Assigned Scientist at Bachelor‘s

On this week's episode we spoke to chemical engineer and self-described battery nerd Sophie Lee. They told us about their background in research and current research interests, indulged Charles in his request to have chemistry explained to him as if he were a precocious 10-year-old, and joined us in a meditation on how the world feels like it's on fire (and in some places, is literally on fire). 

A transcript and show notes are available on our website here: https://asabpodcast.com/2020/09/02/episode-7/

You can find Sophie on Twitter @sophieelee, Charles @cockroacharles, and Tessa at @spacermase. 

You can find the show on Twitter or Instagram @ASABpod or at our website asabpodcast.com. 

For this episode, we watched Star Trek: Deep Space Nine 4x06, "Rejoined," in which Jadzia Dax meets and contemplates rekindling a relationship with the new (female) host of one of her symbiont's previous host's wife's symbiont. We start talking about the gayest Star Trek episode before the new millennium and veer hard off course into a consideration of immortality, consciousness, and the metaphysics of transporter and robot technologies. 

A transcript can be found on our website here: https://asabpodcast.com/2020/08/25/episode-6/

Charles is on Twitter @cockroacharles, Tessa @spacermase, and the show can be found on Twitter and Instagram @ASABpod and at our website asabpodcast.com. 

Our guest this week is entomologist (specializing on caterpillars), illustrator, and science fiction reviewer Erin Barbeau. We talk about science fiction, museum collections, insect research, cool caterpillars, and the significance of genitalia. 

Transcript and show notes on our website: https://asabpodcast.com/2020/08/18/episode-5/

Erin can be found a variety of places online. 

insectoidreviews on Twitter @insectoidreview or on their blog insectoidreviews.wordpress.com.

Professional: on Twitter @Bug_Wrangler or erinbarbeau.wordpress.com 

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/caterpillar.creative/

You can find us @cockroacharles and @spacermase, and the show on Twitter @ASABpod or our website, asabpodcast.com. 

Our first guest is comic writer Melody Dickens, who has a background in applied biomedical sciences and science education. We talk about her experiences with research, with teaching science, and, inevitably, a lot of Star Trek.

Transcript and notes for this episode are available on our website: https://asabpodcast.com/2020/08/04/episode-4/

Melody can be found on Twitter @MelodyDickens. Her comic can be found @Schmultsy, and the first 200 strips can be purchased together on Amazon. 

You can find us @cockroacharles and @spacermase, and the show on Twitter @ASABpod or our website, asabpodcast.com. 

In this episode we use the Star Trek: The Next Generation episode "The Chase" (Season 6, Episode 20) to talk about evolution, philosophy of science, whether life is governed by laws, and how extraterrestrial life might develop. 

Charles talks about biological taxonomy, systematics, and nomenclature. If that sounds boring to you, it probably will be, there's no hidden twist it's just about taxonomy. 

A transcript is available on our website here: https://asabpodcast.com/2020/07/21/episode-2/

In this ep Tessa describes some of the background of astrobiology as a field, and talks about her own research. 

A basic introduction to the podcast and to its two hosts, Tessa (astrobiology) and Charles (entomology). Transcript available on our main website.