Veritalk

When you taste the subtle flavor of a perfectly brewed cup of coffee, or smell the funk of an aged blue cheese – you don’t just experience those flavors with your taste buds and nose, you experience them with your brain! Neuroscience PhD Jess Kanwal says that our brain’s ability to combine taste and smell is just one example of how our brains are able to mix and match senses – with very interesting results.

Can robots ever learn to feel? Our ability to perform delicate tasks, like giving a gentle hug or picking a piece of fruit, is something that robots can't yet mimic. Ryan Truby, an alum of the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences and the Harvard John A. Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Sciences has created bio-inspired soft robots that can squish, stretch, and feel their way around the world - and they have the potential to change how we understand robotics.

From the moment you open your eyes in the morning, your sense of sight helps you navigate and interact with the world. But how do our brains understand what our eyes are telling us? And how do we know what's surrounding us, where we can move, and what objects are within reach? Emilie Josephs, a PhD student at the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences, is discovering that the way our brain processes vision is even more complex than scientists initially thought.

We're working to bring you more episodes of Veritalk very soon. In the meantime, we've got a Halloween treat for all of our listeners. Just when you thought it was safe to go back in the water, it's our third episode about Monsters!

Why isn’t King Kong scaling the Empire State Building right now? Should we worry about Godzilla rising from the depths of the Pacific Ocean? Shane Campbell-Staton, co-host of the podcast The Biology of Superheroes and Harvard PhD ’15 in Organismic and Evolutionary Biology, talks about our favorite movie monsters, and some of the biological processes that could make them come to life.

We're working to bring you more episodes of Veritalk very soon. In the meantime, we've got an episode slithering around the podcast studio. Take a listen to our second episode about Monsters.

Some monsters live inside us. PhD candidate in Biological Sciences in Public Health Maddy McFarland studies Trypanosoma cruzi, a parasite that transforms its shape to sneak inside our cells and makes us sick. The scariest part: Our cells can’t signal that they’re infected until it’s too late.

We're working to bring you more episodes of Veritalk very soon. In the meantime, we've brought our spookiest series out of the podcast crypt. Get a mug of hot apple cider, turn out the lights, and take a listen to the first of three episodes about Monsters.

Mermaids: They’re cute, innocent, and great singers, right? Think again! PhD candidate in Celtic Languages and Literatures Greg Darwin explains why you wouldn’t want to meet a mermaid in a dark aquatic alley. He also talks about selkie tales – and legendary creatures that live at the edge of humanity.

Can nutrition education solve the obesity epidemic? Hannah Cory asked that question over and over while working as a dietician in a public school system. Now, as a PhD candidate in Population Health Sciences, Hannah’s research seeks to uncover the connection between fat-phobia, racism, and obesity in the US.

Before you pick up that $30 bottle of probiotics, listen to PhD candidates Cary Allen-Blevins and Vayu Maini Rekdal. It’s true that healthy bacteria make for a healthy gut – but scientists are still learning about how microbes help us break down our food – from our “first food” (breast milk) to meat and veggies.

In the last few years, the popularity of "plant-based diets" has exploded. Celebrities from Tom Brady to Beyoncé promote eating less meat. Even Burger King introduced a meatless burger. Nina Gheihman, a PhD candidate in sociology, tells us how vegan cultural entrepreneurs, celebrities, and researchers are changing hearts, minds, and dinner plates. She'll also explain why we might all be eating vegan soon - whether we like it or not.

After moving to the US from Mauritius, PhD candidate in Romance Languages and Literatures Nikhita Obeegadoo felt homesick. Her experience eating a bowl of dal (spiced lentils) in the US led her to ask questions about food and diaspora, cultural appreciation, and cultural appropriation.