One of the speakers at the Manitoba Conservation Districts Association annual conference, held earlier this week in Brandon, was well known science enthusiast and broadcaster Jay Ingram. He's known for a wide variety of science programs including Discovery's Daily Planet.

Morning Show Co-Host Chris Sumner MC'd the conference, and had the chance to chat with Jay after his presentation. One of the interesting tid-bits he found out from Jay was he's not really sure how he became so interested in science.

“I started bird watching when I was seven, and then when I was in Grade 7 I had a microscope (and) I used to look at things pond water,” explained Ingram. “I never realized, I never thought of at the time, I'm probably the only guy I know who has a microscope.”

He noted it was his mother who introduced him to bird watching, but his interest in science seemed to have always been there.

Ultimately he made his way to the broadcasting field, radio was his first stop by the way. Chris asked Jay why he felt it was important to engage the general public about scientific discoveries, and frankly, things that are just simply cool.

Jay's topic at the conference was species extinction. One concept he discussed was re-wilding, the re-introduction of species which at one time populated an area, but have since gone extinct... for example cheetahs in North America.

Jay is also an accomplished author having written twelve books, with his thirteenth The End of Memory: A Natural History of Alzheimer's Disease published in November.