We made it through January! Yes there's still a pandemic (scream) but Spring and vaccines are coming, and there's lots to look forward to. Like this fantastic episode! I had a great time catching up with my friend Dr Sara Hermann: we chatted about her path into academia, and the research on trophic interactions and predator prey dynamics going on in her lab. This episode's Paper in Focus is from Dr Bako Rasolofoniaina, who joined to tell me about neophobia and social learning in a Madagascan mongoose species (as well as some fun field experiences: paper link below). Sara and I were joined by Dr Murielle Ålund and Dr Luci Kirkpatrick to talk about the joys and challenges of starting a family as an early career researcher - lots of great advice here for people who are considering doing just that, and for people who want to better support their colleagues.

Hosted, as always, by me, Kirsty MacLeod.
Drop me a line anytime: hello[at]theweepodcast.org

Links & Resources

• Paper in Focus: Neophobia and social facilitation in narrow-striped mongooses
• Sara's lab at Penn State (her Twitter and Instagram are both: @predpreysara)
• Murielle's webpage and #AcademicMum resources, and if you want to know more about her postdoc project on flycatchers, check out @QvarnströmLab on Twitter!
• Luci's webpage