Science Night

Coconut Crabs and Famous Flyers

June 28th, 2023  |  Season 3  |  17 mins 2 secs

amelia earhart, aviation, coconut crabs, legends, myths, nikumaroro island, scicomm, science

This week, we're continuing our Summer Scicomm adventure on Nikumaroro Island. What do coconut crabs have to do with a famous flyer? Why does this story keep popping up? How do regular people become legendary? We attempt to answer these questions and more!

The Curious Case of the Painted Turtle-Remastered

June 21st, 2023  |  Season 3  |  41 mins 31 secs

biology, color, ecology, evolution, pigmentation, scicomm, science, turtles

It seems like turtles are popping up all over the place so we're revisiting one of our most popular episodes. This week we look back to our conversation with Dr.Beth Reinke from a few years ago. We talk about why painted turtles are so colorful, but also how species use color in nature.

Little Fires Everywhere

June 14th, 2023  |  Season 3  |  13 mins 39 secs

canada, climate action, climate change, climate crisis, fire season, global warming, scicomm, science, wildfires

This week we're starting our summer scicomm adventure by talking about the wildfires that are tearing through the True North and choking out the Mid-Atlantic region of the United States. Spoilers, it's climate change...it's always climate change

The End...For Now

May 31st, 2023  |  Season 3  |  38 mins 45 secs

ai, alpha fold, artificial intelligence, astrophysics, biochemistry, biomedical engineering, biomedicine, communication, democracy, engineering, neurology, physics, plasma, politics, protein synthesis, robotics, scicomm, science, soft robotics

It's time to say goodbye to season 3, but not before we bring you a little more scicomm. This week we're revisiting our first story from the relaunch era, but this time there's a wrinkle in the AlphaFold. It wouldn't be Science Night without something to make you simultaneously horrified and fascinate, this time it's a soft robot that can wrap your brain in its tentacles. Plasma remains a hot topic, and we couldn't pass up one last opportunity to talk about it with a solar selfie. Finally, we're riding out on a bit of a light-hearted topic...the downfall of democracy.

This may be the end of season 3, but there's still plenty of Science Night coming your way including some fun summer scicomm before the premiere of season 4 in the fall of '23. Make sure you're following us everywhere and subscribe to the show so you don't miss a thing!

Journal Club

May 17th, 2023  |  Season 3  |  35 mins 33 secs

anxiety, ase, bermuda triangle, burn out, cognitive science, elsevier, journal, probability, psychology, publication, scicomm, science, scientific journal

This week we're talking about the single most anxiety-inducing part of working in science...publication (cue thunderclap). Why do e-versions cost so much? how long does it take to review an article? But first, we're uncovering the mystery of the Bermuda Triangle. Then we talk about anxiety, burnout, and the pitch clock.

A Flexible Mind

May 3rd, 2023  |  Season 3  |  40 mins 33 secs

astronomy, astrophysics, blackhole, engineering, nanotech, nanowire, neuroanatomy, neurology, neuroscience, prefrontal cortex, scary barbie, scicomm, science, spaghettification

This week, we're building a flexible scicomm mind. First, we gather strands of a long shredded star pulled into not so dreamy house, it's a super-massive blackhole called Scary Barbie. Next, we'll weave a network of nanowires that seem to work a lot like living neurons Finally, we'll look at a project that is attempting to explain how our brains adapt to a changing world.

Dont forget to share, rate, and review the show wherever you get your podcasts!

Sports in the Climate Era

April 19th, 2023  |  Season 3  |  39 mins 37 secs

anthropology, archaeology, baseball, bronze age, climate change, climate crisis, climate emergency, fifa, football, fusion energy, global warming, horses, indigenous, native american, nuclear fusion, pegasus iii, psychedelics, scicomm, science, soccer, sports, tokamak

Coming up to bat, we have four scicomm stories from the news. First, we talk about psychedelic substance use in the Bronze Age. Next, we're re-examining the origin of horses in indigenous communities in North America. To round out the first half, we have our favorite new segment where Dr. Diem clears up the fusion confusion. In the second half, we're looking at sports in the climate era, where Jason laments the death of baseball, James relives a Red October to remember, and Steffi thinks about life in the white tent.

Stellar Scicomm

April 5th, 2023  |  Season 3  |  39 mins 52 secs

british parliament, capitol hill, carbon capture, climate change, climate crisis, fusion energy, scicomm, science, science advocacy, science policy, stellerator, tokamak, us government

This week we're talking about two of our favorite things, science advocacy, and fusion energy. First, James, Jason, and Steffi talk about their recent trip to D.C. Next, we talk about science advocacy across the pond. In the second half, we talk about the recent news about carbon capture, and a hot new fusion energy company is building a stellarator.

There's a Fungus Among Us

March 15th, 2023  |  Season 3  |  38 mins 35 secs

anti-fungal, antibiotic, cordyceps, fungus, hbo, infectious disease, john wick, keanu reeves, last of us, microbiology, parasite, parasitology, scicomm, science, the last of us

This week, we're joined by our friend and yours, Dr. Bill Sullivan, so of course we had to talk about some of the science behind The Last of Us! We're talking about the very real cordyceps fungus, and how one species can create a zombie apocalypse while another changes the economy of the Tibetan plateau. We're also looking at Keanumycin, the bacterial substance that could save us all, without the need for any pesky fireflies.

Toxicity On Our Railways

March 1st, 2023  |  Season 3  |  47 mins 3 secs

d&d, east palestine, engineering, gamer, mechanical engineer, nerd, ohio, scicomm, science, trainwreck

This week friend of the show, engineer, and fantasy physicist Matt Sauers joins us! In the first half, Matt answers the age-old question "why engineering" and talks about how he brings science to a fantasy world. In the second half, we talk about the recent train derailment and chemical spill near East Palestine, OH.

Luxurious Chaos with Dr. Alexis Katsis

February 15th, 2023  |  Season 3  |  35 mins 29 secs

cellular engineering, chaos theory, engineering, fashion, gold, luxury, luxury goods, mathematics, medicine, microbiology, podcasting, scicomm, science, science podcasting

This week, Dr. Alexis Katsis from the Luxesci podcast is joining us to talk about her work as an immunologist during the COVID-19 pandemic and her shift looking at the more luxurious side of science. In the news, we're talking about some cyborg cells that could change the way we treat certain diseases (or usher in the end of humanity...) and James tries to talk about theoretical mathematics with some chaotic, and beautiful, results.

A Festival of Fusion: The 2022 Year in Review

February 8th, 2023  |  Season 3  |  39 mins 59 secs

arc, climate change, climate crisis, east, fusion, fusion energy, iter, jet, nuclear fusion, physics, scicomm, science, sparc, step, tokamak

We're back with another look back at the year in fusion energy. Join us as our friendly fusioneer Steffi Diem and special guest Arturo Dominguez talk about the highlights and high temps from an exciting year.

Its the End of the World (As We Know It)

February 1st, 2023  |  Season 3  |  36 mins 43 secs

engineering, geology, liquid metal, naturalist, robotics, scicomm, science, soft robotics

This week Kirk Mona from the Strange by Nature podcast joins us to talk about podcasting, science communication, and what it takes to be a modern naturalist. In the news, we're talking about twisted metal, a core issue, and whether or not either of these stories will cause the downfall of civilization.

We Have Ignition

December 28th, 2022  |  Season 3  |  24 mins 16 secs

biology, fusion, fusion energy, miss america, national ignition facility, provora, scicomm, science

This week, we're closing out 2022 with a scicomm roundup. First, we're talking about the new hot supergroup that's taking the Tree of Life by storm, next, we crown new science royalty, and finally, we ignite a conversation about the future of energy. Also, be sure to check out our social media accounts so you don't miss our top 5 countdown of our most downloaded episodes in 2022.

A Fireside Chat with Kate Miller

December 14th, 2022  |  Season 3  |  37 mins 59 secs

ai, anthropology, artificial intelligence, astronomy, bio anthro, biological anthropology, black hole, epidemiology, fire, hominid, hominin, homo naledi, rising star cave, scicomm, science

This week we’re looking at three bits of science news with special guest Kate Miller. First we ask, “do we really need an ai diarrhea detector”? Then we watch a light show 8.2 billion years in the making. In the second half, we gather around the fire to talk about a new discovery from the Rising Star in South Africa.

How I Learned To Stop Worrying and Love AI, Featuring: Rufus Cochran

November 30th, 2022  |  Season 3  |  57 mins 5 secs

ai, artificial intelligence, computer science, deep learning, machine learning, meta, scicomm, science, time

This week, Rufus Cochran from Indiana Sciences stops in to talk about AI, deep learning, and how it probably won't lead to the end of civilization as we know it. In the news, we're talking about the loss of the leap second and Meta's AI malarky. Be sure to follow Indiana Sciences on social media so you'll never miss out on their content.