Histories, mysteries, memories and families: it’s time to clamber up our ancestral trees. Author and genealogist Stephen Hanks -- who teaches genealogy classes in Portland, Oregon and has contributed to PBS genealogy documentaries -- sits down to chat in this encore episode about what ignited a passion for learning about his own history. Also: how to find your family through census records, county archives, death certificates and more, plus which DNA tests he’s taken, our most recent common ance...
Feb 04, 2026•1 hr 10 min•Ep. 491
Tall ears. Huge teeth. Underestimated wit. And vocalizations that would make a songbird envious. Let’s talk donkeys with researcher and Director at The Donkey Sanctuary, Asinologist Dr. Faith Burden. We cover pop culture donkeys, their road to domestication, how much they can carry, whether you should ever saddle up on a donkey, mule genetics, zoo sexism, how to care for a donkey, what their noises mean, milky baths, emperor gossip, squats versus donkey kicks, and why these beautiful beasts dese...
Jan 28, 2026•1 hr 16 min•Ep. 490
Excuse me, why do you have teeth? How did they get in your mouth and where did they come from? Let’s ask researcher, tooth enthusiast, and Paleohistologist Dr. Yara Haridy. She opened up the archives at Chicago’s Field Museum to chat about ancient skulls, drawers of bones, and the evidence that changed how we think about chompers. Drop your jaws as we discuss the origins of teeth, why yours hurt, the long-debated rumors of extinct species, how particle accelerators and paleontology worlds collid...
Jan 21, 2026•1 hr 27 min•Ep. 489
Tongue twisters. Frosty holidays. Scandals. Big ol’ rodent butts. Let’s talk groundhogs with UCLA conservationist, field biologist, professor and Marmotologist, Dr. Daniel Blumstein. We cover what broadly is a marmot, the Buddhism and paganism of the midwinter slump, marmot parenthood, what they are singing into the wind, how to co-exist with one in your garden, why they don't get stressed about holiday bingeing, the real estate layout of a groundhog lair, how and why we celebrate Groundhog Day,...
Jan 14, 2026•1 hr 16 min•Ep. 488
Gassy veils! Orange sunlight! Alien life? It’s the sole goddess of our solar system: Venus. And to tour us through her beauty is the charming and enthusiastic planetary geologist and Venusian expert Dr. Vickie Hansen, a Senior Scientist at the Planetary Science Institute. In what is sure to become an instant classic, Vickie will delight you with tales of space probes past and future, dazzling terrain, myths, melting machinery, “noodle data,” analogues to Earth, tectonic misconceptions, and react...
Jan 07, 2026•1 hr 14 min•Ep. 487
Did Part 1 leave you informed and now you need a pep talk? Get ready for an absolute banger of an encore episode with 5 experts: René Brooks of BlackGirlLostKeys.com, TEDTalk speaker and How to ADHD YouTuber Jessica McCabe and neuroscientist Dr. Jahla Osborne of University of Michigan. What is it like to get diagnosed? How do you know which medication – if any – is right for you? Why is there such a spike in ADHD diagnoses during the pandemic? Autism and ADHD: what’s the deal? What accommodation...
Dec 31, 2025•1 hr 37 min•Ep. 486
Focus. Productivity. Relationships. Distraction. Neurodiversity. How do you know if you have ADHD? How can you get others to understand your ADHD brain? What are your treatment options and how can they help? In this encore of our wildly popular Part 1 episode, we talk racing thoughts, brilliant brains and the causes and effects of Attention-Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder with the world’s leading expert, Dr. Russell Barkley who is A BIG DEAL. Psychologist, retired professor of clinical psychiatry...
Dec 24, 2025•1 hr 42 min•Ep. 485
Duck bills. Beaver tails. Underground lairs. Eggs. Milk. Venom? A platypus has it all. Scholar, conservationist, and Ornithorhynchologist Dr. Tahneal Hawke is here to run through the baffling anatomy and answer all of our WHAT’S THE DEAL, WHAT EVEN *ARE* THEY questions, and chat about field work, evolution, how to spot a platypus, why you can’t have one in your bathtub, and myths about platypus espionage. Also, a platypus might be sexier than you. Follow Dr. Hawke on Instagram and Google Scholar...
Dec 18, 2025•1 hr 9 min•Ep. 484
The microbiome is back! In 2018, we chatted with Dr. Elaine Hsiao - a UCLA microbiome researcher– and learned all about the hot cauldron of your guts. In this 2025 update bonus, we chat again with Dr. Hsiao to get updates on the last 7 years of her research. We also stop by White Plains, New York to hang out with Dr. Miguel Freitas, lead nutritional microbiologist and director of the non-profit Danone Institute North America, and ask a million questions about good vs bad microbiota, how they sim...
Dec 15, 2025•48 min•Ep. 483
Dehydrated eggs. Airborne tortillas. Pouches of chicken. Tang. Work up an appetite for space food with artist, designer and Astrobromatologist, Maggie Coblentz. She shares how the intersection of design and science led her skyward, doing experiments on zero G flights, and shipping miso into space. We also talk Martian gardening, stinky roommates, booze bans, contraband corned beef, velcro fatigue, the ethics of space tourism, how to make barbecued wings in orbit, and addressing the conspiracy of...
Dec 10, 2025•1 hr 12 min•Ep. 482
Fronds. Forest dwellers. Spores. Houseplants. Queer icons. We’ve got ferns. The charming and hilarious professor and author of “Ferns: Lessons in Survival from Earth’s Most Adaptable Plants,” Dr. Fay-Wei Li, tells me all about fern evolution, what ferns not to have in your house, the most expensive ferns, the tastiest ferns, mathematical mysteries, and a genome that makes no sense, to me or a lot of Pteridologists. Also, can Between Two Ferns save science? This episode is, in Fay-Wei’s words, “f...
Dec 03, 2025•1 hr 6 min•Ep. 481
Note: if you haven’t already heard it, please start with our original, May 2024 episode with Dr. Moses: Genocidology (CRIMES OF ATROCITY) Part 1 A lot has happened since then, and author, scholar and genocide expert Dr. Dirk Moses was kind enough to return for a 2025 episode. We cover how public and legal sentiment has changed since our first episode, and discuss his recent paper, “Introduction: Gaza and the Problems of Genocide Studies,” which includes a roundtable discussion with dozens of exp...
Nov 27, 2025•1 hr 13 min•Ep. 480
Bison bison! Not just something to holler into the sky, but also the scientific name for North America's majestic wild bovines. In this encore, we explore a beast that once roamed the plains in the tens of millions. What's up with their humps? On what occasion do they wear capes? What noises do they make? How many are out there? What are the best ways to help them? In this special episode, you get 4x the usual number of ologists as we talk to archeologist Dr. Ken Cannon, wildlife biologist Dr. D...
Nov 19, 2025•1 hr 30 min•Ep. 479
We’re back with Dr. R.J. “Rocky” Gutiérrez to answer listeners’ questions on owls. How much wisdom lies behind those big, immovable eyes? Are owls good or bad omens? What’s their proclivity for snatching hats? Is The Staircase owl theory plausible? Is it ok to hoot back at them? What do you mean one of their toes is reversible? This episode’s got the answers, plus info on owl migration, conservation, burrowing, disco dancing, and more.Follow Dr. Gutiérrez on Google Scholar Donations went to the ...
Nov 13, 2025•1 hr 12 min•Ep. 478
OWLS. FINALLY. In no particular order: what’s up with their eyes, legs, hoots, feathers, silent flight, nests, folklore, necks, barfs, conservation status, and omens? Go take a walk or sit on a porch in the dusk and make friends with Rocky. Dr. R.J. “Rocky” Gutiérrez is a celebrated researcher, Professor Emeritus at the University of Minnesota, a legend in the owl world, and simply one of the loveliest ologists. He’ll take us on a trip next to a river, scrambling up some trees, over rocky terrai...
Nov 05, 2025•57 min•Ep. 477
Metal poisons. Odorless ones. Toxic plants. Iocane powder, arsenic, old lace, poisons as self-defense, black mirrors, Aqua Tofanas, movie myths, and the start of testing for that which ails or kills you: we’ve got Historical Toxicology with Pulitzer Prize-winning science author & chemistry connoisseur Deborah Blum. She wrote the beloved “Poisoner's Handbook: Murder and the Birth of Forensic Medicine in Jazz Age New York” and takes us through a spooky walk in time, when chemistry was magic an...
Oct 29, 2025•1 hr 14 min•Ep. 476
What is evil? Who is evil? Does evil exist? Who decides? Can we scream over turkey at grandma’s house? Let’s chat Critical Ponerology with scholar, professor, author of Evil: A Critical Primer, and a gem of a person, Dr. Kenneth MacKendrick of the University of Manitoba. He’s been teaching courses on the notion of evil for 25 years and it’s a much deeper rabbit hole than you’d ever expect. So rub your fingers together and enjoy a discussion about different cultural approaches to evil, if your to...
Oct 22, 2025•1 hr 6 min•Ep. 475
Cockroach milk for Spooktober. STAY HERE. Don’t tell me you like haunted houses and slasher films but can’t listen to a lovely conversation about how cockroaches make milk to feed their young. It’s one of the most nutritious substances on Earth, and I own some. Sort of. Coem along for a brief and enthralling discussion from two researchers, Dr. Joshua Benoit and Dr. Sinead English, all about why and how some insects give live birth and nurse their young. What does it taste like? Will we replicat...
Oct 20, 2025•28 min•Ep. 474
Dazzling colors. Remote habitats. Gentle parenting. Fantastic genitalia. And yeah, swimming through sewers to surprise you. It’s cockroaches and I promise you will find something to love about them in this chat with cockroach evangelist and Blattodeologist Dr. Dominic Evangelista. Which are the prettiest? Are roaches better at raising kids than you? How do roach scientists feel about the ones in kitchens? How does one catch a cockroach in a dark rainforest? Can roaches pull a Ratatouille and ste...
Oct 15, 2025•1 hr 8 min•Ep. 473
Mudbank bones. River wrecks. Salty seas. Pink ponds. Poison dust devils. Steamy streams.. It’s Haunted Hydrology with your favorite Spooky Lakes ambassador, the artist and author Geo Rutherford who is widely known as Geodesaurus. Geo covers the dark history of The Great Lakes, a stump that controls the weather, the what and why of a good lagoon, the field excursions she’s been on for research, the lakes she wants to see the most, and how a drought can shiver your spine. It’s a Spooktober spectac...
Oct 08, 2025•1 hr 16 min•Ep. 472
Are you creepy? How would you know? What’s “creepy” as opposed to scary or eerie? We talk to the pioneer of this research, Serpopsychologist, Dr. Frank McAndrew, a professor emeritus at Knox College. We chat: dates that give you the willies, Weary Willie the Clown, haunted dolls, college goths, dark alleyways, evolutionary neurobiology, what NOT to get Oprah, the line between horror and comedy, the phobia of balloons, dating tips, and why you should re-evaluate your bathmat. Welcome to Spooktobe...
Oct 01, 2025•1 hr 13 min•Ep. 471
Storming the Bastille. Facing off with tanks. Canceling a streaming subscription. We’re talking protests, boycotts, insurrections, and demonstrations. Scholar, professor, and actual real life Revolutionologist Dr. Jack Goldstone lays out the whys – and the hows. What revolts have been the gold standard? How has social media impacted social change? What happens when you install the wrong new leader? Does non-violent protest work? And how does one go about orchestrating big social change? Also: de...
Sep 24, 2025•1 hr 33 min•Ep. 470
Pigs with human kidneys. Iron lungs. Bionic prostheses. And bendable genitals. Mary Roach is here, and Alie is freaking out. Over the last two decades, this science icon has written seven New York Times bestsellers, including Stiff , Bonk , Gulp , and Packing for Mars . Her latest release, Replaceable You: Adventures in Human Anatomy is all about Human Technomorphology. Prep your flesh for getting to 4th base in a lab, bugs on drugs, elective amputation, gene-tweaked farm animals, vacuum chamber...
Sep 17, 2025•59 min•Ep. 469
Porcelain. Earthenware. China. Archaeology. Stoneware. Anthropology. Amphora. Throwing wheels. We got it all. Master potters, history aficionados and Potted History’s icons Sarah Lord Taylor and Graham Taylor are here for our 8th anniversary episode. We get the dirt on ceramics versus pottery, where clay comes from, if there’s enough in the world, how can you spot clay in the wild, how long have humans being making pots, what were the first ceramics, what is glaze exactly, why did your pots expl...
Sep 10, 2025•1 hr 13 min•Ep. 468
Neurons. Immune systems. MRIs. Weed gummies? One of the greats in neurology, Dr. Aaron Boster, takes time to chat all about Multiple Sclerosis, a neurological autoimmune disease close to our hearts. Alie’s mom, your grammapod a.k.a. Fancy Nancy, was diagnosed with MS over two decades ago, and this episode explores in depth the factors that can cause MS, therapies that do – and don’t – show promise, how diet, exercise and mindfulness actually can help folks who have MS, the oftentimes agonizing j...
Sep 03, 2025•1 hr 37 min•Ep. 467
YOU’RE NOT READY. But it’s time. Otters. Sea otters. River otters. Big beefy otters. Tiny otters. Giant river otters. Otters chasing you down the street. Dr. Chris J. Law, a professional Lutrinologist, shares tales about coastal vs. inland otters, otter terrorism, magical teeth, lustrous fur, rock pockets, kelp naps, otter terrorism, cautionary motherhood, toxic relationships, hand holding and why otters make you trust them, despite the fact that you should perhaps not trust an otter. Visit Dr. ...
Aug 27, 2025•1 hr 5 min•Ep. 466
Train tracks. Split decisions. And a philosophy humdinger worth debating. Dr. Joshua Greene is a Harvard Psychology professor, neuroscientist, and *actual* Trolleyologist. The moral humdinger that has been used in everything from Supreme Court decisions to board games looks at: What makes you a good person? How do you reason with people who make you scream into a jar like Yosemite Sam? How far would you go to save others? Which charities should get your money? What is active versus passive harm?...
Aug 20, 2025•1 hr 24 min•Ep. 465
The info storm continues! Part 1 covered the anatomy of a cyclonic storm, the bizarre histories behind the category system, and where hurricanes come from, but this week’s conclusion with Matt Lanza and Dr. Kim Wood gets you covered on emergency preparation for any disaster occasion, climate change trends and despair, the latest on the government funding drama, if you should trust a waffle house more than a weather person, and literally what is on the horizon in the future. Also: Sharpiegate. Re...
Aug 13, 2025•1 hr 2 min•Ep. 464
Hurricanes. Typhoons. Cyclones. Tropical storms. Tropical depressions. What does it all MEAAAN? Let’s dive in. Career meteorologists Dr. Kim Wood of the University of Arizona and Space City Weather’s Matt Lanza join for a two-guest two-parter to address the “deadlier” female-named hurricanes, why hurricane season happens, the category system, where hurricanes come from, why they have eyes, and how we track cyclones’ paths so we can stay out of them. Next week we’ll be back with Kim and Matt to c...
Aug 06, 2025•1 hr 11 min•Ep. 463
When were glasses invented? What happened back then if your horse stepped on them? How is the digital age changing adults’ and kids’ vision? The first half of this special bonus episode about Optical Technology features the charmingly hilarious director of the Museum of the Eye in San Francisco, Jenny Benjamin. Then we bop over to Houston, Texas for the ultra-knowledgeable real-life optometrist, Dr. Nadia Sledge to chat about the importance of annual exams and where our eyesight is trending in t...
Aug 01, 2025•51 min•Ep. 462
