Danni Washington — Apple Podcasts

The Genius Generation

The Genius Generation

Seeker and TRAX from PRX

22/03/2022

Science Pioneers with Danni Washington

Who proved the existence of dark matter? On this episode, Neil deGrasse Tyson and comic co-host Chuck Nice learn about hidden figures of science you need to know about with author and science communicator Danni Washington. NOTE: StarTalk+ Patrons can watch or listen to this entire episode commercial-free here: https://www.startalkradio.net/show/science-pioneers-with-danni-washington/ Thanks to our Patrons Robert Anderson, Meagan Patrice, cael maurer, Marc-Anthony Serrano, Emily McKnight, Dave Fulton, lily_neko739, Josh Wyner, Tyler Mutchie, and Vanefede for supporting us this week. Photo Credit: Acagastya, CC0, via Wikimedia Commons Subscribe to SiriusXM Podcasts+ to listen to new episodes of StarTalk Radio ad-free and a whole week early.Start a free trial now on Apple Podcasts or by visiting siriusxm.com/podcastsplus. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

50min
11/08/2022

Tavish Sharma

After witnessing a mismatch in food bank donations — massive lines at one, and barely any supply at others — Tavish Sharma created Solve Hunger (https://www.solvehungercorp.org/). His app aims to address food shortages and rally communities around their local food banks, and it’s already recruited over 60 food banks, pantries, and soup kitchens.

15min
30/06/2022

Varun Chandrashekhar

Inspired by the challenges that paralyzed people like Stephen Hawking face when communicating, Varun Chandrashekhar designed SpeakUp (https://www.varunchandrashekhar.com/research/research/speakup). His invention is a speech aid that picks up on a person’s brain and translates those impulses into speech. The device relies on a kind of computer analysis called machine learning, which Varun taught himself.

12min
22/04/2021

Luna Abadia

While studying abroad in Japan, 16-year-old Luna Abadia saw the effects of climate change first-hand. Typhoons were getting stronger, snow becoming rarer, and traditional crops were no longer able to grow. This inspired Luna to act. She entered a speech competition and wrote about the importance of combating climate change. Her speech got a lot of attention and Luna became a national finalist. Realizing the power her voice could have, when Luna returned home to Oregon, she founded the Effective Climate Action Project (https://www.effectiveclimateaction.org/) or ECAP for short - a youth-led organization working to increase awareness of effective solutions to climate change.

14min
29/04/2021

Hannah & Charlie Lucas

When Hannah Lucas was 15 years old, she developed POTS, a medical condition that caused her to faint without warning. The anxiety around her condition combined with bullying and harassment from her classmates led Hannah to fall into a deep depression, culminating in an attempt to end her own life. During this incredibly low moment in her life, Hannah had an idea: What if there was a way to immediately alert the people around her that she was not ok? Aided by her tech-savvy brother, Charlie, Hannah’s idea came to life. The result is the notOK App™, a digital panic button which has now helped tens of thousands of others struggling with mental illness.

12min
10/04/2025

Get to Know Danni Washington

Meet science communicator Danni Washington, who brought us the story of environmental activist Xiye Bastida. Danni shares her love of the sea and how she began her science career. And tells the story of meeting Xiye in person at a climate march. This podcast is a production of Rebel Girls. It’s based on the book series Good Night Stories for Rebel Girls. This episode was produced by Isaac Kaplan-Woolner, with sound design and mixing by John Marshall Media. Our executive producers were Katie Sprenger and Jes Wolfe. Original theme music was composed and performed by Elettra Bargiacchi. A special thanks to the Danni Washington and the whole Rebel Girls team, who made this podcast possible. Until next time, stay rebel! [This episode originally aired on April 20, 2021]

8min
06/05/2021

Zachary Siegel

When the COVID-19 pandemic hit and schools closed, high school junior Zachary Siegel found himself with a lot more time on his hands. He used that free time to explore his passions (like computer programming), but quickly realized this was also an opportunity to share his passions with others. So he founded The Youth Passion Project (https://www.youthpassionproject.org/). It’s a platform for high school students to teach classes to young learners about the things they are most passionate about. The classes are completely free and cover a huge variety of topics from video game design to philosophy to Bollywood dance. Since its founding in March of 2020, Zach’s organization has grown exponentially, with thousands of students enrolled and chapters across the US, Canada, and South Korea!

13min
04/08/2022

Emily Flores

Representation matters to Emily Flores. She founded Cripple Media (https://cripplemedia.com/) to train and uplift young, disabled journalists. She and her staff mythbust misconceptions, call out ableism, and write about the issues they care about most.

12min
03/06/2021

Sophia Kianni

When Sophia Kianni was in middle school she took a trip to visit relatives in Iran. She was shocked by the levels of pollution she saw there. The more she looked into it, the more alarmed she became. The effects of climate change are particularly extreme in the Middle East. And yet when Sophia brought up her concerns to her relatives, she discovered they knew almost nothing about climate change. Sophia was determined to educate her relatives, so she started translating scientific information into Farsi to help her relatives understand. This experience led to the founding of Sophia’s organization, Climate Cardinals (https://www.climatecardinals.org/) which now has over 6,000 youth volunteers translating and sourcing climate information into over 100 languages.

14min
27/05/2021

Devin Martin

From a very early age, Devin Martin has been obsessed with space. In the summer of 2020, Devin made his dream come true completing a summer internship at NASA and working directly on the Mars 2020 Perseverance Rover. Watching the rover successfully launch from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida was a huge triumph for Devin, but his journey hasn’t been easy. He has had to face adversity, including racism, along his journey.

13min
23/06/2022

Angela Zhan

What if there were a way to biodegrade plastic, instead of having it collect in landfills and pollute oceans? Angela Zhan discovered bacteria that can do just that. The microscopic organisms that she found naturally eat up plastic, turning it into much more environmentally friendly products. Next, she’s scaling up her experiments from lab beakers to an entire bioreactor.

12min
14/07/2022

Samyak Shrimali

Hand-washing is an easy way to prevent the spread of germs, but many people (even doctors!) aren’t doing it correctly. Samyak Shrimali created Sanjeevani, a system to solve this problem in hospitals. Sanjeevani combines sensors and a computer model to track whether health care workers wash their hands according to World Health Organization guidelines.

13min
08/07/2021

Gia Mar Ramos

Ever since she was a little girl, Gia Mar Ramos had an interest in computer science and technology, but as she got older she noticed something: there were very few girls in her technology classes… so Gia decided to do something about that. The summer before high school she started a non-profit organization called Girl Innovation (https://www.girlinnovation.net/) dedicated to closing the gender gap in computing and technology. She does this by educating middle school girls about computer science on her home island of Puerto Rico.

13min
20/05/2021

Chander Payne

Chander Payne had a life changing moment in his high school cafeteria (how many of us can say that?). He noticed his fellow classmates didn’t have access to healthy foods like fruit and vegetables - so he decided to grow them himself. Chander started an urban farm at his high school, growing fresh fruits and veggies right where they were needed the most. That project soon blossomed into a full-fledged organization called Urban Beet (www.urbanbeet.org/), creating urban farms in other schools and homeless shelters in the Washington D.C. area.

11min
13/05/2021

Kyla Guru

The summer before her freshman year of high school, Kyla Guru discovered a unique passion for cybersecurity at the NSA GenCyber Camp. It was there she discovered that 90% of cyberattacks were due to human error. To combat this problem, Kyla founded Bits N’ Bytes Cybersecurity Education (https://www.bitsnbytes.us.com/) whose mission is educating and equipping people with the cybersecurity skills they need for the future. In addition to giving speeches and holding workshops, Bits N’ Bytes also designs downloadable lessons for teachers, so they can spread the word about cybersecurity to their own students.

14min
07/07/2022

Ela Gokcigdem

A concussion left Ela Gokcigdem with time on her hands and plenty of ideas. Drawing from white noise therapy that helped her recover, she designed ePearl Technologies, a wireless, noise-canceling pair of earbuds made from recyclable materials. Since then, she’s become involved in climate activism and documentary filmmaking.

12min
12/08/2021

Nala Hayden

Nala is the creator of the non-profit organization MyHairLove. Her mission is teaching younger black children how to care for their natural hair while breaking stigmas and negative stereotypes at the same time. She plans to do this through YouTube, educational “hair kits,” and live workshops with elementary and middle school aged children.

12min
01/07/2021

Caleb Anderson

Caleb Anderson is a college student studying aerospace engineering at the prestigious Georgia Institute of Technology. Did we mention Caleb is 12? Yeah, Caleb has always been pretty smart. He was learning fractions at two years old, and had already qualified for Mensa by age three… one of the youngest people to ever do so. Now that he’s pursuing his degree in aerospace engineering, Caleb has big dreams to work at the likes of NASA or SpaceX. We’re confident he’s going to do great things.

11min
09/06/2022

Mary Catherine Hanafee LaPlante

One day at softball practice, Mary Catherine Hanafee LaPlante noticed that noxious pesticides and herbicides were being sprayed on the field directly next to her. After arming herself with information and scientific research, she founded Speak Up Green Up (https://www.speakupgreenup.org/) to lobby her district to swap in less harmful alternatives and encourage others to do the same.

14min
22/07/2021

Victoria Ren

When Victoria was 13 years old she had an epiphany at a speech and debate summer camp where her peer mentor, Ashna supercharged her learning experience. When Victoria and Ashna realized how powerful peer-to-peer mentorship could be they knew they wanted to spread that power to others. The result is the organization STEM & Buds (https://www.stemandbuds.org/) that uses the capacity of mentorship to foster a love of science in young people.

13min

Danni Washington na Apple