Ask a Scientist

What does a career in science look like? How do you get a career in science? How do you find satisfaction in a career? In this extra special episode of Ask a Scientist, Danielle De La Mare of the Self-Compassionate Professor, talks to us about science careers and how to have a meaningful career. In this episode, Danielle and I have a great conversation about how to have a career in science. 

Have you ever wanted to know more about how animals form bonds? In this episode, Dr. Lisa Hiura, postdoc at the University of Colorado Boulder Molecular, Cellular and Developmental Biology Department, answers all of your questions about animal bonding! She looks at the brains of a special wild rodent that also forms strong bonds like humans do to try and figure out what makes them (and us!) want to have close relationships. So get ready to learn all about neurobiology (the biology of the brain) and how animals develop relationships! 

Follow Dr. Hiura on Twitter @l_hiura

Have you ever wanted to know more about beer? Or even what beer is? In this episode, we talk to Dr. Ethan Tsai, manager of brewing operations at Cigar City Brewing, talks to us all about the science of beer and the science of things we eat and drink! He talks to us about all things beer, from how beer is made to how beer gets its flavors. But he also talks to us about other fermented foods like sour kraut and yogurt. He even talks to us about how some of the the chemical compounds that are responsible for beer going stale are also responsible for the taste of cucumbers and the smell of old people!! So go grab a cold one (beer or other beverage) and get ready to learn all about the science of things we drink and eat! 

Have you ever wondered how your brain and spinal cord form? What happens before you are born that makes your brain and spinal cord develop? In this episode, Dr. Heather Brown, from the University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus, talks to us all about the development of the brain and spinal cord. She discovered that one gene in particular is very important for making sure the spinal cord and brain form correctly. This gene acts like  “school bus” inside of a cell and it moves around the cell to pick up and drop off proteins at different places inside the cell, similar to how a school bus picks up and drops off students at home and at school.  Without this gene, our brain and spinal cord wouldn't grow! In this episode, we will learn all about this school bus gene, how it works, and how it helps the brain and spinal cord to form correctly. So grab your backpacks, hop on your school bus, and get ready to learn all about how your brain formed! 

Have you ever wanted to know more about skeletons? In this episode, Dr. Jaime Ullinger, associate professor of anthropology at Quinnipiac University, talks to us about bioarcheology, the study of skeletons to learn more about humans of the past. Dr. Ullinger answers all your questions about skeletons and talks about how what you eat affects your skeleton and what we can learn about diseases in the past by looking at skeletons. She has seen thousands of skeletons throughout her career and tells us all about them in this episode! 

Do you want to know more about the current COVID-19 pandemic? In this episode, retired respiratory therapist Tom Kellond talks to us all about COVID-19 and how patients with respiratory diseases like COVID-19 are treated in the hospital. He answers questions about how COVID-19 spreads,  how to protect yourself against COVID-19, and how COVID-19 patients are taken care of when they are in the hospital and in the ICU. With lot's of information and misinformation about COVID-19 going around on the news and on the internet, this episode of Ask a Scientist will give you direct answers to your questions from a respiratory health expert, Tom Kellond. 

Have you ever wanted to know more about sustainable ways to make materials like plastics? In this episode, Dr. John Trawick, Senior Research Fellow at Genomatica, talks to us about using biology to make stuff. That is, he uses microbes (small living things like bacteria) to make the building blocks of plastics! In this episode, he tells us more about what this means and how it works. This is a more sustainable way to make materials like plastics that are used in so many everyday items. Dr. Trawick will explain all about the process of making these plastic building blocks, he will give examples of products that use these building blocks, and much, much more!! 

Links to more information: 

Genomatica website: www.genomatica.com.

Mater-Bio (Novamont) in Italy has licensed Genomatica technology and makes 1,4-butanediol by fermentation instead of from crude oil: https://www.novamont.com/eng/                                                                                                                                                                 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zsEfH8-2uN4

Genomatica is bringing renewable nylon to reality: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7GTAJKDQhLQ&feature=youtu.be

Very Cherry Bright Moistuizer: https://www.sephora.com/product/very-cherry-bright-15-clean-vitamin-c-serum-with-acerola-cherry-P449400

Brontide: https://www.brontidebg.com/

Lavazza: https://www.lavazza.com/en.html

Do you ever wonder if there is life on other planets? Do you love Sci Fi movies about extra terrestrials? In this episode, Dr. Jeff Coughlin, of the SETI Institute and Kepler Mission at NASA, talks to us about exoplanets and the search for life on other planets. He will answer all of your questions about exoplanets, including, "what is an exoplanet? Where is the closest exoplanet?" and of course the important question "how do you look for life on other planets?" So grab your telescopes and get ready to explore outer space! 

Have you ever wanted to know more about life in the ocean? In this episode, Susann Rossbach, PhD candidate in Marine Science at King Abdullah University of Science and Technology, will talk to us about life underwater, specifically giant clams!! She will answer all of your questions about these wonderful invertebrates, like how big do they get, what do they eat, and how are the being affected by climate change. So grab your scuba gear and get ready for an underwater adventure into the world of giant clams! 

Ocean Sunfish: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ocean_sunfish 

What is social science? Brooke McWherter, PhD student at Purdue University, talks to us all about being a social scientist. She is a natural resource social scientist, so she studies people’s thoughts and behaviors around natural resource management and conservation. she answers all of your questions about what it's like to work with people and study the ways that people think and feel about the natural world! 

Red-fronted macaw https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Red-fronted_macaw 

Have you ever wanted to know more about antibiotic resistance? In this episode, Lisa Stein, a master's student at the University of Stellenbosch in South Africa. She answers all of your questions including "what does antibiotic resistance mean?" "how to bacteria become resistant to antibiotic medicines?" and "how can you protect yourself from resistant bacteria?" 

Have you ever wanted to know more about how libraries work? In this episode, Ben Chiewphasa, Government Information Librarian and Assistant Professor at the University of Montana, talks to us all about library and information sciences! Information is all around us: When you turn on the TV, read a news article, watch a YouTube video, and a lot more! Ben will answer all your questions about how information gets created, collected, organized, preserved, and distributed! He will even talk about fake news, how to identify it, and how to avoid it! So turn off your tvs, close your Google searches, and get ready to hear all about the world of information from a librarian and information scientist!  

Have you ever wanted to know more about genetics and how we can use genetics to protect species on the landscape? In this episode, Dr. Sarah Gaughan from Bellevue University, talks to us all about genetics, fish, conservation, and how we can use genetics to help species living in changing environments stay on the landscape. She answers all your questions about fish, how they evolved, and how they are changing today and in the future. So grab your fishing pole and get ready to learn all about these amazing creatures swimming just below the surface! 

Have you ever wanted to know more about weather in space? In this episode, Dr. Joe Hughes, Research Scientist at Astra, talks to us all about the weather in space! He answers all of your questions about what makes space weather, and how things like solar flares affect conditions on Earth. He even teaches us how GPS works! Grab your telescopes, look out to the stars, and get ready to learn all about the things that happen just beyond Earth's atmosphere! 

For a transcript of this episode and more information about some of the topics discussed, please visit https://askascientistpod.com/episode-transcripts/

Have you ever wanted to know more about dinosaur poop? In this episode, Dr. Karen Chin, Curator of Paleontology and Associate Professor at the University of Colorado Boulder, talks to us all about dinosaur dung!! She answers all of your questions about fossilized dinosaur doo-doo (the scientific term is coprolites) and about dinosaur bathroom behavior! She talks to us about where dinosaurs pooped, how big dinosaur poop was, and even what dinosaur poop might have smelled like! We talk about dinosaur diet, digestion, and other things we can't learn from studying dinosaur bones alone. So grab your toilet paper and get ready for a fun, informative episode all about dinosaur droppings! 

For a transcript of this episode and more information about some of the topics discussed, please visit https://askascientistpod.com/episode-transcripts/

Have you ever wanted to know more about scientist developing cures and treatments for cancer? In this episode, Roy Dornbrook, Associate Scientist at Verseau Therapeutics, talks to us about his research developing immune-based therapies for cancer. He answers your questions about cancer, new treatments being developed for it, what causes it, how long we've known about it, and even why it's called cancer! While cancer is a disease that affects many people, there are thousands of scientists all over the world trying to find treatments and cures for it, and Roy tells us all about it! 

Have you ever wanted to know more about the Earth? In this episode, Dr. Miquela Ingalls, Assistant Professor at Penn State University, will talk to us all about the Earth, its history, its environments, and its climate! She will answer all your questions about Earth’s oceans, continents, atmosphere, and how they have changed through the 4.6 billion year history of the Earth!! She's studied the Earth all over the world, from lakes in Mexico to the  peaks in the Himalaya and she talks to us all about these amazing places! 

Have you ever wanted to know more about Alzheimer's disease? In this episode, Dr. Chris Link, Associate Professor at the University of Colorado Boulder, talks to us about his research working to understand brain diseases like Alzheimer's. He answers questions about developments that have been made in the field of Alzheimer's research and discusses how worms and mice are used to better understand Alzheimer's. 

Have you ever wanted to know more about spiders? In this episode Dr. Paula Cushing, curator of Invertebrate Zoology at the Denver Museum of Nature and Science, talks to us all about spiders and their kin. What kinds of spiders do we find in our homes? Are any of them venomous? How big do spiders get? And what is the spider's place in the ecosystem? Dr. Cushing will answer all these questions and more! Get ready to learn about the 8-legged fuzzy friends we sometimes find in our houses! 

Have you ever wanted to know more about Mars? In this episode, Dr. Tanya Harrison, the Manager of Science Programs at Planet Labs, talks to us about everything Mars, from the rocks at the surface of Mars to Mars rovers. She'll even talk about Marsquakes! Get ready to blast off to Mars! 

Have you ever wanted to know more about bees? Or how humans are affecting bees and their habitats? In this episode, Dr. Adrian Carper, Postdoctoral Researcher at the University of Colorado Boulder, will talk to us about bees, honey, pollination, and what we can do to help prevent bee extinction. And he will even tell us all about the murder hornets and what it means that they have been spotted in North America! 

Have you ever wanted to know more about ice cores? Or about what the climate was like in the past? In this episode Almost-Dr. Abby Hughes, who is finishing her PhD at the University of Colorado, talks to us about 100,000 year old ice, Greenland, climates of the past and how the climate is changing today.  Grab your jackets because she's going to tell us about some cold temperatures! 

Have you ever wanted to know more about volcanoes or the damage a volcanic eruption can cause? In this episode, (almost) Dr. Sophia Tsang, who just finished her PhD at the University of Auckland, will talk to us about volcanic eruptions, volcanic hazards, and how she studies volcanoes by making lava in the laboratory! 

Have you ever wanted to know more about the human brain? What about how exercise can help improve brain function? In this episode, Dr. Diane Ehlers, Assistant Professor at the University of Nebraska Medical Center, will talk to us about different types of exercise, brain function, and how exercise can help improve brain function in older adults and people with cancer. 

Have you ever wanted to know more about chemistry or the science behind the magic of the Harry Potter world? In this episode, Dr. Rebecca Lai, chemistry professor at the University of Nebraska Lincoln, will talk to us about what it's like to be a chemist and about how she uses Harry Potter to teach people about chemistry. What Harry Potter potions can chemists really make? Are invisibility cloaks real? Dr. Lai will answer these questions and more in this episode!