With a Side of Knowledge

Before the pandemic, we were the show that invited scholars, makers, and professionals out to brunch for informal conversations about their work, and we look forward to being that show again one day. But for now, we’re recording remotely to maintain physical distancing.

It’s still a pretty fantastic job.

This is a special episode of the show because for the first time ever, Ted, our normal host, isn’t hosting.

He’d ask that you keep your applause to yourself.

It’s a conversation between Holden Thorp, editor-in-chief of the Science family of journals, and Marie Lynn Miranda, a professor of applied and computational mathematics and statistics at Notre Dame, the University’s Charles and Jill Fischer Provost—and as we’re sure she tells people all the time, a former guest on this podcast. Holden and Marie Lynn spoke as part of a recent online series at Notre Dame called The State of Science. This is a condensed version of that conversation, which was recorded on Feb. 22 and focused on “Building the COVID-19 Knowledge Base in Real Time.”

Holden is a great person to talk with about this. Serving as the editor-in-chief of the “Science family of journals” means he leads the six journals published by the American Association for the Advancement of Science, including the magazine Science, the premier global science weekly. In addition to his role at the journals, he is Rita Levi-Montalcini Distinguished University Professor at Washington University in St. Louis, holding appointments in both chemistry and medicine. He previously served as Washington University’s provost and executive vice chancellor for academic affairs and as the chancellor of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, his alma mater.

Holden is also a big jazz fan. And even with a topic as big as the pandemic and the scientific community’s response to discuss, Marie Lynn still managed to sneak in a question about jazz records.

If you enjoy their conversation—and we’re confident you will—you can watch even more at provost.nd.edu/state-of-science.

LINKS

• Science Editorial: “The moment to see the poor”
• Holden’s Intro to Jazz: Spotify Playlist
• Episode Transcript

Before the pandemic, we were the show that invited scholars, makers, and professionals out to brunch for informal conversations about their work, and we look forward to being that show again one day. But for now, we’re recording remotely to maintain physical distancing.

It’s still a pretty fantastic job.

Trish Culligan is Matthew H. McCloskey Dean of the College of Engineering at Notre Dame and a professor in the University’s Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering and Earth Sciences. Before joining the Notre Dame faculty this past August, she was chair and Carleton Professor of Civil Engineering and Engineering Mechanics at Columbia University.

Internationally recognized for her expertise in water resources and environmental engineering, Trish is currently co-directing a research network sponsored by the National Science Foundation that is developing new models for urban infrastructure to make cities cleaner, healthier, and more enjoyable places to live.

She talked with us about that work and the potential of decentralized infrastructure to make a difference in both the developed and developing worlds, albeit for very different reasons. We also covered where the term “civil engineering” comes from, the importance of engineers being able to play a role in informing public policy, and how successful engineering practice isn’t all concrete, steel, and technical detail—no matter how much she may love talking about those things.

We started by asking Trish for her thoughts on a random engineering quote we found on the Internet. Her willingness to engage with our attempt at a creative interview opening let us know right away we were in for a good conversation.

LINK

• Episode Transcript

Before the pandemic, we were the show that invited scholars, makers, and professionals out to brunch for informal conversations about their work, and we look forward to being that show again one day. But for now, we’re recording remotely to maintain physical distancing.

It’s still a pretty fantastic job.

Sinaí Vespie is executive pastry chef for Campus Dining at Notre Dame—although dessert fans around the country know her as the winner of season 6 of the Halloween Baking Championship, which aired this past fall on Food Network.

And if you’re thinking it’s pretty cool for a university to have the winner of a reality cooking competition on its culinary team, then you have a lot in common with the makers of this podcast.

Sinaí began her career as a junior sous chef at the Walt Disney World Swan and Dolphin Resort. She then moved to the Sweet Treats Cakery in Tampa before serving as pastry chef at the Tampa Marriott Waterside. She joined us from just outside her kitchen at Notre Dame, which is the closest we’ve gotten to brunch in a long, long time.

We used this opportunity to ask her about both the particulars of the Halloween Baking Championship—from the cursed croquembouche to the spooky challenge themes, including when she had to figure out how to depict a prank on a floating cake—as well as the demands of competing on a TV cooking show more generally. As you’d suspect, that took on some entirely new dimensions during the pandemic.

Finally, if you check the episode notes, you’ll see why Sinaí warned us of the perils of letting your son manage your Instagram.

LINKS

• From Sinaí’s Instagram: The Faces of Chef Si
• Episode Transcript

Before the pandemic, we were the show that invited scholars, makers, and professionals out to brunch for informal conversations about their work, and we look forward to being that show again one day. But for now, we’re recording remotely to maintain physical distancing.

It’s still a pretty fantastic job.

Timothy Caulfield is a faculty member at the University of Alberta, where he is a Canada Research Chair in Health Law and Policy, a professor in the Faculty of Law and the School of Public Health, and research director of the university’s Health Law Institute.

Timothy has published more than 350 academic articles on topics such as research ethics, public representations of science, and public health policy. A Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada and the Canadian Academy of Health Sciences, he is also the host and co-producer of the award-winning documentary TV series A User's Guide to Cheating Death and the author of two bestselling books, including Is Gwyneth Paltrow Wrong About Everything?: When Celebrity Culture and Science Clash.

Timothy joined host Ted Fox and Notre Dame student Lynnette Wukie, our intern during the University’s Winter Session, to talk about his latest book, Your Day, Your Way: The Fact and Fiction Behind Your Daily Decisions. It takes on questions like: Is there a scientific reason not to drink so much coffee? And: Is the coworker proselytizing about the benefits of their standing desk going a little overboard?

Related: This episode may or may not have been produced entirely at a standing desk.

The conversation also covered what Timothy describes as three social paradoxes complicating what would otherwise be routine decisions; implications of our chaotic information environment, particularly during the pandemic; and the natural uncertainty that comes with doing good science.

LINKS:

• Timothy’s New Book: Your Day, Your Way: The Fact and Fiction Behind Your Daily Decisions
• Episode Transcript

Before the pandemic, we were the show that invited scholars, makers, and professionals out to brunch for informal conversations about their work, and we look forward to being that show again one day. But for now, we’re recording remotely to maintain physical distancing.

It’s still a pretty fantastic job.

Nicole Achee is a research professor of biological sciences at Notre Dame with a joint appointment in the University’s Eck Institute for Global Health. A medical entomologist, she works in the area of infectious and vector-borne diseases. Much of her research focuses on mosquitoes, various species of which are vectors, or transmitters, of illnesses like malaria, dengue, and Zika.

In 2014, a project led by Nicole and Neil Lobo, also a biologist at Notre Dame, received a grant from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation to test the efficacy of what are known as spatial repellents. While the idea underlying spatial repellents is an old one, they could represent an exciting new product class for mosquito control in public health, as they operate in a different manner than existing interventions like spraying and bed nets.

Supported by the Gates Foundation grant—at the time, the second-largest research award in Notre Dame history—and industry partner SC Johnson, Nicole and Neil’s team conducted two large-scale, multiyear clinical trials evaluating spatial repellents, including one in Peru that she says is the first to conclusively show a spatial repellent can protect humans against the types of mosquitoes that transmit dengue and Zika.

Nicole and host Ted Fox started their conversation with some basics about mosquitoes and the impact of mosquito-borne diseases worldwide. She then explained what exactly spatial repellents are and what they do, the specifics of the clinical trials, and next steps on the path toward earning a World Health Organization recommendation for the use of spatial repellents for mosquito-borne disease control—a goal that is one step closer after the recent results in Peru.

LINK

• Episode Transcript

We like to try and do something special around the holidays.

In 2019, we counted down our Top 5 most-played episodes of the year. But we thought we’d try something a little different for 2020.

If you’re a regular listener of the show, you’ve probably figured out we like to read. A lot. So this time, we’re revisiting five of our favorite interviews we’ve done with authors in the three-and-a-half seasons of making this podcast. We call it “Happy Author Days.”

This one is our conversation with Heather Cocks and Jessica Morgan, aka The Fug Girls, titled “On Royal Novels and Writing Partners” and first published September 24th, 2020.

We hope you enjoy it and have the chance to make time for some great reading this holiday season.

LINKS

• Heather and Jessica’s Two Royal Novels: The Royal We and The Heir Affair
• Original Episode Transcript

We like to try and do something special around the holidays.

In 2019, we counted down our Top 5 most-played episodes of the year. But we thought we’d try something a little different for 2020.

If you’re a regular listener of the show, you’ve probably figured out we like to read. A lot. So this time, we’re revisiting five of our favorite interviews we’ve done with authors in the three-and-a-half seasons of making this podcast. We call it “Happy Author Days.”

This one is our conversation with PEN/Faulkner winner Azareen Van der Vliet Oloomi, titled “On Exile, Literature, and Feeling Small Before the Page” and first published on August 1st, 2019.

We hope you enjoy the episode and come back for the final installment in the series tomorrow.

LINKS

• Azareen’s PEN/Faulkner-Winning Novel: Call Me Zebra
• Original Episode Transcript

We like to try and do something special around the holidays.

In 2019, we counted down our Top 5 most-played episodes of the year. But we thought we’d try something a little different for 2020.

If you’re a regular listener of the show, you’ve probably figured out we like to read. A lot. So this time, we’re revisiting five of our favorite interviews we’ve done with authors in the three-and-a-half seasons of making this podcast. We call it “Happy Author Days.”

This one is our conversation with Pulitzer winner Marilynne Robinson, titled “On Writing and Saying Something True” and first published on October 18, 2018.

We hope you enjoy the episode and come back for the next installment in the series tomorrow.

LINK

• Marilynne's Pulitzer-Winning Novel: Gilead
• Original Episode Transcript

We like to try and do something special around the holidays.

In 2019, we counted down our Top 5 most-played episodes of the year. But we thought we’d try something a little different for 2020.

If you’re a regular listener of the show, you’ve probably figured out we like to read. A lot. So this time, we’re revisiting five of our favorite interviews we’ve done with authors in the three-and-a-half seasons of making this podcast. We call it “Happy Author Days.”

This one is our conversation with spy novelist Lauren Wilkinson, titled “On ‘American Spy’ and Finding It on the Page” and first published on October 8th, 2020.

We hope you enjoy the episode and come back for the next installment in the series tomorrow.

LINKS

• Lauren’s Novel: American Spy
• Original Episode Transcript

We like to try and do something special around the holidays.

In 2019, we counted down our Top 5 most-played episodes of the year. But we thought we’d try something a little different for 2020.

If you’re a regular listener of the show, you’ve probably figured out we like to read. A lot. So this time, we’re revisiting five of our favorite interviews we’ve done with authors in the three-and-a-half seasons of making this podcast. We call it “Happy Author Days.”

This one is our conversation with Muhammad Ali biographer Jonathan Eig, titled “On Muhammad Ali and a Knockout Biography” and first published on March, 19, 2020.

We hope you enjoy the episode and come back for the next installment in the series tomorrow.

LINK

• Jonathan’s Biography of Muhammad Ali: Ali: A Life
• Original Episode Transcript