Scorpions: the victims of undue shade. If you've ever wanted to impress a date with weird facts THIS IS THE EPISODE FOR YOU. A handful of people on planet Earth have a PhD in scorpions and Dr. Lauren Esposito is one of them. She spills the beans on how venom works, what's up with the blacklight glow effect, how dangerous they *really* are, what all the movies get wrong, the best names for scorpions, where she's traveled to look under rocks, where a scorpion's butt is, if scorpions dance or make ...
Apr 09, 2019•1 hr 9 min
After last week's heavy episode, Alie takes a little break with a Field Trip to one of her favorite places, the Natural History Museum of LA County. Hop in her pocket to hear about singing trees, hungry harpy eagles, architectural antelopes, crows that know your car, a pelt vault, sea serpents, willow huts, why Alie started loitering around in a vest, her personal list of must-see hidden exhibits, "Secrets from the Vault," her new live series for First Fridays in April and June, plus excerpts fr...
Apr 02, 2019•36 min
In a world saturated with CSI spinoffs and true crime documentaries, we look at a criminology subset focusing not on the pathology of the killers, but on the victims of crime: their experiences, vulnerability, survival rates, statistics, trauma, and recovery. In the least goofy episode to date, the brilliant and warm professional victimologist Dr. Callie Rennison of the University of Colorado chats about resources, historical changes of perspective, gender's role in victimization and how people ...
Mar 26, 2019•2 hr 30 min
ALIENS! EXTRATERRESTRIALS! MARTIANS! Let's. Get. Into. It. The phenomenal Dr. Kevin Peter Hand of NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory dishes on the oceans of distant moons, methane rivers, E.T., ice crusts, what might be out there, the timeline of possibly finding them, ghosts, aliens, dark matter, if we should fear making contact with intergalactic beings, if the government is hiding alien secrets, how finding extraterrestrial microbes would change the way we see life on this here tiny blue dot in...
Mar 19, 2019•1 hr 23 min
Video games! Tabletop games! IRL role-play gaming! The ... lottery? Dr. Jane McGonigal is a video game developer, TED speaker, bestselling author and total badass with a deep knowledge of how games -- and especially video games -- can motivate, soothe and connect us. We talk about everything from Monopoly to dance offs, Fortnite, vintage Atari, VR, the challenge of Dark Souls, the sweetness of League of Legends, how Tetris can get you through rough times and the health issue that caused Dr. McGo...
Mar 12, 2019•1 hr 17 min
The brilliant and dazzling Helen Zaltzman, host of The Allusionist podcast and person who technically for a living researches the origins of language and thus is an etymologist, visits Alie's apartment to chat about various word origins, gender in language, the Bible a.k.a. The Oxford English Dictionary, origins of the filthiest slang, emoji decoding, mediocrity, step parents, babies wearing glasses, Greek kimonos, the romance of languages and the fundamental truth that language is always changi...
Mar 05, 2019•1 hr
This episode, and Dr. Shane Campbell-Staton, are a true joy. The UCLA professor, host of the Biology of Superheroes Podcast and Thermophysiologist talks about big animals vs. little ones, lizard storms, dinosaur blood, hibernating bears, why you sweat in your sleep, antifreeze frogs, miracle hamsters, why different people run at very different temperatures, how comic books influence the way he sees science, learning how his brain works and some time management hacks that he uses as a professor a...
Feb 26, 2019•1 hr 24 min
WHO ARE WE? Personality researcher & psychology professor Dr. Simine Vazire dishes about introverts, extroverts, self-esteem, sociopaths, neuroticism, conscientiousness, Buzzfeed quizzes, yearbook inscriptions, trusting people, screwing up your kids, acting like your parents, changing personality traits through therapy or medication and astrology being put to the test. Also, Alie finds out what kind of dog she is. Dr. Simine Vazire on Twitter This week's donation was made to improvingpsych.org S...
Feb 19, 2019•1 hr 17 min
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 intimacy, why some couples stay together vs. splitting up, some bananas proposals, wedding budgets, how parenting affects marriage, historical problems with ...
Feb 12, 2019•2 hr 32 min
How long can we live? How much of aging is genetics vs. environment? What does oral hygiene have to do with brain health? What causes Alzheimer’s? How do turtles and naked mole rats live so long? Are there any proven strategies for living a longer life? What's up with whiskey and eggs? World-renowned aging expert and biogerontologist Dr. Caleb "Tuck" Finch takes a quick break from his prolific research at USC to answer Alie's sometimes stupid questions about everything from molecules to movies. ...
Feb 05, 2019•52 min
If you think you like sea turtles, get ready to become wildly obsessed with them. Cheloniologist Dr. Camryn Allen met up with Alie on a tropical island (ok, in a hotel room on a tropical island) to chat about flipper slappings, turtle rodeos, nesting BBs, current surfing, endangered statuses, field work, sleeping under water, world records, boopable noses, male:female ratios, mind-boggling navigation, what you can do to help them, and the many mysteries that still remain. Take a deep dive into t...
Jan 29, 2019•1 hr 24 min
What's a tortoise? What's a turtle? Why do they live so dang long? What's up with their junk? Wildlife biologist and testudinologist Amanda Hipps studies gopher tortoises and dishes about turtle nomenclature, cliques, dicks, behavior, burrows, evolution, habitats and more. If you don't dig tortoises yet, you're about to fall deep into a turtle tunnel in love with them. Follow Amanda Hipps on Instagram or Twitter This week's donation was made to AlongsideWildlifeFoundation.org Sponsor link: www.t...
Jan 22, 2019•1 hr 13 min
It's tiny! It's beautiful! It's cold! It can kill you. Snow and avalanche expert Dr. Ned Bair meets up on a bench during a layover to chat about the beauty of snowflakes, the best ammo for snowball fights, firing cannons at mountainsides, avalanche flam-flam, the dangers of snow patrolling, a lifesaving goat-antelope, the best and worst ski movies and a mentor that changed his life. Also: bomb cyclones and some tips on excavating your car. Or just staying inside. More on Dr. Ned Bair's work This...
Jan 15, 2019•59 min
A few things are changing in the world of Ologies and I just wanted to take a few minutes in this bare-bones minisode to lay 'em out. Transcripts and bleeped versions will be available in the next month or two, donations are going to specific Ologist-chosen charities per episode, and finally, Ologies puts on big pants and has sponsors. Will I call you and talk to you about a bra? I just might. Thank you for listening, for being Ologites and friends and Patrons. I love making this podcast and I'm...
Jan 08, 2019•8 min
We love them. We live with them. We are mystified by them. Alie hunted down professional cat behavior expert Dr. Mikel Delgado who dishes on everything from toilet training to feral taming to neonatal kittens to cats eating our dead bodies to domestication, toxoplasmosis, litter box strategies, cats on leashes, why they want to sit on your laptop, how to play with cat toys the right way, why cats drool, if tigers make biscuits, catnip stupors and so much more. Get inside the head of your favorit...
Jan 08, 2019•1 hr 25 min
DO YOU CARE ABOUT THE APOCALYPSE? Okay cool. No matter what your diet, get this episode in your ears. Entomophagy Anthropologist Dr. Julie Lesnik -- an enthusiastic expert on bug eating -- breaks down the human past, present and future of insect cuisine for our surging population. If you're considering cutting back on meat, or if you're a vegan helping others explore more sustainable options, Dr. Lesnik will get you pumped as hell for changing mindsets. We talk about grasshopper tacos, ant omele...
Jan 01, 2019•1 hr 22 min
Birds! Horned screamers! Winged pirates! Just in time for the Audubon's winter Christmas Bird Count (which goes until Jan. 5) here is an encore presentation of an early episode. Professional bird-person and all around cool dude James Maley joins Alie to talk about bird mating, monogamy, the cult of ornithology, absurd birds, parrots that are smarter than your friends' kids, a surprising fact about owl ears and history's most tragically zealous bird nerds. If you love birds, you'll be at home. If...
Dec 25, 2018•55 min
Foraging, infusing, shaking, stirring: this one's got it all. How do you make weird, fancy drinks at home? How much booze should you buy for a party? What drinks do bartenders hate to make? How can you avoid a hangover? What are the best mocktails? Famed bar chef and mixologist Matthew Biancaniello tours Alie through Malibu fire aftermath and talks about his boggling backstory, why he doesn't go out much, the secret formula to making good drinks and why you shouldn't be afraid to be weird. Matth...
Dec 18, 2018•1 hr 10 min
Are we crazier during a full moon? What is the Moon made of? Can we move to the Moon? Was the Moon landing a hoax? What's up with all those craters? Planetary geologist and selenologist Raquel Nuno loves the Moon and sits down to answer approximately 1 million of Alie's shameless questions. Gaze into the sky with newfound understanding and appreciation for our glowing buddy in the sky. Also: a burst bladder and a drunk moose. Raquel Nuno's website and Instagram @thespacegeologist More links at w...
Dec 11, 2018•1 hr 22 min
If you LIVE for drama, you will LOVE dead Romans. Wars, murders, opulence and uprisings: a little something for everyone. Classical Archaeologist and TV host Dr. Darius Arya dishes about priceless garbage piles, lead poisoning, ancient political scandals, pottery graveyards, unearthing sculptures, tomb discoveries, what's under European cities, and how Roman society was a little like America these days. But also a lot different. And what we can learn from it. Dr. Darius Arya's website, DariusAry...
Dec 04, 2018•1 hr 13 min
LOVE YOUR GUTS. 90% of your serotonin is made in your guts and you have hundreds of trillions of friends clinging to you at all times. Microbiologist Dr. Elaine Hsiao is a total badass who runs her own lab investigating the role of the gut biome in behaviors. She sat down to chat about anxiety, depression, elusive fecal transplants, autism, epilepsy, kombucha promises, autoimmune disorders, probiotics and more. Alie fanned out pretty hard and asked all of the questions about how your beloved, si...
Nov 27, 2018•1 hr 18 min
A (perhaps) much-needed refresher course on last year's gratitude minisode. As a friend of a friend's hairdresser once said: "It's hard to be hateful with a plateful of grateful." Is it? In this pre-holidays quickie episode, Alie is grumpy as hell and decides to research the neuroscience of gratitude. Does it work? Who's studying it? Does she need to buy a journal? Find out how jotting down things you don't hate on the back of a receipt or opening a secret Twitter account may be worth more than ...
Nov 20, 2018•16 min
Loosen your belts and tuck a napkin under your chin because feasting season is here. Katherine Spiers -- journalist, food anthropologist and host of the wondrous culinary history podcast Smart Mouth -- lets Alie belly up for a buffet of questions about winter gatherings, Thanksgiving myths, stuffed peacocks, green bean casseroles, potato backstories, Friendsgivings, the hazards of deep frying, the eels of Jesus, some stuffing horrors and more. Listen to Smart Mouth (perhaps the episodes with Ali...
Nov 13, 2018•1 hr 13 min
Doomsday. The apocalypse. The End. Join scholar, author and professional existential risk philosopher Phil Torres for a surprisingly jovial romp through different "Oops we're screwed" scenarios that will lead to the destruction of the planet or extinction of our species. (Not to be confused with lepidopterologist/butterfly man, Phil Torres.) Find out where we're at on Ye Olde Doomsday clock, if any of us should have babies, if AI will destroy us, pop-cultural Antichrists, Black Mirror, simulatio...
Nov 06, 2018•1 hr 8 min
Crows have funerals? CROWS HAVE FUNERALS. The inky black bird with the big brain warns and maybe mourns around their fallen friends and Dr. Kaeli Swift is here to tell us all about it. As an avid wildlife researcher and corvid specialist, she's observed death behaviors that will shock you to your bones and ruffle your hackles -- while somehow also making you cry about peanuts. Also: so much inspiration to keep being yourself and to work hard toward what you love. She is a hero. Dr. Kaeli Swift's...
Oct 30, 2018•1 hr 14 min
Have you listened to Part 1 yet? No? Go on, git. Go do that. Now if you have, this Part 2 is a bonanza of problem solving from neurologist and somnologist Dr. W. Chris Winter. He'll cover: if you should be taking sleep supplements or pills, sleep talking, apnea, why sleepiness makes us hungry, narcolepsy, the difference between insomnia and sleep deprivation, how to lucid dream, the dangers of shift work and some tactics to lull yourself to dreamland without any medications. ALSO: I share a fami...
Oct 23, 2018•1 hr 11 min
Birds do it. Bees do it. Why the hell can't we do it? Called "The Sleep Whisperer," neurologist and sleep specialist Dr. W. Chris Winter joins Alie for a thrilling 2-parter about why we need sleep, the ideal amount of it, what sleep does to the brain, insomnia, sleep stages, ideal bedtime conditions, and even the historical lore around sleep paralysis. Next week, we'll answer listener questions about everything from sleeping pills to brain performance to insomnia cures to apnea to sleepwalking t...
Oct 16, 2018•1 hr 14 min
(Bonus: I bleeped any curse words so you can share this episode with your kids and your grandma.) Yes, October is Breast Cancer Awareness month but Dr. Donna-Marie Manasseh spends 12 months a year as a tumor hunter, saving lives. She is brilliant, uplifting, hilarious and a hero, quite honestly. She sat down in her Brooklyn office to talk about prevention, diagnosis, prognosis, when to get screened, what to do if you feel something weird, how to look forward to mammograms, how men can help famil...
Oct 09, 2018•1 hr 23 min
Ever wanted to know how an episode of Ologies is made? Are you curious to learn about your host Alie Ward’s journey into science communication and beyond? If you need to know how Dad Ward does it all each week, this episode is for you. Become a patron of Ologies for as little as a buck a month: www.Patreon.com/ologies OlogiesMerch.com has hats, shirts, pins, totes! Follow @Ologies on Twitter or Instagram Follow @AlieWard on Twitter or Instagram More links at www.alieward.com Sound editing by Ste...
Oct 05, 2018•1 hr 7 min
Ever poked at roadkill? Watched videos of whales exploding? Drooled over a curio cabinet full of claws & bones? Peered into a jar with a pickled toad? Then this one is for you. Arguably the world's most famous comparative anatomist (and pretty-much-also functional morphologist) Dr. Joy Reidenberg pulls up a chair at Mt. Sinai Hospital to talk about her fascinating backstory, exploding whales, taxidermied chipmunks, dead toadfish, animal's weird anatomy and its function and how it might help huma...
Oct 02, 2018•1 hr 12 min
