014: Parasites, Vampire Bats, and Science, Oh My! A Discussion with Dan Riskin

Dr. Dan Riskin is the host of the Animal Planet show about parasitic infections, Monsters Inside Me, and he also hosts a nightly science show broadcast in Canada, The Daily Planet. Dr. Riskin studied vampire bats while earning his Ph.D., and to this day is still bat crazy. His career promoting science for general audiences and his entertaining and enthusiastic personality have led him to be a guest on various late night talk shows, and he is the author of the book “Mother Nature is Trying to Kill You”. Dr. Riskin discusses various topics ranging from his bot fly infection, to the thrill of watching bats emerge from a cave, and touching on how to communicate science to a general audience, will make you want to keep listening! The MicroCase for listeners to solve is about SouthEast Carwashian, a celebrity who gets a mysterious disease while spending time in a remote village filming an episode for her reality TV show.

Participants:

Karl Klose, Ph.D. (UTSA)

Dan Riskin, Ph.D.

Jesus Romo (UTSA)

Robert Richardson (Alamo Heights High School)