Folks, come with me. We’re hanging out under some train tracks late at night in Philadelphia doing street art. As the promised companion piece to our wonderful Modern Toichographology episode on murals and street art, this Field Trip takes us to where the action happens, chatting with several muralists as they work on their 17-foot paintings lining Front Street. You’ll meet UNAPXLXGETIQ, El Toro, and Iris Barbee Pendergrass a.k.a. These Pink Lips, Donna Grace Kroh, and Mr. Scoot and learn about ...
Oct 30, 2024•34 min
Licorice opinions! War chocolate! Candy corn origins, circus peanut secrets, the sourest sourballs, and your great aunt’s purse. Stay until the very end for the biggest shocked laugh I have ever had on this show. The incredibly charming author, journalist, candy historian, and Confectiologist Susan Benjamin chats about everything from apothecary origin stories, ethnobotany, having horehound on hand, the warheads that could save you, vegan candy controversy, sugar sources from beets to corn, Turk...
Oct 23, 2024•1 hr 47 min
Coffin engravings! Archaeology ethics! Linen wrappings! Repatriation! Sexy hippos! We’re back with more mummies in this Part 2 with the wonderful Drs. Salima Ikram & Kara Cooneywho chat about animal mummies, eating mummified remains, plant resins, the debate over human sacrifice, coffin reuse, Egyptian tourism, the worst temple gift shop in history, and what happens if you’re late to your own funeral. Also: is all religion magic? Let’s get into it. More Spooktober episodes Visit Dr. Cooney’s web...
Oct 17, 2024•1 hr
Linen wrapping. Expensive resins. Sarcophagi. Preserving for eternity – or until someone raids their tomb. It’s a brand-new Spooktober episode with not one but two guests: Dr. Salima Ikram is a professor of Egyptology and expert on mummification of both people and animals, and is joined by veteran guest from the Egyptology episode, professor and author Dr. Kara Cooney. The two chat about mummification techniques, how food studies lead into the pyramids, controversy over the word “mummy,” whiffin...
Oct 09, 2024•52 min
Let’s kick off Spooktober with… RATS: They love pizza. They invade taquerias at midnight. They scurry. They cuddle. They outsmart. They inspire movies that inspire musicals. Proving that not just woodsy megafauna can be charismatic, rats have lives we would never suspect. Globally-lauded Urban Rodentologist Dr. Robert Corrigan, or Bobby if you like, has been studying these animals in their big-city ecosystem for decades and he is a wonder-filled joy. Learn about rats’ origin story, the differenc...
Oct 02, 2024•1 hr 19 min
Murals! Frescos! Graffiti! Street art! Philadelphia is the birthplace of graffiti and the mural capital of the world so we sit down with city historian, journalist, curator, and Toichographologist Conrad Benner to chat about public vs. private art, cultural movements, commissioned vs. um… un-commissioned murals, how mural topics are chosen, how much it costs to make a mural, where to get that money, vandalism and murals and the fine line between, and how everything you do is art. Let Philly’s hi...
Sep 26, 2024•1 hr 19 min
Smaller than you can imagine. Potato-shaped. Mysterious. Romantic. And tough enough to survive the vacuum of space or decades of desiccation. Join professor and confirmed Tardigradologist Dr. Paul Bartels to saunter into a microscopic wonderland of bizarrely long naps, foreign genomes, moon landings, glow-in-the-dark moss piglets, cryptobiosis, kitten claws, knife mouths, balloon butts, spiders on Mars, splicing tardigrade DNA into ours, debunking flim-flam and the friends living in your gutters...
Sep 18, 2024•1 hr 15 min
Give yourself a hug and take a deep breath and let’s chat with renowned Suicidologist Dr. DeQuincy Meiffren-Lézine. He is an absolute wonder and helps us understand the risk factors for suicide, prevention strategies, socio-economic factors, gender statistics, LGBTQ+ suicide prevention, what happens if you call a hotline, thoughts on hospitalization, how to support loved ones who have ideation, mourning those lost, learning to take care of yourself and your mental health and how living through t...
Sep 11, 2024•1 hr 59 min
When did coffee get into our mouths? Who’s right when it comes to the best coffee? What’s the most ethical way to enjoy it? What about the cats that eat the beans? How will climate change affect your morning coffee? Peter Giuliano is the executive director of the Coffee Science Foundation explains folk stories behind coffee, what makes beans taste the way they do, why cold brew and nitro feel like rocket fuel, shade-grown coffee, roasting chemistry, flimflam, atmospheric pressure, dead espresso,...
Sep 03, 2024•1 hr 33 min
A very special encore in memory of our favorite Museologist, Ronnie Cline. In this 2018 episode, we talked about the life and work of a great dude and a good pal who passed away this morning. On the agenda of his legendary episode: Museums! Mummies! Paintings! Hot dogs! Alie sits down with her dear internet friend and museologist Ronnie Cline, who manages 30,000 artifacts over 22 California State Park Museums. Get the hot gossip about behind-the-scenes museum life, vintage ghosts, following your...
Aug 28, 2024•1 hr
Caves! Caverns! Grottos! Crystals! Let's get down and dirty with Speleology with explorer, researcher, professor, and paleoclimatologist Dr. Gina Moseley. She shares what it’s like to spend a week straight in a cave, safety tips, climate research breakthroughs, and the deepest and darkest caves. Also: stalactites, stalagmites, cave clouds, show caves, who counts as a spelunker, what ancient climate science can tell us about our current sticky situation, cave diving, cave rescues, creepy caves, g...
Aug 21, 2024•1 hr 12 min
Forks on teeth. Lip smacking. Metal on metal. (Don’t worry, there are no sonic examples of triggers in this episode!) Why do some of us haaaate certain noises and other folks cannot comprehend how a sound could be so irritating? Let’s meet in the middle with a professional Misophonologist, clinical psychologist, and Oxford University research fellow Dr. Jane Gregory. Dr. Gregory not only has misophonia, but has propelled research and public awareness of the condition. We lob so many questions to...
Aug 14, 2024•1 hr 13 min
What exactly is “fun?” How will you know when you’re having it? Do introverts have special alone fun? Is it okay to seek fun in bleak times? Catherine Price is an award-winning journalist and author who spent years researching the science of fun for her book “The Power of Fun: How to Feel Alive Again.” She let me lob many questions at her including: adult vs. childhood fun, what’s the difference between happiness and laughter and fun, what does fun do to your actual meat body, how can you have m...
Aug 07, 2024•1 hr 28 min
It’s an updated mega-encore of one of my favorite episodes — with 2024 research — to learn: How many genders are there? How do you know if you’re queer? Is sexual orientation biological, and if so, how? The amazing neuroscientist and endocrinology researcher Dr. Daniel Pfau joins to share their path in academia finding the perfect research, understanding their own genderqueer identity, what animals in nature exhibit queer behavior, how hormones affect our moods, the variation of gender expressio...
Jul 31, 2024•2 hr 3 min
Feathery gills! Adorable smiles! Cultural icons! Habitat ecology! And superhuman limb regeneration? It’s an entire episode on axolotls. You either love these aquatic salamanders, or you’ve never heard of them. Clap your tiny slimy hands for Ambystomologist Dr. Jessica Whited of Harvard Medical School’s Stem Cell and Regenerative Biology who raises and studies these beautiful creatures — including the biomedical marvels being discovered. Also discussed: their narrow niche, the ecology movement to...
Jul 24, 2024•1 hr 28 min
Part 2 is here! It’s wall to wall listener questions about magic mushrooms, LSD, ayahuasca ceremonies, set and setting, how mushrooms go stale, decriminalization, strains and potencies, placebos, the “Stoned Ape Theory,” neurodivergence, tripping in an MRI, recent F.D.A. hearings, astrophysics and psychedelics, and how to be a good trip sitter with a professor of psychiatry at the UCLA School of Medicine and co-editor of the Handbook of Medical Hallucinogens , Dr. Charlie Grob. Also: the safest ...
Jul 17, 2024•1 hr 7 min
Magic mushrooms, LSD, ayahuasca ceremonies, DMT, ketamine: take a trip into the science and research of hallucinogens. Renowned psychiatry professor and psychedelics researcher Dr. Charles Grob of Harbor-UCLA Medical Center sits down to talk about ethnobotanical origins of psychedelics, how much LSD is too much LSD, what juices are squirting in the brain when you're tripping out, who should NOT take psychedelics, talking to dead people, antidepressants and mushrooms, the murky history of psyched...
Jul 11, 2024•1 hr 8 min
Sexuality and disability! Invisible illnesses! Airline frustrations! How many of us are disabled! July is Disability Pride Month, and professor, researcher, activist, and Disability Sociologist Guinevere Chambers joins to bust myths and provide perspective on everything from the history of ableism to sign language to eyeglasses, the criminal justice system, caregiving, how to ask for what you need, handling curious strangers, disclosing disabilities, where ADHD and autism come into play, and how...
Jul 03, 2024•1 hr 36 min
What exactly IS a puffin? Who are they related to? Are they disco birds? WHY are they so cute? Should you kiss one? Throw one? Are they in danger? Get up in a blanket burrow and listen to field researcher and legit Puffinologist, Jillian Taylor, give us all the details on who eats them, if they are neat freaks or not, their surprising life expectancy, and how they make their long marriages work. Also: the toilets with the best views, Star Wars trivia, a cereal lore, and who should NOT become a p...
Jun 27, 2024•1 hr 8 min
Boy howdy hot dang, Ologies has hit its 300th new episode! In celebration of this milestone, we’ve turned the tables and lead editor Mercedes Maitland hosts this episode with special guest… Alie Ward! We talk about Alie’s twists and turns finding her way into a career in science communication, selling art to child actors in LA, how she built Ologies from a small indie podcast into a chart-topping favorite, why it’s important to give adults a fun space in SciComm, putting yourself out there, how ...
Jun 19, 2024•1 hr 57 min
Part 2 of mosquitoes is here! Now that you know WHY they would like to eat you mosquito expert and Culicidologist, Dr. Fhallon Ware-Gilmore of the CDC gives us SOLUTIONS. How do we avoid bites? Why do they itch so much? Which repellents are safe for whom? What should you use in your yard? Does climate change mean an ongoing hellscape thick with mosquitos? Could Jurassic Park happen? What if mosquitoes were to, say… go extinct? Also: how do we learn to love these things that vex us? Follow Dr. Wa...
Jun 12, 2024•1 hr 6 min
They’re gorgeous. They’re picky moms, and tremendous flirts. They are sparkly. And they drink blood. We hopped on the line with mosquito researcher, medical entomologist, CDC Epidemic Intelligence Service officers, and Culicidologist, Dr. Fhallon Ware-Gilmore to chat about mozzies. Why do skeeters bite you, specifically? Which ones should we watch out for? Why do they make high-pitched sounds? WHAT DO THEIR HELL MOUTHS LOOK LIKE? And how can I learn to love them? But also, how can I keep them aw...
Jun 05, 2024•59 min
Clay tablets! Printing presses! Old timey audio books! Speed reading strategies! Attention spans! Dyslexia history! Literacy campaigns! Dr. Adrian Johns is an historian, professor, and author of the book “The Science of Reading” and we have a nice mellow chat about when humans started to “read,” what that means, being Hooked on Phonics, Dick, Jane, character languages, audiobooks, e-readers, school segregation, literacy rates, and how long we can focus at a time. He literally wrote the book on i...
May 29, 2024•1 hr 16 min
Pointy heads. Spiked arms. Tragic romance. It’s a whole episode about praying mantises with a real life Mantodeologist, Lohit Garikipati. Do they really eat hummingbirds? Are they endangered? Invasive? Smart? Extraterrestrial? Get your fill of mantid mythology, evolutionary gossip, sexual cannibalism, mantis motherhood, their alien egg cases, huge eyes, pet advice, and why they can show you the way to hell with this delightful entomologist, UC Davis entomology graduate and longtime keeper of man...
May 22, 2024•1 hr 35 min
A short little episode to tell you about a change we're making to Ologies that I am genuinely very pumped about, as well as some weird secrets I did not intend to tell. But my point is that you can now have a kid-safe show and feed that is safe for kids and classrooms and a road trip with your shy parents. Subscribe to Smologies on Apple Podcasts , Spotify , Overcast , Pocket Casts , Castbox , Podcast Addict , or wherever you get podcasts. Sponsors of Ologies Transcripts and bleeped episodes Bec...
May 16, 2024•18 min
The world is confusing, but there are experts in everything. In our least funny episode ever, we thankfully convinced a global expert, professor, researcher, author, and Genocidologist (it’s a real word) Dr. Dirk Moses to answer the questions that we may secretly have: What exactly is genocide? How long has it been happening? Is it a war crime? Is it a crime of atrocity? Who makes up humanitarian law? What's self-defense — and what's offense? How is it litigated? Whose business is it? Why do we ...
May 08, 2024•2 hr 12 min
ANNOUNCEMENT: SMOLOGIES NOW HAS ITS OWN FEED! SUBSCRIBE FOR NEW EPISODES EVERY THURSDAY. Subscribe to Smologies: https://pod.link/1746567248 They are numerous. They are patient. They are COMING for the United States in droves this spring: They are cicadas. *The* Cicada guy Dr. Gene Kritsky joins to chat all about the annual cicadas you may see every summer vs. the periodical ones that cycle through the states in broods of giant numbers. Learn how they survive underground for decades, what they a...
May 06, 2024•25 min
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 this encore detailing invasive snacks, elusive mushrooms, magnolia cookies, mugwort potatoes, violet cocktails, foraging guides, weed trivia...
May 01, 2024•1 hr 25 min
The thrilling conclusion of PIGEONS, with Columbidologist and author Rosemary Mosco of Bird and Moon comics. It’s wall-to-wall listener questions and you’ll hear all about bonded pairs, the fate of the extinct passenger pigeon, the best cinematic pigeons, how to help their nubby feet, gender reveals gone very wrong, Las Vegas mysteries to boil your blood, and so much more. Also: did I just see a wedding bird escapee? Visit Rosemary’s website and follow her on Instagram , TikTok , and X Browse Ro...
Apr 24, 2024•1 hr 3 min
You love pigeons. You might not know it yet. Espionage! Fancy breeds! Internal GPS! Weird feet! Should you be afraid of them? Should you adopt one? Pigeon advocate, comic artist and author of “A Pocket Guide to Pigeon Watching,” Rosemary Mosco finally joins to answer all of our questions in a beautifully mellow and melodious wall-to-wall pigeon exploration. I loved every minute of making this one and if you stick around for the secret, I’ll take you behind-the-scenes. Listen, then sit on a bench...
Apr 17, 2024•1 hr 2 min
