Just Na Science

Lauren and I decided to postpone our wedding due to COVID-19. But while talking about the wedding, we started discussing monogamy and human evolution of it. In this podcast episode we discuss animals that mate for life and what that actually means for humans. We also talk about why humans may or may not be best suited for a lifetime together.  Everyone has heard of the 7 year itch, but is that a myth? This is a weird episode and none of this translates to your individual relationship. We are only speaking out of personal experience and based on what research suggests! 

Link to Episode Transcript: https://www.justnascience.com/show-notes/episode-40-science-of-monogamy

There is so much going on in the world of science and medicine. Coronavirus cases continue to climb in the US while pharmaceutical companies race to find a treatment and vaccine. But as with any medical treatment, a decision must be made: take the new vaccine or to not take the vaccine. This week’s podcast episode we interviewed Dr. Tayla Miron-Shatz about how we make medical decisions.

Link to Episode Transcript: https://www.justnascience.com/show-notes/episode-39-medical-decision-making

The number of COVID-19 cases continues to rise every day in the US. In this week's podcast episode, we give some updates on the coronavirus and also discuss some of the possible reasons why Americans are so against wearing a mask. 

Link to Episode Transcript: https://www.justnascience.com/show-notes/episode-38-coronavirus-update

Everybody loves dinosaurs. I mean, who hasn’t seen every Jurassic Park movie? But, are the dinosaurs shown in the movie close to what dinosaurs were really like? In this podcast episode we discuss some of the myths and common misconceptions surrounding dinosaurs, the environment in which they lived, and how they may have gone extinct.

Link to episode transcript: https://www.justnascience.com/show-notes/episode-37-dinosaurs

Have you ever taken a Buzzfeed quiz to see which side of your brain is dominant? Maybe someone told you that you're so right brained. The truth about brain dominance is that it's half true. This is one of those not-so-rare times in science where we're not fully sure. The brain is extremely complicated so it's not surprising we don't know entirely how it works. There are many aspects of consciousness and personality that we simply haven't discovered yet. Until then, we have to stick with the information current research studies provide.

Link to episode transcript: https://www.justnascience.com/show-notes/episode-36-left-brain-vs-right-brain

Image of brain and Corpus callosum (links to image from ascensionglossary.com)

The Sars-COV-2 coronavirus has been a worldwide issue for 6 months now. We thought it would be interesting to talk about what we learned in the past half year, COVID-19 updates from different states in the United States, and how our original predictions aged. We'll listen to some short clips way back from Episode 10, talk about people's attitudes and perceptions of the pandemic, and end with a brief talk on some different clinical trials that are currently taking place.

It was recently Father's Day here in the United States so we thought it would be fun to answer some confusing pregnancy questions from Yahoo Answers and talk about how paternity tests work! Warning: We talk about sexual content in this episode. If you're sensitive to that kind of material, this episode may not be for you. 

We wouldn’t be a very good educational podcast if we never talked about education. Our guest Tim Tanner, a science teacher in Mississippi, talks to us about some of the challenges about teaching science in the Bible Belt and some ways he fosters student curiosity. On the side Tim is involved in local film production and wants everyone to check out an upcoming film called Texas Red that is set to air on Video on Demand or Amazon Prime. You can check out the IMdB page to get some details before it’s 2021 release!

You've seen the Matrix. You've seen posts on social media about "glitches in the matrix". You may have even experienced one for yourself! But is there any truth to this? Well, honestly we have no idea. It's sort of impossible to figure out but we can still have fun talking about it! We also talk about robots and research about our brains controlling stuff just by thinking about it. 

In honor of SpaceX's successful landing at the International Space Station, we interviewed Kim Mancharia. She serves as the community manager for TruSat, an open-source satellite tracking tool. Ever want to know where satellites and stuff are? Well, now you can with TruSat. It's surprisingly easy (that's what Kim said anyway, we haven't tried it ourselves yet).