Science Night

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!

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!

Brain Games with Drs. Mikaela Stiver & Zach London

September 14th, 2022  |  Season 3  |  52 mins 23 secs

arachnophobia, board games, brain, cns, dna, games, nervous system, neurology, neuroscience, pns, scicomm, science, spiders, table top games

This week we're talking to the team behind the creation of a new card game about cranial nerves and the boney openings that love them, Foramina! Mikaela Stiver and Zach London stop by to tell us what inspired the game and how they went about creating it. In the news, we're talking about doppelganger DNA & a spiderweb of misinformation.

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.