Jennifer Nardine, Teaching and Learning Liaison Librarian at Virginia Tech, helps students and researchers explore the origins of ideas, cultures, and traditions.

In this special Halloween episode, we take a closer look at the history behind one of the most beloved holidays of the year. When early American settlers from Celtic regions of Europe brought their pagan traditions to the New World, those customs blended with seasonal harvest festivals and religious observances, eventually shaping the Halloween we celebrate today.

Jennifer guides us through the origins and evolution of Halloween, exploring how folklore, history, and cultural traditions combined to create a holiday where costumes, storytelling, and imagination allow us to express a different side of ourselves.

Professor Junling Guo of Sichuan University is developing innovative ways to reduce fat absorption in the body using edible plant-based compounds.

Imagine being able to reduce your body’s absorption of fat simply by ingesting tiny microbeads made from natural plant polyphenols. Professor Guo’s lab recently created edible microbeads designed to trap dietary fats in the gut, allowing them to pass through the body instead of being absorbed.

We explore how this new approach could help with weight management. In animal studies, rats fed high-fat diets and given the microbeads lost about 17% of their body weight compared to controls, while also showing reduced fat tissue and lower stress on the liver. Researchers hope this method may offer a safer alternative to traditional fat-blocking drugs.

Dr. Alan Levinovitz, Professor of Philosophy and Religion at James Madison University, explores the surprising relationship between language, belief, science, and medicine.

Does naming a disease help the patient heal? When dealing with a mysterious illness or a difficult diagnosis, research suggests that the sense of relief that comes with finally identifying the condition can actually help people feel better, even when there is no clear treatment or cure.

Together with psychiatrist Dr. Awais Aftab, Dr. Levinovitz coined the term “The Rumpelstiltskin Effect.” Their study, published in the British Journal of Psychiatry Bulletin, found that patients often feel seen, understood, and more connected to a community when they hear an official name for what they are experiencing.

Dr. Julie Kolesar, Research Engineer at Stanford University’s Human Performance Lab, studies how small changes in human movement can improve joint health and reduce pain.

Would you ever imagine that simply changing the way you walk could reduce knee problems? New research suggests that subtle adjustments in how we move, even something as simple as changing the angle of your foot, may help reduce pain and slow the progression of knee osteoarthritis.

She explains how these small biomechanical changes could offer a drug-free, non-surgical way to help the more than 20% of adults over 40 who suffer from knee osteoarthritis live more comfortably.

Dr. Claire Raphael, Interventional Cardiologist at Mayo Clinic, studies the hidden causes of heart attacks that often go undetected, particularly in younger adults and women.

Heart attacks are the leading cause of death worldwide, but many people don’t realize that younger adults, especially women, are also at risk. Too often their symptoms are dismissed, or the real cause is missed entirely.

In a 15-year study, Dr. Raphael uncovered several hidden causes of heart attacks, including artery tears, coronary spasms, and other conditions that standard tests don’t always detect. These findings help explain why many young women are misdiagnosed and why some cases are missed until it’s too late.

Dr. Gregory Tarlé, Professor Emeritus of Physics at the University of Michigan, and Dr. Kevin Croker, Assistant Research Scientist at Arizona State University and Affiliate Faculty at the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa, are exploring a bold new theory about black holes that could reshape our understanding of the universe.

Their research examines the extreme physics that occurs when massive stars collapse and form black holes, regions of space where gravity is so powerful that not even light can escape. By studying the interactions between gravity and matter on these enormous cosmic scales, they are asking new questions about the origins and evolution of the universe.

In this episode, we discuss their revolutionary ideas about black holes, what scientists can learn from the collisions of these mysterious objects, and how new observations may help explain one of the biggest puzzles in cosmology: why the universe appears to be expanding faster and faster over time.

Dr. Sahen Gupta, Senior Lecturer in Applied Sport Psychology at the University of Portsmouth and a PhD in Sport and Performance Psychology from Glasgow Caledonian University, studies how people perform and recover under pressure.

Sports psychologists often examine the intense demands placed on professional athletes because sports provide a natural setting to study how humans respond to failure, pressure, and constant evaluation. In these environments, mistakes happen frequently and resilience often determines who thrives and who burns out.

Dr. Gupta discusses how resilience develops in high-pressure environments, not only in sports but also among musicians, pilots, and other high performers. His research explores how emotional control, mindset, and recovery from setbacks can help individuals perform better and build resilience that extends far beyond the game.

Dr. Christopher Roos, Professor of Anthropology at Southern Methodist University, studies the long history connecting people, fire, and landscapes.

Wildfires are often seen only as destructive, but history tells a more complex story. For centuries, Indigenous communities used fire intentionally to shape ecosystems and manage the land.

Using tree-ring science and archaeology, Dr. Roos examines how the Western Apache used controlled burning to help landscapes adapt to drought and climate extremes. In this episode, we explore how this deep history of Indigenous fire management offers important lessons for today, as communities search for better ways to live with fire rather than simply fight it.

Dr. Phoebe Hughes, Lecturer in Musicology at Binghamton University, studies popular music and how it reflects cultural and musical change.

Taylor Swift is one of the most influential musicians of our time, but what exactly explains her impact? Dr. Hughes is the author of Cranking Up Taylor Swift: Her Musical Journey in 11 Songs, a book that explores Swift’s work not just to celebrate her success, but to understand why it resonates so strongly with audiences.

We look at how Swift’s music reflects broader cultural shifts and what her career reveals about the evolving sound of country and pop music in the 21st century.

Professor Bruce Weinberg, Professor of Economics and Public Affairs at The Ohio State University, studies how scientific breakthroughs happen and the environments that help innovation thrive.

“There are no new ideas, but there are novel ways of combining old ideas to create something new.” This concept lies at the heart of Professor Weinberg’s research. By analyzing the career paths of Nobel Prize winners, he and his colleagues discovered that where researchers work and the people they interact with can have a powerful influence on groundbreaking discoveries.

Professor Weinberg explains how spending time in different research environments and collaborating with new communities can accelerate innovation and play a key role in the development of Nobel Prize–winning ideas.