Science for the People

Latest Episodes:

#642 The Last Episode Dec 31, 2023

Show notes

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 Science for the People, the rebranding, our favourite episodes, how the podcast has changed us, and what it's been like to be a science podcast from 2009 to 2023.

To our listeners: thank you all for sticking with us all these years, for supporting us, and most importantly for listening. We hope you'll continue to ask questions, to support science, and to think critically about the world around you. It's been an honour and a pleasure to have been Science for the People.

Updated to add: We discovered after publishing this episode that our email inbox had squirrelled away some amazing feedback from you in a strange place. When we found it we wanted to include a few more of your messages, so we've recut the episode to include them. If you haven't listened yet and you downloaded before 3 January 2024, please redownload to get the most up to date file!

Episode Mentions and other Shout Outs:

Marion Kilgour's first appearance, as a guest talking about supermarket science: #4 Science of Love
Marion's first guest hosting episode: #397 Risk Management
Rachelle Saunders' first guest hosting episode: #119 Mistakes Were Made
Bethany's first appearance as a guest: #100 Semen Science
Bethany's first episode as a host: #362 Roadkill
The episode that changed Bethany's mind: #310 Circumcision
Carolyn Wilke's first episode as a host: #553 Scan All Fishes
The one with Adam Savage: #25 Surprise Guest Adam Savage!
The one with Randall Munroe: #27 Randall Munroe of XKCD
The ones with Mary Roach:
- #385 Grunt
- #590 Furry Felons and Mammalian Misdemeanors
The ones with Ed Yong:
- #146 Spider Silk
- #262 Me, Myself, and Why
- #430 Bacteria in Bodies and On The Farm
The one with Dan Savage: #361 Too Hot To Handle
The one with Noam Chomsky: #222 The Evolution of Language
Carolyn's favourites:
- #567 Because Internet
- #631 Tenacious Beasts
Bethany's favourite: #415 Weapons of Math Destruction
Rachelle's favourites:
- #236 Fukushima
- #434 The Dictionary
- #585 Lightning Flowers
- #564 Frances Glessner Lee and the Nutshell Studies
Marion's favourites:
- #622 What's Wrong Colonel Sanders? Feeling Chicken?
- #487 Knitting in PEARL
Another shout out favourite from Rachelle: #577 Vaccine Moonshot
More favourites from Bethany:
- #560 That's the Yeast of Your Worries
- #579 It's a Pandemic, Why Are We So Bored?
Ryan's favourites:
- #521 The Curious Life of Krill
- #208 Brain on Fire
K.O.'s favourites:
- #85 Cooking for Geeks
- #95 The Science of Allergies
Betsy Ladyzhets and The Sick Times newsletter about Long Covid
Ed Yong's reporting archive at The Atlantic where you can find his Long Covid stories
The one with Andy Weir: #312 Impossible Space
The one with Roberto Trotta: #293 The Edge of the Sky
In Our Time with Melvyn Bragg
Quirks & Quarks with Bob McDonald
On Being with Krista Tippett
The one about rebranding to Science for the People: #234 Science for the People
The new Science for the People organisation we are not affiliated with and often get confused with
Bethany's book Pests: How Humans Create Animal Villains"
Bethany's website
Voxtopica
K.O. at Particulate Media
Carolyn's website
Ryan's game Catlandia

#641 The Last Nerd Gift Guide Dec 16, 2023

Show notes

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 hopes a few of these fascinating, delightful things find their way into the right kind of geeky forever-home. Maybe there's someone in your life one of these things would be perfect for, and we've just solved your holiday gift-buying dilemma! Maybe there's something in this list you fall in love with and pass along as ideas to people looking to buy gifts for you. Or maybe, just maybe, you decide it's time to get yourself a little something special. Because it's also ok to give ourselves a little delight now and then.

So grab a cup of tea, coffee, hot cocoa, cider, or other cosy holiday beverage and pull up our companion gift guide blog post so you can follow along with this last instalment of one of our favourite traditions here at Science for the People.

#640 The Last Science Book Club Dec 07, 2023

Show notes

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" seasoning in to keep things interesting, harkening back to old favs as well as talking about the best of the best from 2023.

As always, we've got our companion blog post ready with the full book list, including links to Amazon where you can find more information. Happy reading!

#639 The One About Periods Nov 20, 2023

Show notes

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 phenomenon with a really interesting history, and the potential for a better future. We're talking with anthropologist Kate Clancy about her book Period: The Real Story of Menstruation.

#638 Do you feel love? What about ecstasy? Nov 07, 2023

Show notes

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 moment in therapy. But what about Ecstasy (MDMA)? What makes it different, and what could it do? This week we talk with Rachel Nuwer about her new book I Feel Love: MDMA and the Quest for Connection in a Fractured World.

#637 A special announcement Nov 06, 2023

Show notes

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 later, we've spread out all over the globe, spoken to famous writers and scientists the world over, and satisfied so many of our curiosities! We've talked about the things we want to talk about. Now, it's time for someone else to step into our shoes.

#636 Life on an unruly planet Oct 24, 2023

Show notes

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 supersoaking storms. Even tides are now rising into the streets and the beautiful oceanfront property we always wanted isn't looking so good. It's easy to feel despair, because no one individual thing will solve this problem. But where individuals will collapse, communities can build. This week we're talking with Madeline Ostrander about her book, At Home on an Unruly Planet: Finding refuge on a changed earth.

#635 Crossings: How Road Ecology Is Shaping the Future of Our Planet Oct 09, 2023

Show notes

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 this week’s show, Ben shares insights from his reporting on the science of studying how roads interact with animals and ecosystems. He recounts tales of tallying roadkill, scooping up stranded frogs, and visiting the roadkill capital of the world. Along with discussing the problems wrought by roads, Ben shares how efforts to help animals, such as wildlife crossings, have fared. And we talk about what roads reveal about people and our societies.

#634 Back to the future Sep 25, 2023

Show notes

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 actions don't benefit the here and now, but matter most for the future. They require long views of time, the ability to not just imagine, but to care about people in the future. Why don't we do that now, and how do we get there? We're talking with Richard Fisher, author of The Long View: Why We Need to Transform How the World Sees Time.

#633 An Ice History Sep 14, 2023

Show notes

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 find ourselves desperate to get it back. It wasn't always like this: ice started as a luxury of more northern climates, and the story of how it became more ubiquitous -- including in southern climates where natural ice is rare to non-existant -- is a fascinating one. We speak to writer and author Amy Brady about her new book "Ice: From Mixed Drinks to Skating Rinks - a Cool History of a Hot Commodity" and learn about the origins of our modern obsession with and dependency on ice.

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