The Lab With Brad

The Lab With Brad


Latest Episodes

Ep 86: Just not complete without you - The Lab
November 10, 2017

Just not complete without you - Symbiosis between animals and bacteria is very common. In some cases, animals will not develop fully without their microscopic partners—sometimes, they can’t even reproduce. - Here’s a paper on the bobtail squid,

Ep 85: When your partner moves in - The Lab
November 09, 2017

When your partner moves in - Many life forms live in partnership with other organisms. The cooperative relationship is called symbiosis. Sometimes, one of the cooperating creatures lives inside of the other, even inside the cells.

Ep 84: The tickle me plant - The Lab
November 08, 2017

The tickle me plant - Today, we talk about another fast moving plant, called mimosa pudica, AKA. Shame plant, shy plant, touch me not, or the tickle me plant. This little plant will curl up its leaves when they are touched. -

Ep 83: By request, the Venus flytrap - The Lab
November 07, 2017

By request, the Venus flytrap - We move and eat via our nerves and muscles, but there are some plants that have no nerves and no muscles, and yet they still move and eat. Today, we talk about the Venus flytrap, and how it why it does what it does.

Ep 82: DNA that does nothing? - The Lab
November 03, 2017

DNA that does nothing? - It seems that most of our DNA is dormant. It doesn’t encode for protein production. Some of this supposedly dormant DNA has recently been shown to have important functionality, but there still seems to be much more information...

Ep 81: Not how we’d do it - The Lab
November 02, 2017

Not how we’d do it - Evolution creates designs in ways that human engineers probably wouldn’t. We probably wouldn’t use eyes to grow a brain, or pseudo-gill-slits to grow a face, but evolution does.

Ep 80: When eyes are a problem - The Lab
November 01, 2017

When eyes are a problem - Sometimes, evolution can take it back. Many cave dwelling animals have lost their eyes. Theories as to why this happen range from genetic drift, to mutations that improve other senses interfering with the proper development o...

Ep 79: Be afraid - The Lab
October 31, 2017

Be afraid - Sometimes, you feel like something is wrong. Most of the time, it’s just a feeling; it doesn’t mean anything. But, every now and then, something is wrong, you really are in danger, you really should be afraid. -

Ep 78: Eyes - The Lab
October 27, 2017

Eyes - “ To suppose that the eye, with all its inimitable contrivances… could have been formed by natural selection, seems, I freely confess, absurd in the highest possible degree… Yet reason tells me, that if numerous gradations from a perfect and c...

Ep 77: The Cambrian explosion - The Lab
October 26, 2017

The Cambrian explosion - Between 520 and 550 million years ago, a sudden explosion of animal types appear in the fossil record. This example of rapid evolution is known as the Cambrian explosion. Theories of how and why it occurred range from the noti...