Grab your fire extinguisher and hang on to your eyebrows, we’re building FIRES today. Now, this is pyrotechnology in the anthropological sense; the kind covered in hair metal concert venue liability insurance will have to wait for another day, no no, these are the kind your ancestors made. Get ready for sharp rocks, hairy jello, sooty caves, glowing coals, iron sparks, burnt feet, wolf skulls, fluffy fungus, molten metal, ember tending and more with Yale anthropologist and pyrotechnologist, Dr. ...
Sep 28, 2021•1 hr 15 min•Ep. 220
Teeth. Tails. Concentric nipples. This not-at-all-rodent has the distinction of being North America’s sole marsupial and so Alie hunted down lauded Opossumologist Dr. Lisa Walsh and launched an absolute torrent of giddy questions. How many ticks do they really eat, can we keep them as pets, how do we all convincingly feign death, opossum vs. possum, fingerprints, orphaned babies, the best possum jokes, the worst ones, venom immunity, bifurcated dongs, space portal vageens, being equally ugly and...
Sep 21, 2021•1 hr 7 min•Ep. 219
How ya like them apples?! Well, liquified. And fermented. Author, podcaster, cider-maker and globally lauded beverage historian Gabe Cook, aka The Ciderologist, is an enthusiastic champion of this tragically overlooked drink, and he joins with a bushel full of facts, well-spun yarns and tasting tips. Belly up for a foaming glass of friendly competition, bucolic farmhouses, DIY cider tips, film flam busters, cider recommendations from a pro, and a little ASMR. Cider: that cool friend in the corne...
Sep 15, 2021•1 hr 15 min•Ep. 218
HAPPINESS RESEARCH, straight up. What is happiness? How do our circumstances affect happiness? Why is the word “gratitude” kinda cringey? What can we do to feel better? Should we feel guilty for feeling happy? When is positivity “toxic?” Yale cognitive scientist, Eudemonologist, and host of The Happiness Lab podcast Dr. Laurie Santos chats about how scientists measure human happiness and what their research has shown helps achieve it, even during the worst of times. Also: silver medal face &...
Sep 08, 2021•1 hr 11 min•Ep. 217
Art meets science! Problems meet solutions! Climate change meets … hope? In this atypical episode, things get casual as hell as Alie sits down to talk about Functional Magic: an illustration non-profit started by filmmaker, Emmy-nominated television editor and longtime friend Andy Hall. (Note: Functional Magic began as the Drawdown Design Project but has since been re-named!) When he’s not having to edit Alie on Innovation Nation, Andy is the founder and creative director of the Drawdown Design ...
Sep 01, 2021•1 hr 2 min•Ep. 216
Dr. Ayana Elizabeth Johnson. You loved her Oceanology episode and now she is in your feed to address everyone’s agonizing internal question: IS MY CARBON FOOTPRINT BS?! I don’t drop a lot of podcast episodes into my precious Ologies feed, but this topic was so wonderfully covered by Dr. Johnson and co-hot Alex Blumberg that I had to do it. And as a bonus, stay tuned for Wednesday’s episode between me and my old friend C. Andrew Hall, the creative director of the non-profit illustration collectiv...
Aug 24, 2021•47 min•Ep. 215
ANNOUNCEMENT: SMOLOGIES NOW HAS ITS OWN FEED! SUBSCRIBE FOR NEW EPISODES EVERY THURSDAY. Subscribe to Smologies: https://pod.link/1746567248 YA LIKE BEES? You will -- after this short, edited-for-all-ages Smologies cut of our classic Melittology episode featuring President of the Urban Beekeepers Association, Amanda “Mandy” Shaw. We chat about honeybees vs. native ones, hives vs. nests, honey, how to become a beekeeper, social structures, why a queen becomes a queen, how to keep Mason bees as ou...
Aug 23, 2021•26 min•Ep. 214
Cultural burns. Prescribed blazes. A healthy forest. What exactly is “good fire?” Let’s ask Indigenous fire scientist Dr. Amy Christianson, who is a co-host of the podcast ...Good Fire. This wonderfully generous and informed scholar took a quick break from her Canadian wilderness vacation to fill me in on Indigenous history, collaborations between Western science & First Nations elders, Aboriginal thoughts on cultural burns, flim-flam, evacuations, snowmelt, hunting strategies, land stewards...
Aug 17, 2021•1 hr 2 min•Ep. 213
As Smashmouth said, “My world’s on fire, how ‘bout yours?” Why yes, Mr. Mouth, it is, indeed, on fire. As so many of us around the globe are sharing in this burning sensation, what better time than now to sit down and fire off a lot of questions at Fire Ecologist, Dr. Gavin Jones. We talk about what fire is, how hot it burns, fire trends, tinderboxes, lots and lots of forest fire flim-flam, tolerant wombats, Angelina Jolie Movies, cunning pine cones, thick bark, Indigenous fire stewardship and m...
Aug 10, 2021•1 hr 18 min•Ep. 212
ANNOUNCEMENT: SMOLOGIES NOW HAS ITS OWN FEED! SUBSCRIBE FOR NEW EPISODES EVERY THURSDAY. Subscribe to Smologies: https://pod.link/1746567248 Ohaaay another edited-down, classroom-friendly Smologies! About... toads! Are they frogs? Do they have arms? What do they eat? How long do they live? What’s with the warts? Amphibian enthusiast Priya Nanjappa joins with a toadally awesome episode that will change the way you crouch down and shake hands with your tiny backyard grumpa.(And for the full versio...
Aug 05, 2021•24 min•Ep. 211
Biological mysteries solved with numbers! Graphs! Patterns! Data points! Systems biology! You never knew it existed, yet it’s keeping us alive. Systems Biologist Dr. Emily E. Ackerman join to chat about why the field appealed to her, how her work shifted during the pandemic, why she wants to scream at Excel sometimes, how computing might replace specific types of animal testing, accessibility in STEM, the immune system, why she loves being a disabled scientist and advocate, the ethics of CRISPR,...
Aug 03, 2021•1 hr 2 min•Ep. 210
We’re BACK! With a fresh new episode to light up your life and butt. World renowned firefly expert Dr. Sara Lewis of Tufts University joins to share her love of a bug that many think is merely a mythological delight. Learn how these tiny animals illuminate the night, the dos and don’ts of firefly observation, how to take good firefly photos, femme fatales, pink glowworms, secret languages, artificial lights, what’s up with their population numbers, why Western states can chill out with their lig...
Jul 27, 2021•1 hr 4 min•Ep. 209
ANNOUNCEMENT: SMOLOGIES NOW HAS ITS OWN FEED! SUBSCRIBE FOR NEW EPISODES EVERY THURSDAY. Subscribe to Smologies: https://pod.link/1746567248 Introducing… SMOLOGIES. Smaller, shorter, G-rated episodes cut from your favorite classics. Listen to Smologies in classrooms, around people whose language is squeaky clean, and in safe-for-work settings. You get bite-sized info in a jiffy, and I get to reserve my filthy language for our longer, regular episodes that drop on Tuesdays. In this episode, plane...
Jul 20, 2021•30 min•Ep. 207
ANNOUNCEMENT: SMOLOGIES NOW HAS ITS OWN FEED! SUBSCRIBE FOR NEW EPISODES EVERY THURSDAY. Subscribe to Smologies: https://pod.link/1746567248 We cleaned up the full version and polished it into a safe-for-work digest of dinosaur facts and tales from a paleontologist with Dr. Michael Habib. Learn about the economics of a dino dig, his favorite beasts, cloning from amber samples, which museum dinos are real vs. fakes, Jurassic Park flimflam and more. (And for the full version with NSFW stories, the...
Jul 20, 2021•21 min•Ep. 208
Lemon sharks! Goblin sharks! Bonnet sharks! Whale sharks! And ...sawfish? WE NEEDED A BIGGER BOAT. One shark episode was not enough, during this: The Week of the Shark. Sure, Alie just got married a few days ago, but that doesn’t mean we can’t throw together this bundle of wonder with a few of the incredible researchers from Minorities in Shark Science. Get ready to befriend Jaida Elcock, Jasmin Graham, and Amani Webber-Schultz as they spin yarns about wild field stories, explain why they love s...
Jul 16, 2021•28 min•Ep. 206
SHAAAARKS. Leading shark researcher Dr. Chris Lowe dishes about bad shark PR, behind-the-scenes Jaws trivia, his thoughts on Sharknado, surfing safety, immune system marvels, cannibal twins, shark personalities, sea sex, and knife teeth in this, an encore-but-refreshed episode with your newly married pod-dad. Alie learns that sharks are not the ocean's a-holes but true evolutionary marvels who suffer from sensationalized reputations and sometimes inside-out butts. Listen up as a science primer d...
Jul 13, 2021•1 hr 22 min•Ep. 205
A special encore as your dad hastily preps to wed your podmom, Jarrett. Refresh your brain about your heart, then stay tuned for a new secret at the end. Love! Romance! Intimate relationships! Marriage! Divorce! Remarriage! Clowns! This episode has it all. The wonderfully warm Dr. Benjamin Karney of the UCLA Marriage lab has been studying romance and intimate relationships for 20 years and sits down to chat about being single and the mechanisms behind finding a partner, what behaviors foster int...
Jul 06, 2021•1 hr 34 min•Ep. 204
UFOs are real. Straight up. There are unidentified objects flying around — but does that mean they’re aliens? Two experts in the research and culture of Unexplained Aerial Phenomena (UAPs) -- science journalist/author Sarah Scoles and Dr. Kate Dorsch, a scholar in the History and Sociology of Science -- joined Alie moments after Friday’s breaking news of the Pentagon’s UAP report. Strap in for “tic tacs,” space rocks, black triangles, fighter pilot sightings, Roswell, abduction trends, secret mi...
Jun 29, 2021•1 hr 12 min•Ep. 203
Wasps!? Don’t even THINK of skipping this one, my beautiful chickens. You’re about to change your outlook on the most maligned winged sky babies, and we are delighted that author, bug dude, and spheksologist Eric Eaton is about to change your mind and fill your heart with respect and appreciation. Hunker down for fig critters, bejeweled zombie queens, bug corsets, underdogs, BBQ tips, gardening secrets, stinger myths and snack vaults. Just because homicidal hornets make headlines doesn’t mean yo...
Jun 22, 2021•1 hr 14 min•Ep. 202
Lifted restrictions! Discarded masks! Vaxxing & relaxing! Parties. Variant confusion. FOMO while also dreading events. Worry about strangers. Grief for a cancelled year. WHAT’S HAPPENING HERE? We’ve got you covered. As infection rates go down and restrictions lift in the U.S., you may feel: relieved, overjoyed, nude without a mask, guilty about surviving, conflicted about gatherings, or mourning a loss. We gathered a small army of experts to chat about historical quarantines and recovery per...
Jun 15, 2021•1 hr 16 min•Ep. 201
Human-sucking mud holes. Beautiful birdsongs. Early mornings. Eyeball gnats. Stunning vistas. The long-awaited episode with ornithologist Corina Newsome is finally here and we talk all about the day-to-day-realities of being a Wildlife Ecologist. She dishes about working in zoos, getting her masters, housing for grad students, nest checking, birding apps, camera traps, #BlackBirdersWeek, and more. She is hilarious, informative, and dedicated to her work in avian conservation and truly has the be...
Jun 08, 2021•1 hr 16 min•Ep. 200
Dongs. Schlongs. Peters. Intromittent organs. Gamete cannons. Biologist, gonad researcher, and Phallologist Dr. Emily Willingham joins to chat about peckers big and small, plain and fancy, barbed, coiled, colossal, pickled, and efficient. Also on the agenda: how the pressures of masculinity affect self-image, what actually contributes to a partner’s pleasure, what can cause willies to go wonky (and how to get back on track,) life beyond the binary, and sensual turtles. Stick around to the end fo...
Jun 01, 2021•1 hr 12 min•Ep. 199
Seals. Sea lions. Walruses. Walrus dongs. Classic Ologies. We sit down with Luis A Hückstädt , PhD and talk about blubber, ocean currents, psychedelic teeth, whisker tech, receding ice, boops, snoots, barks, butt nubbins and whether or not that one seal from the video actually felt bashful about getting that fish cake? Or was it a sea lion? Which is which? Spoiler: you’ll find out in this episode of Ologies: Pinnipedology. Follow Luis on Twitter: https://twitter.com/luishuckstadt And Instagram: ...
May 25, 2021•1 hr 14 min•Ep. 198
Ohulloh! This is not your regular Ologies episode (which will come on Tuesday per usual.) It’s actually not an Ologies episode! This is a fun little bonus GUEST podcast we're dropping in our feed. Real Good is a show that started during the beginning of COVID to highlight different non-profits helping with the pandemic — but soon revealed that many problems that became so acute during quarantine had existed in people's lives for a long time prior. We care a lot about the issues they address (rac...
May 22, 2021•1 hr 1 min•Ep. 197
Mustard gossip. Knotweed recipes. Cow parsnips. Serviceberry appreciation. Hogweed warnings. Dead man’s fingers. The incredibly knowledgeable and entertaining Alexis Nikole Nelson a.k.a. @BlackForager walks us through Foraging Ecology with a ginormous bushel of tips & tricks for finding edibles at all times of the year, from blossoms to fungus. Belly up for some invasive snacks, elusive mushrooms, magnolia cookies, mugwort potatoes, violet cocktails, foraging guides, weed trivia and tips to ...
May 18, 2021•1 hr 25 min•Ep. 196
Bones. Shells. Reefs. Teeth. Biomineralogy. The wonderful UCLA geochemist Rob Ulrich answers a giant pile of questions such as: How do crystalline structures materialize out of thin air and water? How do squishy animals make such hard shells? What’s the difference between a shell and an exoskeleton? What’s the noise you hear when you listen to a seashell? What’s up with ocean acidification? How do you keep a fiddle leaf tree alive? How do you meet new friends without battling LA traffic? Start b...
May 12, 2021•1 hr 3 min•Ep. 195
Talking dogs. Rolled Rs. That dangly thing in the back of your throat. Speech impediments. Alternative forms of communication. And talking cats. World famous speech pathologist by day, dog whisperer also by day, Christina Hunger MA, CCC-SLP joins us to talk about what those letters after her name mean, helping people literally find their voice, AAC (Augmentative and Alternative Communication), different types of language and communication, and how she applied the same principles to gift her dog ...
May 04, 2021•1 hr 14 min•Ep. 194
Shipwrecks. Treasure. Sunken planes. Scuttled submarines. New life forming around old machinery. There’s an -ology for that -- just ask Maritime Archaeologist and wreck nerd Chanelle Zaphiropoulos. This absolutely charming and passionate scuba diver, history buff and antiquities scholar dishes about pirates, warships, admirals worth admiring, and ships ranging in size from water taxis to the Costa Concordia and Titanic. Also world record diving stats, war graves, how owning a fountain pen can be...
Apr 27, 2021•1 hr 38 min•Ep. 193
Real skulls. Fake pistols. Vegan steaks. Onstage bonfires. Cursed productions. Industry secrets and more with the world’s most lovable and beloved prop master, Professor Jay Duckworth aka @Proptologist on TikTok. A veteran of stage and screen and now an adjunct professor at Pace University, Jay chats about props vs. wardrobe vs. set design, how he keeps tracks of the thousands of items used to make a set feel real, what it was like to work on Hamilton from the very beginning, a prop master’s too...
Apr 21, 2021•1 hr 17 min•Ep. 192
Because one bears is not enough bears, SIX more ursinologists join to answer your questions about polar bear fur, monogamy, that scene from "The Revenant" and more. Five chapters of bear life, from mindblowing mating strategies to how bears get from point A to B, media portrayals of these beautiful beasts and how to save them. Also: do bears want you to sing to them? Bear biologists and conservationists Dr. Thea Bechshoft, Dr. Lana Ciarniello, Drew Hamilton, Wes Larson, Tsalani Lassiter & Da...
Apr 14, 2021•1 hr 35 min•Ep. 191
