Sci on the Fly

This podcast does not necessarily reflect the views of AAAS, its Council, Board of Directors, officers, or members. AAAS is not responsible for the accuracy of this material. AAAS has made this material available as a public service, but this does not constitute endorsement by the association.

The guest for this episode of Sci on the Fly is Dr. Deborah Thomson. Dr. Thomson is a veterinarian and "One Health" advocate who has served as a Science Policy Advisor in the United States Senate. In addition to practicing clinical veterinary medicine, she founded and led a global organization that inspires children and adults to value the interconnection between human health and the health of the environment, plants, and animals (called One Health Lessons). In this episode she talks the One Health Lessons training program and her new book "The Art of Science Communication".

Secretary of the International Whaling Commission, Dr. Rebecca Lent spoke with Sci on the Fly about the history and evolution of the International Whaling Commission (IWC) – one of the oldest international marine conservation treaty organizations and one of the first to be advised by science. The organization has gone from a body of whaling nations trying to maximize their catches to one that is tackling climate change, pollution, fisheries by-catch, underwater noise, ship strikes, unsustainable whale-watching and other international threats to whales and dolphins. As noted, it was one of the first international treaty organizations to be based on science, and today the Scientific Committee meetings of the IWC are where cutting edge whale and dolphins science is used to inform international whale management and conservation policy.

This podcast does not necessarily reflect the views of AAAS, its Council, Board of Directors, officers, or members. AAAS is not responsible for the accuracy of this material. AAAS has made this material available as a public service, but this does not constitute endorsement by the association.

Dr. Samuel M. Goodman is the author of Beyond Carbon Neutral: How We Fix the Climate Crisis Now, a book about how to reverse climate change. He is a chemical engineer by training who earned a doctorate from the University of Colorado Boulder after undergraduate studies at the University of Wisconsin Madison. Following graduate school, Dr. Goodman completed a postdoctoral fellowship at the National Academy of Sciences and was an AAAS S&T Policy Fellow at the US Department of Defense. He is currently an international trade analyst with the US International Trade Commission.

Dr. Goodman has always been interested in addressing climate change. And with his recent book Beyond Carbon Neutral, he hopes that he will help to move the climate change conversation forward with a blueprint for action through workable, and necessary, solutions. In the second part of this two-part episode, he talks about the history of the toxic element lead as a public health issue, and the similarities with the problem of climate change. He also discusses how fossil fuel jobs could transition as we become carbon neutral, as well as what individuals can do to help combat climate change.

Dr. Samuel M. Goodman is the author of Beyond Carbon Neutral: How We Fix the Climate Crisis Now, a book about how to reverse climate change. He is a chemical engineer by training who earned a doctorate from the University of Colorado Boulder after undergraduate studies at the University of Wisconsin Madison. Following graduate school, Dr. Goodman completed a postdoctoral fellowship at the National Academy of Sciences and was an AAAS S&T Policy Fellow at the US Department of Defense. He is currently an international trade analyst with the US International Trade Commission.

Dr. Goodman has always been interested in addressing climate change. And with his recent book Beyond Carbon Neutral, he hopes that he will help to move the climate change conversation forward with a blueprint for action through workable, and necessary, solutions. In the first part of this two-part episode, Dr Goodman talks about energy sector solutions to solving the climate crisis and why better policy rather than new technology is the approach we need to take to reduce carbon emissions.

This podcast does not necessarily reflect the views of AAAS, its Council, Board of Directors, officers, or members. AAAS is not responsible for the accuracy of this material. AAAS has made this material available as a public service, but this does not constitute endorsement by the association.

The guest in this episode is Dr Bill Sullivan, the author of "Pleased to Meet Me: Genes, Germs, and the Curious Forces That Make Us Who We Are" (2019, National Geographic Books). Sullivan is a professor at the Indiana University School of Medicine in Indianapolis, where he studies genetics and microbiology. An award-winning researcher, teacher, and science communicator, Sullivan has been featured in a wide variety of TV and radio shows, and has written for The Washington Post, National Geographic, Discover, Scientific American, and many more, in addition to over 100 papers in scientific journals. Dr Sullivan talks about his work from parasites to genetics, his new book, and about the importance of science communication.

In this episode, Mr. Daniel Simmons, Principal of Simmons Energy & Environmental Strategy and former Assistant Secretary for Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy at the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) from 2019 to 2021, speaks to his experience as a political appointee within the DOE; advocating for affordable reliable clean energy; balancing leadership and family; and the importance AAAS Science & Technology Policy fellows supporting critical DOE missions.

This podcast does not necessarily reflect the views of AAAS, its Council, Board of Directors, officers, or members. AAAS is not responsible for the accuracy of this material. AAAS has made this material available as a public service, but this does not constitute endorsement by the association.

Dr. Ambika Bumb is a Science and Technology Policy Fellow working in the Crisis Management and Strategy Office at the U.S. Department of State. Within this office, she was part of several tasks forces that played major roles during the coronavirus pandemic, including the Repatriation Task Force that brought home American citizens stranded abroad during the early months of the pandemic. This repatriation effort was unprecedented in many ways but was executed quickly and efficiently. For their work, the US Senate passed a bipartisan resolution commending the Crisis Management and Strategy Office and the Department of State presented with the Distinguished Honor Award. In this episode Dr. Bumb talks about the challenges that she and her colleagues faced while bringing Americans home, and about how diverse parts of her academic and professional life seemed to converge in her work at the Department of State.