Shane Campbell-Staton

Why you should listen

An assistant professor of ecology and evolutionary biology at Princeton University, Shane Campbell-Staton studies a wide array of animals adapting to life on a planet dominated by humans — from lizards evolving to survive scorching city heat to tuskless African elephants thriving during a time of rampant poaching. In 2022, he was named a Pew Biomedical Scholar for his team's research on the evolution of cancer resilience in gray wolves within the Chernobyl Exclusion Zone. His work has been featured in several media outlets, including The New York Times, The Atlantic, Scientific American, Sports Illustrated and The Daily Show with Trevor Noah.

Campbell-Staton is the creator and cohost of The Biology of Superheroes podcast, which explores cutting-edge science through the lens of science fiction and comic books. He will make his television debut in summer 2023 as the host of a science travel show Human Footprint, which will explore how humans have reshaped the planet and what those changes reveal about who we are, and as the narrator of a natural history series, both on PBS.