Biologist Dr Leonora Bittleston takes us into the mysterious world of the phyllosphere – the micro world upon leaf and plant surfaces. We discuss her research on plant-microbe interactions, looking at case studies of the sage brush steppe ecosystem and the fascinating miniature worlds of carnivorous pitcher plants. She shares how even the smallest organisms on our planet can be a force of nature.

Bio:

Leonora Bittleston is an Associate Professor at Boise State University. She is fascinated by the complex interactions that form between very different kinds of organisms, and among microbes and plants in particular. Her research aims to learn more about life on our planet, taking into account the interconnectedness of ecosystem processes, communities, and species. Previously, Leonora was a James S. McDonnell Postdoctoral Fellow in Complex Systems at MIT. She earned her PhD from the Department of Organismic and Evolutionary Biology at Harvard University and her BS from U.C. Berkeley.

Hosted and produced by Catherine Polcz with music by Carl Didur.

19 Leonora Bittleston: The world on a leaf

Author Barbara Allen discusses her work Lost Animals, Disappearing Worlds (Reaktion Books, 2025). Through her style of writing animal biography, Allen creates space to honour and memorialise extinct animals. We discuss the tragic tales of the passenger pigeon, St Helena’s earwig, dusky seaside sparrow and thylacine. She recreates their presence and world through story.

Bio:

Barbara Allen was a nurse, then a school teacher, before studying to become an ordained minister in the Uniting Church in Australia. She has always been passionate about animals. Her previous books include Lost Animals, Disappearing Worlds, Pigeon, Animals in Religion, Pelican and Broken Heart, Shared Heart, Healing Heart, a book about pet loss. She has been a minister in parishes, schools and aged care facilities. Barbara helped develop Australia’s first animal chaplaincy program at the Lort Smith Animal Hospital, in Melbourne. Recently widowed, she combines locum ministry with her writing ministry. She shares her home with her animal family: Harry, an elderly blind dog, Leaf an elderly cat, and several white doves.

Hosted and produced by Catherine Polcz with music by Carl Didur.

18 Barbara Allen: Lost Animals, Disappearing Worlds

Palaeontologist and curator of the Philip J. Currie Dinosaur Museum Dr Emily Bamforth uses fossils to recreate ancient worlds, painting a vivid picture of Alberta’s polar dinosaurs of 65 million years ago. She shares her philosophy of deep time, her interest in evolutionary ‘failed experiments’, and how the study of ancient life has shaped her unique perspective.

Bio:

Dr Emily Bamforth is the Curator of the Philip J. Currie Dinosaur Museum in Alberta, Canada. She completed a BSc with Specialisation in Evolutionary Biology at the University of Alberta, which sparked a fascination in the origins of multicellular life on Earth. She went on to do a MSc degree at Queens University in Kingston, Ontario under Dr Guy Narbonne. Her fieldwork in Mistaken Point, Newfoundland explored fossils of the oldest complex multicellular life on the planet, from which she described three new species. Returning to her first love (dinosaurs), Dr Bamforth completed a PhD at McGill University in Montreal under Dr Hans Larsson, with a thesis based on the dinosaur mass extinction in Saskatchewan. After graduating in 2014, she went on to work as a palaeontologist with the Royal Saskatchewan Museum, where her research focused on Late Cretaceous and early Cenozoic paleoecology and paleobotany, as well as mass extinction. She began as Curator of the Philip J. Currie Dinosaur Museum in 2022, where her work focuses on late Cretaceous paleoecosystems with an emphasis on understanding the relationships between paleoclimate, paleobotany and dinosaur ecology. Dr Bamforth is an adjunct professor in the University of Alberta’s Department of Biological Sciences and the University of Saskatchewan’s Geological Sciences Department. In her free time, Dr Bamforth enjoys hiking, photography and singing in choirs.

Plant Kingdom is hosted and produced by Catherine Polcz with music by Carl Didur.

17 Emily Bamforth: Canada's polar dinosaurs

Researcher, artist and author Dr Josh Wodak shares insights from his new book Petrified: Living during a rupture of life on Earth. In our conversation, we spoke about deep time, extinction and life on our volatile planet. Spanning 65 million years we cover the climate crisis, asteroid impacts, volcanoes and how pop culture can help us cope and make sense of it all.

Bio:

Dr Joshua Wodak is an artist, writer, and Senior Lecturer at the School of Arts, Western Sydney University. His lyrical, playful, and deadly serious work explores ideas about the unfolding rupture of life on Earth (climate crisis, Anthropocene, Sixth Extinction Event et. al.) in the context of this planet’s propensity to constantly unleash its own crises, time, and time again. That is: how to live on an inherently unstable Earth, and in an inherently catastrophic cosmos. His first book is ‘Petrified: Living During a Rupture of Life on Earth’, published in the Apocalyptic and Post-Apocalyptic Studies series by Heidelberg University (De Gruyter, 2025).

Get Petrified: Living During a Rupture of Life on Earth here: https://www.degruyterbrill.com/document/doi/10.1515/9783111382937/html 

Plant Kingdom is hosted and produced by Catherine Polcz with music by Carl Didur. Post-production on this episode was completed on Worimi country as part of the Gunyah Artist Residency Program.

16: Josh Wodak: Think like a volcano

Entomologist and author Dr Barrett Klein discusses cultural entomology – the study of how insects have shaped and influenced human culture and society. Taking us through the archaeological record, Klein discusses curious objects including a 3700 year old lice comb; ancient Egyptian hieroglyphics depicting apiculture; and a small paleolithic carving of a cave cricket. He also shares his research into honeybee society, insect sleep and what future insect industries may look like.

Bio:

Dr Barrett Klein is the author of The Insect Epiphany: How our six legged allies shape human culture [https://www.hachettebookgroup.com/titles/barrett-klein/the-insect-epiphany/9781643263908/?lens=timber-press]. His research investigates mysteries of sleep in societies of insects, creates entomo-art, and is ever on the search for curious connections that bind our lives with our six-legged allies. Barrett studied entomology at Cornell University and the University of Arizona, fabricated natural history exhibits at the American Museum of Natural History, worked with honey bees for his PhD at the University of Texas at Austin, and spearheaded the Pupating Lab at the University of Wisconsin – La Crosse. He celebrates biodiversity and the intersection of science and art, and believes fully that embracing the beauty of insects can transform our lives and our world.

Hosted and produced by Catherine Polcz with music by Carl Didur.

15 Barrett Klein: Insect Epiphany

Astrobiologist and science communicator Dr Luke Steller journeys deep into the primordial soup to discuss the enigma of Earth’s first life. In our conversation, we discuss what early life could have looked like 3 billion years ago, how scientists read the fossil and rock record, and what life might look like elsewhere in our universe.

Bio:

Dr. Luke Steller is a researcher in the field of astrobiology, the study of how life began on Earth and where it might exist elsewhere in the universe. His research consists of exploring the ancient hot springs of the Pilbara region in Western Australia, on Nyamal Country, where some of the oldest evidence for life on Earth are found. By studying the ancient environment in which this early life was found and conducting experiments that simulate early Earth conditions, Luke explores how simple chemical systems, like RNA and proto-cells, could have evolved into life. He has a PhD in geology from the University of New South Wales.

Hosted and produced by Catherine Polcz with music by Carl Didur.

14 Luke Steller: Primordial soup

Dr Eddie Game is the Lead Scientist & Director of Conservation for The Nature Conservancy’s Asia Pacific region. In our conversation, he discusses conservation as a collaboration with community, and his pioneering works into acoustic ecology – the study of the biology of natural soundscapes. He shares his field work in Papua New Guinea and Borneo, what a healthy jungle sounds like, and what it’s like waking up to the calls of gibbons.

Bio:

Eddie Game is the Lead Scientist & Director of Conservation for The Nature Conservancy’s Asia Pacific region, responsible for ensuring that the Conservancy remains a world leader in making science-based conservation decisions. He has had the privilege of working on conservation in over 20 countries. Eddie and his team have been enthusiastic adopters of ecoacoustics, developing partnerships that bring together cutting-edge academic research with real-world applications in countries including, Papua New Guinea, Indonesia, Myanmar, Australia, and Gabon. He has published more than 75 papers on aspects of conservation science and climate change, alongside his book Conservation Planning: Informed Decisions for a Healthier Planet [http://www.amazon.com/Conservation-Planning-Informed-Decisions-Healthier/dp/1936221519], co-authored with Craig Groves.

Hosted and produced by Catherine Polcz with music by Carl Didur.

Additional Sound Credits:

Borneo Jungle - Day by RTB45 -- https://freesound.org/s/253291/ -- License: Attribution 4.0; Gibbons-Kao Yai National Park.wav by RTB45 -- https://freesound.org/s/147958/ -- License: Attribution 4.0; bat.wav by tomschuetz -- https://freesound.org/s/635147/ -- License: Attribution NonCommercial 4.0 ; 210504 American Robin, dawn song close, roof, urban residential, TORONTO 5am.wav by TRP -- https://freesound.org/s/616969/ -- License: Creative Commons 0; Scpsea (Scp Xqy18) Blowing by ShangASDFGuy123 -- https://freesound.org/s/712560/ -- License: Creative Commons 0

13 Eddie Game: Ecoacoustics

Associate Professor Dr Jenny Mortimer discusses plants as a technology, and how she applies genetic engineering as a tool to solve wicked problems of sustainability in agricultural and pharmaceutical production. Her lab uses synthetic biology to develop new crops in controlled growth environments – including plants for space settlement as part of the newly formed ARC Centre of Excellence in Plants for Space.

BIO:

Jenny Mortimer is Associate Professor of Plant Synthetic Biology in the School of Agriculture, Food and Wine at the University of Adelaide. She is also an Affiliate Staff Scientist at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory. After completing her PhD at Cambridge University, she began exploring how engineering the plant cell wall could deliver sustainable and economically viable biofuels. At Adelaide, her group is using synthetic biology to develop new crops for food and materials production in controlled growth environments – including for Space settlement, as part of the newly formed ARC Centre of Excellence Plants for Space (P4S). She is active in outreach and education, and collaborates with  media, schools and museums. She is a handling editor for the prestigious journals Plant Cell Physiology and The Plant Journal.

Plant Kingdom is hosted and produced by Catherine Polcz with music by Carl Didur.

12 Jenny Mortimer: Plants in space

Climate change biologist Dr Sharon Robinson takes us thousands of kilometres across the Southern Ocean to Casey Station, Antarctica. She is an expert on Antarctica’s ancient moss beds, which she describes as ‘miniature old growth forests’. In our conversation, we spoke about the adaptations that enable moss to thrive in some of the harshest environments on earth, and the impact of historic ozone depletion and climate change on these fragile ecosystems.

Bio:

Dr Sharon Robinson is a Climate Change Biologist at the University of Wollongong, Australia. An expert on Antarctic moss, she first visited East Antarctica in 1996 and has been on 12 expeditions to Antarctica with the Australian and Chilean National Antarctic Programs. Her research characterizes the impact of anthropogenic change including ozone depletion and climate change on fragile moss ecosystems. She is a member and lead author of the UN Environment Programme, Environmental Effects Assessment Panel; and a Faculty Member of Homeward Bound, helping to create a global network of women with a background in STEMM leading and solving our world’s greatest challenges. She is a 2024 Australian Laureate Fellow and Deputy Director of Securing Antarctica’s Environmental Future.

Plant Kingdom is hosted and produced by Catherine Polcz with music by Carl Didur.

11 Sharon Robinson: Antarctic moss

Translator, author and academic Dr Jon Pitt discusses his work in critical plant studies and the representation of plants throughout Japanese literature and media. He shares the joys of his recent translation of the work Tree Spirits Grass Spirits by acclaimed Japanese poet Hiromi Ito, and delves into what we can gain from becoming botanical – or thinking like a plant.

Bio:

Jon L Pitt is Assistant Professor of Japanese Environmental Humanities at the University of California, Irvine. He situates his work at the intersection of Japanese literary and media studies and critical plant studies. He is the translator of poet Hiromi Ito's Tree Spirits Grass Spirits (Nightboat Books, 2013). His first monograph is forthcoming from Cornell University Press. Selected publications include "Documenting Wordless Testimony: Botanical Witnesses of Hiroshima and Chernobyl" in the journal Angelaki, "Becoming Marimo: The Curious Case of a Charismatic Algae and Imagined Indigeneity" in the collected volume Being Algae: Transformations in Water, Plants (Brill, 2024), and "Of Miracles and Mourning: Reading COVID-19 Environmentally in Uchidate Makiko and Ito Seiko" in The Coronavirus Pandemic in Japanese Literature and Popular Culture (Routledge, 2023).

Plant Kingdom is hosted and produced by Catherine Polcz with music by Carl Didur.

10 Jon Pitt: Becoming botanical

Plant Kingdom is a conversation series about plants, nature and environment featuring scientists, artists, researchers, writers and healers.

We release two conversations each month, and hear from people who have an intimacy with plants and nature. We discuss their work, stories and reflections from the field.

We record in Sydney, Australia on the lands of the Gadigal people of the Eora nation, and pay respect to their elders - past, present and future.

Hosted and produced by Catherine Polcz. Our music is by Carl Didur.

Visit us at plantkingdom.earth

Catherine Polcz

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