Socializing with Scientists
Episodes
Dylan Jervis spots methane emissions from low Earth orbit (he's a physicist)
03 Apr 2026
Contributed by Lukas
Dylan was a kid who found comfort in math and fun in music, but ultimately he followed a path to science. He became a physicist and was inspired to st...
Katie McMahon considers humidity's effect on babies' growth (she's a human environment geographer)
26 Mar 2026
Contributed by Lukas
Katie was a curious, hard-working kid, but it wasn't until her freshman year at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill that she found he...
Brian Walsh peers at Earth from the moon (he's a space physicist)
18 Mar 2026
Contributed by Lukas
To prepare for the moment his telescope landed on the moon, Brian read sports psychology books. "You're not going to read Kepler or Isaac Ne...
Sarah Kugel brings science to a small town (she's the director of a nature center)
11 Mar 2026
Contributed by Lukas
Sarah Kugel grew up smashing pokeweed berries to make her own paint and assembling intricate habitats for garter snakes. She was a kid who loved natur...
Happy Thanksgiving!
26 Nov 2025
Contributed by Lukas
I'm thankful for all of you, and for the scientists who make this podcast possible! I hope you have a relaxing and peaceful Thanksgiving.If you&a...
Brad Nelson makes tiny robots that deliver medicine to the body (he's an engineer)
20 Nov 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Brad grew up in small town Illinois, playing outside all summer, building go-karts and tree houses in the woods. He went to the University of Illinois...
Melissa Harrison explores the foundations of human life, in fruit flies (she's a biologist)
13 Nov 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Melissa was born into a family of scientists, but she always wanted to be a historian. As she grew up, however, she realized that science allowed her ...
Case van Genuchten turns arsenic waste into a valuable raw material (he's an environmental engineer)
06 Nov 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Case was a regular California kid: he skateboarded, he surfed, and he also liked math. He tried a few different majors in college, but finally found h...
Cassia Low Manting observes the brain on music (she's a neuroscientist)
30 Oct 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Ever since she was a little girl, Cassia has loved playing the piano. Her mother made sure she had music lessons, and Cassia felt like she was fulfill...
Charlotte Stagg reaches deep into the brain using ultrasound (she's a neuroscientist)
23 Oct 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Charlie grew up in England, surrounded by books. At age 11, she declared that she wanted to be a research scientist. When she was a teenager, however,...
Bradley Smith watches dingos, and also Bluey (he's a comparative psychologist)
16 Oct 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Bradley grew up in suburban Australia, fascinated by the scientists in movies like Jurassic Park. He also eagerly read biographies and memoirs, and hi...
Samuel Dicken ponders ultraprocessed food (he's a clinical scientist)
08 Oct 2025
Contributed by Lukas
As a child, Samuel enjoyed eating "potato smileys" and "turkey dinosaurs," even though most of his meals were homemade. As he grew...
Fadi Lakkis is a kidney match-maker (he's a physician scientist)
02 Oct 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Fadi Lakkis grew up in Lebanon during a time of political unrest, which led him to perpetually question the world around him. Once he became a nephrol...
Allison Brager helps soldiers survive, and thrive (she's a U.S. Army neurobiologist and sleep scientist)
24 Sep 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Allison grew up during a tumultuous time in a city bruised by crime. Playing sports helped secure a kid's reputation, so she focused on athletics...
August Update!
13 Aug 2025
Contributed by Lukas
We have several great episodes in the works! I can't wait to share them, starting in September.
Lidya Yurdum studies whether singing helps babies feel good (she's a social psychologist)
30 Jul 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Raised in a bilingual household in Istanbul, Lidya had lots of questions. She was keenly interested in people, and, on top of that, wondered things li...
Katie Amato wonders what it means to be human (she's a biological anthropologist)
23 Jul 2025
Contributed by Lukas
As a child, Katie thrived in her suburban Chicago backyard, reading The Boxcar Children and leading her little brother on adventures. A second grade u...
Jenna Alley finds the good in parents (she’s a developmental health psychologist)
02 Jul 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Jenna was never really interested in school. She loved theater and the arts, but academically, she struggled. She had dyslexia, and "always fel...
Shannon Curry is in charge of a spacecraft orbiting Mars (she’s a planetary scientist)
25 Jun 2025
Contributed by Lukas
The first time she looked through a telescope, Shannon lost her breath. A self-proclaimed "science camp kid," she learned early that she wan...
Scott MacIvor wants people to enjoy green spaces in cities (he's an urban ecologist)
18 Jun 2025
Contributed by Lukas
When he was a child in Kitchener, Ontario, Scott MacIvor would go on urban walks with his mom. He had a bucket, and was allowed to bring home one piec...
Heather Mefford hunts down unruly genes (she’s a human geneticist)
11 Jun 2025
Contributed by Lukas
When she was a kid in Iowa, Heather didn't know what she wanted to be when she grew up. She loved solving problems and adored science and math, a...
SUMMER 2025 UPDATE!
04 Jun 2025
Contributed by Lukas
The first eight episodes of Socializing with Scientists Season 1 have been a blast! Next Wednesday we'll publish another interview, but this week...
Scott Krayenhoff helps hot cities cool off (he's an urban climatologist)
28 May 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Scott has always been a deep thinker. Dinner table conversations on his family's homestead on Vancouver Island instilled in him a strong environm...
Jan Gogarten is searching for the next deadly germ (he’s a wildlife disease ecologist)
21 May 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Jan was born in Germany, but he grew up in the US: his parents moved after Chernobyl, because their lab Geiger counter showed high radiation levels de...
Cédric Girard-Buttoz learns the language of chimps (he's an evolutionary biologist)
14 May 2025
Contributed by Lukas
When he was six years old, Cédric wanted to be Tarzan, following monkeys around the forest and studying their behavior.He has pretty much made his dr...
Soumya Acharya conjures up clever new medical gadgets (he's a biomedical engineer)
08 May 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Soumya has always been a tinkerer and inventor. He cobbled together a homemade radio as a 5th grader in northern India, and soon after that he started...
Desirée Plata wants to keep bad chemicals out of your water (she's an environmental chemist)
01 May 2025
Contributed by Lukas
When Desirée was little, she'd roam around her grandmother's neighborhood in Maine, "kind of eavesdropping on people," she said. ...
Lauren Osborne labors to soothe mothers' brains (she's a reproductive psychiatrist)
23 Apr 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Lauren Osborne grew up in New York City and rural Vermont; she was born into a family of actors and artists. After college, she worked in book publish...
Louis Bont is trying to save ALL the children (he's a pediatrician)
16 Apr 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Louis had an uneventful childhood: Born and raised in Amsterdam, he was a normal kid who liked playing with friends and reading books. But his mother ...
Michela Mariani digs ancient wildfires (she's a paleoecologist)
09 Apr 2025
Contributed by Lukas
As a child, Michela got lost in the mountains of Italy foraging for mushrooms. Adult Michela digs under deep Australian lakes searching for remnants o...