Latest Science outreach Podcast Episodes
Industrial Decarbonization in the Spotlight
In the Spotlight - October 28, 2021 10:00 - 26 minutes ★★★★★ - 9 ratingsIt's not just individual citizens that need to make decisions to reduce carbon emissions, but also industries. But for companies to make these sweeping changes to decarbonize, we need to analyze all of the possibilities and make strong recommendations! PhD student Carrie Schoeneberger does just ...
Stress Physiology in the Spotlight
In the Spotlight - October 21, 2021 11:00 - 26 minutes ★★★★★ - 9 ratingsStress is an unfortunate constant in a lot of people's lives, but have you ever thought of it as something positive? PhD student Michael Lim joins us all the way from Canada to tell us what happens in your body when you get stressed, how zebrafish are a surprisingly way to study it, and why you ...
Winter Oilseed Planting in the Spotlight - CROSSOVER with Hooked on Science!
In the Spotlight - October 14, 2021 12:00 - 42 minutes ★★★★★ - 9 ratingsOne way that scientists can help our society is by supporting farmers - specifically, testing out new crops and breeding new plants for them to use! Agronomy and Plant Genetics PhD student Julija Cubins works on developing the planting of new winter crops in the northern Midwest states that coul...
Genome Structure & Function in the Spotlight
In the Spotlight - October 07, 2021 11:00 - 30 minutes ★★★★★ - 9 ratingsYou might hear about genes a lot in science news, but what you SHOULD be hearing more about is your genome structure! PhD candidate Ranya Virk describes how she and other scientists use a combination of optical techniques and computational modeling to figure out the exact mechanism of DNA packin...
Decision Making in the Spotlight
In the Spotlight - September 30, 2021 11:00 - 26 minutes ★★★★★ - 9 ratingsThe mind works in mysterious ways. Why do we make the decisions we do, and how do our experiences guide them? PhD student Alexa Ruel joins us to talk about how this complex process changes and adapts as we age, and why we shouldn’t be as worried about mental aging as you’d think. If you want to...
Applications of Electrochemistry in the Spotlight
In the Spotlight - September 23, 2021 10:00 - 30 minutes ★★★★★ - 9 ratingsElectrochemistry is NOT throwing a toaster in a bathtub, according to PhD candidate Daniel San Roman. So what is it!? Not only is electrochemistry fascinating to learn about on its own, but Daniel also shows off numerous interesting applications with surprise uses in the real world, especially i...
In the Spotlight Season 2 Podcast Trailer
In the Spotlight - September 15, 2021 15:00 - 2 minutes ★★★★★ - 9 ratingsWelcome to In the Spotlight, the science communication podcast brought to you by Northwestern University's Science Policy Outreach Taskforce! In each episode, hosts Emily Schafer and Nicolas Scrutton Alvarado interview a different graduate student or postdoctoral scholar in the sciences to disc...
Bonus Episode: Why Should Scientists Care About Science Communication?
In the Spotlight - June 17, 2021 11:00 - 52 minutes ★★★★★ - 9 ratingsIn this season 1 BONUS episode, we're trying to get at the elephant in the room: why should scientists even care about science communication? 5 very special guests in science communication come to answer this question: Danni Washington, science communicator, TV host, and podcaster (@danniwash...
Environmental Justice in the Spotlight
In the Spotlight - May 20, 2021 10:00 - 34 minutes ★★★★★ - 9 ratingsSometimes, it feels like scientific research is too fundamental or incremental to see its effects on humans. But, PhD student Kavi Chintam argues that that needs to change! Using her chemical engineering research and passion for environmental justice as an example, Kavi shares inspirational advi...
Bee Ecology in the Spotlight
In the Spotlight - May 13, 2021 11:00 - 24 minutes ★★★★★ - 9 ratingsWe all know that honeybees are important pollinators, but did you know that they only make up a tiny fraction of bee species? PhD student Amelia Litz does field research on ground nesting bees and wants us to know what we have yet to discover about them, her experiences with field research, and ...
Cancer Organoids in the Spotlight
In the Spotlight - May 06, 2021 10:00 - 36 minutes ★★★★★ - 9 ratingsCountless questions need to be answered about cancer, but we also need to think deeply about the tools that we choose to answer those questions. PhD student Bernat Navarro shares with us what makes pancreatic cancer particularly scary, and how cancer tumor organoids might be the perfect method t...
Hydrogen Fuel Technologies in the Spotlight
In the Spotlight - April 29, 2021 11:00 - 23 minutes ★★★★★ - 9 ratingsIf we want to slow climate change and reduce our carbon outputs, humans need an entire toolkit to approach the problem in different ways - including hydrogen fuel! University of California - Berkeley PhD student Julie Fornaciari tells us about the things she likes most about chemical engineering...
Science Communication during COVID-19 in the Spotlight
In the Spotlight - April 22, 2021 10:00 - 26 minutes ★★★★★ - 9 ratingsScientists do a lot of interesting research, but it all means nothing if it's not communicated properly to non-scientists - ESPECIALLY during the COVID-19 pandemic. Neurobiology graduate student and science communication enthusiast Nicolas Scrutton Alvarado weighs in on the toughest questions ab...
Autoimmunity, Genetics & Science Advocacy in the Spotlight
In the Spotlight - April 15, 2021 10:00 - 35 minutes ★★★★★ - 9 ratingsThis episode, we're tackling the science behind autoimmune disorders like Celiac and Crohn's disease with Columbia PhD student Alyssa Shearer! Alyssa shares more about her research studying the genetics behind these diseases, the science policies she hopes to see for patients, and how she got in...
Theoretical Mathematics in the Spotlight
In the Spotlight - April 08, 2021 10:00 - 31 minutes ★★★★★ - 9 ratingsMaximilien Peroux, a postdoc in theoretical mathematics, has some important messages for us about math: math is social, and math is FUN! Maximilien tells us more about what goes into math research, why ongoing math research matters, and what types of problems his math research could solve. Spoil...
Physics & Cosmology in the Spotlight
In the Spotlight - April 01, 2021 10:00 - 34 minutes ★★★★★ - 9 ratingsAs humans, we have countless questions about the universe, but it's not always clear HOW we can answer those questions. Physicist and mathematician PhD student Grace Chesmore talks about her work developing the instrumentation of telescopes that can detect the first light of the universe (!!!) a...
Neural Circuits of Learning in the Spotlight
In the Spotlight - March 25, 2021 11:00 - 34 minutes ★★★★★ - 9 ratingsHow do neuroscientists tackle important questions about the brain? In this episode, Neuroscience PhD student Chiaki Santiago instils her wisdom about how we make discoveries about the brain, the nature vs. nurture debate, and common misconceptions we might have about the field. Discoveries about...
Racial Identity Development in the Spotlight
In the Spotlight - March 18, 2021 10:00 - 30 minutes ★★★★★ - 9 ratingsDo psychologists consider themselves to be scientists, and why is that a complicated question to answer? How do we develop our sense of identity during childhood? What is white racial identity, and why is it important to be studied? Ursula Moffitt, a postdoc at Northwestern University, will tack...
Cancer Metabolism in the Spotlight
In the Spotlight - March 11, 2021 12:00 - 22 minutes ★★★★★ - 9 ratingsWould we even be a science podcast if we didn't discuss cancer? Researchers like George Lin want to answer fundamental questions about how cancer cells work so that doctors can prescribe the best drugs possible for each patient. If you want to learn more about the topics discussed in this epis...
Statistics of Social Networks in the Spotlight
In the Spotlight - March 04, 2021 11:00 - 21 minutes ★★★★★ - 9 ratingsTo many scientists, statistics is just a means to an end, but to PhD student Abby Smith, it's the most interesting part! Abby tells us more about what it means to study Applied Statistics and how designing more thorough statistical modeling of social networks can make the scientific outcomes tha...
Earthquake Modeling in the Spotlight
In the Spotlight - February 25, 2021 11:00 - 24 minutes ★★★★★ - 9 ratingsWe may not be able to predict earthquakes, but we can certainly find better ways to prepare for them! Modeling earthquakes by researchers at Northwestern University like Jamie Neely informs many levels of preparedness by policymakers for large, potentially dangerous earthquakes – listen on to he...
Nuclear Energy & Engineering in the Spotlight
In the Spotlight - February 18, 2021 12:00 - 41 minutes ★★★★★ - 9 ratingsEven just the word "nuclear" might make your brain go numb, but not anymore! Graduate student Katie Mummah has heard every single question trying to understand nuclear energy and engineering, and she's here to answer them all. Katie will also discuss her research on coding for nuclear non-prolif...
Engineering in Allergy Medicine in the Spotlight
In the Spotlight - February 18, 2021 10:00 - 29 minutes ★★★★★ - 9 ratingsMore nanoparticle talk, but for a completely different application: the ways that we treat allergies. Biomedical engineering PhD student Clayton Rische investigates new ways to treat allergic reactions at their source, not just the symptoms, connecting researchers and doctors together in the pro...
Nanomaterials & Science Outreach in the Spotlight
In the Spotlight - February 18, 2021 09:00 - 26 minutes ★★★★★ - 9 ratingsFor our first EVER episode, we are welcoming chemistry graduate student and science communication veteran Suyog Padgaonkar to talk about his work on the fascinating nanomaterials that may change the way we trap and emit light. He also gives us the scoop on why science outreach matters, and not j...
In the Spotlight Season 1 Podcast Trailer
In the Spotlight - February 08, 2021 20:00 - 1 minute ★★★★★ - 9 ratingsWelcome to In the Spotlight, the science communication podcast brought to you by Northwestern University's Science Policy Outreach Taskforce! In each episode, host Emily Schafer interviews a different graduate student or postdoctoral scholar in the sciences to discuss their research and how it ...
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