Paleontology, the past, present and future of biodiversity, beardogs, and doing and communicating science with CICASP’s Dr. Susumu Tomiya

The PrimateCast

This is podcast #67 with Dr. Susumu Tomiya.

It's such a pleasure to be able to share my interview with Dr. Susumu Tomiya, my colleague for the past 3+ years in the Center for International Collaboration and Advanced Studies in Primatology (CICASP).

Susumu and I have worked closely over that time toward developing our capacity at Kyoto University to teach science communication to our graduate students, and to encourage and promote their activities in various ways, such as through news stories on the CICASP website and co-developing educational programs with students themselves. Here are a couple of examples of Susumu's work in that regard, in interviews with graduate student Tianmeng He and postdoc Gao Jie about their research.

Susumu is an assistant professor, now based in the Department of Cognitive Neuroscience at Kyoto University's new Center for the Evolutionary Origins of Human Behavior (EHUB). But, he is a vertebrate paleonologist interested in mammalian diversity, with a background in studying extinct carnivorans in North America! You might wonder what he's up to at a research institute dedicated to the study of primates, and you can find out by listening to the podcast right here! To find out more about his research, visit his personal website.

In the interview, we discuss a pretty wide range of topics, from understanding biodiversity in an evolutionary context to contextualize biodiversity loss in the present and future, to exploring some of the amazing species he's studied (think, beardogs!). We then get on to the process of doing and communicating science, and onto science education, as Susumu has long been involved in the latter through programs at the museums he's worked at - including Chicago's famous Field Museum - and now through CICASP.

It was such a treat to record this interview, so I hope my enthusiasm for speaking with Susumu comes through, and that you all feel a little more nourished coming away from this interview with Dr. Susumu Tomiya as much as I did.

The PrimateCast is hosted and produced by Andrew MacIntosh. Artwork by Chris Martin. Music by Andre Goncalves. Credits by Kasia Majewski.

• Connect with us on Facebook or Twitter
• Subscribe where you get your podcasts
• Email [e-mail] with thoughts and comments

Consider sending us an email or reaching out on social media to give us your thoughts on this and any other interview in the series. We're always happy to hear from you and hope to continue improving our podcast format based on your comments and suggestions.

A podcast from Kyoto University and CICASP.