Hello everyone and welcome to Talk Nurdy. Today is Monday October 31st,

2022 and I'm the host of the show Kara Santa Maria. Happy Halloween everyone. All right, before we dive into this week's episode,

I do want to take just a moment to thank those of you who make TalkNurdy possible week after week. Remember, Talk Nertie is and will always be 100% free to download

and that's because I rely on the support of individuals just like you. This week's top patrons include Daniel Lange, David J. E. Smith, Mary Niva,

Brian Holden, David Compton, Gabriel F. Hormillo Gonzalez, Joe Wilkinson, Leonard Prince, Pasquale-Jilati, Patrick Flynn, and Ulrika Hagman.

Thank you all so, so very much.

All right, I am excited to dive into the show this week.

We had the opportunity to speak with an evolutionary biologist and geneticist

and author of the new book A Voice in the Wilderness, a pioneering biologist

explains how evolution can help us solve our biggest problems. His name is Dr. Joseph L. Graves Jr. He was actually the first African-American

individual in the United States, I think in the United States, to receive a doctor

degree in evolutionary biology and he currently is working as the Associate Director for Precision Microbiome Engineering.

This is a NSF National Science Foundation funded engineering research center whose mission is to advance

microbiome technologies by developing diagnostic tools and different engineering approaches to ultimately prevent

the colonization of infectious agents and promote beneficial microorganisms within the built environment.

He's also a professor of, I think biology, biological sciences, yeah, at the North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University.

So we're going to learn a lot about evolution, why it matters and what we've kind of learned

about ourselves from it and how it's going to affect us in the future.

So without any further ado, here he is Dr. Joseph L. Graves Jr.

Well Joseph, thank you so much for spending some time with us today. Well, I appreciate you having me on the show, Kara.

I'm excited to talk about your new book, A Voice in the Wilderness,

a pioneering biologist explains how evolution can help us solve our biggest problems.

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