Yep -- it’s detective work! But instead of crime scenes, environmental scientist, marine biologist and Forensic Ecologist Dr. Tiara Moore travels the world to sample the sea and the soil looking for the ghosts of larvae past, whispers of frog spit, fungal traces in loamy soil, and the unseen forces that lead to algal blooms and toxic tides. She also is the CEO of #BlackInMarineScience week, which is NOW: Nov. 28-Dec. 04! Follow that hashtag and see the events link below and buckle your life jack...
Nov 30, 2021•57 min
You’re six to ten times LESS likely to catch COVID-19 if you’re vaccinated, and thus less likely to infect others. Great! But what about breakthrough cases? Who’s at risk for them? How many folks haven’t gotten vaccinated? Should pregnant people get the ol’ jab, what might happen with transmission rates in 2022, yearly booster questions, the ethics of vaccine distribution, myocarditis, Long COVID, quarantine fatigue and essentially whether the holidays are a good idea. Follow Jessica Malaty Rive...
Nov 24, 2021•59 min
ANNOUNCEMENT: SMOLOGIES NOW HAS ITS OWN FEED! SUBSCRIBE FOR NEW EPISODES EVERY THURSDAY. Subscribe to Smologies: https://pod.link/1746567248 Wolf howls, wolf packs, wolf history and more! November 23 is the dog appreciation holiday Wolfenoot so we’re dishing up a puppy-sized and kid-friendly Smologies with lupinologist and Princeton professor Dr. Brigette vonHoldt. Learn about wolf populations, canine family dynamics, Game of Thrones direwolves, if wolves howl at the moon, myths and truths about...
Nov 22, 2021•27 min
Who’s on it? What’s on it? And why does the interface feel like you’re on a prank show? Scicomm host, vlogger, author, internet friend, and TikTok-maker Hank Green stops in to chat about learning the language of the algorithm, dopamine, duets, data concerns, idealized selves, self-expression, mental health, authenticity, work/ life boundaries. And just a bunch of milk. Follow Hank on TikTok , Twitter and Instagram Alie Dadward aka me on TikTok Get Hank’s books! An Absolutely Remarkable Thing , A...
Nov 17, 2021•43 min
PAIN. What is it? Where does it come from? And how can we hurt less? Which hurts more, a kidney stone or heartache? Why does chronic pain persist? Can we turn down our pain dials? To answer these huge questions, pain psychologist Dr. Rachel Zoffness enthusiastically explains the brain, pain and how to retrain it. She is an unabashed neuronerd and a ray of hope in a field that is misunderstood, neglected and under-explained. A true life-changer of a person. Follow Dr. Rachel Zoffness on Twitter a...
Nov 10, 2021•2 hr 34 min
This is NOT about the Netflix show, Squid Game. It's about shapeshifting, flirtatious trickery, living fishing lures, siphon squirts, weird things found in shark stomachs, and cephalopods who are downright dicks to fish: real games played in nature by real squid. Because we weren't the only ones watching Squid Game and thinking, "Why aren't there more squid in this?" Hence we combined the study of squids (teuthology) and games (ludology) to make Teuthological Ludology with everyone's favorite sq...
Nov 03, 2021•57 min
ANNOUNCEMENT: SMOLOGIES NOW HAS ITS OWN FEED! SUBSCRIBE FOR NEW EPISODES EVERY THURSDAY. Subscribe to Smologies: https://pod.link/1746567248 At long last: an episode dedicated to veterinary medicine! Dr. Terrence Ferguson & Dr. Vernard Hodges have been friends for nearly 30 years and have co-owned their rural Georgia veterinary clinic, Critter Fixers, for over 20 years. The two wonderful buddies talk about getting accepted into vet school, caring for spiders & camels & lizards & toads & kittens ...
Nov 01, 2021•26 min
Bidding farewell to the sweetest and spookiest month, we traipse past graves with archeologist, conservator and Taphologist Robyn Lacy. What’s the difference between a graveyard and a cemetery? Is it wrong to picnic in one? And can tombstone scrubbing help the world and soothe your living soul? Plus, font trends on headstones, old-timey gravestone emojis, a coffin-within-a-coffin, the best epitaphs and knowing the difference between slate, marble, and granite monuments. To celebrate Halloween, s...
Oct 27, 2021•1 hr 5 min
They dance. They flirt. They will steal your heart. They are spiders. Jumping spiders, specifically, and impassioned spider scientist Dr. Sebastian Echeverri is on board to tell you all about their sexy dances. How far can a jumping spider jump? What makes a good spider dancer? Why are they so cute? Can you sample their mating drumming and make a sick industrial-EDM track that feels like you’re in a Berlin discotheque? Buckle up for the grooviest Spooktober of your life. BUY the sick track “Habr...
Oct 20, 2021•1 hr 15 min
PART 2: The stunning conclusion of a 3-hour gab session about frickin' bats with America's favorite chiropterologist, Dr. Merlin Tuttle. Learn about bat conversations, their close friendships, surprising dongs, where they keep their nipples, how to go bat spotting after the sun sets, more myths and misconceptions about bat danger, perhaps the grossest thing Merlin has ever put in his mouth, how to hang up a bat house for maximum bat party funtimes, the latest on white nose syndrome and how it fe...
Oct 12, 2021•1 hr 2 min
“People fear most what they understand least." Words of wisdom from explorer/American treasure/bat expert, Dr. Merlin Tuttle. As your internet dad/host takes care of her surgically recuperating husband this week, we revisit her visit to Austin. In 2019, Alie headed to the bat capital and sat down with the legendary chiropterologist to discuss wild field stories and close calls and caves and comebacks and bat chatter and what a bat actually is and how big they get and what's up with their smushy ...
Oct 12, 2021•2 hr 41 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 05, 2021•1 hr 13 min
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
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
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
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 & cou...
Sep 08, 2021•1 hr 11 min
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 1 min
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
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•25 min
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 stewardship,...
Aug 17, 2021•1 hr 2 min
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 17 min
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
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
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
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•27 min
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•19 min
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•26 min
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 ...
Jul 13, 2021•1 hr 18 min
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•2 hr 34 min
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 10 min
