Hello friends, thank you all for listening to the sixth episode of Emily Vs. Science! I was super-super excited to do this episode since it is what I am studying at UW- Madison for my undergraduate degree. I really love learning about speech and hearing and hopefully this episode sheds some light on why!

Before I drop the links mentioned in the episode as promised, here is some information on correct terminology when referring to hearing loss from the National Association of the Deaf.

Here are the links as promised:

I know I didn’t go into great detail about Cochlear implants, but I did want to make sure I left a few resources about them!

Again, thank you for tuning in and catch ya in the next episode!

Thank you for listening to my latest episode - I was excited to tackle a controversial topic that my listeners suggested to me via my Instagram!

In this episode I look at the history and basis of marijuana restrictions and use. Currently it is used in 45 states and the District of Columbia for either medical use or both medical or recreational use. I look at what is known about the mechanism of action and conjecture the potential benefits of use on different levels.

In this podcast I discuss the benefits of marijuana, despite the common perception that marijuana can be used in poor judgement. In this episode, my goal is to highlight the currently researched benefits of medical use of marijuana.

Listed below are some of the sources I gathered my information from plus a few websites that detail the history of marijuana use in the U.S.

Again, thank you for listening and catch ya in the next episode!

Thank you for listening to my weird interest in Mt. Everest in this episode! I am not sure why I am so fascinated by this, but there is just something about it that I can’t quite wrap my head around. 

Here are the links I said I would provide for ~further explanation~

Somehow I was able to find a picture of my roommate Lexi and I at the top of the mountain we climed in Jasper National Park in Canada. Took a deep dive through my Facebook albums to find this- I wish there were more! Looking back, I truly cannot recall if this was Mt. Columbia, BUT I have no proof suggesting otherwise. Despite that, this was 100% in Jasper National Park... somewhere.

Catch you in the next episode!

Thanks for listening to the third episode of Emily Vs. Science! In this episode I discuss PCR (polymerase chain reaction) testing as it relates to COVID-19. This semester many colleges and universities are implementing a COVID-19 testing system to keep students safe on campus. As I mentioned in the podcast, the Illinois Return-to-campus plan was first introduced back in Fall 2020 and now lots of campuses like UW Madison have implemented the same system this semester (Spring 2021).

I know that the PCR test is hard to understand, so here is the Kahn Academy explanation that helped me understand it quite a bit. More so, here is the Cleveland Clinic’s contribution to how they use the PCR to test for COVID-19.

Finally, here are the links to the history of PCR, as supplied by ThermoFisher Scientific and the

Kary Mullis Nobel Prize speech to further the understanding of how the PCR test came to be.

Steps of PCR Testing:

This process repeated 25-35 times and creates millions to billions of copies of the selected portion of DNA

Here’s a graphic from the National Human Genome Research Institute that shows the three steps of a PCR test to solidify the concept.

Hi and thank you for listening to my second episode of Emily Vs. Science! Episode 2: Airbags and Seatbelts is all about safety mechanisms in vehicles that exist today. Also, the history of why they are there in the first place. In this episode, I discussed gas laws Chemistry wooo) as well as some Physics including Newton's Laws of Motion and how they play a role in an airbag’s deployment. Also, keep your ears peeled- sorry that was a bad play on “keep your eyes peeled”... for a super cool Wisconsin fact in the episode!

I mentioned checking the show notes for some links to sources and I used, so here they are short and sweet:

Huge shout out to my roommate Lexi for letting me interview her, and much gratitude to Oakton Community College and the Chemistry department for allowing me to do this podcast.

Thank you for listening to the first episode of my new podcast, Emily Vs. Science! I was not expecting to make more podcasts after I made what I thought was a one-time episode as a project for my Gen Chem II class last semester. The podcast was about COVID-19 vaccines and how they had advanced between August 2020 and November 2020. I would say the podcast was pretty cool, but I am definitely biased. It is on Spotify, though, if you’d like to listen. Shameless self-promo. However, it appears that that podcast was not the last of me because I was offered an independent study making podcasts about science-related topics this semester! Absolute mega shout out to Oakton Community College, the Chemistry department, and my professor, Mr. Trent for giving me this awesome opportunity.

Throughout the show, I mentioned that I would leave resources in the show notes, so here they are as promised!

The FDA made a wonderful, easy-to-read infographic that describes all the steps of the drug approval process! Here is a link to the PDF.

This is what a black box warning is, from the National Center for Biotechnology Information with examples of medications and their specific black box warnings.

Here is more information on Steven Johnson Syndrome, as well as information from the Cleveland Clinic. I truly did think I was dying. It was very brief but it was a concern.

And finally, the longest document of all, the lamotrigine (Lamictal) drug trial information from the FDA.