AIBS Media Library

Online access to the AIBS Media Library is free to all visitors

The AIBS Media Library (previously named the Virtual Library) contains plenary lectures by some of the world's most eminent biologists recorded at AIBS Annual meetings from 2000 onwards. Recordings of other AIBS events are also included when available. You can view synchronized audio and video, plus slides and transcripts of most presentations.

To view the presentations, go to:

Media Library Main Page, all Years

or go directly to the links for individual talks and years, below:

May 2009 AIBS Annual Meeting (theme: Sustainable Agriculture: Greening the Global Food Supply)

  • Bruce Alberts, Science editor-in-chief; University of California, San Francisco
    Keynote Address: "Why Redefining Science Education is the Key to Enhancing the Public Understanding of Science"
    view presentation | MP3 audio

  • Louise E. Jackson, Department of Land, Air, and Water Resources, University of California, Davis (in collaboration with the National Council for Science and the Environment)
    "Biodiversity-friendly Agriculture: Why Scale Matters"
    view presentation | MP3 audio

  • Fred Gould, Department of Entomology, North Carolina State University
    "From Transgenic Crops to Transgenic Pests: How Can AgBiotech Be Green?"
    view presentation | MP3 audio

  • Hans R. Herren, Millennium Institute
    "Sustainable Agriculture and Food Security: The Wake-up Call for Change"
    view presentation | MP3 audio

  • Robert Tauxe, National Center for Zoonotic, Vector-borne, and Enteric Diseases, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
    "Foodborne Diseases: The Continuing Public Health Challenge of Finding Problems and Finding Solutions"
    view presentation | MP3 audio

  • Scott M. Swinton, Department of Agricultural, Food, and Resource Economics, Michigan State University
    "Cultivating Agricultural Landscapes for Ecosystem Services"
    view presentation | MP3 audio

  • Taylor H. Ricketts, Conservation Science Program, World Wildlife Fund-USA
    "Pollination Services, Sustainable Agriculture, and Your Lunch"
    view presentation | MP3 audio

  • Pedro Sanchez, Tropical Agriculture and the Rural Environment Program, Earth Institute at Columbia University
    "The African Green Revolution Moves Forward"
    view presentation | MP3 audio

  • May R. Berenbaum, 2009 AIBS President; University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
    "America's Agricultural Future: Soylent Green + 25"
    view presentation | MP3 audio

  • Special Session:
    Chris Mooney, on his new book Unscientific America: How Scientific Illiteracy Threatens Our Future
    view presentation | MP3 audio

  • Special Session (with multiple presentations):
    The Science and Technology of Biofuels
    view presentation | MP3 audio

  • Special Session (with multiple presentations):
    Agroecology of Biofuels
    view presentation | MP3 audio

  • Special Session (with multiple presentations):
    Professional Science Masters: Connecting to the Business Side of Science
    view presentation | MP3 audio

May 2008 AIBS Annual Meeting (theme: Climate, Environment, and Infectious Diseases)

  • Terry L. Maple, Palm Beach Zoo
    Co-author with Newt Gingrich of A Contract with the Earth
    view presentation | MP3 audio

  • James E. Hansen, National Aeronautics and Space Administration
    "Global Warming: The Threat to Life"
    view presentation | MP3 audio

  • Durland Fish, Yale University
    "Environmental Determinants of Lyme Disease Risk"
    view presentation | MP3 audio

  • Howard Frumkin, National Center for Environmental Health
    "The Public Health Response to Climate Change"
    view presentation | MP3 audio

  • David Rogers, University of Oxford
    "Climate Change: a Cause in Search of Effects?"
    view presentation | MP3 audio

  • Stephen Morse, Columbia University
    "How Could Climate Change Affect Avian Influenza?"
    view presentation | MP3 audio

  • Andrew Dobson, Princeton University
    "Disentangling the Role of Climate, Immunity, and Biotic Interactions in the Dynamics of Infectious Diseases"
    view presentation | MP3 audio

  • Duane Gubler, University of Hawaii
    "The 20th Century Emergence and Spread of Epidemic Dengue/Dengue Hemorrhagic Fever: Is Climate or Environmental Change Responsible?"
    view presentation | MP3 audio

  • Stephen Hoffman, Sanaria Inc.
    "The Role of Radiation Attenuated Plasmodium falciparum Sporozoite Vaccine in Global Malaria Eradication"
    view presentation | MP3 audio

  • Rita Colwell, University of Maryland College Park
    "Climate, Environment, and Infectious Diseases"
    view presentation | MP3 audio

  • Panel Session

  • Ira Flatow, host of NPR's Talk of the Nation: Science Friday
    "Science and Society: The Art of Communication"
    Participants
    Robert Morris, author of The Blue Death: Disease, Disaster, and the Water We Drink
    Kim Stanley Robinson, author of Sixty Days and Counting
    view presentation | MP3 audio

May 2007 AIBS Annual Meeting (theme: Evolutionary Biology and Human Health)

  • Eric Green, National Institutes of Health
    "Comparative Genome Sequencing: Using Evolution to Decode the Human Genome"
    view presentation | MP3 audio

  • Edward Holmes, The Pennsylvania State University
    "The Evolution of Emerging Viruses"
    view presentation | MP3 audio

  • Rustom Antia, Emory University
    "Modeling the Emergence of Infectious Diseases"
    view presentation | MP3 audio

  • Carlos Bustamante, Cornell University
    "Computational Methods for Enabling Gene Mapping in Natural Populations and Domesticated Species"
    view presentation | MP3 audio

  • Douglas C. Wallace, University of California
    "A Mitochondrial Paradigm of Metabolic and Degenerative Diseases, Cancer and Aging: A Dawn for Evolutionary Medicine."
    view presentation | MP3 audio

  • Sarah Tishkoff, University of Maryland
    "Genetic Variation and Adaptation in Africa: Implications for Human Evolution and Disease"
    view presentation | MP3 audio

  • Martin Nowak, Harvard University
    "Evolutionary Dynamics of Cancer"
    view presentation | MP3 audio

  • Panel Discussion
    Panel Speakers: Jay Labov, Joann Boughman, Stephen J. O'Brien, Martin Nowak, Sarah Tishkoff
    view presentation | MP3 audio

  • Randolph Nesse, The University of Michigan,
    "Evolutionary Medicine is Flowering. How can we help it set seed?"
    view presentation | MP3 audio

May 2006 AIBS Annual Meeting (theme: Biodiversity: The Interplay of Science, Valuation, and Policy)

  • Chris Mooney, Washington correspondent, Seed Magazine
    "Learning to Speak Science: How the scientific community can win back its political influence in America"
    view presentation

  • Matthew Nisbet, The Ohio State University
    "Framing Science: Understanding the Battle Over Knowledge"
    view presentation

  • Daniel Esty, Yale University
    "From Science to Policy: Biodiversity Protection, Metrics, and Results"
    view presentation

  • Jamie Rappaport Clark, Defenders of Wildlife
    "The Endangered Species Act under Attack: The Dynamic Interplay between Science and Policy"
    view presentation

  • Shahid Naeem, Columbia University
    "Applications of Biodiversity Research to Human Well-Being"
    view presentation

  • Richard B. Norgaard, University of California at Berkeley
    "Values and Valuation in a Rapidly Changing World"
    view presentation

  • Stephen Polasky, University of Minnesota
    "Valuing Ecosystem Services"
    view presentation

  • Stephen Bocking, Trent University, Canada
    "Defining Effective Science for Biodiversity Policy"
    view presentation

March 2004 AIBS Annual Meeting (theme: Invasive Species: The Search for Solutions)

  • Ann Bartuska, USDA Forest Service
    "Abating the Threat of Invasive Species: Linking Science and Policy"
    view presentation

  • James Carlton, Williams College
    "Invasions in the World's Oceans: How Much Do We Know, and What Does the Future Hold?"
    view presentation

  • Andrew Dobson, Princeton University
    "Zen, Parasites, and the Art of Alien Invasion"
    view presentation

  • David Lodge, University of Notre Dame
    "Bioeconomic Risk Analysis of Invasive Vertebrates and Other Species"
    view presentation

  • Thomas Lovejoy, The Heinz Center,
    "Is the Top Beginning to Blow Off? Environmental Urgency and Biology's Moment in History"
    view presentation

  • Richard Mack, Washington State University
    "A Prescription for Plant Invasions: the Interaction of Attributes, Environment, and Circumstances"
    view presentation

  • Stephen Morse, Columbia University
    "Emerging Infections: Microbial Invaders Discover New Territory"
    view presentation

  • Daniel Simberloff, University of Tennessee
    "We can win this war! The dangers of pessimism about introduced species"
    view presentation

March 2003 AIBS Annual Meeting (theme: Bioethics in a Changing World)

  • Paul Ehrlich, Stanford University
    "Bioethics: Are Our Priorities Right?"
    view presentation

  • Arturo Gomez-Pompa, University of California, Riverside
    "The Role of Biodiversity Scientists in a Troubled World"
    view presentation

  • Stephen Kellert, Yale University
    "A Biocultural Basis for an Ethic Toward the Natural World"

  • Philip Kitcher, Columbia University
    "Responsible Biology"
    view presentation

  • Carl Leopold, Cornell University
    "Ontogeny of the Land Ethic"
    view presentation

  • Paul Risser, Oregon State University
    "Responsible Science and Responsible Scientists"
    view presentation

  • Bruce Alberts, National Academy of Sciences
    "Why We Should Pay More Attention to Young Scientists"

  • Ellis Cowling, North Carolina State University
    "Knowledge, Wisdom, and the Moral Dimension of Intelligence"

  • Richard Boohar, University of Nebraska
    "Making Ethical Thinking Real"

  • David Magnus, Center for Bioethics, Philadelphia
    "The Meaning of Graduate Bioethics Education"

  • Randall Murch, FBI Academy
    "Disclosure of Scientific Information, National Security and Law Enforcement: A Government Perspective"
    view presentation

  • Steven Aftergood, Federation of American Scientists
    "Challenging Government Secrecy, and Promoting Public Oversight"
    view presentation

  • Questions and Answers: Public Dissemination of Sensitive Scientific Information
    Presented by: Randall Murch, Steven Aftergood, Carl Leopold, Paul Risser
    view presentation

  • Training the Next Generation
    Presented by: Bruce Alberts, Ellis Cowling, Richard Boohar, David Magnus
    view presentation

  • Questions and Answers: Training the Next Generation
    Presented by: Bruce Alberts, Ellis Cowling, Richard Boohar, David Magnus
    view presentation

March 2002 AIBS Annual Meeting (theme: Evolution: Understanding Life on Earth)

  • Francisco Ayala, University of California-Irvine
    Vagaries of the Molecular Clock

  • Joel Cracraft, American Museum of Natural History
    Understanding How Life Diversifies: Speciation and Earth History

  • Niles Eldredge, American Museum of Natural History
    What Drives Evolution?
    view presentation

  • Douglas Futuyma, State University of New York-Stony Brook
    Wedding Macroevolution to Microevolution: Uses of Phylogenies in Evolutionary Studies
    view presentation

  • Peter and Rosemary Grant, Princeton University
    What Darwin's Finches Can Teach Us About Evolution
    view presentation

  • Alison Jolly, University of Sussex
    Can the Lemurs Save Madagascar? National and Global Attitudes toward an Evolutionary Radiation
    view presentation

  • Paula Mabee, University of South Dakota
    The New Integration of Developmental and Evolutionary Biology
    view presentation

  • Stephen R. Palumbi, Harvard University
    How Humans Control the Evolution of Resistance and Virulence of Infectious Organisms
    view presentation

  • Loren Rieseberg, Indiana University
    Species, Speciation, and Macroevolution
    view presentation

  • Eugenie Scott, National Center for Science Education
    What's New in the Anti-evolution Movement?
    view presentation

March 2001 AIBS Annual Meeting (theme: From Biodiversity to Biocomplexity)

  • Rita Colwell, National Science Foundation
    World Enough, and Time: A Global Investment for the Environment
    view presentation

  • James H. Brown, University of New Mexico
    The Scale of Life: Body Size, Organism Function, and Biodiversity
    view presentation

  • Kathryn Cottingham, Dartmouth College
    The Role of Scale in Understanding Biocomplexity: Lessons from Lakes
    view presentation

  • Paul Ehrlich, Stanford University
    Human Diversity and the Struggle to Save Biodiversity
    view presentation

  • Simon A. Levin, Princeton University
    Ecosystems and the Biosphere as Complex Adaptive Systems
    view presentation

  • Jane Lubchenco, Oregon State University
    Seas the Day: New Scientific Knowledge About Oceans
    view presentation

  • Sandra Postel, Global Water Policy Project
    Human Impacts on Earth's Fresh Water: Scale, Consequences, and a Call to Action
    view presentation

  • Nancy N. Rabalais, Louisiana University Marine Consortium
    Continental-scale Nonpoint Nutrient Pollution and Water Quality in the Gulf of Mexico
    view presentation

  • Joy B. Zedler, University of Wisconsin
    Biodiversity Experimentation Improves Both the Science and Practice of Restoration
    view presentation

March 2000 AIBS Annual Meeting (theme: Challenges for the New Millennium)

  • Stephen Jay Gould, Harvard University
    Evolution and the 21st Century and personal interview
    view presentation

  • Daniel H. Janzen, University of Pennsylvania
    Lumpy Integration of Tropical Wild Biodiversity with Society and personal interview
    view presentation

  • Gene E. Likens, Institute of Ecosystems Studies
    Energetics, Biogeochemical Cycles, and Ecosytems and personal interview
    view presentation

  • Lynn Margulis, University of Massachusetts
    From Microcosm to Gaia
    view presentation

  • Ernst Mayr, Harvard University
    Biology in the 21st Century
    view presentation

  • Gordon Orians, University of Washington
    Behavior, Ecology, and Evolution and personal interview
    view presentation

  • Sir Ghillean Prance, Eden Project
    Biodiversity and Conservation and personal interview
    view presentation

  • Marvalee Wake, University of California at Berkeley
    Bodies and Body Plans: How They Come to Be
    view presentation

  • Edward O. Wilson, Harvard University
    Biology and the Human Sciences and personal interview.
    view presentation