Science! With Friends

Stop us if you’ve heard this one: A scientist, a writer, a musician, and an artist walked into a podcast. Her friends waved and said, “Hi, Mel!”

This week, Jocelyn and Bradley are joined by multitalented, multidimensional neuroscientist and human (or is she . . . ?) Dr. Melinda Smith. Mel shares how she fell in love with the brain, what motivated her to transition from research to a full-time career in science communication, and how her knowledge of neuroscience gives her unique insight into how best to discuss complex scientific concepts effectively with diverse audiences. She emphasizes the crucial role of empathy in science communication—indeed, all communication—and explains why fiction is an especially valuable means both to cultivate empathy and to convey scientific content in a meaningful way. The friends also discuss Mel’s own impressive body of fiction writing and the themes of intelligence, “artificial” and otherwise, it explores.

Follow Melinda on Twitter @ScienceGeekMel, and learn more about her amazing work at https://www.sciencegeekmel.com/ and at the links below:

Melinda’s writing on Medium: https://medium.com/@melinda.science.writer

Melinda’s SciComm talk: https://youtu.be/maX5Rx7gGuQ

“Words Matter: Jargon Alienates Readers”: https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-020-00580-w

“Elon Musk is one step closer to connecting a computer to your brain”: https://www.vox.com/recode/2020/8/28/21404802/elon-musk-neuralink-brain-machine-interface-research

She’s a molecular biologist who has studied worms and their proteins. She’s a hip-hop artist dropping lyrical science bombs rhyming “electrophoresis” with “Reese’s pieces.” She’s a badass woman who pursues her passion for science while remaining her unapologetic self. She is, in a word, a science maven.

In this episode, Raven the Science Maven joins Jocelyn and Bradley to discuss her journey from college dropout to STEM Ph.D. and H.B.I.C. of her own science education empire. She shares her research on identity negotiation and “code-switching” by Black women in the STEM workforce, as well as the highs and lows of her own experiences as a Black woman in science. Raven tells us how she is using music to create more culturally relevant science education programs, and the friends discuss the importance of building a more expansive and inclusive sense of what it means, and what it can mean, to be scientist—i.e., a human who does science.

Follow Raven on Twitter @ravenscimaven, and learn more about her amazing work at https://www.scimaven.com/ and at the links below:

“Big Ole Geeks”: https://youtu.be/g7zN5bAqhtU

“H.B.I.C.”: https://youtu.be/pb9mfCiH4js
“Wipe It Down”: https://youtu.be/OvMrNfK9fF4

YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCqRkU0Z4V6UjDKnbc5brl8A

Raven’s #BlackinSTEM story: https://www.motherjones.com/anti-racism-police-protest/2020/06/blackintheivory-racism-academia-science-stem

STEMbassy: https://www.stembassy.org/

Buy The Protocol: https://www.scimaven.com/store/the-protocol-ep

Support Raven on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/raventhesciencemaven

A brief history of Wormageddon:
https://www.iflscience.com/plants-and-animals/scientists-are-genuinely-losing-their-sht-arguing-over-which-is-the-most-overrated-animal/

https://www.thedailybeast.com/worm-joke-causes-science-twitter-flame-war-over-accusations-of-sexism-and-racism

#MedBikini controversy: https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/why-doctors-are-posing-in-swimwear-on-social-media/

What if there were a way for science—the most comprehensive and powerful system we have for making sense of the world—to explain the innermost stirrings of your heart? To teach you how and why you believe what you do, and how to communicate these values more effectively to others? What if science could show us how to build a better, stronger society?

Two words, friends: Social sciences. In this sequel to “The scientific method: Is it a thing?”, Jocelyn and Bradley explore the reasons why the social sciences are sometimes marginalized by and within the broader scientific community. They discuss what it means to have a “testable hypothesis,” and how the ideology of reductionism hinders our scientific understanding of complex phenomena. The hosts also point out the questionable, unscientific(!) assumptions that underlie the effort to separate humans from nature, and the human sciences from the so-called natural sciences. Ultimately, this episode showcases the power and promise of the social sciences, arguing that when we view them as separate from and less than “real” science, we do so to the detriment of ALL science.

Science is for Everyone (Episode #35):
https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/35-discussion-science-is-for-everyone/id1471423633?i=1000466778549

The scientific method: Is it a thing? (Episode #54):
https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/54-discussion-the-scientific-method-is-it-a-thing/id1471423633?i=1000485209730

Case control and cohort studies:
https://www.students4bestevidence.net/blog/2017/12/06/case-control-and-cohort-studies-overview/

xkcd, “Purity”: https://xkcd.com/435/

xkcd, “Science”: https://xkcd.com/54/

“What Isaac Asimov Taught Us About Predicting the Future”: https://www.nytimes.com/2018/10/31/books/review/isaac-asimov-psychohistory.html

Particles for Justice letter: https://www.particlesforjustice.org/letter

“Plandemic and the Seven Traits of Conspiratorial Thinking”: https://youtu.be/Rban0JGEimE

Science Communication journal: https://journals.sagepub.com/home/scx

What the world needs now is . . .

How would you complete the sentence? At a moment in our history so rife with fear, conflict, and suffering, “empathy” might be a leading candidate. But what is empathy, exactly? Is it an innate human experience, or a skill that can learned? And how can science shed light on such an abstract and elusive concept? Jocelyn and Bradley are joined this week by cognitive psychologist Dr. John Kiat, who describes his research into social cognition and shares his perspective on the role of empathy in navigating our current contentious social and political climate, from wearing masks to confronting systemic racism. The friends also discuss the value of the social sciences more generally, and how neuroscience trumped physics in John’s quest to answer the ultimate questions of our existence, which has shaped his science journey.

You can learn more about John’s amazing work at https://www.johnkiat.com/ and at the links below:

“What’s in a name? Monikers alter empathy in the brain”: https://news.unl.edu/newsrooms/today/article/whats-in-a-name-monikers-alter-empathy-in-the-brain/

“Study shows how brain anticipates social exclusion”: https://news.unl.edu/newsrooms/today/article/study-shows-how-brain-anticipates-social-exclusion/

UC Davis Center for Mind and Brain: https://mindbrain.ucdavis.edu/

Susan Lanzoni, “A Short History of Empathy”: https://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2015/10/a-short-history-of-empathy/409912/

Scott Barry Kaufman, “What Would Happen If Everyone Truly Believed Everything Is One?”: https://blogs.scientificamerican.com/beautiful-minds/what-would-happen-if-everyone-truly-believed-everything-is-one/

Paul Bloom, Against Empathy: The Case for Rational Compassion: https://www.amazon.com/Against-Empathy-Case-Rational-Compassion/dp/0062339338

Viktor Frankl, Man’s Search For Meaning: https://www.amazon.com/Mans-Search-Meaning-Viktor-Frankl/dp/080701429X

Robert Sapolsky, Why Zebras Don’t Get Ulcers: https://www.amazon.com/Why-Zebras-Dont-Ulcers-Third/dp/0805073698

Think you learned everything you need to know about cell division in middle school? Dr. Beata Mierzwa is here to show you how wonderfully, sublimely, beautifully wrong you are! She joins Jocelyn and Bradley to discuss her work as a molecular biologist, a science artist, and a AAAS IF/THEN Ambassador. She explains how her scientific research is setting the stage for the development of new, specialized cancer therapies, and how she is using the beautiful images produced in her research to design spectacular scientific fashions! The friends discuss how art not only serves as a uniquely powerful means to communicate complex science to diverse audiences, but also helps scientists themselves see and think about their science in new ways. And Beata shares her advice for anyone who might feel “torn between a desire to understand the wonders of life through science or to create beauty with art.”

You can find Beata on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook @beatascienceart, and you can learn more about her amazing work at https://beatascienceart.com/ and at the links below:

Art the Science blog: https://artthescience.com/blog/2020/04/03/creators-beata-mierzwa/

“Bridging the Divide Between Science and Art,” Journal of Cell Biology: https://rupress.org/jcb/article/217/12/4051/120307/Beata-Mierzwa-Bridging-the-divide-between-science

Etsy shop: https://www.etsy.com/shop/BeataScienceArt

DIY DNA jewelry:
https://youtu.be/iiTeVtCneXY
https://beatascienceart.com/DNA-jewelry/

Ludwig Cancer Research: https://www.ludwigcancerresearch.org/

The IF/THEN initiative:
https://www.ifthencollection.org/beata
https://www.ifthenshecan.org/

In this corner, we have Bradley “Falsify This” Nordell, arguing that science owes its spectacular success to a coherent and unique scientific method . . . [crowd roars]

. . . And in this corner, we have Jocelyn “More is More” Bosley, arguing that a plurality of methods makes science stronger, more powerful, and more inclusive! [crowd goes wild]

It’s time for a knock-down-drag-out-no-holds-barred-MMA-style brain brawl* to decide the fate of that most cherished of scientific ideals: the scientific method. Do all scientists really follow the same method? Is there more than one way to be “scientific”? If the scientific method is an oversimplification, does it do more harm or good? And in a time when the power and promise of scientific processes are too often contentious and misunderstood, how can we differentiate good science, bad science, pseudoscience, and non-science? In this week’s episode, the hosts take on all these questions and more.

*By which, of course, we mean a thoroughly convivial and lighthearted discussion.

To learn more, see:
https://medium.com/science-coffee/what-is-science-the-scientific-method-in-your-cup-9ae4301acc93

A few books on the philosophy of science:

Theory & Reality: https://www.amazon.com/Theory-Reality-Introduction-Philosophy-Foundations/dp/0226300633/ref=sr_1_1?dchild=1&keywords=theory+and+reality&qid=1594921702&sr=8-1

What is this thing called science? https://www.amazon.com/What-This-Thing-Called-Science/dp/162466038X/ref=sr_1_1?dchild=1&keywords=what+is+this+thing+called+science&qid=1594921736&sr=8-1

Philosophy of Science: a very short introduction: https://www.amazon.com/Philosophy-Science-Very-Short-Introduction/dp/0198745583/ref=sr_1_3?dchild=1&keywords=philosophy+of+science&qid=1594921760&sr=8-3

Scientific Method in Practice: https://books.google.com/books?id=iVkugqNG9dAC

. . . Blindly, we turn our
eyes to the sky,
searching for breadcrumbs
between the pathways,
oblivious to knowledge
that has always been with us:
the map of our universe
embraced within a single cell.
—Sam Illingworth, “Moulded Galaxies”

Once upon a time, there was a young lad who wanted to be a scientist. Or a thespian. Or a science communicator. Or a poet. And then one day he realized that he could be all of those things. In fact, he realized he already was all of those things. He was a chimera. And so are you.

In this week’s episode, Jocelyn and Bradley are joined by the wondrous, chimerical Dr. Sam Illingworth: scientist, poet, and science communication researcher. Sam shares the fascinating and provocative results of his research into how poetry can promote engagement and effective dialogue between scientists and non-scientists, and how he is putting this knowledge into practice through his peer-reviewed science poetry journal Consilience. He also talks about his latest book, A Sonnet to Science, and what we can learn from prominent figures in the history of science who also wrote poetry. Ultimately, the friends agree that (contrary to Poe’s “Sonnet—To Science,” for which Sam’s book is named) scientific inquiry ramifies rather than detracts from the wonder, awe, and mystery of the natural world.

You can find more information about Sam Illingworth here:

•Website: https://www.samillingworth.com/
•Consilience Website: https://www.consilience-journal.com/
•Effective Science Communication: https://iopscience.iop.org/book/978-0-7503-1170-0
•Sonnet to Science: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1526127989/ref=ox_sc_saved_title_10?smid=A24GZIC7EIOZVT&psc=1
•Effective Science Communication: https://store.ioppublishing.org/page/detail/Effective-Science-Communication-Second-Edition/?k=9780750325189
•Sonnet to Science: https://manchesteruniversitypress.co.uk/9781526127983/
•Twitter handle: https://twitter.com/samillingworth
•Manchester Game Studies Network: https://www.manchestergamestudies.org/
•EO Wilson Consilience: https://www.amazon.com/Consilience-Knowledge-Edward-Osborne-Wilson/dp/067976867X

•Carbon City Zero https://www.wearepossible.org/carbon-city-zero

Happy birthday to us!!! We’re commemorating one fabulous year of science and friendship, and who better to help us celebrate than ICONIC science podcaster Alie Ward?!?

In this episode, our favorite podcastologist shares highlights and insights from her wide-ranging adventures in science communication. Alie explains how her interests in science and in filmmaking converged; how she connects with ologists of all kinds by helping them to identify what gives them “glitter in their stomachs”; and how entertainment media can play an important role in helping to democratize access to science. The friends also discuss the power of not being afraid to embarrass oneself, and the value of “scicommedy” as a strategy for sharing science. It's PARTY TIME!!!

You can find Alie on Twitter @alieward. You can also learn more about her amazing work on her website at https://www.alieward.com/ and at the links below.

Ologies:
https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/ologies/id1278815517
https://twitter.com/Ologies

Did I Mention Invention?
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL15GihUisSLQDWzesFDPVz8WQ-JXOZIxF

Innovation Nation: https://www.thehenryford.org/explore/innovation-nation/

Netflix’s Brainchild: https://www.netflix.com/title/80215086

Nerd Brigade: http://nerdbrigade.la/

Black Lives Matter. Say Her Name. Defend DACA. Love is Love. How can science help us understand these calls for social justice, and what does it tell us about the movements behind the hashtags?

This week, sociologist and Science Slam champion Alice MillerMacPhee talks with Jocelyn and Bradley about her research on the dynamics of social movements, sharing insights into this unique moment in the Movement for Black Lives, immigrant rights movement, and LGBTQ+ rights movement, among others. Alice helps us understand what systemic racism means and how it works, as well as how intersecting inequalities marginalize some identities and experiences more than others. The friends also discuss the sometimes-contested status of the social sciences within the scientific community, and the value of social science research to illuminate the process of science itself. Finally, Alice reflects on how her scholarship and her activism draw inspiration from one another, as she and her merry band of “unruly sociologists” aim to put their knowledge into action.

You can follow Alice on Twitter @alicemilmac and learn more about her amazing work at the links below!

Alice’s Science Slam presentations:
Power to the People! Or, One Researcher’s Path to Science (2016): https://youtu.be/k1ZC_ZhpSOk
A Scientist on Activist Terms (2018): https://youtu.be/pywzTp83IzQ
There’s a Method for That (2019): https://youtu.be/KDIPvKKWkiw

Colleen Ray’s Science Slam, Slamming the Stigma: https://youtu.be/nfKUbiXIsBw

More about Science Slams:
https://mrsec.unl.edu/science-slam
https://youtu.be/5xJ8hYxeYUU

Unruly Sociologists on Twitter: https://twitter.com/unrulysoc

“It Really is Different This Time” (Politico): https://www.politico.com/news/magazine/2020/06/04/protest-different-299050

Joe Pinsker, “America is Already Different Than It Was Two Weeks Ago” (The Atlantic): https://www.theatlantic.com/family/archive/2020/06/george-floyd-protests-already-changed/613000/

Dr. Keisha Blain: http://keishablain.com/

Dr. Tressie McMillan Cottom: https://tressiemc.com/

“Ibram Kendi, one of the nation’s leading scholars of racism, says education and love are not the answer” (The Undefeated): https://theundefeated.com/features/ibram-kendi-leading-scholar-of-racism-says-education-and-love-are-not-the-answer/

Dr. Brittney Cooper: https://www.pbs.org/newshour/brief/294191/brittney-cooper

Brittney Cooper, “Why Are Black Women and Girls Still an Afterthought in Our Outrage Over Police Violence?” (Time): https://time.com/5847970/police-brutality-black-women-girls/

The #SayHerName campaign: https://aapf.org/sayhername

Jocelyn Bosley, “From Monkey Facts to Human Ideologies:...

We’re marking our 50th episode with a visit from the extraordinary Dr. Katherine (Katie) Mack— known to her more than 350,000 Twitter followers as AstroKatie— who joins Jocelyn and Bradley for a fascinating and surprisingly jovial discussion of the end of the universe. In the words of Randall Munroe, Katie combines “deep thinking about physics and big-picture awe in the style of Carl Sagan,” outlining the possible fates of our cosmos, from Big Crunch to Big Rip to Big Bounce. She explains how “cosmic eschatologists” like her are evaluating the evidence for these competing scenarios, and what dark energy has to do with it. The friends also discuss how cosmological theories inflect the narratives from which humans create meaning, and why we are so emotionally invested in how the universe ends. Finally, Katie shares highlights of her science journey and some crucial insights about science communication. It’s the end of the universe as we know it, and we feel fine!

You can find Katie on Twitter @AstroKatie. You can also learn more about her amazing work on her website at http://www.astrokatie.com/ and at the links below.

Pre-order The End of Everything (Astrophysically Speaking): http://www.astrokatie.com/book

2018 UNL Science Slam keynote address: https://youtu.be/twws01vxYZw

“Disorientation” by Katie Mack: https://youtu.be/2wT1-bRj9wI

A Conversation with Katie Mack (The Perimeter Institute): https://youtu.be/q4a1bzrR65Q

North Carolina State Leadership in Public Science Cluster: https://facultyclusters.ncsu.edu/clusters/leadership-in-public-science/