Science for the People

#642 The Last Episode

31 Dec 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Join the team of Science for the People for one last episode, where we interview... ourselves. We talk about our time as Skeptically Speaking and Scie...

#641 The Last Nerd Gift Guide

16 Dec 2023

Contributed by Lukas

For the last time, Bethany and Rachelle skip gleefully across the world wide web, plucking nerdy objects out of obscurity to shine a spotlight on in h...

#640 The Last Science Book Club

07 Dec 2023

Contributed by Lukas

For the last time, Joanne Manaster and John Dupuis talk us through their favourite science reads from the last year, and add a little "time travel" se...

#639 The One About Periods

20 Nov 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Period. Menstruation. For something that roughly half the human population does, we sure don't talk about it much. But it's a fascinating biological p...

#638 Do you feel love? What about ecstasy?

07 Nov 2023

Contributed by Lukas

If you're plugged in to science news (and you, our listeners, definitely are) then you know that psychedelics like ketamine and LSD are having a momen...

#637 A special announcement

06 Nov 2023

Contributed by Lukas

In the beginning, way, way back in 2008, this podcast was just a bunch of Canadians wanting to talk about science and skepticism. Nearly 15 years late...

#636 Life on an unruly planet

24 Oct 2023

Contributed by Lukas

We might say climate change is coming for us. But really, it's here. Fires are worse in hotter, drier conditions. Hurricanes are powered up supersoaki...

#635 Crossings: How Road Ecology Is Shaping the Future of Our Planet

09 Oct 2023

Contributed by Lukas

In the book Crossings: How Road Ecology Is Shaping the Future of Our Planet, journalist Ben Goldfarb details how roads have transformed our world. On ...

#634 Back to the future

25 Sep 2023

Contributed by Lukas

We all know that climate change is coming for us. It's already here. But it's really, really hard to change people's actions, especially when those ac...

#633 An Ice History

14 Sep 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Ice is one of those invisible little gears of the modern, westernized world. We don't notice it when we have it, and as soon as we can't get it we fin...

#632 We are what we eat

28 Aug 2023

Contributed by Lukas

You are what you eat, right? Well then, who were the ancient Romans, and who were the people they colonized? And who are we? And why do we eat so much...

#631 Tenacious Beasts

14 Aug 2023

Contributed by Lukas

In his book Tenacious Beasts, philosopher and writer Christopher Preston explores creature comebacks. Some of these stories highlight the evolutionary...

#630 The Jewel Box

31 Jul 2023

Contributed by Lukas

A lot of us learned basic ecology in primary school. Maybe we took a biology class in high school or secondary school and dug in a little more. We use...

#629 How birds go the distance

05 Jul 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Birds carry out some of the most amazing feats of athleticism in the world. Hummingbirds cross the entire Gulf of Mexico, their tiny wings beating con...

#628 Brave the Wild River

19 Jun 2023

Contributed by Lukas

In 1938, two botanists, Elzada Clover and Lois Jotter, made an ambitious voyage down the Colorado River driven by the desire to chronicle the plant li...

#627 Ancient Migrations

05 Jun 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Humans are a roaming species. We've been traveling from continent to continent since our very earliest evolution. In fact, we've been doing it even be...

#626 Our Friend, the Wasp

25 May 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Is there an insect more universally despised than the wasp? What have they done to incur so much of our ire? No one likes them. Well... almost no one....

#625 This one really is about aliens

09 May 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Do you believe there's something Out There? What do our ideas of aliens say about what life is, how life could look and act? And what does it say abou...

#624 The Devil’s Element

24 Apr 2023

Contributed by Lukas

With fertilizers that supply phosphorus–what Asimov called “life’s bottleneck”– people broke the circle of life. Dan Ega...

#623 Peopling the Americas

11 Apr 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Thousands of years ago, people crossed a land bridge from Siberia to Western Alaska and dispersed southward into what we now call the Americas. The st...

#622 What's wrong Colonel Sanders? Feeling chicken?

27 Mar 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Give a cluck about chickens. The most popular meat actually has a 3,500 year history of cockfighting, backyard keeping, incubation invention, and a lo...

#621 Of memoir and sea creatures

13 Mar 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Sea creatures do so many things that astound us. They regrow and regenerate, they incubate eggs for years without ever eating a morsel. They can be on...

#620 The Matter of Everything

27 Feb 2023

Contributed by Lukas

In the past 120 years, physicists have revamped our understanding of matter — of everything that makes up the world. This week on the show, part...

#619 Breathless

16 Feb 2023

Contributed by Lukas

In January 2020 a race began to identify, control, and understand a novel coronavirus that quickly spread around the world creating a global pandemic....

#618 This is your brain on music

30 Jan 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Humans are musical. Really, really musical. But why? What is it for, how did it come about, and what do we get from it? Let's get between the science ...

#617 Emotional Ignorance

16 Jan 2023

Contributed by Lukas

On this week’s show, we’re getting emotional. Our guest, neuroscientist Dean Burnett, talks about his new book Emotional Ignorance. He sha...

#616 The one about sex

20 Dec 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Let's talk about sex, baby. Let's talk about birds and bees. Let's talk about all the slime molds and the algae that can be, let's talk about sex. Thi...

#615 2022 Science Book Haul

06 Dec 2022

Contributed by Lukas

John Dupuis and Joanne Manaster join host Rachelle Saunders in what might be our most favourite and longest-running December tradition: science book r...

#614 Clocks, Mugs and Other Nerdy Gift Ideas

22 Nov 2022

Contributed by Lukas

It's that time of year when Rachelle spends far too much time finding strange and wonderful new clocks, Bethany adds more mugs to her collection, and ...

#613 Pests: How Humans Create Animal Villains

10 Nov 2022

Contributed by Lukas

We all know what a "pest" is. We can all point to creatures that are pests in our neighborhoods, those invasive hard-to-get-rid-of, disruptive animals...

#612 The Poopisode

25 Oct 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Number 2. Poop. Crap. Doodoo. It's something that a lot of people just want to flush and forget, but others want to talk about it. Do they poop too mu...

#611 Spark: The Life of Electricity and the Electricity of Life

17 Oct 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Usually when we talk about electricity we're talking about the technology that runs the modern world, but electricity is a lot more integral to our ex...

#610 Thieving Trees

26 Sep 2022

Contributed by Lukas

The word "poaching" conjures images of elephants, tigers and pangolins. But there's a multi-billion dollar industry in poaching...trees. It might seem...

#609 A world of universal vaccines

12 Sep 2022

Contributed by Lukas

It seems like no one vaccine is ever enough. COVID mutates and the vaccines fall short. A new flu vaccine every year, and each one different from the ...

#608 Bone Proteins and Body Farms

31 Aug 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Television dramas make it seem like easy work for forensic investigators to determine when a person has died. But figuring out the time since death ca...

#607 Shark Matters

22 Aug 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Sharks are fascinating, often misunderstood creatures, and many of them are threatened or endangered, and they definitely deserve our conservation eff...

#606 Carte Blanche: The Erosion of Medical Consent

03 Aug 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Even the luckiest and healthiest of us will interact with the medical systems we live in eventually, and navigating these systems can be frustrating, ...

#605 Designing wilderness

18 Jul 2022

Contributed by Lukas

There's no doubt that we humans have done some pretty awful things to our landscapes. Draining swamps, cutting down forests, shooting almost all the b...

#604 Sticky: The Secret Science of Surfaces

08 Jul 2022

Contributed by Lukas

This week we’re zooming in on surfaces, where lots of action happens as things slip, grip, slide, and more. Our guest Laurie Winkless, author of...

#603 Remaking the face

07 Jun 2022

Contributed by Lukas

In 2022 it seems surgery can perform miracles. Plastic surgery in particular can reshape noses, jaws, and even transplant entire faces. But not so lon...

#602 Working while Marginalized

23 May 2022

Contributed by Lukas

The thing about humans is that, as a social species, we work with other people. And this means we often, consciously or unconsciously, end up being aw...

#601 This is not about dinosaurs

25 Apr 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Most people know how the age of dinosaurs ended. An asteroid hit and all the dinosaurs died out. But it's never quite that simple. In her newest book,...

#600 The one about vaginas

11 Apr 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Vagina. Clitoris. Uterus. Ovary. These are body parts that about half the population is born with. And yet, there are so many questions about them tha...

#599 Losing Our Minds

29 Mar 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Mental illness is being discussed openly and publicly more than it ever has been, but our understanding of what it is and its impacts are still a work...

#598 Train, boat, truck, it's the supply chain

14 Mar 2022

Contributed by Lukas

I'm sure we've all heard the phrase 'supply chain disruption' by now. It might bring to mind ships floating outside LA or trucks jackknifed across a h...

#597 The Trouble With Passion

18 Feb 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Choosing a career path is a big decision. In the modern western world a career is practically synonymous with identity: whether we like it our not, wh...

#596 Tailoring your brain with science

31 Jan 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Intent on improving your creativity or focus? Want to raise your IQ? What does that even mean? This week, we've got Emily Willingham back on the show ...

#595 Handmade: A Scientist’s Search for Meaning Through Making

17 Jan 2022

Contributed by Lukas

In Handmade: A Scientist’s Search for Meaning Through Making, author Anna Ploszajski takes her experience of materials science out of the l...

#594 Science to look forward to in 2022

04 Jan 2022

Contributed by Lukas

2021 has vanished, sucked into the black hole created by 2020. But while the pandemic continues, we are steadily climbing our way out. And what better...

#593 Indigenous Knowledge and Decolonising Academia

23 Dec 2021

Contributed by Lukas

We often think the practices of science and academics as a western-European invention, and while both science and the academy have created a lot of po...

#592 The One About Nerdy Gifts, 2021 Edition

06 Dec 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Last week we filled your reading list with 2021's best science books, and this week we're back with Bethany and Rachelle's giddy, geeky, and (hopefull...

#591 The One About Science Books, 2021 Edition

28 Nov 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Another year, another haul of excellent science books! We bring back John Dupuis and Joanne Manaster to share some of their favourite science reads fr...

#590 Furry felons and mammalian misdemeanors

28 Oct 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Most true crime details the terrible deeds that humans do. But nature can be nefarious too. Animals and plants can kill, maim, or just make people dee...

#589 Damsels and Dragons

20 Oct 2021

Contributed by Lukas

We sit down for a whirlwind tour of the entomological world of dragonflies and damselflies with Evolutionary Biologist Dr Jessica Ware, Assistant Cura...

#588 What's Wild About Wilderness

30 Sep 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Conserving wild species doesn't seem like it would be that controversial. No one wants to see an extinction. But at the same time, don't we believe th...

#587 Dripping with Sweat

03 Aug 2021

Contributed by Lukas

It's summer and that means sweat. But why do we use all those antiperspirants and deodorants? Why are we so ashamed of a cooling bodily function? This...

#586 Full Spectrum: How the Science of Color Made Us Modern

27 Jun 2021

Contributed by Lukas

In "Full Spectrum: How the Science of Color Made us Modern", author Adam Rogers takes readers on a journey from prehistoric pigments to experiments wo...

#585 Lightning Flowers

17 May 2021

Contributed by Lukas

How does someone's life change when they get or discover a chronic medical condition? What is it like to have a long-term relationship with the modern...

#584 Time for the Gory Details

16 Apr 2021

Contributed by Lukas

There are lots of things about the natural world many people like to avoid, or even pretend don't exist. Like the mites that are the same size and sha...

#583 The Unavoidable Complexities of Food

30 Mar 2021

Contributed by Lukas

We can definitely agree there is a lot about our current food systems that isn't sustainable. But what's harder to agree on is what we need to do to f...

#582 Cities Lost and Found

01 Mar 2021

Contributed by Lukas

What do ancient cities have to tell us about ourselves and our future? Annalee Newitz talks about their latest book, "Four Lost Cities: A Secret Histo...

#581 The Art and Science of Play

02 Feb 2021

Contributed by Lukas

For humans and creatures of all sorts, play goes beyond having fun. Cognitive scientist Junyi Chu shares about the motives behind play, from showing o...

#580 So Long 2020, We Won't Miss You

07 Jan 2021

Contributed by Lukas

2020 is over, and honestly? Good riddance. But before we go, let's take a look back. Because 2020 was tough, but it was also a year that science playe...

#579 It's a Pandemic, Why Are We So Bored?!

21 Dec 2020

Contributed by Lukas

It's the holidays and it's 2020. For many of us, it's the first time we won't be able to be together, doing the traditional things we always do. It se...

#578 Science Books for Science Nerds

08 Dec 2020

Contributed by Lukas

Once again we've brought back Joanne Manaster and John Dupuis to reflect on their 2020 reading lists, and to highlight their favourite reads. So grab ...

#577 Vaccine Moonshot

09 Nov 2020

Contributed by Lukas

We're still in the midst of the Coronavirus pandemic, and one of the things many of us are hoping for every day is more good news about a vaccine. Wha...

#ANN1 Programming Announcement: Slowing Down for a Bit

02 Nov 2020

Contributed by Lukas

Just a quick message abour our somewhat erratic programming schedule of late. For a variety of reasons, our team needs to slow down a bit to give ours...

#576 Science Communication in Creative Places

19 Oct 2020

Contributed by Lukas

When you think of science communication, you might think of TED talks or museum talks or video talks, or... people giving lectures. It's a lot of peop...

#575 Tasting Qualities

05 Oct 2020

Contributed by Lukas

Do you like tea? If you, like many of us, do, then you probably have an idea (or perhaps very strong opinions) of what a "good cup of tea" tastes like...

#574 State of the Heart

20 Sep 2020

Contributed by Lukas

This week we focus on heart disease, heart failure, what blood pressure is and why it's bad when it's high. Host Rachelle Saunders talks with physicia...

#573 Penis. That's It. That's the title.

13 Sep 2020

Contributed by Lukas

This episode is about penises. That was your content warning. Penises. Where they came from. Why they're useful. And the many, many wild things that a...

#572 The Alchemy of Us

07 Sep 2020

Contributed by Lukas

We live in a material world. Each piece of that stuff has a story behind it – from the inconspicuous glass and steel that fashions our built env...

#571 The Address Book

24 Aug 2020

Contributed by Lukas

We don't really notice street addresses, but they're integral to how modern society works. They've become integral to our identity in ways we don't re...

#570 Sea Ice

16 Aug 2020

Contributed by Lukas

This week, host Marion Kilgour discusses the effects of climate change on Arctic sea ice, and the Inuit communities that rely on the ice for wood, foo...

#569 Facing Fear

10 Aug 2020

Contributed by Lukas

What do you fear? I mean really fear? Well, ok, maybe right now that's tough. We're living in a new age and definition of fear. But what do we do abou...

#568 Poker Face Psychology

27 Jul 2020

Contributed by Lukas

Anyone who's seen pop culture depictions of poker might think statistics and math is the only way to get ahead. But no, there's psychology too. Author...

#567 Because Internet

20 Jul 2020

Contributed by Lukas

This week we dig into the grammar, idiosyncracies, and patterns of mondern writing the internet has made not just possible, but necessary: the writing...

#566 Is Your Gut Leaking?

12 Jul 2020

Contributed by Lukas

This week we're busting the human gut wide open with Dr. Alessio Fasano from the Center for Celiac Research and Treatment at Massachusetts Genera...

#565 The Great Wide Indoors

28 Jun 2020

Contributed by Lukas

We're all spending a bit more time indoors this summer than we probably figured. But did you ever stop to think about why the places we live and work ...

#564 Frances Glessner Lee and the Nutshell Studies

21 Jun 2020

Contributed by Lukas

Around the end of the second world war, a set of tiny miniature dioramas depicting a variety of deaths were created to help teach investigators how to...

#563 Dissecting Bumble Bee Health

14 Jun 2020

Contributed by Lukas

Yes, bumble bees are important pollinators. But they're also fascinating, cute and colorful. This week's episode can trace its origins to a flowery Si...

#BLM Black Lives Matter

07 Jun 2020

Contributed by Lukas

We're taking a step back from our scheduled episode this week to ensure the important discussions around Black Lives Matter continue to stay in focus....

#562 Superbug to Bedside

24 May 2020

Contributed by Lukas

By now we're all good and scared about antibiotic resistance, one of the many things coming to get us all. But there's good news, sort of. News antibi...

#561 The Race to Identify All Living Things

17 May 2020

Contributed by Lukas

This week on Science for the People, we're diving into the world of DNA barcoding. We speak with Mehrdad Hajibabaei, Associate Professor in the D...

#560 That's the Yeast of your Worries

10 May 2020

Contributed by Lukas

Like many people these days, you might be spending your time at home making bread. Maybe you couldn't find instant yeast and decided that sourdough di...

#559 Notes From a Transplant Surgeon

26 Apr 2020

Contributed by Lukas

One of the most amazing things modern medicine does is organ transplants: literally taking organs like the lungs or the heart from recently dead peopl...

#558 Good Drugs, Bad Companies

19 Apr 2020

Contributed by Lukas

Medicines. We all need to take them. And it seems like the prices are just getting higher and higher. Luckily, generics offer a cheaper alternative. A...

#557 Homeschool STEM Resource Extravaganza

12 Apr 2020

Contributed by Lukas

With many schools closed and parents looking for resources to help keep children stuck at home engaged and still learning, the hosts of Science for th...

#556 The Power of Friendship

29 Mar 2020

Contributed by Lukas

It's 2020 and times are tough. Maybe some of us are learning about social distancing the hard way. Maybe we just are all a little anxious. No matter w...

#555 Coronavirus

22 Mar 2020

Contributed by Lukas

It's everywhere, and it felt disingenuous for us here at Science for the People to avoid it, so here is our episode on Coronavirus. It's ok to give th...

#554 Coders

15 Mar 2020

Contributed by Lukas

Tech, computers, code, security vulnerabilities, hacking elections... We hear about the technical change, but what about the subculture of tech and co...

#553 Scan All Fishes

08 Mar 2020

Contributed by Lukas

This week is all about fish. All about ALL the fish, actually. Biomechanicist Adam Summers shares about his adventures in studying fish and CT scannin...

#552 The First Cell

23 Feb 2020

Contributed by Lukas

This week we take a closer look at what cancer is, how it works, and what makes it so hard to treat without shying away or ignoring the human experien...

#551 Translating Science, Part 2

16 Feb 2020

Contributed by Lukas

This week on Science for the People, we're discussing how Siksika become one of the official translation languages for press releases from the Laser I...

#550 Translating Science, Part 1

09 Feb 2020

Contributed by Lukas

This week, we're discussing the opportunities and challenges of using Zulu, a language that has traditionally been excluded from science journalism, t...

#549 Let's Get Slimy

02 Feb 2020

Contributed by Lukas

Algae. What springs to mind when you read that word? Maybe a seaweed forest? Maybe a pond covered in scum? Maybe a red tide? Those are all algae, and ...

#548 Land and Ocean Conservation 101

19 Jan 2020

Contributed by Lukas

This week we're talking about land and ocean conservation: what it means to protect our land and oceans, the complexities of competing interests and i...

#547 The D Factor: The Dark Side of Your Personality

12 Jan 2020

Contributed by Lukas

This week on Science for the People, we're discussing dark personality traits. Everyone has them, and how they manifest themselves depends on your "D"...

#546 2019, But Make It Science

04 Jan 2020

Contributed by Lukas

It's 2020, but we're looking back. What were the biggest science stories of 2019? Well, it was a big year for lots of things. Black hole pictures, vap...

#545 Where Have All the Antibiotics Gone?

21 Dec 2019

Contributed by Lukas

Antibiotics. You know the drill. You get a bacterial infection, you get an antibiotic, and a few days or a week later, you're all better. But these da...