Tom's SciCast

The more I learn about plants, the more I'm amazed. From insects to fungus and bacteria, plants form many relationships. Some plants even talk to each other through the air or underground, while othe…

Tatooine, Dagobah, Hoth, or the Death Star, how Star Wars resembles our solar system. I couldn't help myself, I had to do an episode comparing our solar system to my favorite movie. Learn how the Ear…

From the nature of light, to the light reaction and through the Calvin Cycle I explain how photosynthesis works. I cover how light energy transformed into chemical energy and follow the electrons fro…

After a few memes with cats sitting on biology books making references to biology being soft and textbooks calling chemistry the central science, I figured it's time to start calling biology the Apex…

These are some of the biggest discoveries, events. and breakthroughs of 2022, from huge volcanoes, long-lived bacteria, breakthroughs in cancer treatments, AI, and why the James Web Telescope is one …

How we do science is changing. I use my own  experiences from graduate school to understand science and where it is going from question driven science to the importance of natural history and keeping…

Can one number be used to rank a civilization's advancement? I discuss the Kardashev Scale and how we might expand upon it by looking at other measures of advancement beyond energy use. 

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Do you have mutant super powers like eating ice cream without it hurting your stomach? How can diet and exercise slow down aging, or why do age in the first place? Does what happen to you affect your…

Why are some cancer cells immortal? What can we learn about aging from a lobster? Why does a gene from a human work in a bacteria? The answers lies in genetics. In this episode I explain how understa…

Why do we reproduce sexually, why do we look similar to our parents and siblings, but are different? In this episode, I take a close look at the origins of sexual reproduction, how meiosis generates …

Why is the outer solar system perhaps the best place to look for life?  If it is, then where should we look for it? And importantly, what would it mean to find life in our solar system? 

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For hundreds of years, we have wondered if life is on Mars. I take a close look at the evidence from nearly 50 years of orbiters, landers, rovers, and even Marian rocks found on Earth to answer this …

Surprisingly, defining life is hard. Listen in as Tom Kennedy takes a broader look at what makes something living.

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When searching for life, look for liquid water, AKA the habitable zone. But knowing where liquid water on a planet's surface  can be difficult. I explain how the characteristics of a star and its pla…

Could alien life resemble life on Earth, or, would it completely different? Join me as I discuss the importance of convergent evolution and introduce a new concept of biological determinism to specul…

What does the future hold for humanity? Join me as I speculate about the prospects of our survival into the future along with the obstacles we must overcome to ensure our survival. There's a lot of f…

Cellular membranes separate life from the outside world.  I take a look into the world of membranes explaining how forming a barrier lets cells use their membranes to do many  things from storing ene…

One of the most biggest mysteries in science is how did life get started. In the past 100 years,  several important theories improved our understanding about the origins of life. But each one has its…

Biology is more than just memorizing the parts of cell or dissecting some poor animal in lab, it's a broad field driven by curiosity and imagination grounded in the scientific method.  

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Why do I believe the current geological era that began when the dinosaurs went extinct 65 million years ago came to an abrupt end  on September 1,  1914.  I make my case that we ended one era while s…