Ologies with Alie Ward Alie Ward
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- Science
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Volcanoes. Trees. Drunk butterflies. Mars missions. Slug sex. Death. Beauty standards. Anxiety busters. Beer science. Bee drama. Take away a pocket full of science knowledge and charming, bizarre stories about what fuels these professional -ologists' obsessions. Humorist and science correspondent Alie Ward asks smart people stupid questions and the answers might change your life.
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Anagnosology (READING) with Adrian Johns
Clay tablets! Printing presses! Old timey audio books! Speed reading strategies! Attention spans! Dyslexia history! Literacy campaigns! Dr. Adrian Johns is an historian, professor, and author of the book “The Science of Reading” and we have a nice mellow chat about when humans started to “read,” what that means, being Hooked on Phonics, Dick, Jane, character languages, audiobooks, e-readers, school segregation, literacy rates, and how long we can focus at a time. He literally wrote the book on it.
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Mantodeology (PRAYING MANTISES) with Lohitashwa Garikipati
Pointy heads. Spiked arms. Tragic romance. It’s a whole episode about praying mantises with a real life Mantodeologist, Lohit Garikipati. Do they really eat hummingbirds? Are they endangered? Invasive? Smart? Extraterrestrial? Get your fill of mantid mythology, evolutionary gossip, sexual cannibalism, mantis motherhood, their alien egg cases, huge eyes, pet advice, and why they can show you the way to hell with this delightful entomologist, UC Davis entomology graduate and longtime keeper of mantids. You’ll lose your mind, but not your head.
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Minisode: Some Small/Smol Announcements
A short little episode to tell you about a change we're making to Ologies that I am genuinely very pumped about, as well as some weird secrets I did not intend to tell. But my point is that you can now have a kid-safe show and feed that is safe for kids and classrooms and a road trip with your shy parents.
SUBSCRIBE to Smologies on Apple, Spotify, Pocket Casts, Overcast, Podcast Addict or wherever you get podcasts
Become a patron of Ologies for as little as a buck a month
OlogiesMerch.com has hats, shirts, hoodies, totes!
Follow @Ologies on Instagram and X
Follow @AlieWard on Instagram and X
Editing by Mercedes Maitland of Maitland Audio Productions, Jacob Chaffee, and Jarrett Sleeper of MindJam Media
Managing Director: Susan Hale
Scheduling producer: Noel Dilworth
Transcripts by Aveline Malek
Website by Kelly R. Dwyer
Theme song by Nick Thorburn -
Genocidology (CRIMES OF ATROCITY) with Dirk Moses
The world is confusing, but there are experts in everything. In our least funny episode ever, we thankfully convinced a global expert, professor, researcher, author, and Genocidologist (it’s a real word) Dr. Dirk Moses to answer the questions that we may secretly have: What exactly is genocide? How long has it been happening? Is it a war crime? Is it a crime of atrocity? Who makes up humanitarian law? What's self-defense — and what's offense? How is it litigated? Whose business is it? Why do we do this to each other? What can be done? It’s a dense, long episode with lots of asides for history and context, but it might be just what you need to give you perspective on the conditions — and cycles of trauma — that can lead to crimes of atrocities.
Follow Dr. Dirk Moses on X
Read his book, “The Problems of Genocide: Permanent Security and the Language of Transgression”
A donation went to student tuition at City College of New York
More episode sources and links
Smologies (short, classroom-safe) episodes
Other episodes you may enjoy: Indigenous Fire Ecology (GOOD FIRE), Indigenous Cuisinology (NATIVE FOODS), Indigenous Pedology (SOIL SCIENCE), Ethnoecology (ETHNOBOTANY/NATIVE PLANTS), Bryology (MOSS), Black American Magirology (FOOD, RACE & CULTURE)
Sponsors of Ologies
Transcripts and bleeped episodes
Become a patron of Ologies for as little as a buck a month
OlogiesMerch.com has hats, shirts, hoodies, totes!
Follow @Ologies on Instagram and X
Follow @AlieWard on Instagram and X
Editing by Mercedes Maitland of Maitland Audio Productions, Jacob Chaffee, and Jarrett Sleeper of MindJam Media
Additional producing and research by Mercedes Maitland
Managing Director: Susan Hale
Scheduling producer: Noel Dilworth
Transcripts by Aveline Malek
Website by Kelly R. Dwyer
Theme song by Nick Thorburn -
Smologies #43: CICADAS with Gene Kritsky
They are numerous. They are patient. They are COMING for the United States in droves this spring: They are cicadas. *The* Cicada guy Dr. Gene Kritsky joins to chat all about the annual cicadas you may see every summer vs. the periodical ones that cycle through the states in broods of giant numbers. Learn how they survive underground for decades, what they are doing down there, all about their lifecycle, why some cozy up underground for 17 years while others get moving 4 years quicker, plus get inspired to take a cicada safari, download Cicada Safari, and appreciate their songs, which can be as loud as an ambulance. By the end, you’ll want to don a bug costume and take a road trip to one of the 18 states expecting a periodical emergence this spring!
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Foraging Ecology (EATING WILD PLANTS) Encore with @BlackForager, Alexis Nikole Nelson
Mustard gossip. Knotweed recipes. Cow parsnips. Serviceberry appreciation. Hogweed warnings. Dead man’s fingers. The incredibly knowledgeable and entertaining Alexis Nikole Nelson a.k.a. @BlackForager walks us through Foraging Ecology with a ginormous bushel of tips & tricks for finding edibles at all times of the year, from blossoms to fungus. Belly up for this encore detailing invasive snacks, elusive mushrooms, magnolia cookies, mugwort potatoes, violet cocktails, foraging guides, weed trivia and tips to avoid poisonous berries. Also: finding community, history, land stewardship and why foraging is important, empowering and quite tasty.
Customer Reviews
Slay
Gf introduced me to this podcast and we love it on road trips. Just listened to the ADHD episodes and I hope she does one on OCD too!!!
Big slay, huge
There’s so much I could (and do, to my friends, over drinks) say about Ologies, but I’ll keep it brief here. The science/entertainment content is superb, but one really neat thing Alie does is show WHY diversity and inclusion is beneficial to scientific research and society in general. In a world that kind of just slaps the word diversity on things, assumes it’s good, and moves on, I think it’s more important to understand why learning from people different than yourself helps you learn more fully. As a plus, Alie’s outlook on life will make you say “screw it” and do what you’ve been scared to do, because those bangs aren’t gone cut themselves!
Utterly Fabulous
Tastes good AND it makes you smarter (maybe even better looking!).