Ologies with Alie Ward

Murals! Frescos! Graffiti! Street art! Philadelphia is the birthplace of graffiti and the mural capital of the world so we sit down with city historian, journalist, curator, and Toichographologist Conrad Benner to chat about public vs. private art, cultural movements, commissioned vs. um… un-commissioned murals, how mural topics are chosen, how much it costs to make a mural, where to get that money, vandalism and murals and the fine line between, and how everything you do is art. Let Philly’s history and 5,000 murals inspire you to gaze at what’s in your city and find out who made it, how you can get involved, and why it matters. Also: this episode will have a bonus Field Trip we’ll release in a week or so that will take you to a series of murals in the process of being born. 

Follow Conrad on Instagram, TikTok and X

Visit his guide to Philadelphia’s public art and public space at StreetsDept.com

Donations went to the William Way LGBT Community Center and SkypeAScientist.com

Purchase a Frog Facts Advent Calendar at SquidFacts.net 

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Smologies (short, classroom-safe) episodes

Other episodes you may enjoy: Political Sociology (VOTER TURNOUT & SUPPRESSION), Nomology (THE CONSTITUTION), Domicology (ABANDONED BUILDINGS, RECYCLED HOUSES & GHOST TOWNS), Wildlife Ecology (FIELDWORK), Very Special Episode: BlackAFinSTEM, Mythology (STORYTELLING), Museology (MUSEUMS)

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OlogiesMerch.com has hats, shirts, hoodies, totes!

Follow @Ologies on Instagram and X

Follow @AlieWard on Instagram and X

Editing by Mercedes Maitland of Maitland Audio Productions and Jacob Chaffee

Managing Director: Susan Hale

Scheduling Producer: Noel Dilworth

Transcripts by Aveline Malek 

Website by Kelly R. Dwyer

Theme song by Nick Thorburn

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Smaller than you can imagine. Potato-shaped. Mysterious. Romantic. And tough enough to survive the vacuum of space or decades of desiccation. Join professor and confirmed Tardigradologist Dr. Paul Bartels to saunter into a microscopic wonderland of bizarrely long naps, foreign genomes, moon landings, glow-in-the-dark moss piglets, cryptobiosis, kitten claws, knife mouths, balloon butts, spiders on Mars, splicing tardigrade DNA into ours, debunking flim-flam and the friends living in your gutters. 

Follow Dr. Bartels on ResearchGate and Google Scholar

A donation went to the Xerces Society

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Smologies (short, classroom-safe) episodes

Other episodes you may enjoy: Bryology (MOSS) with Dr. Robin Wall Kimmerer, Planariology (VERY COOL WORMS, I PROMISE), Benthopelagic Nematology (DEEP SEA WORMS), Radiology (X-RAY VISION), Microbiology (GUT BIOME), FIELD TRIP: My Butt, a Colonoscopy Ride Along & How-To, Diplopodology (MILLIPEDES & CENTIPEDES), Saurology (LIZARDS), Astrobiology (ALIENS), UFOlogy (UNEXPLAINED AERIAL PHENOMENA), Etymology (WORD ORIGINS), Ursinology (BEARS), Carnivore Ecology (LIONS, TIGERS, & BEARS)

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Transcripts and bleeped episodes

Become a patron of Ologies for as little as a buck a month

OlogiesMerch.com has hats, shirts, hoodies, totes!

Follow @Ologies on Instagram and X

Follow @AlieWard on Instagram and X

Editing by Mercedes Maitland of Maitland Audio Productions and Jacob Chaffee

Managing Director: Susan Hale

Scheduling Producer: Noel Dilworth

Transcripts by Aveline Malek 

Website by Kelly R. Dwyer

Theme song by Nick Thorburn

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Give yourself a hug and take a deep breath and let’s chat with renowned Suicidologist Dr. DeQuincy Meiffren-Lézine. He is an absolute wonder and helps us understand the risk factors for suicide, prevention strategies, socio-economic factors, gender statistics, LGBTQ+ suicide prevention, what happens if you call a hotline, thoughts on hospitalization, how to support loved ones who have ideation, mourning those lost, learning to take care of yourself and your mental health and how living through the worst means by definition, shit gets better. 

** IF YOU ARE CURRENTLY EXPERIENCING A CRISIS, PLEASE CONNECT WITH THE 988 SUICIDE AND CRISIS LIFELINE. CALL OR TEXT 988 OR VISIT 988LIFELINE.ORG FOR MORE INFORMATION. OUTSIDE THE UNITED STATES, CONSULT WITH FINDAHELPLINE.COM **

Follow Dr. Meiffren-Lézine on ResearchGate, Instagram and LinkedIn

Buy his book, It is My Blood to Scribe: Poetry of a Suicide Attempt Survivor, on Bookshop.org or Amazon

More books by Dr. Meiffren-Lézine available on Amazon

A donation went to Active Minds

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Smologies (short, classroom-safe) episodes

Other episodes you may enjoy: Dolorology (PAIN), Molecular Neurobiology (BRAIN CHEMICALS), Addictionology (ADDICTION), Traumatology (PTSD), Eudemonology (HAPPINESS), Awesomeology (GRATITUDE FOR LITTLE THINGS)

Sponsors of Ologies

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Become a patron of Ologies for as little as a buck a month

OlogiesMerch.com has hats, shirts, hoodies, totes!

Follow @Ologies on Instagram and X

Follow @AlieWard on Instagram and X

Editing by Mercedes Maitland of Maitland Audio Productions and Jacob Chaffee

Managing Director: Susan Hale

Scheduling Producer: Noel Dilworth

Transcripts by Aveline Malek 

Website by Kelly R. Dwyer

Theme song by Nick Thorburn

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

When did coffee get into our mouths? Who’s right when it comes to the best coffee? What’s the most ethical way to enjoy it? What about the cats that eat the beans? How will climate change affect your morning coffee? Peter Giuliano is the executive director of the Coffee Science Foundation explains folk stories behind coffee, what makes beans taste the way they do, why cold brew and nitro feel like rocket fuel, shade-grown coffee, roasting chemistry, flimflam, atmospheric pressure, dead espresso, and the best way to brew it, in his opinion. Also: why it tastes better outside – for some of us. 

Follow Peter Giuliano on Instagram and LinkedIn

A donation went to the Coffee Science Foundation, an arm of the Specialty Coffee Association

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Smologies (short, classroom-safe) episodes

Other episodes you may enjoy: Gustology (TASTE), Disgustology (REPULSION TO GROSS STUFF), Scatology (POOP), Dendrology (TREES), Carobology (NOT-CHOCOLATE TREES), Critical Ecology (SOCIAL SYSTEMS + ENVIRONMENT), Agnotology (IGNORANCE), Pomology (APPLES), Lupinology (WOLVES)

Sponsors of Ologies

Transcripts and bleeped episodes

Become a patron of Ologies for as little as a buck a month

OlogiesMerch.com has hats, shirts, hoodies, totes!

Follow @Ologies on Instagram and X

Follow @AlieWard on Instagram and X

Editing by Mercedes Maitland of Maitland Audio Productions and Jacob Chaffee

Managing Director: Susan Hale

Scheduling Producer: Noel Dilworth

Transcripts by Aveline Malek 

Website by Kelly R. Dwyer

Theme song by Nick Thorburn

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

A very special encore in memory of our favorite Museologist, Ronnie Cline. In this 2018 episode, we talked about the life and work of a great dude and a good pal who passed away this morning. On the agenda of his legendary episode: Museums! Mummies! Paintings! Hot dogs! Alie sits down with her dear internet friend and museologist Ronnie Cline, who manages 30,000 artifacts over 22 California State Park Museums. Get the hot gossip about behind-the-scenes museum life, vintage ghosts, following your dreams, changing the tone of history and the time Alie ruined a 16th Century Dutch portrait. Also: why Jack London is your new dead celebrity crush.

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Smologies (short, classroom-safe) episodes

Other episodes you may enjoy: FIELD TRIP: Natural History Museum of Los Angeles, Metropolitan Tombology (PARIS CATACOMBS), Egyptology (ANCIENT EGYPT), Anthropodermic Biocodicology (HUMAN LEATHER BOOKS), Deltiology (POSTCARDS),  Hematology (BLOOD)

Sponsors of Ologies

Transcripts and bleeped episodes

Become a patron of Ologies for as little as a buck a month

OlogiesMerch.com has hats, shirts, hoodies, totes!

Follow @Ologies on Instagram and X

Follow @AlieWard on Instagram and X

Editing by Steven Ray Morris, Mercedes Maitland of Maitland Audio Productions, and Jacob Chaffee

Managing Director: Susan Hale

Scheduling Producer: Noel Dilworth

Transcripts by Aveline Malek 

Website by Kelly R. Dwyer

Theme song by Nick Thorburn

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Caves! Caverns! Grottos! Crystals! Let's get down and dirty with Speleology with explorer, researcher, professor, and paleoclimatologist Dr. Gina Moseley. She shares what it’s like to spend a week straight in a cave, safety tips, climate research breakthroughs, and the deepest and darkest caves. Also: stalactites, stalagmites, cave clouds, show caves, who counts as a spelunker, what ancient climate science can tell us about our current sticky situation, cave diving, cave rescues, creepy caves, gated caves, old school versus new school cave mapping, if cavers ever lose their damn minds down there, and why nothing beats the longing for the underground. Grab a friend and wear a helmet. We’re goin’ in. 

Follow Dr. Gina Moseley on GoogleScholar

A donation went to the British Cave Rescue Council

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Smologies (short, classroom-safe) episodes

Other episodes you may enjoy: Chiropterology (BATS), Indigenous Pedology (SOIL SCIENCE), Geology (ROCKS), Disasterology (DISASTERS), Metropolitan Tombology (PARIS CATACOMBS), Fearology (FEAR)

Sponsors of Ologies

Transcripts and bleeped episodes

Become a patron of Ologies for as little as a buck a month

OlogiesMerch.com has hats, shirts, hoodies, totes!

Follow @Ologies on Instagram and X

Follow @AlieWard on Instagram and X

Editing by Mercedes Maitland of Maitland Audio Productions and Jacob Chaffee

Managing Director: Susan Hale

Scheduling Producer: Noel Dilworth

Transcripts by Aveline Malek 

Website by Kelly R. Dwyer

Theme song by Nick Thorburn

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Forks on teeth. Lip smacking. Metal on metal. (Don’t worry, there are no sonic examples of triggers in this episode!) Why do some of us haaaate certain noises and other folks cannot comprehend how a sound could be so irritating? Let’s meet in the middle with a professional Misophonologist, clinical psychologist, and Oxford University research fellow Dr. Jane Gregory. Dr. Gregory not only has misophonia, but has propelled research and public awareness of the condition. We lob so many questions to learn: what it feels like to have it, how many people experience it, the most common sounds that trigger it, what your brain thinks is happening, why certain people or situations may be worse than others, how to be helpful to people with misophonia, headphones, earplugs, exposure therapies, cognitive behavior therapy, experimenting on oneself, age and misophonia, and where zombies fit into it. 

Visit Dr. Jane Gregory’s website and follow her on Instagram and X

Get her book, Sounds Like Misophonia: How to Stop Small Noises from Causing Extreme Reactions on Bookshop.org or Amazon

Read her papers on ResearchGate

A donation went to soQuiet

2024 #WorldLizardDay Programming with Dr. Earyn McGee

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Smologies (short, classroom-safe) episodes

Other episodes you may enjoy: Etymology (WORD ORIGINS), Disgustology (REPULSION TO GROSS STUFF), Neuroparisitology (NATURE ZOMBIES), Food Anthropology (FEASTS), Disability Sociology (DISABILITY PRIDE), Screamology (LOUD VOCALIZATIONS), Dolorology (PAIN)

Sponsors of Ologies

Transcripts and bleeped episodes

Become a patron of Ologies for as little as a buck a month

OlogiesMerch.com has hats, shirts, hoodies, totes!

Follow @Ologies on Instagram and X

Follow @AlieWard on Instagram and X

Editing by Mercedes Maitland of Maitland Audio Productions

Managing Director: Susan Hale

Scheduling Producer: Noel Dilworth

Transcripts by Aveline Malek 

Website by Kelly R. Dwyer

Theme song by Nick Thorburn

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

What exactly is “fun?” How will you know when you’re having it? Do introverts have special alone fun? Is it okay to seek fun in bleak times? Catherine Price is an award-winning journalist and author who spent years researching the science of fun for her book “The Power of Fun: How to Feel Alive Again.” She let me lob many questions at her including: adult vs. childhood fun, what’s the difference between happiness and laughter and fun, what does fun do to your actual meat body, how can you have more of it, do substances mean more fun, and how to have fun when the world is crumbling in cinders around you – and why it’s important that you do. It’s a fun one, I promise. 

Visit Catherine’s website and follow her on Instagram and X

Read her book: The Power of Fun: How to Feel Alive Again

Subscribe to her Substack newsletter, How to Feel Alive with Catherine Price

A donation went to Breakthrough T1D

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Smologies (short, classroom-safe) episodes

Other episodes you may enjoy: Eudemonology (HAPPINESS), Gelotology (LAUGHTER), Attention-Deficit Neuropsychology (ADHD), Addictionology (ADDICTION), Felinology (CATS), Genocidology (CRIMES OF ATROCITY), Ludology (VIDEO GAMES),  Quasithanatology (NEAR-DEATH EXPERIENCES), Psychedeliology (HALLUCINOGENS)

Sponsors of Ologies

Transcripts and bleeped episodes

Become a patron of Ologies for as little as a buck a month

OlogiesMerch.com has hats, shirts, hoodies, totes!

Follow @Ologies on Instagram and X

Follow @AlieWard on Instagram and X

Editing by Mercedes Maitland of Maitland Audio Productions and Jacob Chaffee

Managing Director: Susan Hale

Scheduling Producer: Noel Dilworth

Transcripts by Aveline Malek 

Website by Kelly R. Dwyer

Theme song by Nick Thorburn

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

It’s an updated mega-encore of one of my favorite episodes — with 2024 research — to learn: How many genders are there? How do you know if you’re queer? Is sexual orientation biological, and if so, how? The amazing neuroscientist and endocrinology researcher Dr. Daniel Pfau joins to share their path in academia finding the perfect research, understanding their own genderqueer identity, what animals in nature exhibit queer behavior, how hormones affect our moods, the variation of gender expression, queer lizards, how a strict gender binary is harmful to entire populations, hormone replacement therapy, hormones in sports, gender dysphoria, additional info on the Gender Unicorn and more. They are just charming and kind and wonderful and this episode will help you understand just how many ways there are to be human. I’m off in the woods this week for a wedding, and I can’t think of a better occasion to revisit this one. 

Follow Dr. Daniel Pfau at Twitter.com/endokweer

A donation went to MarshaP.org

More links at alieward.com/ologies/NeuroendocrinologyEncore

Smologies (short, classroom-safe) episodes

Other episodes you may enjoy are up at Pride Month: Guests to Know and Love

Sponsors of Ologies

Transcripts and bleeped episodes

Become a patron of Ologies for as little as a buck a month

OlogiesMerch.com has hats, shirts, hoodies, totes!

Follow @Ologies on Instagram and X

Follow @AlieWard on Instagram and X

Editing by Jarrett Sleeper of MindJam Media, Steven Ray Morris, Mercedes Maitland of Maitland Audio Productions and Jacob Chaffee

Managing Director: Susan Hale

Scheduling Producer: Noel Dilworth

Transcripts by Aveline Malek 

Website by Kelly R. Dwyer

Theme song by Nick Thorburn

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Feathery gills! Adorable smiles! Cultural icons! Habitat ecology! And superhuman limb regeneration? It’s an entire episode on axolotls. You either love these aquatic salamanders, or you’ve never heard of them. Clap your tiny slimy hands for Ambystomologist Dr. Jessica Whited of Harvard Medical School’s Stem Cell and Regenerative Biology who raises and studies these beautiful creatures — including the biomedical marvels being discovered. Also discussed: their narrow niche, the ecology movement to save them from wild endangerment, pet care ethics, color morphs, green glowing genetically modified ones and so much more. And of course: Minecraft.

Follow Jessica on Instagram

Visit the Whited Lab and browse Dr. Whited’s papers on ResearchGate

Pre-order her children’s book: Axolotl (Young Zoologist): A First Field Guide to the Amphibian That Never Grows Up (October 1, 2024)

A donation went to ADOPTAXOLTL via Instituto de Biologia de la UNAM

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Other episodes you may enjoy: Stem Cell Biology (CELLS MAKING CELLS), Molecular Biology (PROTEINS), Evolutionary Biology (DARWINISM), Bufology (TOADS), Dipterology (FLIES), Diplopodology (MILLIPEDES & CENTIPEDES), Planariology (VERY COOL WORMS, I PROMISE)

Sponsors of Ologies

Transcripts and bleeped episodes

Become a patron of Ologies for as little as a buck a month

OlogiesMerch.com has hats, shirts, hoodies, totes!

Follow @Ologies on Instagram and X

Follow @AlieWard on Instagram and X

Editing by Mercedes Maitland of Maitland Audio Productions and Jacob Chaffee

Managing Director: Susan Hale

Scheduling Producer: Noel Dilworth

Transcripts by Aveline Malek 

Website by Kelly R. Dwyer

Theme song by Nick Thorburn

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.