Gradcast

In this episode, hosts Monica Molinaro and Gavin Tolometti talk with Earth and Planetary Science PhD student Nicolas Garroni about meteorite impacts and their effect on carbonate rocks, and what it’s like to work out in the field. Hosts: Monica Molinaro & Gavin Tolometti Produced by Gregory Robinson

Hosts Gavin Tolometti and Joyla Furlano talk with Earth Science MSc student Nikol Posnov about the search for extinct microbial life on Mars. Nikol studies the minerals in bioalterated volcanic rocks in Brazilian impact structures, and the Martian environment to infer where in craters on Mars microbial life may have sparked and thrived. Hosts: Gavin Tolometti & Joyla Furlano Produced by Gregory Robinson

On this special episode of gradcast, listen as our host Chantal Lemire sits down to chat with Taniya Nagpal and Susan Anthony about pregnancy. As a phd student studying exercise during pregnancy, Taniya comes equipped with knowledge about how to lead a healthy lifestyle when expecting. Complimenting this, Susan brings her own personal experience as a pregnant student.  It makes for cool opportunity to hear the research and the people who use it come together! You can read more about Taniya's work at: https://www.uwo.ca/fhs/EPL/ Host: Chantal Lemire   Produced by Connor Chato and Greg Robinson

Hosts Roger Hudson and Gregory Robinson talk to Drew Bowman, masters student in Health Geography, about what high school students eat and how the advertisements that surround them can influence their decision making when it comes to food. A researcher in the Human Environment Analysis Laboratory at Western University, Drew discusses some of the unique insights she gains from conducting her research with teens rather than on teens, and shares about her lab's innovative SmartAppetite project that helps teens make informed and healthy food choices.  Hosts: Roger Hudson & Gregory Robinson Produced by Chantal Lemire

How do arachnids handle freezing temperatures? Susan Anthony, a PhD candidate in the biology department and past chair of GradCast, tells Gavin Tolometti and Ariel Frame the answer to this elusive question. Susan discusses the difficulty researchers have studying in the field during winter and about some of her favourite animals, including red velvet spider mites, pseudoscorpions, tarantulas and sharks. If you'd like to read more about Susan and her research you can contact her on twitter @suzanthony, by email at santho2@uwo.ca.   Hosts: Ariel Frame &  Gavin Tolometti  Produced by Ariel Frame & Chantal Lemire

This week, GradCast continues its interview with students studying eusocial insects, this time exploring the incredible social structures of honeybees. Hosts Roger Hudson and Nick Handfield-Jones interview Anthony Gallo, from the Department of Biology, about his research into honeybee genetics. Specifically, he wonders how genes make certain types of bees have ovaries, and some not. Don't miss this episode: you won't Bee-lieve what you hear! To know more about Anthony's research, you can follow him on Instagram @anthonygallo1424 or email him at agallo9@uwo.ca Hosts: Nick Handfield-Jones & Roger Hudson Produced by Gavin Tolometti

Eusociality is the highest level of social organization found in nature and is one of the reasons behind the evolutionary success of insects like bees and ants, but also termites. This week, biology master's student Anna Chernyshova takes us through the intricacies of termite society and the novel evolutionary adaptations that have allowed these normally-tropical critters to successful invade Canadian cities like Toronto. Join hosts Yimin and Ariel as we wonder: can eusociality work for us too? Shoutout from Anna: "Much of my knowledge and fascination with eusociality stems from many insightful discussions with my labmates and supervisor Dr. Graham Thompson, who is an expert in the field of sociobiology with global reputation. I am grateful for his mentorship and emphasis on the big ideas with outside-the-box thinking." You can dig into more research by Anna at..... https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Anna_Chernyshova3 https://scholar.google.ca/citations?hl=en&user=c_UBRYgAAAAJ Hosts: Yimin Chen &am

Consider ants. Only the queen ant reproduces and passes on her genetic sequences. The worker ants do not. This creates a great paradox of evolution: if the worker ants don't pass on their genes, then how do they keep popping up? This week, hosts Nick Handfield-Jones and Connor Chato interview Vonica Flear, from the Department of Biology, who is working on a mathematical model to solve this puzzling problem. She tells us about why she's interested in eusocial animals like ants and wasps and how she uses math to model them. Plus, hear about some of the pioneers in this field and how they advanced our understanding of evolution. To find out more from Vonica you can email her at vflear@uwo.ca Hosts: Connor Chato & Nick Handfield-Jones  Produced by Ariel Frame

In this episode Cory Goldstein, PhD student at Rotman Institute of Philosophy, discusses how clinical trials of different styles need or need not obtain informed consent. Cory tells Ariel Frame and Gavin Tolometti about his work with an interdisciplinary group of professionals and patients. To contact Cory for more information you can find him on Twitter @coryegoldstein or read his most recent work: When and how should we cluster and cross over: methodological and ethical issues Accommodating quality and service improvement research within existing ethical principles   Hosts: Ariel Frame & Gavin Tolometti Produced by Chantal Lemire

Hosts Gregory Robinson and Gavin Tolometti talk with PhD candidate in the Department of Geography, Rebecca Doyle about lake sediments and how their isotopic chemistry provides us a glance on how the lake climate has changed for the last 1000 years. For more info, check out Rebecca's blog https://lakenerd.com/ or twitter account @lake_nerd. Hosts: Gregory Robinson & Gavin Tolometti Produced by Nick Handfield-Jones

Lily Yosieph is passionate about mental health issues. As an MSc student in Health Promotion, her research seeks to understand the unique challenges that African, Caribbean, and Black (ACB) youth face and how service providers, educators, and families can work to dismantle systemic barriers affecting marginalized communities. Join Yimin and Connor as we learn about the ways in which social and economic issues can impact the health of individuals.  Hosts: Connor Chato & Yimin Chen    Produced by Gregory Robinson

Hosts Gavin Tolometti and Chantal Lemire dive into the world of post-1945 American literature with english literature PhD candidate Jeremy Johnston. In this episode we look at how adolescent mental health is portrayed in American literature and how it has changed to the modern day. Hosts: Chantal Lemire & Gavin Tolometti Produced by Gregory Robinson 

What did the landscape of Ontario look like over two billion years ago? The answer is hidden in the rocks. On this episode, geologist Carolyn Hill (PhD Candidate in the Department of Earth Sciences) tells hosts Yimin and Greg why the Pre-Cambrian may not be the nicest place for time travellers to visit. Plus, we learn about how oxygen once almost killed off life on Earth! Hosts: Yimin Chen & Gregory Robinson Produced by Chantal Lemire

In the depths of space, there are regions where stars don't form, despite all evidence that they should. This week, our guest Gianfranco Bino, from the Department of Applied Math, tells about how scientists are measuring magnetism in the surrounding area to figure out why the stars aren't being born. Join hosts Nick Handfield-Jones and Connor Chato as they also ask Gianfranco about the intersection between math and outer space, his experiences in grad school, and what he wants to do once he graduates. To get in contact with Gianfranco, check out his instagram @gvb24 Hosts: Connor Chato & Nick Handfield-Jones Produced by Greg Robino

Bridge the gap between math and biology with Nickolas Goncharenko. This week hosts Nick Handfield-Jones and Connor Chato interview Nickolas, from the Department of Applied Math, about his intriguing research on modelling the interaction between the mosquito's immune system, malaria (Plasmodium sp.), and genetically modified bacterium (Serratio sp. AS1) that could decrease the spread of disease. We also learn about differential equations, and the behaviour of spaghetti sticking out of a tomato. Plus, Nickolas shares his personal tips to become a better scientific communicator. To learn more, email Nickolas here: ngonchar@uwo.ca. Hosts: Connor Chato & Nick Handfield-Jones Produced by Gregory Robinson.

On this episode, hosts Taniya Nagpal and Gavin Tolometti talk with Connor Chato about his MSc research locating AIDS using a computer code algorithm, which can help provide treatment and understand the origin of the AIDS virus in patients. Hosts: Taniya Nagpal & Gavin Tolometti Produced by Produced by Viki Tellios

Taniya Nagpal and Joyla Furlano interview Greg Robinson, one of the GradCast Editorial Boards' newest members, and masters' student in Phys-Pharm about his current research, his and future research, and his experience so far in graduate studies at Western.  Hosts: Joyla Furlano & Taniya Nagpal Produced by: Chantal Lemire  

On this week’s show, Joyla Furlano and Gregory Robinson interview Anisa Morava, a 2nd year Master’s student in the psychological stream of Kinesiology. Anisa is exploring how acute aerobic exercise and caffeine intake may improve memory in caffeine and non-caffeine consumers. Look out all… this may be the place to find your graduate survival kit! To learn more about Anisa’s research, e-mail her at amorava@uwo.ca. Hosts: Joyla Furlano and Gregory Robinson Produced by Nicholas Handfield-Jones   *Abstract call-out*: If you are a graduate student at Western and are interested in submitting an abstract for this coming year’s Annual Western Research Forum, please visit https://ir.lib.uwo.ca/wrf/2019/

Is the damage you inflict to your head by playing a sport like football as severe as the media makes it out to be? Tune in this week to hear Justin Smith, and your hosts Ariel Frame and Gregory Robinson, dive head first into his research his work looking at executive function changes in kids before and after a season of playing football. Justin enlightens us with some new results from his Masters in Kinesiology research showing some evidence that kids can play Canadian football without risking cognitive impairment. If you'd like to know more about work like Justin's, check out the Concussion Legacy Foundation. Hosts: Ariel Frame and Gregory Robinson Produced by Ariel Frame

Roger Hudson and Gregory Robinson speak with Marie Gueguen about how to discern between conflicting ideas in science and arrive at informed conclusions in terms of describing the observable universe. Hosts: Roger Hudson and Gregory Robinson Produced by Gavin Tolometti