Happy To Be Here

Dr. Sheyna Gifford tells us about her year living on a volcano in Hawaii with just five other people as part of HI-SEAS IV, a NASA project to simulate life on Mars. Sheyna was the space doc on the mission, accompanied by a physicist, an architect, an engineer, a biologist and a commander.

Living in a 1200 square foot biodome and going outside only in their space suits, the crew studied the psychological effects and group dynamics that could be at play when astronauts make it to Mars. On Nerdette, Sheyna tells Tricia what the year was like and how she got through it. She also gives some excellent homework.

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Maria Popova, the creator of the website Brain Pickings, explains how her job is to reflect on everything from literature and physics to astronomy and art. She tells Nerdette hosts Tricia Bobeda and Greta Johnsen about her rigorous daily diet of reading, writing, tweeting, and reflecting, as well as her newest guilty pleasure: Playing bridge. 

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Singer, rapper and flute player Lizzo breaks down her debut EP Coconut Oil and her bevy of musical styles. The multitalented artist talks about her early days in music, from being a band geek and starting girl groups as a kid to making music now that’s empowering and body-positive.

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Tom Hanks is a little obsessed with typewriters. So when we put the Academy Award-winning actor in front of a pre-WWII Underwood Champion, he gave Nerdette hosts Tricia Bobeda and Greta Johnsen an impromptu master class on the machines he calls “self-contained printing presses with which you can change the world.”

Want to support this show and get a sweet Nerdette mug and/or notebook as a thank you gift? Go to https://wbez.org/nerdalert

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We talk to Andy Cohen, the man behind Bravo’s Real Housewives, about celebrity obsession. Then we break down some of the best podcasts of 2016 with help from Lauren Ober, host of NPR’s The Big Listen, and Brittany Luce, of Gimlet. And finally, author Margot Lee Shetterly on her book Hidden Figures (the inspiration for the new film by the same name) which tells the stories of black female mathematicians who played crucial roles in the early days of NASA.

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Stephanie Beatriz plays Rosa on the Fox series Brooklyn Nine-Nine. Beatriz and her best friend Courtney Kocak also host Reality Bytes, a show where they discuss the myriad confusing things about having real relationships in the age of emojis and swipe-y apps. Then, delicious homework from cookie expert Dorie Greenspan.

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Phoebe Robinson is a stand-up comic, the author of You Can’t Touch My Hair and host of two podcasts: 2 Dope Queens and Sooo Many White Guys. She talks about why people online flipped out about the title of ‘Sooo Many White Guys’ and how being a black feminist can be a full time job.

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The Gilmore Girls revival is finally here, and we’ve got a LOT of feelings. First, we challenge Gilmore newbies (and Dinner Party Download co-hosts) Brendan Francis Newnam and Rico Gagliano to watch the first episode of the new series. Then, we chat with Liz Torres, the actress who plays Miss Patty. Finally, Tricia and Greta share their major takeaways from the revival.

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Author Kate Schatz tells us about a few historical heroines and explains why Rad Women Worldwide is a book for boys.

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Grace Bonney is the brilliant creator behind the website Design*Sponge. She talked to 100 women doing creative work and tells us what she learned by turning those conversations into the new book In The Company Of Women. She talks about the beauty of creative messes, what to do if we magically had an extra hour in the day, and the ever-elusive notion of work-life balance. Plus, we chat with the host of WBEZ's new podcast that tells the inside story about how Oprah's media empire came to be.

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