The fundamental task of our immune systems is to recognize foreign objects in our bodies and destroy them. But what happens when there’s an object inside you that’s half foreign and half you? What happens when you’re carrying a fetus? We were all once fetuses and we all made it past our mother’s immune systems and into this world. How that all works has puzzled scientists for decades. So much so that it’s led to the formation of the field of pregnancy immunology. We chat with scientists Dr. Gabrielle Rizzuto and Dr. Susan Fisher to unpack this conundrum and many others. Join us on a journey back into the womb! This episode was produced by Julianne Riggs, Maggie Colton Cove and Kie Shidara. You can find the pdf of this transcript on carrytheoneradio.com.

Science doesn't happen in a vacuum, and racism both in science and society contributes to disparities in the health outcomes of Black Americans. In this episode of The Spotlight, we talked to Dr. Debora Kamin Mukaz about her work studying how social factors and biology converge to affect risk of developing cardiovascular disease. Hear about her journey into epidemiology, and what doing this research means to her.

For more info about the two examples of mistreatment of Black people by the scientific establishment referenced in this episode, visit carrytheoneradio.com/episodes/yss-7

These days, homeopathy and some forms of alternative medicine fall soundly in the realm of pseudoscience. Not only that, but the wellness industry has capitalized on the popularity of these practices in predatory ways, selling promises of improved health with no evidence to back them up. In the United States, the marketing of these alternative ‘wellness’ products primarily targets women – evidenced by yoni eggs, vaginal steamers, and more. If we turn back the clock about 150 years, however, homeopathic medicine didn’t look so different from the techniques being practiced in the medical mainstream. There was one important distinction, though – homeopathic medical colleges were more welcoming to women. Join us as we trace the complicated relationship between feminism, healing, and alternative medicine from its origins to the present day.

This episode was written and produced by Deanna Necula and Ben Mansky. The poem was read by Stella Belonwu. Music and sound effects used in this episode include Old Ralley by Lobo Loco, I Feel Sad by Scanglobe, and Discovery Harbor by Blue Dot Sessions on Free Music Archive and Chopping Vegetables from ancorapazzo on Freesound. For more information on sources referenced in this episode, visit carrytheoneradio.com/episodes/homeopathy.

We’re proud to present the first episode in our brand new Young Scientist Spotlight Series, or “The Spotlight” for short. Each month, we’ll feature an informal, lightly-edited interview with a graduate student, postdoc, staff researcher, or other early-career scientist. Through these conversations, we’ll be bringing you a fun, down-to-earth look at not only even more of the awesome science content you love, but also the people behind the science. In our first Spotlight, we spoke with Witney Chen, a graduate student studying Parkinson’s Disease at the University of California, San Francisco. We chatted about her research on brain stimulation in human patients, life in graduate school, how she became a scientist, and… dog poop.

This episode was produced by Ben Mansky. Music is “Borough,” from Blue Dot Sessions.

Dr. Liz Wayne got her start as a cancer hunter, searching for rogue cells running loose through the bloodstream. But she started to notice something strange – everywhere she found cancer cells, she found immune cells, too. Today, a big issue with cancer therapy is that some cancer sites are really hard to reach, but immune cells have no problem getting there. Dr. Wayne thought, why not hitchhike cancer-fighting drugs onto immune cells to get them straight to the places they’re needed most? Listen to this month’s episode to find out how her research may pave the way for a cheaper, more accessible kind of cancer immunotherapy. Plus, stick around after the credits to hear the origin story of Dr. Wayne’s podcast, PhDivas.

Dr. David Gordon studies HIV. In Life/Science, a new mini-series produced in collaboration with the UCSF Quantitative Biosciences Institute, we're giving you a peek behind the curtain. This isn't just a series about science, it's also about the process, about what it actually means to do this kind of research - including the confusion, failures, and triumphs David has faced along the way.

Life/Science will be updated monthly, so make sure to tune in next month for Episode 2: Methods! We'll take a deep dive into the experiments David used to figure out how HIV hijacks human cells for its own nefarious purposes.

If you like what you hear, give us a like or leave a comment! We'd love to hear from you. Music featured in this episode comes from Podington Bear. Other contributors to David's research include Ariane Watson, Stefanie Jager, and Assen Roguev.

If you could swallow a pill that would give you twenty extra years of healthy life, would you do it? In this episode of CTOR, we talk to Dr. Dena Dubal, a neurologist and neuroscientist at UCSF. Her research on a protein discovered completely by accident may hold the key to living longer, healthier lives more resilient to heart disease, Alzheimer’s disease, and dementia.

How is that possible? Listen to this month’s CTOR episode to find out!

Our ability to diagnose and treat disorders of the mind lags far behind other medical disciplines. For our latest episode, we talked to Dr. Matthew State about why this is the case, and discussed how his research into the genetics of autism is revealing promising paths to future treatments.

Ready to get blasted with science? We recorded five different PhD students as they summarized their entire thesis in 3 minutes or less. The challenge was to describe their research with as little jargon as possible, for a general audience. You’ll hear about everything from cancer, to the developing embryo, to how dieting might make you smarter.

Music from today’s episode includes: Easy Jam and Ecossaise in E-flat from Kevin MacLeod; 60s Quiz Show from Podington Bear, Bumper Tag from John Deley, The Creek from Topher Mohr and Alex Elena.