In this week’s episode, both of our storytellers discover shocking truths through genetic analysis.
Part 1: When Mackenzie Brown’s adoptive father passes away suddenly from a heart condition, she is determined to find out what genes she did inherit.
Part 2: Martha Buford Reiskind thought the case of her mom’s murder was closed when no DNA match came up for t ... Show More
Aug 22
Becoming Your Hero: Stories about embodying a role model
In this week’s episode, both of our storytellers transform into someone they admire—one quite literally, the other more figuratively.Part 1: While juggling climate science studies and a budding comedy career, Rollie Williams finds an unexpected niche impersonating his environment ... Show More
25m 47s
Aug 8
Sticky Fingers: Stories about theft
In this week’s episode, we explore what pushes someone to steal, and how it feels to be the one robbed.Part 1: With a potential cancer diagnosis looming and his health insurance about to vanish, David Crabb finds an envelope stuffed with $100 bills. Part 2: When Zakiya Whatley bo ... Show More
31m 36s
Feb 2023
Kathryn Paige Harden on Genetics and Educational Attainment
In this Social Science Bites podcast, interviewer David Edmonds asks psychologist Kathryn Paige Harden what she could divine about his educational achievements if all she knew about him was his complete genome. “Based just on your genetic information,” she starts, “I would be abl ... Show More
34m 19s
Sep 2023
Tree Soil, Rodent Biologist, Soundscape Artist. Sept 8, 2023, Part 2
Where Soil Grows Above The TreesYou might be used to the feeling of Earth under your feet, but did you know that there’s soil high above your head? Way up in the treetops, where ferns, mosses, flowers, and even trees grow on top of the forest. A new study in Geoderma describes th ... Show More
46m 56s
Apr 2025
Becky Yang Hsu, "The Extraordinary in the Mundane: Family and Forms of Community in China" (Columbia UP, 2024)
How do individuals address serious challenges in a context where organized gatherings are subject to strict government control? This new edited volume brings together a diverse group of scholars to explore the many ways people in China self-organize and create varied forms of coo ... Show More
49 m
Feb 2024
Aaron J. Jackson, "Worlds of Care: The Emotional Lives of Fathers Caring for Children with Disabilities" (U California Press, 2021)
Vulnerable narratives of fatherhood are few and far between; rarer still is an ethnography that delves into the practical and emotional realities of intensive caregiving. Grounded in the intimate everyday lives of men caring for children with major physical and intellectual disab ... Show More
31m 14s
May 15
Seeking a job in science? How hiring practices across industry and academia compare
Julie Gould compares hiring practices across industry and academia by seeking perspectives from Tina Persson, an organic chemist-turned-careers coach based in Malmö, Sweden, and Lauren Celano, a recruitment consultant who founded Propel Careers, based in Boston, Massachusetts, in ... Show More
18m 37s
Feb 2025
How academia’s ‘lone wolf’ culture is harming researcher mental health
Academia’s focus on individual achievement can be a breeding ground for poor mental health, says astrophysicist Kelly Korreck.Korreck, who experienced pandemic-related burnout while working on NASA’s Parker Solar Probe, describes a competitive and ultimately damaging ‘lone wolf’ ... Show More
30m 17s
Jul 2018
3 | Alice Dreger on Sexuality, Truth, and Justice
The human mind loves nothing more than to build mental boxes -- categories -- and put things into them, then refuse to accept it when something doesn't fit. Nowhere is this more clear than in the idea that there are men, and there are women, and that's it. Alice Dreger is an hist ... Show More
1h 20m
Apr 2025
How to Live Freely in a Goal-Obsessed World | Anne-Laure Le Cunff
Award-winning neuroscientist and entrepreneur Anne-Laure Le Cunff joins Google to talk about her book, “Tiny Experiments: How to Live Freely in a Goal-Obsessed World.” Her book is a guide for how to live a more experimental life, turn uncertainty into curiosity, and carve a path ... Show More
54m 33s