Ant Fungal Gardens with Dr. Marcy Balunas and Dr. Jonathan Klassen

08/28/23 • 43 min

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In this week's episode of Foodie Pharmacology, we talk about ants that grow fungal gardens and how their farming methods are surprisingly similar to human agriculture! Our guests are Dr. Marcy Balunas from the University of Michigan and Dr. Jonathan Klassen from the University of Connecticut. They discuss a new study that shows ants and microbes communicate using chemicals. We also talk about a new tool called MPACT that makes it easier to analyze complex chemical data. Looking ahead, the team plans to study how these ant-microbe partnerships handle challenges like forest fires due to climate change and to identify other chemicals involved in these relationships. If you're interested in how the natural world works, this episode is for you! You can follow their work on Twitter at BalunasLab and klassenlab.

#science #sciencefacts #Podcast #Scicomm #ants #Fungi #Fungal #gardening #foodiepharmacology

#science #sciencefacts #Podcast #Scicomm #ants #Fungi #Fungal #gardening #foodiepharmacology

Previous Episode

Conservation of Useful Plants in Colombia with Laura Kor

Human perceptions of plants matter in conservation! This week on the Foodie Pharmacology podcast, I spoke with an expert on the concept of “sustainability-through-use,” which is important to designing conservation programs that consider the needs and priorities of local communities. Laura Kor is a PhD candidate at King’s College London and the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. Her research focuses on the conservation of useful plants in Colombia—species with reported human uses ranging from food and medicine to spiritual and cultural values. You can access Laura’s research articles on her Google Scholar page (https://scholar.google.com/citations?hl=en&user=OTV1DjcAAAAJ) or follow her on Twitter at @laurabkor

#Colombia #SouthAmerica #Conservation #Botany #Plants #Podcast #ethnobotany #science #Scicomm

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The Gut Microbiome and Immune Health with Dr. Heather Zwickey

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#microbiome #food #GutHealth #Podcast #microbiology #prebiotics #probiotics #postbiotics