Do you like Sci-Fi and Fantasy? Then you like Speculative Fiction and so do we. Dr. Lysa Rivera joins us again, after being one of Spark Science’s first guests , to talk about the history of Black and Brown voices in this genre and to also share some great recommendations, beyond Octavia Butler. However we of course talk about her too. At WWU, Dr. Rivera specializes in Chicano/a/x and African American literature and has an extremely popular class focused on this field. She also currently serves ...
Jul 28, 2021•30 min•Ep 86•Transcript available on Metacast Why do people believe false stories on social media? Who is most susceptible to misinformation or to the more malicious version, disinformation? In this episode, we speak with Ph.D. candidate in Cognitive Psychology at Northwestern Nikita Salovich . Her research on how “fake news” grows and how we can slow or stop the spread. Spark Science encourages our listeners to get vaccinated and to use the information in this episode to have discussions with hesitant family and friends to get vaccinated a...
May 18, 2021•29 min•Ep 85•Transcript available on Metacast “Which one did you get, Pfizer or Moderna?” This was the big question at the start of the COVID-19 vaccine rollout but how do these vaccines work? Why do they have to be kept at ultracold temperatures? What is mRNA? These questions are answers in this episode featuring WWU Biology professor and RNA researcher, Dr. Suzanne Lee . Lastly, if you haven’t already, Spark Science would like to encourage you to get any COVID-19 Vaccine available, mRNA or not....
Apr 29, 2021•30 min•Ep 84•Transcript available on Metacast It has been a year since we have talked with Infectious Disease Specialist, Dr. Vijai Bhola. He is now our go-to regular medical doctor to answer our questions about the pandemic one year in. We discuss the various vaccines, the socioeconomic impact of the pandemic on different populations, and predictions for the future. One takeaway that Dr. Bhola would like to convey is to “not let your guard down”. We are not out of this pandemic yet so keep those masks on and those interactions outside your...
Apr 13, 2021•29 min•Ep 83•Transcript available on Metacast What is “Mars Time”? Are you excited about machines flying on another planet? Or Martian rock coming back to Earth? If you are curious about spacecraft on the Red Planet then check out our Season 7 Premiere featuring one of the best communicators in town, NASA Scientist and Western Washington University Geophysicist, Dr. Melissa Rice. We reference her Op-Ed “A Wright Brothers moment on Mars will expand our cosmic perspective” published in the Seattle Times in this episode. You can check it out h...
Mar 31, 2021•29 min•Ep 82•Transcript available on Metacast For our Season 6 Finale, we speak with conservationist, storyteller, filmmaker and fellow pop culture enthusiast, Luwi Nguluka. She shares her path from medicine to wildlife activism. Luwi is the co-founder of "Women For Conservation", Zambia's first network for women working on wildlife initiatives and is involved in the “This is not Game” bushmeat campaign which tackles the illegal trade. To learn more about Luwi’s work, check out her TEDx Talk titled What conservation can cook like for an Afr...
Aug 22, 2020•24 min•Ep 81•Transcript available on Metacast The old adage "A picture is worth a thousand words" explains how photography can create conservation stories accessible across cultures. Our guest for this episode uses beautiful images to help save wetlands around the world. Gab Mejia is a National Geographic Explorer , Nikon Ambassador for Asia, Jackson Wild Media Lab Fellow, and an engineering undergraduate student. Join us for a conversation about his path from hobbyist to international award-winning science communicator. Check out Gab Mejia...
Aug 15, 2020•27 min•Ep 80•Transcript available on Metacast Backyard Botany & Birdsongs - In the first segment WWU student Liz Cunningham interviews a local expert about how a love for gardening can help science spread. The second segment shares how bird and whale song expert Dr. John Bower became an ornithologist at Fairhaven College.
Aug 08, 2020•31 min•Ep 79•Transcript available on Metacast What makes people accept scientific information? This episode is part 2 of our short Sharing Science series where we talk to researchers who study how science is communicated. Our guest is Dr. Reyhaneh Maktoufi a Civic Science Fellow at NOVA and a producer for Story Collider. She is also an artist who uses comics to emphasize the importance of trust and encourage empathy in science communication.
Aug 01, 2020•21 min•Ep 78•Transcript available on Metacast How do we humans interact with scientific information? This episode is part 1 of our short Sharing Science series where we talk to researchers who study how science is communicated. In this episode, our guest is Dr. Sara K. Yeo from the University of Utah. She specializes in Science and Risk communication and most recently has started to study how humor is used to share scientific information on social media....
Jul 25, 2020•26 min•Ep 77•Transcript available on Metacast The year 2019 was hailed the International Year of the Periodic Table. Western Washington University professors staged a reenactment at the Spark Museum featuring the scientists credited with the creation of the Table of Elements in 1869. Spark Science was lucky enough to get a few of them into the studio late 2019 to talk about why we are celebrating this scientific tool 150 years later. Thank you to our guests Dr. Serge Smirnov a biochemist, Dr. Tim Kowalczyk a physical chemist, and Dr. Dietma...
Jul 18, 2020•21 min•Ep 76•Transcript available on Metacast What are clam gardens? Join us on Spark Science’s first research field trip up the coast of Vancouver Island, BC. Dr. Marco Hatch answers this question by showing us a day in the life of a marine ecologist. We learn about clam habitat and how people have been managing these beaches for thousands of years. Photo of clam garden rock wall located in Fulfod Harbor B.C. courtesy of Dr. Marco Hatch. For more information on his research, go to his website https://wp.wwu.edu/hatchlab/ If you would like ...
Jul 11, 2020•30 min•Ep 75•Transcript available on Metacast For our 100th episode, our first and most frequent guest is back, Dr. Melissa Rice. Days before quarantine, we entertained a live audience at WWU with stories of missions past and details about the future Mars Rover launching this July. If you would like to learn more about Dr. Rice’s work you can visit https://wp.wwu.edu/mars/ You can follow her on instagram @westernmartians & Twitter @martian_mel
May 23, 2020•29 min•Ep 74•Transcript available on Metacast Who shapes the lives of science students? Here at WWU, two students edited and produced podcasts for their final project in a spring science communication course. They decided to feature the people they admire. This episode features physics major Chase Boggio interviewing WWU physics professor Dr. Takele Seda about his education in Ethiopia. The second segment features engineering student Maria Watters speaking with her mother, a doctoral candidate in Public Health Sciences, about when she ran a...
May 16, 2020•24 min•Ep 73•Transcript available on Metacast When you think of winter in the Pacific Northwest, what comes to mind? Snow, rain, darkness? Many people think of Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD) which is why we held and recorded a LIVE show at the start of 2020 to share tips on how to deal with SAD, depression, grief and anxiety. Our guest was the energetic and media-savvy WWU Executive Director for Counseling, Health and Wellness, Dr. Sislena Ledbetter. For more information about Dr. Ledbetter, you can visit drsis.com Image courtesy of drsi...
May 10, 2020•24 min•Ep 72•Transcript available on Metacast We return to GeekGirlCon , an annual fall convention in Seattle that celebrates the various identities of geekdom, to showcase how curiosity combines with costuming, chemistry, ceramics, and computer-generated reality. This is our second episode covering 2019 GeekGirlCon . To find out more about the convention and out guest’s amazing work following them on twitter @GeekGirlCon @amyraehill for astro-ceramics & for Torrey’s cosplay @tereshkova2001...
Apr 25, 2020•28 min•Ep 71•Transcript available on Metacast What do all of these things have in common? GeekGirlCon. This annual fall convention in Seattle celebrates the various identities of geekdom and in this episode, we showcase how bugs can help kids through adolescents, how easy it is for children to connect science to the everyday world and the fun world of forensics. This is our first episode covering 2019 GeekGirlCon . To find out more about The Bug Chicks, Mmmmonsters and/or Geek Girl Con follow them on twitter. @TheBugChicks, @mmm_monsters, @...
Apr 18, 2020•29 min•Ep 70•Transcript available on Metacast During this global pandemic, do you want to hear directly from a medical doctor who specializes in infectious diseases? We did. While stuck at home inundated with COVID-19 news, we thought it would be nice to learn from and get to know one of the people on the front lines. Join us for an interview with Dr. Vijai Bhola where we talk about the history of vaccines, the current response to this outbreak and some positive words to help our anxious minds. Image credit: CDC/ Alissa Eckert, MS; Dan Higg...
Apr 04, 2020•27 min•Ep 69•Transcript available on Metacast What do the Atomic Bomb and one of the first hands-on science museums have in common? The answer and a whole lot of geeky fun can be found in our interview with Dr. Whitmore. We discuss the language of science, the movie Real Genius, and our favorite Star Trek episode. To find out more about the Exploratorium check out https://www.exploratorium.edu/ & follow Dr. Whitmore on twitter @DarthScience
Mar 28, 2020•29 min•Ep 68•Transcript available on Metacast How different are people's paths into science and what are students going through right now? Each spring Spark Science host, Dr. Barber DeGraaff, teaches a science communication course where students can create podcasts for a final project. This episode features WWU student Khleo Isaguirre interviewing Biology professor, Dr. Adrienne Wang. This episode also shares WWU student Kassidy Haluska speaking to other College of Science and Engineering majors about their choices....
Mar 21, 2020•29 min•Ep 67•Transcript available on Metacast What is it like to study and handle the African giant pouched rat? How do these rodents interact with humans? Dr. Danielle Lee returns to Spark Science to answer these questions by sharing an experience that you won’t forget. Dr. Lee was a keynote speaker at the National SACNAS Convention in Honolulu, Hawaii and you can find out more about Dr. Lee’s work by following her on twitter and instagram @DNLee5 and/or watch her TED talks on Finding Landmines Using Giant Pouched Rats & How Hip-Hop Helps ...
Mar 07, 2020•31 min•Ep 66•Transcript available on Metacast What can we do to build confidence and community in Science and Math? What is the mathematical field, combinatorics? Dr. Pamela E. Harris, assistant professor of mathematics at Williams College, answers these questions in our season premiere of Season 6. Dr. Harris was a keynote speaker at the National SACNAS Convention in Honolulu, Hawaii and we discussed personal journeys and the joys of watching undergraduate students tackle complex problems without fear. To find out more about Dr. Pamela E. ...
Feb 29, 2020•30 min•Ep 65•Transcript available on Metacast Robots on Mars! This isn’t science fiction or the future; this is now. We are lucky enough to have NASA scientist, Mars rover team member, and extremely talented science communicator Dr. Melissa Rice share her knowledge for our Season 5 finale. We talk about studying the scientists that operate the rover, the history of robots on Mars and the future of Mars exploration. A special thanks to Dr. Melissa Rice (the Steve Martin of Spark Science), Janet Vertesi’s book “Seeing like a Rover” and the WW...
Aug 15, 2019•32 min•Ep 64•Transcript available on Metacast What does it mean to educate? This is the question Dr. Bryan Dewsbury asks everyday. Check out our conversation with this amazing Biologist, Science Communicator, and STEM education scholar as we discuss belonging, sharing science and TV. To find out more about the film - “Can We Talk? Difficult Conversations with Underrepresented People of Color: Sense of Belonging and Obstacles to STEM Fields” go to https://www.kendallmooredocfilms.com/ Find out more about Dr. Dewsbury’s work at http://www.sea...
Aug 09, 2019•30 min•Ep 63•Transcript available on Metacast What if diagrams in biology textbooks were animated and could be viewed from any angle? Dr. Janet Iwasa, Molecular Animator , TED fellow and Assistant Professor in Biochemistry at the University of Utah, explains how she began creating 3D animations and the impact within current medical research. We are also joined by my friend and past guest Dr. Lina Dalberg , associate professor in Biology at WWU. I hope you enjoy hearing our attempt to describe visuals with enthusiasm. To view Dr. Iwasa's ani...
Jul 20, 2019•28 min•Ep 62•Transcript available on Metacast How does pot affect the brain? We love showcasing interesting research happening at Western Washington University and we get an answer to this question from a WWU neuroscientist who researches how cannabis affects the brain Dr. Josh Kaplan. For more information on Dr. Kaplan’s work go to https://neurokaplan.com/
Jul 12, 2019•26 min•Ep 61•Transcript available on Metacast Are you fascinated by space travel? We are, and so is our guest, Planetary Society ’s Chief Advocate, one of the featured experts on Nat Geo’s show MARS and podcast host on Planetary radio, Casey Dreier. This conversation covers the struggles involved in journeys past our atmosphere but also the collaborations created between nations as we strive towards a common goal, exploration. If you want to learn more about the Planetary Society or listen to more Casey Dreier visit http://www.planetary.org...
Jul 06, 2019•29 min•Ep 60•Transcript available on Metacast Music is a science! Many of us see this connection. SAMMUS does. She is a rap artist, producer and at the time of this recording finishing her PhD in Science and Technology Studies at Cornell University. Together we dissect academia (those ivory towers), her path and the music industry. She is now Dr. Enongo Lumumba-Kasongo. We are big fans of everything she has accomplished and excited about everything she will accomplish in the future. To find out more about SAMMUS visit https://sammusmusic.co...
Jun 28, 2019•28 min•Ep 59•Transcript available on Metacast Gravitational Waves are ripples in space, distortions in reality as we know it. Learn more about this ground-breaking physics from Corey Gray, Lead Operator at the Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory (LIGO) in Hanford, Washington in this episode. Corey has been featured by NPR -- not only because he was there at the start of LIGO, but also because he is an amazing science communicator. Corey’s mother is also part of an effort to translate LIGO press releases into Blackfoot . You ...
Jun 14, 2019•30 min•Ep 58•Transcript available on Metacast Who wants to pet a scorpion? Our guest does. Dr. Lauren Esposito was a keynote speaker at the national SACNAS convention and spoke with us about how she is only one of a dozen scientists who study scorpions, what are some misconceptions about these creatures and also how she is a founding member of 500 Queer Scientists . Special thanks to SACNAS & Dr. Lauren Esposito who was a delight to interview. She is hilarious. Follow Dr. Esposito on twitter @ArachnologyNerd and @500QueerSci Audio from Arac...
Jun 07, 2019•27 min•Ep 57•Transcript available on Metacast 
