Dan Riskin, PhD
Biologist, Author, Science Journalist, Speaker
Helping People Enjoy Science
Science is fun and surprising and hilarious and exciting. I help people tap into that.
On TV and Radio
I appear on TV and radio 15–20 times each week to discuss the most important science stories in the world today. You can catch me on CTV, across the BellMedia Radio Network, and beyond. For a sampling, click here to see some of my most recent appearances on CTV.
You might also have seen me on TV as the co-host of Daily Planet on Discovery, as the host of Monsters Inside Me on Animal Planet, or as a guest on any number of shows (including The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson!)
As a Keynote Speaker
The challenge many groups face is that they’ve been working together on a problem and have converged on one way of seeing it. An organization’s culture can be good, but it sometimes gets in the way of diversity. Using humour, science, and psychological tools, I help organizations see their work in different ways.
Right now people are mostly asking me to talk about how they can thrive in a world of Artificial Intelligence, but my talks about the hidden power of complex groups are a close second. If you think a talk like that might be good for your team, reach out to my team at Speakers Spotlight!
Leading Wildlife Tours
One of the most profound and fun ways to explore the beauty of the natural world is to get out there and see it yourself. Since 2018 I have partnered with Quest Nature Tours, to lead nature expeditions. So far those trips include Borneo, Ecuador, Panama, and Peru.
I especially enjoy taking pictures of wildlife on those trips, like the image above, of a Crowned Woodnymph in Panama.
My next tour will be to the Galápagos Islands 13–23 October, 2025. If you’re interested, there’s still room!
…and as an Author
It may be a wonderful world, but as Dan Riskin explains, it’s also a dangerous, disturbing, and disgusting one. At every turn, it seems, living things are trying to eat us, poison us, use our bodies as their homes, or have us spread their eggs before we collapse. In Mother Nature Is Trying to Kill You, Riskin is our tour guide through the natural world at her most gloriously ruthless.
“You will laugh, you will learn, you may even throw up a little in your mouth. Don’t worry, it’s natural!”
-Ed Robertson (Barenaked Ladies)
It’s time for Fiona the fruit bat to take her very first flight, but she’s scared. How will she fly when she can’t see in the dark? Mama just says, “Listen.” But how will listening help her see? Then she hears a mysterious sound from deep in her cave. To find out what’s making that noise – and to finally fly –Fiona will have to unlock a secret hidden inside herself.
“This is soooo good”
-Wandatheowl on GoodReads