Predictive Power: How sequence data and computers can help to find viral reservoirs
Imagine being able to predict the reservoir species for a newly-found virus just from its genetic code. Using cutting edge machine learning techniques, that is precisely what researchers from the University of Glasgow’s Institute of Biodiversity, Animal Health & Comparative Medicine and the Centre for Virus Research have managed to do. Join us in this episode of Naturally Speaking as […]
Shaky sheep, tapeworms and ‘ormilo’: Investigating a neurological syndrome of small ruminants in Tanzania
Maasai pastoralist livestock keepers in northern Tanzania have become increasingly concerned about a disease that is causing strange behaviour in their sheep and goats – a disease these animals are eventually dying from. Anecdotal evidence suggested that a dog tapeworm could be the cause, but more research was needed. Last year, PhD student Ellen Hughes travelled to Tanzania to investigate the epidemiology and causes of this important threat to pastoral livelihoods and food security.
Podcast Series: The RRS Discovery – Episode 2
Episode 2: What lies beneath? Join us again aboard the Royal Research Ship Discovery, cruising towards the mid-Atlantic to an area known as the Charlie-Gibbs Fracture Zone. As we heard in the previous episode, this unique cruise brought together researchers from multiple disciplines to apply their specialist skills to collect data in the region. In this episode we hear from […]
The British Ecological Society conference: a PhD student’s experience
Birmingham: second most populous city in the UK, home to the infamous Peaky Blinders and host to the British Ecological Society annual meeting in December 2018. The BES is the biggest conference dedicated to ecology in Europe, with over 1200 delegates from 40 countries. Over the course of three days there were 4 plenary seminars, 200 posters, workshops, social mixers […]
Episode 66: The secret life of the Zoology Museum
This podcast celebrates the past, present and future of the Hunterian Zoology Museum located in the Graham Kerr Building at the University of Glasgow. And who better than our Museum’s specialist curator to reveal the life and times of this majestic place? In this Naturally Speaking episode, Maggie Reilly tells Naturally Speaking editor Martina Quaggiotto all about the history of […]
Episode 65: Making Connections – linking data on biodiversity
Institute of Biodiversity, Animal Health & Comparative Medicine researcher Prof Rod Page was recently awarded the Ebbe Nielsen prize for his proposal to help document the biodiversity of Australia by linking a variety of open sources of data. Tune in to hear about the challenges and opportunities associated with the exciting field of ‘biodiversity informatics’ – tapping into big data […]
Episode 64: Battling the Bugs – the search for creative solutions to mosquito control
Malaria – a disease transmitted between people by mosquitoes – remains a major cause of death globally, particularly in sub-Saharan Africa. While recent efforts to control mosquitoes have been very successful in reducing malaria, particularly insecticide-treated bed nets, mosquito populations seem to be persisting. In this episode of Naturally Speaking, editors Ellen Hughes and Taya Forde are joined by Institute […]
