Life on the Edge with Laurel Yohe

Episode 13

What can we learn from animals that live life on the edge? Dr. Laurel Yohe joins the podcast to discuss her fascinating research on bats, creatures with extreme adaptations like supersonic echolocation and mysteriously resilient immune systems. The conversation explores how studying these unique animals, using everything from 100-year-old museum specimens to cutting-edge genomic sequencing, provides critical insights into evolution and the transmission of viruses. Dr. Yohe also makes a powerful case for "science for the sake of discovery," where pure curiosity can lead to the most unexpected and vital breakthroughs.

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Key Takeaways

• Studying animals that live at biological extremes, such as in unique environments or with unusual metabolisms, provides a powerful window into the evolutionary pressures that create diversity.
• Modern research often finds success by creatively blending old and new scientific methods. For instance, basic tissue staining of a bat specimen from 1906 yielded images as clear as if the sample were fresh, showing the value of classic techniques.
• To optimize their "supersonic" echolocation abilities, the anatomy of horseshoe bats has been completely rearranged. Their throats have essentially moved up into their faces to fine-tune how they perceive the world through sound.
• Evolutionary adaptations for one purpose can have unintended consequences for other systems. The same changes that improved bat echolocation also altered the placement of immune cells in the nasal cavity, potentially affecting how they tolerate viruses.
• The risk of pathogens spreading from animals to humans increases as we encroach on wildlife habitats. This creates a greater interface between wild animals, domesticated animals, and people, raising the chances of a spillover event.
• Research driven by pure curiosity is essential because it can become unexpectedly vital. Foundational knowledge on bat noses, gathered simply out of scientific interest, suddenly became highly relevant during the COVID-19 pandemic.

This podcast was produced and edited by Zack Jackson CIPHER is a proud part of UNC Charlotte who holds all rights to the content created by this podcast