Biology research, explained by the people doing it.
BioPOD, the official podcast of the University of Edinburgh's School of Biological Sciences, has researchers explain their fields from the ground up. Its subjects range from tuberculosis in cattle and the nervous systems of extinct mammals to IVF embryos and the regulation of genetically modified crops.
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BioPOD is the official podcast of the School of Biological Sciences at the University of Edinburgh. It is an interview show, and the researchers do most of the talking. The interviewer changes from episode to episode: Markela introduces the science and policy conversation, and Nitara introduces the one on fossil mammals. The first question is often the same, a request to explain the field before anything else. What is a biosignature? What does the neurobiology of fossil animals involve when the brain cannot be studied directly? Those first answers give a newcomer a footing before the detail arrives. Some guests are based at the University of Edinburgh, including at the UK Centre for Astrobiology. Others come from the University of Warwick and the ICP in Barcelona. In 'Cattle Disease', recorded at the Roslin Institute, Professor Jane Hope talks about tuberculosis in cattle and how expensive infection experiments are. The interview also explains what a large animal offers as a research subject: big blood volumes, repeated sampling over long periods, and tissues that human studies struggle to reach. The conversation even turns to cats infected with Mycobacterium bovis, the same pathogen that infects cows. Two episodes go back into deep time. An astrobiologist explains biosignatures and considers whether early fungi began in fresh water or the sea, which affects how old they might be. The same guest calls the subject 'a very living field', especially for the era before the explosion of animal life, when samples are rare and each new piece of rock can bring a discovery. In 'Fossil detective: piecing together the neurobiology of fossil mammals', Onela Bertrand, a mammalian paleontologist, describes how an ankle bone in early fossil whales gave physical evidence for a link to hippos that molecular data had already suggested. Other episodes turn to medicine and public life. 'Fertility: Research & Art' brings together three researchers who used glass art pieces to start public conversations about early embryo development. It traces how eggs and embryos are lost at each stage of IVF, and the talk also reaches mosaicism and the use of frog models. A series on science and policy brings in Joyce Tate, whose career spans academia, government and innovation. That interview covers the regulation of pesticides and genetically modified crops. Its sharpest point compares the agrochemical industry with IBM misjudging the personal computer. The guests talk conversationally rather than in rehearsed soundbites. A listener interested in evolution could start with the two fossil episodes. For someone curious about where research meets farming, fertility clinics and regulation, the cattle, fertility and policy episodes are the place to begin.
Made for: Suits a listener who likes hearing scientists explain their own research from the basics, and who is happy to move from cattle tuberculosis in one episode to Precambrian fossils or IVF in another.
What sets it apart: BioPOD comes from inside a university biology school, so the researchers do the explaining themselves and are often asked to define their field first. Its range runs from farm animal disease and crop regulation to fossil whales and early fungi.
Explore the edges of known biology and meet the people - a podcast direct from the PhD students at the heart of university research. BioPOD is the official podcast from the School of Biological Sciences at the University of Edinburgh.
An ancient whale's ankle gives you a reason to care how evolutionary claims get proved.
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Short reviews from the PlayNext desk, based on the episodes we processed.
A grounded cross-species primer on cattle TB, veterinary immunology, and the work behind longer-lasting vaccines.
This single episode takes cattle tuberculosis as a practical route into veterinary immunology, with Professor Jane Hope, Chair of Immunology at the Royal School of Veterinary Studies, setting out why a disease shared across species matters beyond the farm.
A glass-art project opens a clear conversation about eggs, embryos, IVF, and fertility research.
Glass art gives this episode a useful route into early embryo development, fertility research, and IVF without making the science feel sealed off from everyday understanding.
Mushroom culture from soil to society.
Clear neuroscience for curious minds.
Plant papers, jokes, and useful uncertainty.
Weed science, from genomes to paddocks.
Biomedical careers, described from the inside.
Human stakes behind biomedical progress.
BioPort's science-and-policy episode pairs Markela with Joyce Tate on pesticide regulation, GM crops, and innovation policy.
BioPOD’s Jane Hope at the Roslin Institute explains how cattle TB research connects BCG vaccination, DIVA diagnostics, and a possible UK rollout by 2030.
BioPOD's Fertility: Research & Art follows Alexandra Bierska, Geraldine Hartshorn, and Gerard Pieper as they connect IVF clinic work at the University of Warwick and the University of Edinburgh with early embryo research.
An interview with Ben Glocker about the Causality in Healthcare AI Hub, discussing explainable and fair AI models for healthcare.
BioPOD examines biosignatures through Dr.
Onela Bertrand describes fossil research as solving riddles with incomplete skulls, modern animal behavior, and carefully chosen proxies.