Science Night

It's High Time We Talked About Cannabis

November 5th, 2021  |  Season 3  |  55 mins 55 secs

cannabis, coronavirus, covid 19, fear, horror, immunology, marijuana, pot, scicomm, science, science fiction, toxicology

Cannabis continues to spark conversations as popular opinion shifts and its future legal status is debated. However, a long history of stigmatization that led to current federal regulations makes it difficult to study. This week, we're talking to Dr. Barb Kaplan, an Associate Professor for Mississippi State University, whose research looks at how cannabis alters the immune response. In the news segment, we talk about the Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) scheduling process that limits cannabis access to researchers, as well as the science of fear, and the FDA's recent approval of the Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine for use in ages 5 and older.

The 2021 Science Night Halloween Spectacular!

October 29th, 2021  |  Season 3  |  48 mins 27 secs

bill sullivan, disease, fiction, halloween, horror, monsters, non-fiction, porphyria, rabies, scary, scicomm, science, science fiction, scifi, spooky, toxoplasma gondii, toxplasmosis, vampires, werewolves, zombie, zombie apocalypse, zombies

Beware, dear listener, this episode of the Science Night podcast is much spookier than our typical offering. We begin our descent into the strange by talking about the scientific origins of the lore of our favorite monsters with special guest, Bill Sullivan. Later, the bravest among you can stay tuned for a dramatic reading of "Bit" from the twisted mind of Cody Sullivan, host of fellow Riverpower Podcast Mill show, Pulp: From Beyond the Veil.

Funding Science: It's Good Policy

October 22nd, 2021  |  Season 3  |  1 hr 10 mins

air travel, anatomy, aviation, biology, chemistry, climate change, democrat, design, energy, engineering, environment, faseb, fossil fuel, fusion energy, green energy, lobbying, nih, nsf, photosynthesis, policy, politics, renewable, republican, scicomm, science, science fiction, sustainable fuel, travel, weird science

Science isn't political. But that doesn’t mean that scientists don’t have influence in politics. Join us for our conversation with Dr. Naomi Charalambakis, Associate Director of Science Policy at the Federation of American Societies for Experimental Biology, to learn about how animal research informs human health and why it’s important for scientists to advocate for increased federal funding for science. Plus, is greener air travel on the horizon? And can photosynthesis be harnessed to restore nerve function? - these topics are covered in our news segment.

Science Communication: Let's Talk About It

October 8th, 2021  |  Season 3  |  54 mins 36 secs

art, crispr, facebook, genetic engineering, genetics, instagram, sciart, scicomm, science, science communication, social media, twitter, youtube

There are plenty of stories about how social media can be used to popularize misinformation and create division. This week we’re taking a different approach and highlighting someone that is doing some great science communication on social media. Combining her passion for art with a talent for explaining science, Dr. Jen Ma has created Gentle Facts. This week, we talk to Jen about her work and her journey to compassionate science communication.

We also talk about how social media can be used to popularize misinformation and create division…and CRISPR!

Constructed Languages with David J. Peterson

September 24th, 2021  |  Season 3  |  59 mins 21 secs

anthropology, archaeology, art, conlang, constructed language, defiance, denisovan, disney, dune, evolution, game of thrones, geology, hominid, language, linguistics, marvel, neurology, reading, scicomm, science, screens

This week we're talking about all the ways humans express themselves including a stories about a recent find that may be the world's most ancient, and how the things we use to read affect our comprehension. The highlight is a conversation with David J. Peterson, and language creator that has helped build the languages that made the world your favorite shows and movies inhabit feel richer and more vibrant. The list of projects he's worked on is too long to list completely, but some of the highlights include the 2021 remake of Dune, Disney's Raya and the Last Dragon, HBO's Game of Thrones, Freeform's Motherland: Fort Salem, SyFy's Defiance, and many many many more.

The Science of SciFi from Gen Con '21

September 18th, 2021  |  Season 3  |  25 mins 10 secs

anthropology, big foot, biology, cryptid, cryptids, cryptozoology, geek, gen con, gencon, gritty, indianapolis, jersey devil, monster, nerd, science, science fiction, scifi, yeti, zoology

Here's a quick bonus episode brought to you by our friends at Indiana Sciences! James talked about cryptids for the 2021 Science of Science Fiction panel from Gen Con. If you want to hear more (and you definitely do) check out https://indianasciences.org/ to hear the rest.

Fusion: Some Like It Hot

September 10th, 2021  |  Season 3  |  53 mins 32 secs

climate change, comparative anatomy, dog training, engineering, fish, fusion, fusion energy, grad school, green energy, nuclear engineering, pegasus iii, pegasus3, physics, renewable energy, robotics, scicomm, science, soft robotics

Science news has been hot over the last couple of weeks, with announcements of major advances in fusion energy, a green alternative to fossil fuel energy. In this episode we sit down with Dr. Steffi Diem, a plasma physicist from the University of Wisconsin-Madison, and director of the Pegasus III a fusion energy and plasma science experiment, to learn about the latest in fusion energy research and how she forged her own path in science. She’s also a dog agility trainer… you don’t want to miss this!

The Relaunch

August 27th, 2021  |  Season 3  |  1 hr 24 mins

alfred wallace, alpha fold, biology, computing, evolution, quantum computers, scicomm, science, scientists, technology, time crystal

Science Night, reimagined. Season 3 debuts a new format for your favorite podcast where we focus on the coolest science the stories behind it: past, present, and future! Episode 1 features the latest science developments from protein folding to time crystals, a brief history of 19th Century evolutionary theorist Alfred Russell Wallace, and an attempt to answer the question, “What is Science?” We hope you enjoy the new look and sound of Science Night!

The Rosetta Stone

May 21st, 2021  |  Season 2  |  26 mins 4 secs

anthropology, archaeology, cultural resource management, egypt, egyptology, linguistics, scicomm, science

This week I'm on my own and talking about the Rosetta Stone. Not the overpriced software but the large slab of granite from which the software gets its name. I'll talk about why the stone was made in the first place and it's role in our understanding of ancient Egyptian culture. I'll also talk about why should be returned to Egypt by the British Museum.

First Steps Featuring: Jeremy DeSilva

April 30th, 2021  |  Season 2  |  47 mins 26 secs

anatomy, anthropology, bipedalism, evolution, scicomm, science, walking

What does it mean to be bipedal? How do we know what we know about this process in our own human lineage? How important is the continued reevaluation of fossil remains, and old hypotheses? To help answer these questions, we have the author of the new book First Steps: How Upright Walking Made Us Human, Jeremy DeSilva

Zombification Featuring: Athena Aktipis

April 16th, 2021  |  Season 2  |  54 mins 8 secs

athena aktipis, covid19, psychology, scicomm, science, scifi, zombie apocalypse, zombies, zombification

Is the zombie apocalypse really possible? Worse yet, has it already started? Dr. Athena Aktipis stopped by to answer these questions and more.

Who Owns the Past? Featuring: Gypsy Price

April 2nd, 2021  |  Season 2  |  1 hr 7 mins

anthropology, archaeology, cultural resource management, elgin marbles, greece, parthenon, parthenon marbles, scicomm, science

Who owns the past? Why should we care about this question? How annoyed can James make a guest by comparing them to Indiana Jones or Lara Croft? In this episode, I talked with Gypsy Price, a bioarchaeologist, about a lot of things. Topics range from her work in Greece, cultural resource management, what to do with a degree in archaeology, and why Britain should return the Parthenon Marbles to Greece.

The Curious Case of the Painted Turtle with Beth Reinke

March 19th, 2021  |  Season 2  |  43 mins 26 secs

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

Why are painted turtles painted? What role does pigmentation play in biology? How little does our host know about this topic? Beth Reinke, an evolutionary ecologist at Northeastern Illinois Univ., stopped by to answer these questions and more on the newest episode of the podcast.

The Scientific Association with Shawn Boynes

March 4th, 2021  |  Season 2  |  45 mins 1 sec

anatomy, scicomm, science

Shawn Boynes, the Executive Director of the American Association for Anatomy, and I talk about the importance of science communication and the role of the professional association in science.

A Conversation with Ben Valentine

November 12th, 2020  |  Season 1  |  53 mins 3 secs

academics, archaeology, scicomm, science, stem

In the final episode of season 1, I sat down with Ben Valentine to talk about his path from archaeology to fundraising, and some of the limitations of academia.

The 2020 Science Night Halloween Spectacular

October 29th, 2020  |  Season 1  |  53 mins 13 secs

body snatching, buried alive, death, edgar allan poe, grave robbing, halloween, horror, scicomm, science, science fiction, scifi, victorian

For the spookiest of seasons, we put together a special episode talking about death, body snatching, and being buried alive. Listen to the end for a dramatic reading of Edgar Allan Poe's "Premature Burial"