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•2 hr 36 min•Transcript available on Metacast 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•Transcript available on Metacast Boy howdy hot dang, Ologies has hit its 300th new episode! In celebration of this milestone, weve turned the tables and lead editor Mercedes Maitland hosts this episode with special guest Alie Ward! We talk about Alies 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 its important to give adults a fun space in SciComm, putting yourself out there, how fear...
Jun 19, 2024•2 hr 57 min•Transcript available on Metacast 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. War...
Jun 12, 2024•1 hr 6 min•Transcript available on Metacast Theyre gorgeous. Theyre 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 away...
Jun 05, 2024•59 min•Transcript available on Metacast 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 it. V...
May 29, 2024•1 hr 16 min•Transcript available on Metacast Pointy heads. Spiked arms. Tragic romance. Its 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 mant...
May 22, 2024•2 hr 35 min•Transcript available on Metacast 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•Transcript available on Metacast 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 (its 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 do ...
May 08, 2024•2 hr 12 min•Transcript available on Metacast 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•Transcript available on Metacast Mustard gossip. Knotweed recipes. Cow parsnips. Serviceberry appreciation. Hogweed warnings. Dead mans 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•Transcript available on Metacast The thrilling conclusion of PIGEONS, with Columbidologist and author Rosemary Mosco of Bird and Moon comics. Its wall-to-wall listener questions and youll 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 Rosemarys website and follow her on Instagram , TikTok , and X Browse Rosem...
Apr 24, 2024•1 hr 3 min•Transcript available on Metacast 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, Ill take you behind-the-scenes. Listen, then sit on a bench an...
Apr 17, 2024•1 hr 2 min•Transcript available on Metacast ANNOUNCEMENT: SMOLOGIES NOW HAS ITS OWN FEED! SUBSCRIBE FOR NEW EPISODES EVERY THURSDAY. Subscribe to Smologies: https://pod.link/1746567248 Do trees have feelings? How do they talk? Which trees can you use to make syrup? Do bananas really grow on trees? Possibly the world's most enthusiastic tree expert, J. Casey Clapp, explains what makes coastal redwoods the coolest trees, how roots communicate with each other, and why a tree is like a cup of tea. Plus: bonus guest appearance by our friends (...
Apr 13, 2024•25 min•Transcript available on Metacast Come along like a frog in my pocket for an adventure to see an eclipse. After last weeks Heliology episode on the Sun, I rushed out of state to see what the fuss was about and to witness my first ever total eclipse of the Sun. Did it go as planned? Of course not? Did it work out? Youll have to listen. Weve got: a rollercoaster of emotions, last-minute pivots, chats with strangers, highway scenery, hope, anxiety, awe, and tears as we see if my seven-year wait for totality pans out. A donation wen...
Apr 10, 2024•53 min•Transcript available on Metacast Sunset flimflam! Auroras! Eclipse tips! Lets get to know the center of our solar system, the Sun, as the April 8th eclipse approaches. What is it made of? How big is it? Will it explode soon? Why cant I stare at it? And why is it wearing sunglasses? Dr. Michael Kirk and almost-Dr. India Jackson are brilliant and charming Heliologists who have both worked with NASAs heliophysics departments. Get to know them and also the giant hot plasma ball we revolve around. Youll never (not look at it) the sa...
Apr 03, 2024•2 hr 36 min•Transcript available on Metacast ANNOUNCEMENT: SMOLOGIES NOW HAS ITS OWN FEED! SUBSCRIBE FOR NEW EPISODES EVERY THURSDAY. Subscribe to Smologies: https://pod.link/1746567248 Spine mysteries, face purses, limericks, flim flam, flags, divebombs, sibling rivalries, and more! The warm and wonderful pelicanologist Juita Martinez studies these glorious dinosaurs and shares what its like to hold a floofy baby sea bird, how these birds ecosystems are being restored, and what she loves about being in nature. Also: How much fish can they...
Mar 30, 2024•25 min•Transcript available on Metacast Taboos. Intolerable foods. Sad songs. Sexy kinks. Candy that looks like poo. Lets get a little gross, shall we? The foremost expert in disgust, Dr. Paul Rozin, chats about the emotions related to revulsion and BOY HOWDY do we cover some ground. Why do some things gross us out and others dont? Can we change that? Learn how research psychologists study disgust, from butterflies to bigotry, and from pranks to power dynamics. Maybe dont eat lunch while you listen, but definitely tune in to learn how...
Mar 27, 2024•1 hr 29 min•Transcript available on Metacast Where have I been? What surgery did I have? Am I going to die? I took you along for the whole wacky, sometimes scary process in hopes it might help someone and urge you all to draft up your wills and call your doctors if anything seems weird. If you think this thing has *nothing* to do with your own life, youll learn why it very much indeed does. Cryptic! What am I, a princess? Tune in for the journey of the last few months behind the scenes at Dadward HQ. And thank you for all of the support, f...
Mar 21, 2024•47 min•Transcript available on Metacast ANNOUNCEMENT: SMOLOGIES NOW HAS ITS OWN FEED! SUBSCRIBE FOR NEW EPISODES EVERY THURSDAY. Subscribe to Smologies: https://pod.link/1746567248 Peach fuzz. Chin hairs. Mammalian ponytails. WHY DO THEY HAPPEN. Yale researcher and associate professor Dr. Valerie Horsley stops by California to chat with Alie about the nature of hair and what it has to do with skin and nails, stem cells, how it grows, why some of us have curly hair or straight hair or thin hair or thick hair, and why we love and hate a...
Mar 18, 2024•25 min•Transcript available on Metacast Why does clutter happen? How can we get rid of it and how will it affect us psychologically if we do? Buckle up for an encore that will lift your spirits and quite possibly change your life. We all have unfolded piles of laundry, that closet we dont want to open, a tornado of papers on our desk that seems impossible to sort through. Enter: Oikology, the science of keeping things contained. Alie hunted down world-famous professional organizers, Jamie & Filip Hord of Horderly to chat about -- FIRS...
Mar 12, 2024•2 hr 33 min•Transcript available on Metacast 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. Whether youve heard it before or are new to this classic ep, youre sure to be delighted by this Ologists storytelling. 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, exp...
Mar 05, 2024•1 hr 13 min•Transcript available on Metacast ANNOUNCEMENT: SMOLOGIES NOW HAS ITS OWN FEED! SUBSCRIBE FOR NEW EPISODES EVERY THURSDAY. Subscribe to Smologies: https://pod.link/1746567248 Classical Archaeologist and TV host Dr. Darius Arya is back for a smologized version of this classic episode to dish about priceless garbage piles, pottery graveyards, tomb discoveries, what's under European cities, ancient spa days, ingenious construction methods, and unlikely laundry techniques. Plus, what did ancient romans use before toilet paper - and ...
Mar 02, 2024•25 min•Transcript available on Metacast Part 2! Black hole suns, black hole movies, wormholes, time travel, matter evaporation, scientists being bitches, risk-taking advice, Italys favorite pastry, and more await you. NASA Goddard Theoretical Astrophysicist and Black Hole Theory Cosmologist Dr. Ronald Gamble, Jr. is back for the conclusion of black hole basics and how theories get made and whats on the (event) horizon for future astrophysicists to solve. Also: what do we do with our space anxiety?! Visit Dr. Ronald Gambles website and...
Feb 28, 2024•1 hr 10 min•Transcript available on Metacast How big are black holes? Is time elastic? What is spacetime foam? Why is there a place called elsewhere? Enjoy this dazzling two-parter that starts with the absolute basics with NASAs Goddard Theoretical Astrophysicist and Black Hole Theory Cosmologist Dr. Ronald Gamble, Jr. We talk busting of flim-flam, how do we image them, what's the most giant dense book you can buy about them, where do trad goths fit into this episode, does my dog exist, how astrophysics is like drawing, and the greatest gi...
Feb 21, 2024•49 min•Transcript available on Metacast ANNOUNCEMENT: SMOLOGIES NOW HAS ITS OWN FEED! SUBSCRIBE FOR NEW EPISODES EVERY THURSDAY. Subscribe to Smologies: https://pod.link/1746567248 Ah, charismatic megafauna! Teeth, claws, fur, poop, hibernation, hiking, nature preserves, and living your childhood dreams with Alies longtime -ologist crush, Dr. Rae Wynn-Grant. The large carnivore ecologist, researcher and TV presenter tells us all about her field work, what its like to stuff a baby bear in your coat, carnivore microbiomes, how well carn...
Feb 17, 2024•25 min•Transcript available on Metacast CAPYBARAS! Blocky faces. Chill vibes. Spa days. Finally. Hydrochoerologist, Dr. Elizabeth Congdon, leads us into the muddy pond of Rodents of Unusual Size, weird feet, pet questions, interspecies snuggles, capybara cafes, natural habitats, escaped capybara, a fossil record that will rock you, and what the Pope thinks of them. An instant classic that youll want to enjoy on repeat. Yall, CAPYBARAS. I repeat: Capybaras. Read Dr. Congdons publications on ResearchGate A donation went to Edgewater Ani...
Feb 14, 2024•1 hr 17 min•Transcript available on Metacast Environmental models! Poetry! Scientists who are poets! Novelists who are scientists! Art + science = an actual -ology. Creative Ecologist, climate scientist, theoretical ecologist, author and celebrated poet Dr. Madhur Anand sits on a porch with me on an island to chat about storytelling, narratives in science, forest beetles, carbon stability, human motives, hip waders, technology meets nature, absurdity, identity, overcoming writers or scientists' block, and how accepting ourselves can be con...
Feb 07, 2024•57 min•Transcript available on Metacast ANNOUNCEMENT: SMOLOGIES NOW HAS ITS OWN FEED! SUBSCRIBE FOR NEW EPISODES EVERY THURSDAY. Subscribe to Smologies: https://pod.link/1746567248 This ones got it all: teeny tiny cellular factories, mitochondrial relevancy, what big smelly vats of poop have to do with curing cancer, how many trips to the sun your unravelled DNA could make, and mysteries of the brain. Dr. Raven The Science Maven has a background in molecular biology and a Ph.D in Science Communication, which she puts to work while Ali...
Feb 03, 2024•25 min•Transcript available on Metacast *Content warning up top: This episode discusses sensitive themes like diet culture, caloric intake, the psychological & physical effects of food restriction and includes many listeners personal experience with the term obesity." It may be triggering for those with a history of or sensitivity to disordered eating. We also discuss the Body Mass Index, still used by medical professionals, but acknowledged by many sociologists to be rooted in structural oppression. * Lets explore our human machinery...
Jan 31, 2024•1 hr 25 min•Transcript available on Metacast 
