Some graduate programs place you right into your lab where you'll stay for 5+ years, but others go on a tour of the research being done in their area. Today, grad student Jordan Harrod joins me to tell us about the different labs she's rotated in & the cool research they're doing. Oh, and did I mention she's on the leadership board for Students for/March for Science? Suggested Readings: Video on Jordan's area of study: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O6lENrRANxY Article on non-invasive brain...
Feb 26, 2019•36 min
How do you go from working on agricultural tech to modelling how robots move and manipulate tools? Well, Zack Woodruff made exactly that academic leap. He shares his expertise ranging from green technology to the world of robotics. Suggested Readings: General background: https://spectrum.ieee.org/automaton/robotics/industrial-robots/robots-getting-a-grip-on-general-manipulation Detailed review: https://www.annualreviews.org/doi/pdf/10.1146/annurev-control-060117-104848 Lab web page: https://nxr....
Feb 11, 2019•38 min
Science communication can take many forms, including posting on instagram about the science behind your favorite disney characters! Sarah White is a graduate student studying learning sciences, but when she's not working on her research, she's known as the PhD Princess. Suggested Reading: Website specifically related to Sarah's research: https://www.teachersinsocialmedia.com/ KQED's MindShift: https://www.kqed.org/mindshift The Hechinger Report: https://hechingerreport.org/ Find Sarah White: phd...
Jan 28, 2019•31 min
In this episode, I dive deep into quantum communication with Sam Whiteley. We talk about unhackable communication networks, the difficultly of setting up a totally quantum system, and where work on quantum communication still has a ways to go. Suggested Readings: Link to a free version of our manuscript, recently accepted by Nature Physics: https://arxiv.org/abs/1804.10996 News & more information about Quantum Communication from Scientific American: https://www.scientificamerican.com/article...
Jan 14, 2019•39 min
In this episode, another fellow AAAS MMF alum joins me to talk about her research on fire! Allie Weill studies the connections between fire, plants and the ecosystem at large. She specifically studies fire-adapted plants in Mediterranean shrublands in California, but our conversation was much broader than that. Suggested Readings: Various posts on many fire-related topics at: https://talkaboutfire.com/talk-about-fire-blog/ A primer on fire ecology: https://www.nature.com/scitable/knowledge/libra...
Dec 31, 2018•45 min
This week, my guest & I did more than talk about his environmental engineering research. We also took a deep dive into the DeGrowth movement, both abroad & here in the United States. DegrowUS Suggested Readings: A distilled list of degrowth overviews, opinions, and academic research: https://www.degrowus.org/readings/ A review article I published last year on the need to join circular economy and degrowth principles: https://discardstudies.com/2017/11/13/moving-the-circular-economy-beyon...
Dec 19, 2018•40 min
A message from Lauren: During graduate school, I have been funded by the National Science Foundation Graduate Research Program, the National Institutes of Health, and the University of North Carolina Center of Excellence for Eating Disorders. The content presented in this podcast is solely my responsibility and does not necessarily reflect the official views of the funders. I also thank my mentors-- including Cindy Bulik, Jessica Baker, Patrick Sullivan and Yoav Gilad-- and assure the listening ...
Dec 03, 2018•33 min
Although DNA is often treated as the end-all in individual differences, it's not just about the blue print of the body. Ittai studies genetic regulation, or how DNA is expressed (or isn't). In this episode, we dive into his research techniques and talk about what it means to be human. Smithsonian DNA explainer: http://humanorigins.si.edu/evidence/genetics Genetic differences between humans & other primates: https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/tiny-genetic-differences-between-humans-an...
Nov 12, 2018•34 min
Math is way more than formulas learned in algebra class in high school. This episode's guest, Yen Duong, earned her PhD studying graph theory and topology! While she's now a science reporter in North Carolina, she was happy to tell me all about her PhD research! Suggested Reading: Yen's blog on geometric group theory: https://bakingandmath.com/2015/03/02/what-is-geometric-group-theory/ and several other math posts Example of a funky manifold: https://blogs.scientificamerican.com/roots-of-unity/a...
Oct 30, 2018•37 min
Nathan Bradshaw once worked on a nuclear submarine but wanted more adventure in life. So, he came to grad school and started studying colloidal COFs. Don't know what those are? Why not give this episode a listen and find out! Suggested Reading: Wikipedia for COFs: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Covalent_organic_framework Short article about colloidal COFs: https://cen.acs.org/articles/95/i4/Covalent-organic-frameworks-form-processible.html Follow Nathan Bradshaw: @NPBeardshaw Follow me: PhDrinkin...
Oct 15, 2018•39 min
Imagine if you got to spend your summers heading down to the Antarctic continent on a boat to release small robots. That's exactly what Giuliana does as part of her PhD, studying climate change in the currents of the ocean. In today's episode, I chat with Giuliana about her research and what got her interested in it to begin with. Suggested Reading: Here’s a really nice video of ocean currents: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B-TSwthjPYE The ocean's carbon balance: https://earthobservatory.nasa....
Oct 02, 2018•28 min
Guys, I was just too excited to talk with Breanna about her chickadee research and wasn't paying enough attention to the audio quality when I started recording. Can you blame me? I was excited to learn about animal behavior and personality a la behavioral ecology! Suggested Reading: Research article on animal personality: https://www.cell.com/current-biology/fulltext/S0960-9822(10)01137-1?_returnURL=https%3A%2F%2Flinkinghub.elsevier.com%2Fretrieve%2Fpii%2FS0960982210011371%3Fshowall%3Dtrue Curry...
Sep 03, 2018•39 min
Did you know that sunflowers aren't just pretty, they're also a model organism! Rishi uses sunflowers to study how different drought conditions affect agricultural out put. Scientific overview of how droughts affect different groups: https://digitalcommons.unl.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?referer=http://scholar.google.com/&httpsredir=1&article=1019&context=droughtfacpub United Nations Water Report: http://www.unwater.org/publication_categories/world-water-development-report/ Follow me:PhD...
Aug 20, 2018•40 min
Did you know not all bees live in hives or create honey? In fact, most species of bees native to the US are of the solitary variety. This week, Meghan Barrett tells us about a few of those species and what makes them so unique. Suggested Reading: The Bees in your Backyard by Wilson and Carril: http://beesinyourbackyard.blogspot.com/p/poster.html (Poster and Book); highly recommend this book, inexpensive with BEAUTIFUL pictures and tons of fun information about the bees around us Bee lab: https:/...
Aug 08, 2018•33 min
Fellow ComSciCon- Chicago attendee Gourav Khullar joined me to chat about galaxy clusters. He explained how he models galaxies, infrared telescopes, and gravitational lensing. Suggested Reading: What is a galaxy cluster? http://chandra.harvard.edu/learn_galaxyCluster.html How galaxy clusters tell us a story about the universe: https://astrobites.org/2016/03/17/galaxy-clusters-cosmology-and-beethovens-no-6/ Spectroscopy of Galaxy Clusters: https://www.sdss.org/dr14/algorithms/ancillary/boss/massi...
Jul 24, 2018•34 min
Have you ever visited a museum and wondered where all the artifacts come from? Well Heather studies collections of objects from WW2 (yes, like those you sometimes see at your favorite history museum) and where those objects originally came from. It can range from the usual battleground trophies to the truly bizarre... PS- sorry for the wonky sound recording, turns out recording in a new location threw everything off for me.... Suggested Reading: Organization that returns WW2 heirlooms to origina...
Jul 10, 2018•39 min
How are emotional memories stored and retrieved? And what if we could use brain stimulation to learn more about emotional memory? Well today's guest tells us all about his work with stimulating live human brains! Suggested Reading: A quick primer on amygdala-mediated memory enhancement: http://www.dana.org/News/Understanding_the_Amygdalas_Role_in_Memory/ Video of the rare subjective responses to higher doses of amygdala stimulation: https://t.co/DR18WCf8Hz Cory's lab website: http://neurosurgery...
Jun 26, 2018•44 min
What can a common flower teach us about evolutionary biology? Well it turns out the incredibly diverse columbine flower is a great model organism and youtuber/grad student Molly takes us on a journey to learn more. Suggested Reading: Paper about developing Aquilegia (columbine flowers) as a model for evo-devo: https://dash.harvard.edu/handle/1/8519267 Youtube episode of Science IRL that covers columbine flowers and plant evo-devo: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-e8pxOJ8RlI Youtube episode of Sc...
Jun 12, 2018•37 min
Machine learning is quite a hot-topic of research right now, with many different offshoots linking it to other fields of research. Scott Cambo, today's guest, studies the intersection of machine learning and human-computer interaction. In particular, he's interested in how mobile self-tracking (think FitBit) user design can increase healthy behaviors and how those apps can use better machine learning algorithms to provide more useful feedback. Suggested Reading: Course Scott is putting together ...
May 28, 2018•38 min
Moving from our more typical science topics towards more applied research, I talked with Lindsey about her research in public history. She focuses on the representation of women in historic house museums and examining the disconnect between academic research about early American women and their portrayal in spaces that are stereotypically feminine. We also got a bit into the confederate monument controversy and how history is represented and remembered. Suggested Reading: Defining public history...
May 15, 2018•49 min
Have you ever wondered how the variety of tea types could all come from a single plant? It turns out, single species is responsible for all your favorite teas (not including chai)! But like all plants, tea plants are under threat by our changing climate. Eric Scott studies how climate change in China is affecting a bug-bitten wulong tea called Oriental Beauty. Suggested Reading: Eric's Personal Website: www.ericrscott.com Eric's blogpost on his research: https://worldoftea.org/oriental-beauty-bu...
May 01, 2018•39 min
Alanna's research is at the intersection of biology, chemistry, and medical research. In particular, she studies the chemical signals sent between bacteria that help them communicate. In particular, she's interested in how bacteria form biofilms (think that gross stuff that grows in your shower if you haven't cleaned it in a while)and how we can apply this research to medical interventions. Suggested Reading: Alanna's Lab Website: https://www.sanchezlab.science/ University of Illinois Chicago De...
Apr 16, 2018•35 min
Does our knowledge of a person change the way that we see them? Chris' research says yes! Chris studies the intersection of sexual orientation and perceived racial appearance, focusing on how learning a person is gay affects how they are viewed. Suggested Reading: Stanford sociologist Aliya Saperstein briefly describing about how we study race as a social construction: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jiwieME2tis Article showing that perceiving a person's status can bias they way you perceive tha...
Apr 03, 2018•34 min
Have you ever wondered why identical twins can share exactly the same DNA, but still seem to have differences? Well part of that may be due to epigenetics, or how DNA is coiled up within a cell such that some parts are easier to access and use than others. Today's guest Tess Korthout studies the epigenetics of yeast cells to answer questions about gene regulation and cancer. Suggested Reading: Tess' chromatin proteome research paper: https://www.biorxiv.org/content/early/2017/12/09/229955 Tess' ...
Mar 20, 2018•27 min
Classic game theory asks the question of whether rational decision-makers choose between conflict or cooperation and how that impacts their outcomes. Alex takes this idea to a new level by applying game theory to economics where the players are really world powers. In particular, he's interested in how international policy can be reflected through game theory. Suggested Reading: John Oliver's piece on hard & soft power: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QCjk_NPsIqU&feature=youtu.be A fun b...
Mar 05, 2018•44 min
Just like Star Trek, Jessica's research has been to 'Boldly Go' and study one of the most exciting moons of Jupiter. Europa, one of the Galilean moons, is an interesting planetary body to study both because of it's icy crust with the potential for liquid water and it's fascinating surface features and what they can tell us about the moon's history. In this conversation, we cover the history of the Galilean moons, NASA's space programs, and how Jessica uses images of Europa to study what's happen...
Feb 20, 2018•48 min
Most people know that everything from cancer types to nose shapes 'run in the family,' but what if it's not just our own genetic code? Ryan Mork studies how staph could run in families - i.e. we might be able to inherit traits of the skin microbiome. It's not just the gut that has it's own ecosystem, in this episode we talk about how our skin is the playground of many microorganisms that can either keep us healthy or make it easier for us to get sick. Suggested Reading: Broad overview of the hum...
Feb 05, 2018•32 min
Did you know our bodies are basically just a bunch of tubes? That's how today's guest sees it anyways. It may seem like a strange idea, but our brains, hearts, and airways are basically all just fancy tubes made up of lots of our cells. Saoirse researches the fly trachea as a model organism for how these tubes develop. Suggested Reading: Short video by Saoirse on her research: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hU-bMomr9jE&feature=youtu.be Cancer Research UK describing the etiology of cancer: h...
Jan 23, 2018•34 min
What is the brain doing when it seems to be not doing anything? That confusing question is at the core of Anzar's work on what researchers call the default mode network. We talk imaging brains, what this data can tell us, and why you should care. Suggested Reading: What a 'resting brain' means: https://www.wired.com/2016/12/watch-brain-flicker-activity-rests/ New boundaries of the brain: https://www.wired.com/2016/07/new-map-brain-redraws-boundaries-neuroscience/ Follow me: PhDrinking@gmail.com,...
Jan 08, 2018•41 min
Hey guys, happy new year! I decided not to put out a full episode today since I'm taking the holiday off. I did, however, want to give a heartfelt thank you to everyone who has helped support me with this project. Don't worry, your regular episodes will return with the new year! Welcome to 2018! Follow me: PhDrinking@gmail.com, @PhDrinking, @SadieWit, www.facebook.com/PhDrinking/ Thanks to www.bensound.com/ for the intro/outro
Jan 02, 2018•3 min
