For our fourth and most delicious Bite yet, we take a journey through the five basic tastes guided by Dr. Gary Beauchamp. Together we investigate why the things that we eat and drink have different tastes, and what it means to taste something in the first place.

Our latest Bite introduces 'The Fog at Bay' - a new series of personal mental health stories from academia and medicine. In this crossover episode, Dr. Felicia De La Garza Mercer discusses stress and burnout in the student population. The Fog at Bay's complete first season is out now and features the voices of our graduate and medical school peers, as well as faculty. Stories touch on topics such as bipolar disorder, depression, and concussions. Catch it all on thefogatbay.com, itunes, facebook, or soundcloud.

In this episode, we learn about the war going on inside our bodies every day. We generally think of our immune systems as defending us from malicious, foreign attackers. But, as always with biology, we’re finding that it’s not that simple. In some cases, an apparent foe might turn out to be a friend, and vice versa. Here we bring you three different stories about how the immune system can be outsmarted, misdirected, and even re-engineered.

For our second Bite, we sit down with Dr. Mala Murthy, a professor at Princeton University, who uses fruit fly songs to answer difficult questions about how flies can respond dynamically to changing environments and how their brains are wired to carry out these behaviors. You can hear the (quiet) low-frequency humming and purring of the fly song in some of the quiet sections of the episode! Produced by Sam Ancona Esselmann with editing help from Meryl Horn

In this brand new CTOR Bite, we take a listen to Carry The One Radio’s own Sama Ahmed as he summarizes 5 years of his research on evolutionary biology into exactly 3 minutes! It’s an adaptation of his award-winning entry into the University of California competition. Enjoy and as always, stay curious.

“Brain Meets Word: The Neuroscience Behind Communication” Tongues, songbirds and perfect fifths, oh my! Seemingly disparate subjects yes, but remarkably similar nonetheless. In this episode, we investigate some of the far corners of the neuroscience behind communication! We start with a simple question: how does the human brain coordinate all of the muscles that allow us to speak? In part 2, we learn how male songbirds perfect their mating calls and how all the single birds respond. And finally, a neuroscientist/professional opera-singer tells us about the mystery of musicality, and the science behind becoming a great musician. Part One: “On the Tip of My Tongue” The human brain precisely controls numerous muscles when we speak, but scientists know very little about how exactly this happens... Our producers Ryan Jones and Kate Woronowicz talk with David Conant, a doctoral student in Dr. Edward Chang’s lab at the University of California - San Francisco, about how patients with epilepsy are helping us unra

Each summer, The Gladstone Institutes places high school students in some of the best labs for the study of heart disease, brain disorders, virology and immunology. The students work alongside scientists where they learn to conduct cutting-edge experiments, This past summer, we teamed up with Gladstone to mentor two of the students, Hanan Sinada and Kainat Shaikh. After their day in the lab, they met with our producers Kate Woronowicz and Yelena Kulik to learn how to create a podcast episode about their experience. Today’s episode is written and produced by Kainat, a student at Burton High School. Kainat shares what she learned about HIV, what she called “The Sneaky Intruder".

Dr. Susanna Rosi (UCSF) on how traumatic brain injury (TBI) affects brain function, and the search for new treatments for TBI patients. The brain is an astonishingly complex organ. Injury to the brain in the form of traumatic brain injury (TBI) can cause learning and memory problems in the short-term and dementia in the long-term. Over 1.7 million individuals experience TBI in the United States every year. Unfortunately, there are currently only symptomatic treatments for TBIs. We talked to Dr. Susanna Rosi, Associate Professor at UCSF, about her research into new treatments for TBIs.

Although our immune system is amazing at what it does, there are complex cases where the it fails us. Everyday, our bodies fight off hordes of bacteria and viruses that cause disease. When fighting cancer, our bodies even face their own cells that have gone rogue. However, certain pathogens and cancers manage to circumvent our immune system.

Cells are the building blocks of life…and need to be transformed into the various tissues that make up our body. There are two main populations of cells that are programmed by a variety of biochemical forces to acquire the characteristics of different cell types in the body. One population, called the somatic cells, is eventually transformed into skin, muscle, bones and such. The other population, called germ cells, becomes sperm and eggs. In today’s episode, Karuna Meda interviews Dr. Nam Tran (UCSF) about his research on germ cell development and its importance for understanding fertility.

Under the banner of “Accelerating Research to Improve Health,” the Clinical and Translational Science Institute (CTSI) at the University of California, San Francisco -- the leading university exclusively focused on health -- is part of a shift in biomedical research. This move involves a focus on translational, or bench-to-bedside research, which aims to “translate” biomedical discoveries into useful applications and treatments, such as a drug, device, diagnostic or behavioral intervention, that improves human health and health outcomes. This podcast series is presented by the CTSI and Carry the One Radio – the Science Podcast. CTSI is funded by the National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences at the National Institutes of Health. This series was written and produced by Sama Ahmed and Karuna Meda, and edited by John Daigre and Carly Van Orsdel. Learn more at ctsi.ucsf.edu or www.ctoradio.org

Under the banner of “Accelerating Research to Improve Health,” the Clinical and Translational Science Institute (CTSI) at the University of California, San Francisco -- the leading university exclusively focused on health -- is part of a shift in biomedical research. This move involves a focus on translational, or bench-to-bedside research, which aims to “translate” biomedical discoveries into useful applications and treatments, such as a drug, device, diagnostic or behavioral intervention, that improves human health and health outcomes. This podcast series is presented by the CTSI and Carry the One Radio – the Science Podcast. CTSI is funded by the National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences at the National Institutes of Health. This series was written and produced by Sama Ahmed and Karuna Meda, and edited by John Daigre and Carly Van Orsdel. Learn more at ctsi.ucsf.edu or www.ctoradio.org

Under the banner of “Accelerating Research to Improve Health,” the Clinical and Translational Science Institute (CTSI) at the University of California, San Francisco -- the leading university exclusively focused on health -- is part of a shift in biomedical research. This move involves a focus on translational, or bench-to-bedside research, which aims to “translate” biomedical discoveries into useful applications and treatments, such as a drug, device, diagnostic or behavioral intervention, that improves human health and health outcomes. This podcast series is presented by the CTSI and Carry the One Radio – the Science Podcast. CTSI is funded by the National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences at the National Institutes of Health. This series was written and produced by Sama Ahmed and Karuna Meda, and edited by John Daigre and Carly Van Orsdel. Learn more at ctsi.ucsf.edu or www.ctoradio.org