Smologies with Alie Ward

By Alie WardScience Education Kids & Family Education for Kids

Ranking
17th
on Education for Kids
Favorites
170
Followers
Typical duration
27 min
per episode

Based on Podcast App listening data

Smologies with Alie Ward episodes

November 05 NATIVE PLANTS with Leigh Joseph
The what, where, and who of native plants! The wonderful ethnobotanist Leigh Joseph shares how she includes her Squamish First Nation community in her research and how we relate to plants – both native and invasive. She’ll chat about how to identify plants, how knowledge is passed down or silenced, the chilling history that inspired some of her work, uses for barks and berries and saps and teas, pharmaceuticals derived from Indigenous knowledge, the dos and do-nots of harvesting, skin remedies, and so much more.

Visit Leigh Joseph’s website and follow her on Instagram
Buy her book Held by the Land: A Guide to Indigenous Plants for Wellness
Shop Leigh’s plant-based beauty brand: Skwálwen Botanicals
Donations went to Indigenous Climate Action and Seeding Sovereignty
Full-length (*not* G-rated) Ethnoecology episode + tons of science links
More kid-friendly Smologies 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 Bluesky
Follow Alie Ward on Instagram and TikTok
Sound editing by Mercedes Maitland of Maitland Audio Productions and Jake Chaffee
Made possible by work from Noel Dilworth, Susan Hale, Kelly R. Dwyer, Aveline Malek and Erin Talbert
Smologies theme song by Harold Malcolm

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.
31 min
October 29 SEWER RATS with Bobby Corrigan
RATS: They love pizza. They invade taquerias at midnight. They scurry. They cuddle. They outsmart. Proving that not just woodsy megafauna can be charismatic, rats have lives we would never suspect. Globally-lauded Urban Rodentologist Dr. Robert Corrigan, or Bobby if you like, has been studying these animals in their big-city ecosystem for decades and he is a wonder-filled joy. Learn about rats’ origin story, their chompers, their scaly tails, how they communicate, where they live, and what cuisines they prefer. Might as well start to love and respect them, because we’re not-too-distantly related and one day… they may be steering the ship.

Find Dr. Corrigan’s publications on ResearchGate
A donation went to the Yash Gandhi Foundation
Full-length (*not* G-rated) Urban Rodentology episode + tons of science links
More kid-friendly Smologies 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 Bluesky
Follow Alie Ward on Instagram and TikTok
Sound editing by Mercedes Maitland of Maitland Audio Productions, Jake Chaffee, Jarrett Sleeper of MindJam Media & Steven Ray Morris
Made possible by work from Noel Dilworth, Susan Hale, Kelly R. Dwyer, Aveline Malek and Erin Talbert
Smologies theme song by Harold Malcolm

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.
26 min
October 23 FEAR with Mary Poffenroth
Every day, your brain tries to save your life by being terrified. Thanks, brain! Also, calm the heck down, brain. Alie hunted down Dr. Mary Poffenroth, an expert in the biological and sociological causes/effects of fear and it is riveting. This real life FEAROLOGIST (which is a real word) talks about how the difference between stress and fear, what’s going on in our noggins and bods when we’re afraid (and what’s NOT going on), how to talk to your brain when it has needlessly pulled the fire alarm, why we sometimes like scary movies, why we’re afraid of the dark, and how likely it is that a snake will bite your butt.

Check out Dr. Mary Poffenroth’s website and follow her on Instagram
Full-length (*not* G-rated) Fearology episodes + tons of science links
More kid-friendly Smologies 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 Bluesky
Follow Alie Ward on Instagram and TikTok
Sound editing by Mercedes Maitland of Maitland Audio Productions, Jake Chaffee, and Steven Ray Morris
Made possible by work from Noel Dilworth, Susan Hale, Kelly R. Dwyer, Aveline Malek and Erin Talbert
Smologies theme song by Harold Malcolm

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.
31 min
October 15 DANCING SPIDERS with Sebastian Echeverri
They dance. They make songs. They will steal your heart. They are spiders. Jumping spiders, specifically, and impassioned spider scientist Dr. Sebastian Echeverri is on board to tell you all about their dances. How far can a jumping spider jump? What makes a good spider dancer? How do they learn their moves? Why are they so cute? Can you sample their drumming and make a sick industrial-EDM track that feels like you’re in a Berlin discotheque? Buckle up for the grooviest Spooktober of your life.
BUY the track “Habronattus: Multimodal Display” on Bandcamp
Created by Jason Scardamalia and featuring recordings by Dr. Damian Elias with proceeds going toward spider research
Visit Dr. Sebastian Echeverri’s website
Follow Dr. Sebastian Echeverri on Bluesky and Instagram
Donations went to Entomologists of Color and Xerces.org
Full-length (*not* G-rated) Kinetic Salticidology episode + tons of science links
More kid-friendly Smologies 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 Bluesky
Follow Alie Ward on Instagram and TikTok
Sound editing by Mercedes Maitland of Maitland Audio Productions, Jake Chaffee, Jarrett Sleeper of MindJam Media & Steven Ray Morris
Made possible by work from Noel Dilworth, Susan Hale, Kelly R. Dwyer, Aveline Malek and Erin Talbert
Smologies theme song by Harold Malcolm

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.
31 min
October 10 APPLES with Susan K. Brown
Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See https://pcm.adswizz.com
for information about our collection and use of personal data for
advertising.
31 min
October 01 OWLS with R.J. Gutiérrez
OWLS. FINALLY. In no particular order: what’s up with their eyes, legs, hoots, nests, necks, barfs? Is it ok to hoot back at them? What do you mean one of their toes is reversible? Go take a walk or sit on a porch in the dusk and make friends with Rocky. Dr. R.J. “Rocky” Gutiérrez is a celebrated researcher, Professor Emeritus at the University of Minnesota, a legend in the owl world, and simply one of the loveliest ologists. He’ll take us on a trip next to a river, scrambling up some trees, over rocky terrain and through the forest to learn why owls are so magnetic. Yeah, I called owls the best bird. Not backing down.
Follow Dr. Gutiérrez on Google Scholar
Donations went to the International Owl Center and Northcoast Environmental Center
Full-length (*not* G-rated) Strigiformology episodes + tons of science links
More kid-friendly Smologies 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 Bluesky
Follow Alie Ward on Instagram and TikTok
Sound editing by Mercedes Maitland of Maitland Audio Productions and Jake Chaffee
Made possible by work from Noel Dilworth, Susan Hale, Kelly R. Dwyer, Aveline Malek and Erin Talbert
Smologies theme song by Harold Malcolm

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.
30 min
September 25 BRAIN CHEMICALS with Crystal Dilworth
Serotonin! Dopamine! Norepinephrine! Neurotransmitters: what's their deal? Dr. Crystal Dilworth, aka Dr. Brain, stops by to have a spirited discussion about how chemical messengers change our moods and behaviors. We chat about sleep, focus, happiness, depression, anxiety, what chemicals drive us to get off the couch, ADHD, the microbiome, and so much more of what goes into making our noggins work they way they do.
Visit Dr. Dilworth's website and follow her on Instagram
A donation went to The Geena Davis Institute
Full-length (*not* G-rated) Molecular Neurobiology episode + tons of science links
More kid-friendly Smologies 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 Bluesky
Follow Alie Ward on Instagram and TikTok
Sound editing by Mercedes Maitland of Maitland Audio Productions, Jake Chaffee, Jarrett Sleeper of MindJam Media, and Steven Ray Morris
Made possible by work from Noel Dilworth, Susan Hale, Kelly R. Dwyer, Aveline Malek and Erin Talbert
Smologies theme song by Harold Malcolm

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.
30 min
September 18 SPACE FOOD with Maggie Coblentz
Dehydrated eggs. Airborne tortillas. Pouches of chicken. Tang. Work up an appetite for space food with artist, designer and Astrobromatologist, Maggie Coblentz. We talk micro-gardening in space, recycled water, dehydrated beef, velcro fatigue, the problem with crumbs in zero gravity, how to make barbecued wings in orbit, and what’s being done to make space food more delicious.
Visit Maggie’s website and follow her on Instagram
A donation went to AstroAccess
Pods Fight Poverty is raising money for Rwandan families via GiveDirectly.org/ologies
Full-length (*not* G-rated) Astrobromatology episode + tons of science links
More kid-friendly Smologies 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 Bluesky
Follow Alie Ward on Instagram and TikTok
Sound editing by Mercedes Maitland of Maitland Audio Productions and Jake Chaffee
Made possible by work from Noel Dilworth, Susan Hale, Kelly R. Dwyer, Aveline Malek and Erin Talbert
Smologies theme song by Harold Malcolm

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.
27 min
September 10 FERNS with Fay-Wei Li
Fronds. Forest dwellers. Spores. Houseplants. Gametophytes? We’ve got ferns. The charming and hilarious professor, pteridologist and author of “Ferns: Lessons in Survival from Earth’s Most Adaptable Plants,” Dr. Fay-Wei Li, tells me all aboutwhat makes ferns such oddities in the plant world, fern evolution, why they have beef with flowering plants, tips for growing your own fern gully, whether they have roots or rhyzomes or friends, and how ferns could help cool down a warming planet or grow better crops. This episode is, in Fay-Wei’s words, “ferntastic.”
Visit Dr. Li’s lab website and follow him on Google Scholar
Buy his book, Ferns: Lessons in Survival from Earth’s Most Adaptable Plants, on Bookshop.org or Amazon
A donation went to the ASPT Herbarium Emergency Fund
Full-length (*not* G-rated) Pteridology episode + tons of science links
More kid-friendly Smologies 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 Bluesky
Follow Alie Ward on Instagram and TikTok
Sound editing by Mercedes Maitland of Maitland Audio Productions and Jake Chaffee
Made possible by work from Noel Dilworth, Susan Hale, Kelly R. Dwyer, Aveline Malek and Erin Talbert
Smologies theme song by Harold Malcolm

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.
28 min
September 03 BEAVERS with Rob Rich
Orange teeth! Multi-purpose tails! Architecture with twigs! Field naturalist, conservationist, wildlife tracker and “beaver believer” Rob Rich works with the National Wildlife Federation’s coordination of the Montana Beaver Working Group and answers all of our Castorological questions about: baby beavers, tooth tools, lodges, dams, the sound of water, the slap of a tail, beavers throughout history and in your dreams forever.
Follow Rob Rich on LinkedIn
A donation went to Tracker Certification North America
Full-length (*not* G-rated) Castorology episode + tons of science links
More kid-friendly Smologies 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 Bluesky
Follow Alie Ward on Instagram and TikTok
Sound editing by Mercedes Maitland of Maitland Audio Productions & Jake Chaffee
Made possible by work from Noel Dilworth, Susan Hale, Kelly R. Dwyer, Aveline Malek and Erin Talbert
Smologies theme song by Harold Malcolm

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

About Smologies with Alie Ward

From the publisher's feed

Ologies → Smologies. It’s all of the science, with none of the swearing! Smologies are shortened, kid-friendly episodes of the award-winning science podcast, Ologies, which covers topics from Toads…