VP Research & Collections at the Canadian Museum of Nature (Dr. Jeff Saarela)

For this episode, we spoke to Marty Martin from the Big Biology podcast - the best biology podcast around (excluding our own, of course)! Dr. Martin is a professor and biologist at the University of South Florida. Along with co-host Art Woods, he covers some of the biggest unanswered questions in biology. We ask about his research into sparrows as a real-world immunological model, and ask how podcasting complements his work as a professor and researcher. Check out big biology at https://www.bigbiology.org/, and please subscribe to the Big Biology podcast!

Look up Eric Morand's profile at Monash.

Catch him on Twitter: @EricFMorand

Catch him also on LinkedIN: https://www.linkedin.com/in/eric-morand-9015851/

Importantly, listen to his record (I recommend the Hornstars, video available here)

https://music.apple.com/au/album/invisible-girl/18235946

https://music.apple.com/au/album/feckless-abandon/889702701

https://music.apple.com/au/album/the-hornstars/1499121104

https://music.apple.com/au/album/halfway-there/1639685293

Look up Eric Morand's profile at Monash.

Catch him on Twitter: @EricFMorand

Catch him also on LinkedIN: https://www.linkedin.com/in/eric-morand-9015851/

Importantly, listen to his record (I recommend the Hornstars, video available here)

https://music.apple.com/au/album/invisible-girl/18235946

https://music.apple.com/au/album/feckless-abandon/889702701

https://music.apple.com/au/album/the-hornstars/1499121104

https://music.apple.com/au/album/halfway-there/1639685293

In our second in a mini-series on science in museums, Elaine and Mike spoke to Dr. Danielle Fraser, paleobiologist and Research Scientist at the Canadian Museum of Nature (Ottawa, Canada). Dr. Fraser wears many other hats too, including Director of the Beaty Centre for Species Discovery, Adjunct Research Professor in Biology and Earth Sciences at Carleton University, and Associate at the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History. Listen in for a glimpse into research life in museums, how it differs (or doesn't) from university research, and how she can track the diets of animals long after they're dead.

Check out nature.ca for more info about the Canadian Museum of Nature! Additionally, check out Dr. Fraser's personal website at https://fraserdanielle.ca/ ...

... or her museum webpage: https://nature.ca/en/our-science/science-experts/danielle-fraser/

Thanks for listening!

We spoke to Dr. Jeff Saarela, VP of Collections and Research at the Canadian Museum of Nature (Ottawa, Canada). With over a century as Canada's natural history museum, the Museum of Nature is famous for its beautiful exhibits inside a rustic castle in downtown Ottawa. But the museum is more than just exhibits: there is a separate set of buildings, away from downtown Ottawa, with enormous collections of species and specimens - the majority of which haven't even been classified. Jeff walks us through the archives, the research done at the museum, and how anyone can get into the collections buildings to see the museum's hidden treasures.

There's an open house Oct. 15, 2022! Reserve your spot at nature.ca.

Eric's Google Scholar page: https://scholar.google.ca/citations?user=BMOEBWwAAAAJ&hl=en

Follow Jackson Bennett for the Redblacks or here, and learn more about him on Wikipedia!

See Katherine Bearne's profile for the GeeGees or her research profile in Prof. Robert Boyd's lab.

See Niève Séguin's profile for the GeeGees or read this article written about Niève in the Fulcrum.

Links you may be interested in visiting:

Dr Onita Basu webpage on the Carleton University website

Tanzania Water Hub

Here are links the many websites or research groups  mentioned during the podcast:

• MacLeans' list of influential Canadians in 2022 
•  CoVaRR-Net
• Dr Marc-André Langlois University of Ottawa profile page
• CanCURE 

Fact checking:

SARS-CoV pandemic of 2002-2003 death toll in Canada:

251 people were infected, 43 patient died, which represents 17% of infected people, not 50% as mentioned by Elaine in the podcast. (source: Encyclopedia Britannica)