In the Spotlight

It's not just individual citizens that need to make decisions to reduce carbon emissions, but also industries. But for companies to make these sweeping changes to decarbonize, we need to analyze all of the possibilities and make strong recommendations! PhD student Carrie Schoeneberger does just that by using computational modeling to analyze complex problems and solutions related to renewable energy. 

If you want to learn more about the topics discussed in this episode, check out:

• A great description and details on solar process heating by the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) 
• The Energy Gang podcast about timely topics in energy science
• The 2021 UN Climate Change Conference is sure to have exciting outcomes
• And finally, try Inside Climate News to stay up-to-date on recent events in climate science!

Don't forget to follow us on Twitter @SpotlightThePod to stay up-to-date on all news and episode releases!

Learn more about Northwestern University SPOT on Twitter @SPOTForceNU or at our website spot.northwestern.edu

Podcast artwork created by Edie Jiang, available at her website https://ediejiang.weebly.com/ or on Instagram @ediejiang

Music in this episode: Earth by MusicbyAden https://soundcloud.com/musicbyadenCreative Commons — Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported — CC BY-SA 3.0Free Download / Stream: https://bit.ly/_earthMusic promoted by Audio Library https://youtu.be/5yIbZVOv438

 

Stress is an unfortunate constant in a lot of people's lives, but have you ever thought of it as something positive? PhD student Michael Lim joins us all the way from Canada to tell us what happens in your body when you get stressed, how zebrafish are a surprisingly way to study it, and why you should reframe the way you think about stress as a whole.

If you want to learn more about the topics discussed in this episode, check out: 

• A BBC article on transgenerational trauma
• An article on The Conversation about fish behaviour and inheritance
• A wonderful TED Talk on epigenetics

Feel free to connect with Michael on Twitter @hiimlimmy

Don't forget to follow us on Twitter @SpotlightThePod to stay up-to-date on all news and episode releases!

Learn more about Northwestern University SPOT on Twitter @SPOTForceNU or at our website spot.northwestern.edu

Podcast artwork created by Edie Jiang, available at her website https://ediejiang.weebly.com/ or on Instagram @ediejiang

Music in this episode: Earth by MusicbyAden https://soundcloud.com/musicbyadenCreative Commons — Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported — CC BY-SA 3.0Free Download / Stream: https://bit.ly/_earthMusic promoted by Audio Library https://youtu.be/5yIbZVOv438

One way that scientists can help our society is by supporting farmers - specifically, testing out new crops and breeding new plants for them to use! Agronomy and Plant Genetics PhD student Julija Cubins works on developing the planting of new winter crops in the northern Midwest states that could benefit both the environment and farmers' wallets. 

If you want to learn more about the topics discussed in this episode, check out: 

• Listen to Julija's guest appearance on the podcast, Planthropology, here!
• Episodes from Hooked on Science on winter oilseed breeding and soybean cyst nematodes
• Management of pennycress as a winter annual cash cover crop (review article)
• Winter annuals quarterly reports and growing bulletins from the Forever Green Initiative

Julija is also the host of the science podcast, Hooked on Science! This is a CROSSOVER episode with Hooked on Science, so check out their website, Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram! You can specifically listen to the episode interviewing In the Spotlight host Emily Schafer here.

Don't forget to follow us on Twitter @SpotlightThePod to stay up-to-date on all news and episode releases!

Learn more about Northwestern University SPOT on Twitter @SPOTForceNU or at our website spot.northwestern.edu

Podcast artwork created by Edie Jiang, available at her website https://ediejiang.weebly.com/ or on Instagram @ediejiang

Music in this episode: Earth by MusicbyAden https://soundcloud.com/musicbyadenCreative Commons — Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported — CC BY-SA 3.0Free Download / Stream: https://bit.ly/_earthMusic promoted by Audio Library https://youtu.be/5yIbZVOv438

You might hear about genes a lot in science news, but what you SHOULD be hearing more about is your genome structure! PhD candidate Ranya Virk describes how she and other scientists use a combination of optical techniques and computational modeling to figure out the exact mechanism of DNA packing, especially in complex diseases like cancer. 

If you want to learn more about the topics discussed in this episode, check out: 

• Imaging breakthrough leads to further understanding of genome structure and function (press release)
• Epigenetics: why your DNA isn't enough (website article)
• NPR Shortwave's Legacy of Trauma: Can Experiences Leave a Biological Imprint? (podcast episode)
• The Gene: An Intimate History by Siddhartha Mukherjee

Don't forget to follow us on Twitter @SpotlightThePod to stay up-to-date on all news and episode releases!

Learn more about Northwestern University SPOT on Twitter @SPOTForceNU or at our website spot.northwestern.edu

Podcast artwork created by Edie Jiang, available at her website https://ediejiang.weebly.com/ or on Instagram @ediejiang

Music in this episode: Earth by MusicbyAden https://soundcloud.com/musicbyadenCreative Commons — Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported — CC BY-SA 3.0Free Download / Stream: https://bit.ly/_earthMusic promoted by Audio Library https://youtu.be/5yIbZVOv438

The mind works in mysterious ways. Why do we make the decisions we do, and how do our experiences guide them? PhD student Alexa Ruel joins us to talk about how this complex process changes and adapts as we age, and why we shouldn’t be as worried about mental aging as you’d think.

If you want to learn more about the topics discussed in this episode, check out:

• Thinking, Fast and Slow by Daniel Kahneman
• An opinion piece in the Montreal Gazette on decision making in seniors
• A review paper on approaches to control problems across lifespans

Feel free to connect with Alexa on her Twitter @AlexaRuel

Don't forget to follow us on Twitter @SpotlightThePod to stay up-to-date on all news and episode releases!

Learn more about Northwestern University SPOT on Twitter @SPOTForceNU or at our website spot.northwestern.edu

Podcast artwork created by Edie Jiang, available at her website https://ediejiang.weebly.com/ or on Instagram @ediejiang

Music in this episode: Earth by MusicbyAden https://soundcloud.com/musicbyadenCreative Commons — Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported — CC BY-SA 3.0Free Download / Stream: https://bit.ly/_earthMusic promoted by Audio Library https://youtu.be/5yIbZVOv438

Electrochemistry is NOT throwing a toaster in a bathtub, according to PhD candidate Daniel San Roman. So what is it!? Not only is electrochemistry fascinating to learn about on its own, but Daniel also shows off numerous interesting applications with surprise uses in the real world, especially in electrocatalysis and biosensing. 

If you want to learn more about the topics discussed in this episode, check out: 

• Producing hydrogen peroxide when, and where, it's needed (news article)
• DARPA awards $22M for "Smart" Device that Regenerates Muscle (news article)
• Nitric oxide: a newly discovered function on wound healing (scientific article)
• hpnow, a cool company commercializing similar technology!

Don't forget to follow us on Twitter @SpotlightThePod to stay up-to-date on all news and episode releases!

Learn more about Northwestern University SPOT on Twitter @SPOTForceNU or at our website spot.northwestern.edu

Podcast artwork created by Edie Jiang, available at her website https://ediejiang.weebly.com/ or on Instagram @ediejiang

Music in this episode: Earth by MusicbyAden https://soundcloud.com/musicbyadenCreative Commons — Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported — CC BY-SA 3.0Free Download / Stream: https://bit.ly/_earthMusic promoted by Audio Library https://youtu.be/5yIbZVOv438

Welcome to In the Spotlight, the science communication podcast brought to you by Northwestern University's Science Policy Outreach Taskforce! In each episode, hosts Emily Schafer and Nicolas Scrutton Alvarado interview a different graduate student or postdoctoral scholar in the sciences  to discuss their research and how it relates to the world around us. What problems are they trying to solve? What should we all understand about their work? What policies may be needed to support this research? These are the questions we will try to answer on In the Spotlight.

Season 2 is shaping up to be just as exciting as Season 1 - join us for more fascinating science content!

Don't forget to follow us on Twitter @SpotlightThePod to stay up-to-date on all news and episode releases!

Learn more about Northwestern University SPOT on Twitter @SPOTForceNU or at our website spot.northwestern.edu

In this season 1 BONUS episode, we're trying to get at the elephant in the room: why should scientists even care about science communication?

5 very special guests in science communication come to answer this question:
Danni Washington, science communicator, TV host, and podcaster (@danniwashington)
Dr. Sadie Witkowski, science writer and podcaster (@SadieWit)
Dr. Shannon O'Dell, science comedian and podcaster (@Shodell)
Dr. Yarrow Axford, professor of Earth and Planetary Sciences at Northwestern University (@yarrowaxford)
Prof. Patti Wolter, professor of Journalism at Northwestern University (@Plwolter)

If you listen to this episode and want to learn more about science communication or get involved in the science communication process, here are a few resources we recommend: 

• Science Communication Online Programme (SCOPE)
• ComSciCon
• AAAS Communication Toolkit
• SciLine nonprofit
• NPR Scicommers: A Science Communication Collective

Don't forget to follow us on Twitter @SpotlightThePod to stay up-to-date on all news and episode releases!

Learn more about Northwestern University SPOT on Twitter @SPOTForceNU or at our website spot.northwestern.edu

Podcast artwork created by Edie Jiang, available at her website https://ediejiang.weebly.com/ or on Instagram @ediejiang

Music in this episode: Earth by MusicbyAden https://soundcloud.com/musicbyadenCreative Commons — Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported — CC BY-SA 3.0Free Download / Stream: https://bit.ly/_earthMusic promoted by Audio Library https://youtu.be/5yIbZVOv438

Sometimes, it feels like scientific research is too fundamental or incremental to see its effects on humans. But, PhD student Kavi Chintam argues that that needs to change! Using her chemical engineering research and passion for environmental justice as an example, Kavi shares inspirational advice on how to find the humanity in science. 

If you want to learn more about the topics discussed in this episode, check out: 

• Clean and White: A History of Environmental Racism in the United States by Carl Zimring (book)
• Living Downstream by NPR (podcast)
• The History of Environmental Justice in Five Minutes (news article)
• The Fifth Season by N.K. Jemisin (book)

Don't forget to follow us on Twitter @SpotlightThePod to stay up-to-date on all news and episode releases!

Learn more about Northwestern University SPOT on Twitter @SPOTForceNU or at our website spot.northwestern.edu

Podcast artwork created by Edie Jiang, available at her website https://ediejiang.weebly.com/ or on Instagram @ediejiang

Music in this episode: Earth by MusicbyAden https://soundcloud.com/musicbyadenCreative Commons — Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported — CC BY-SA 3.0Free Download / Stream: https://bit.ly/_earthMusic promoted by Audio Library https://youtu.be/5yIbZVOv438

We all know that honeybees are important pollinators, but did you know that they only make up a tiny fraction of bee species? PhD student Amelia Litz does field research on ground nesting bees and wants us to know what we have yet to discover about them, her experiences with field research, and why these interesting solitary bees matter for agriculture.

If you want to learn more about the topics discussed in this episode, check out: 

• Cool bee pictures from the Native Bee Inventory and Monitoring Lab
• Xerces Society for Invertebrate Conversation to learn about pollinator conservation (website)
• The Solitary Bees: Biology, Evolution, Conservation. By Danforth, Minckley & Neff (2020) (book)
• The Bees in Your Backyard: A Guide to North America's Bees. By Wilson & Messinger-Carril (2015) (book)

Don't forget to follow us on Twitter @SpotlightThePod to stay up-to-date on all news and episode releases!

Learn more about Northwestern University SPOT on Twitter @SPOTForceNU or at our website spot.northwestern.edu

Podcast artwork created by Edie Jiang, available at her website https://ediejiang.weebly.com/ or on Instagram @ediejiang

Music in this episode: Earth by MusicbyAden https://soundcloud.com/musicbyadenCreative Commons — Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported — CC BY-SA 3.0Free Download / Stream: https://bit.ly/_earthMusic promoted by Audio Library https://youtu.be/5yIbZVOv438