Shannon Bennett is the Chief of Science and the Harry W. and Diana V. Hind Dean of Science and Research Collections at the California Academy of Sciences. When Shannon Bennett traveled to Liberia in college, she never guessed the experience would launch her lifelong fascination with microbiology. She shares that story with Nate on the first ever live episode of The Show About Science.

This episode was recorded at the Apple Store in San Francisco on September 12th, 2018 as part of Coal+Ice, an event aimed at inspiring climate action through art and ideas. Special thanks to Laura Sydell, Tom Corwin, Marlene Saritzky and everyone at the Apple Store in Union Square.

After graduating with his PhD in Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, John Crassidis went to work at the NASA-Goddard Space Flight Center. Now he's a professor at the State University of New York at Buffalo, where he builds satellites and researches the massive amount of man-made space junk. He joins Nate on this episode to talk about the trash orbiting the earth, and what might be done to clean it up.

Milo Cress was 9 when he started the Be Straw Free project. Now 17, Milo's research and activism have convinced organizations like Starbucks and the Shedd Aquarium to stop offering customers plastic straws. Milo joins Nate on this episode of The Show About Science to talk about his interests in the environment and conservation, and explains how kids can act to change the world.

In outer space, there are objects so powerful that nothing can escape their gravitational pull. They're called black holes. Bob McNees is a physicist at Loyola University who studies gravity, general relativity, and the physics of black holes. Bob joins Nate on this episode of The Show About Science to talk about quantum mechanics, the work of Stephen Hawking, and of course, black holes.

CryptoKitties is a game centered around breedable, collectible, and oh-so-adorable creatures called CryptoKitties! CryptoKitties is one of the world’s first games to be built on blockchain technology—the same breakthrough that makes things like Bitcoin and Ethereum possible. The creator of CryptoKitties, Dieter Shirley, joins Nate on this episode to talk about creating games on the blockchain.