This section collects together any podcasts / audio content pieces from the main blog.

July 2009 Virtual Medicine (first broadcast ICradio.com and audio track in Imperial College Virtual Medical School)

 

June 2009 – The Open Ground

In June last year, Conservation Today ran a one day public conference – The Open Ground – to raise awareness of issues around biodiversity.  Rather bravely I thought, the event aimed to provoke discussion by combining a range of scientific and artistic perspectives.

Introduction by Will Pearse (Conservation Today)

 

 

Session 1 – The Necessities of Conservation

Dr Sam Turvey, Dr Emily Nicholson and Caspar Henderson on the challenges conservationists face.

Presentations – Session 1

 

Panel Discussion – Session 1

 

Session 2 – Biodiversity and the Imagination

Prof. Ruth Padel, Dr Jamie Lorimer, and Melanie Challenger look at biodiversity from the perspective of literature, culture and society.

Presentations – Session 2

 

Panel Discussion – Session 2

 

Session 3 – Biodiversity Futures

Prof. Armand Leroi, Prof. John Fa, and Steve Roest on topics ranging from the trade in bushmeat to depletion of the oceans.

Presentations – Session 3

 

Panel Discussion – Session 3

 

20th June – Interview with Dr Lewis Dartnell – Astrobiology

I’m not overjoyed with the technical quality of this recording (which is probably why I’ve sat on it for a month), but I think it’s such an interesting and fun interview that it needs an airing anyhow.

 

15th June Interview with Dr Andrew Maynard – Nanotechnology

Nanotechnology lets us manipulate materials at the finest scale. ‘Nanotech’ products have become mainstream without us even noticing, and the future promise for the technology is forcing nothing less than a paradigm change in mindset and expectation.    In this interview for radio, I ask Dr Andrew Maynard, Chief Science Advisor on the Project for Emerging Nanotechnologies at the Woodrow Wilson Center, for his view on current applications, far reach potential, and the risk management challenges associated with nanotechnology.

 

17th May 2009 – First UK Science Tweetup

Friday 15th May saw the first get together of the UK Science Tweeps; a group of individuals who had previously met only via Twitter.  Karen James organised the evening, pulling us together under the Twitter tag #ukscitweetup.    Play the podcast to meet some of the science tweeps and get a flavour of the evening.  And, if you like what you hear, join us next time!

 

12th January 2009

Interview with Alan Mootnick, Director of the Gibbon Conservation Center, Santa Clarita, California

 

What better way to spend Christmas than in the company of your favourite gibbons?   That’s exactly what my wife Erin and I did on the 26th December 2008, when we made our second visit to the Gibbon Conservation Center at Santa Clarita, California – home to some of the world’s rarest gibbons.

As well as catching up with gibbon families we first encountered in September, and described in this earlier post,  I made some sound recordings during this visit, including an extended interview with the Founder and Director of the Center, Alan Mootnick.

I’m sure  a lot of what Alan has to say about working on conservation with the various institutes, authorities and peoples around the world, and particularly in Asia, is relevant to species beyond the gibbon.

So what follows is the edited audio from the visit, in seven parts, in mp3 format, that I originally published at conservationtoday.org.  Each part lasts between 3 and 10 minutes, and you should be able to download or stream by either left clicking the link or right clicking and entering ‘save as’.  I earlier posted the entire interview as one edit, and that is also included at the end.Part 1 is our arrival, including an early morning walk round the facility and ending in a noisy chorus.

Gibbon Center Part 1 – Arrival

 

Gibbon Center Part 2 – Alan Mootnick

Part 2  is the beginning of the interview with Alan where he introduces the aims of the Center, the various gibbon genera and species, and includes a somewhat disturbing account of threats gibbons in the wild are facing (which as usual are mainly man-made).

 

Gibbon Center Part 3 – Breeding Programme

Part 3 describes the breeding programme at Santa Clarita, including special efforts for the Javan gibbon – of which only 4000 remain in the wild, the Center’s collaboratory work with other conservation centres and zoos – including in the UK, and the challenges of finding gibbons for study in the wild.

 

Gibbon Center Part 4 – Genetics

Part 4 in which Alan majors on the genetics of the gibbon, gibbon taxonomy, and a showcase of mistaken identity.  Also the challenges of moving gibbons and their DNA around the world, and the role  of faeces in working out bloodlines.

 

Gibbon Center Part 5 – Gibbon Behaviour

Part 5 is all about gibbon behaviour, including apparent similarities with man, and discussion around gibbon song and brachiation (swinging arm to arm).  The highlight is Alan’s empirically supported theory of hostile genital or anal presenting – ‘gibbon mooning’ in other words.

 

Gibbon Center Part 6 – Volunteering

Part 6 describes the volunteer programme, including the possibility of joining the Center from the UK.

 

Gibbon Center Part 7 – More Challenges

Part 7 discusses issues around land management and deforestation in Indonesia, the illegal trade in gibbons, and the impact that’s having on the gibbon population.  Also some tips on how to work to best effect when dealing with zoos in Asia.

 

And this is the entire interview as a single edit:

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60Mb. Approx. 1 hour. Copyright, all rights reserved, 2009, Tim Jones  communicatescience.com

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If you enjoyed hearing about – and hearing ! – the gibbons of Santa Clarita, and would like to make a donation, you can do so here.