A Scientist Walks Into A Bar

Latest Episodes:

Ep. 21 - Timefulness: Geology and Climate Change Jul 16, 2019

Show notes

We need all the tools we can find to fight climate change, and geologist Dr. Marcia Bjornerud offers some new perspective and insight. In this episode she talks about her book Timefulness: How Thinking Like a Geologist Can Help Save the World, and suggests that shifting our viewpoint to understand the deep geologic past can help us understand the harm we're doing to the planet in the present. This talk was recorded in September 2018.

Check out some of Marcia's other writing:

Reading the Rocks: The Autobiography of the EarthContributor to the New Yorker's Science & Technology blog

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Want to come to an event? Visit www.ScienceOnTapORWA.org for more info.

Thanks to Graham Tully and Stephen Perry for sound production.

As always, a final thanks to Jonathan Coulton for the use of his song Mandelbrot Set as our theme music.

Ep. 20: Aroused Jun 24, 2019

Show notes

Hormones don't just control things like puberty or sex; they control SO much more about our bodies, including sleep, metabolism, hunger, and the fight-or-flight response. Find out more about hormones in this talk by Randi Hutter Epstein, MD, MPH about her book Aroused: The History of Hormones and How They Control Just About Everything. This talk was recorded in July 2018 and the paperback version of the book was just released in June 2019.

Here's the link to the Highlights of Hormone History Video a.k.a. the rooster testicle experiment.

Aroused was included as a Science News: best book of 2018

Also, follow Randi on Twitter.

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Want to come to an event? Visit www.ScienceOnTapORWA.org for more info.

Thanks to Graham Tully and Stephen Perry for sound production.

As always, a final thanks to Jonathan Coulton for the use of his song Mandelbrot Set as our theme music.

Ep. 19: Yes I'm Really A Doctor Jun 10, 2019

Show notes

If you're a woman or you're someone who has ever been treated by a female medical professional, you should listen to this episode on the topic of Yes, I'm Really A Doctor: How Equity Eludes Women in Medicine and Science by Esther Choo, MD MPH. She is an Associate Professor of Emergency Medicine at OHSU, Founder of Equity Quotient, and is a nationally recognized expert in gender bias in medicine. She's also fierce on Twitter.

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Want to come to an event? Visit www.ScienceOnTapORWA.org for more info.

Thanks to Graham Tully and Stephen Perry for sound production.

As always, a final thanks to Jonathan Coulton for the use of his song Mandelbrot Set as our theme music.

Ep. 18: Treknology May 20, 2019

Show notes

Star Trek introduced us to the amazing technologies of a fictional future such as warp drive, replicators, and photon torpedoes, but it turns out that some of those technologies aren't so fictional anymore. In this episode hear theoretical physicist and author Ethan Siegel, PhD, talk about some of the real inventions that were inspired by Star Trek (iPads, anyone?), and some technologies like tractor beams and holodecks that might be closer to reality than you realize.

Ethan's talk is based on his book Treknology: The Science of Star Trek from Tricorders to Warp Drive and you can read more of his writing at his blog Starts With A Bang. Also, help support his work by checking out Ethan's Patreon page.

Here's the Hubble telescope image of 10,000 galaxies that Ethan mentions about 6:45.

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Want to come to an event? Visit www.ScienceOnTapORWA.org for more info.

Thanks to Graham Tully and Stephen Perry for sound production.

As always, a final thanks to Jonathan Coulton for the use of his song Mandelbrot Set as our theme music.

Ep. 17: Gender, Sex, and Biology May 06, 2019

Show notes

Are biological sex and gender the same thing? Do anatomy and genetics completely determine sex and/or gender? In this talk from June 2018, Dr. Lisa Sardinia, Associate Professor of Biology at Pacific University, talks about some of the so-called "bathroom bills" proposed in the US to restrict access to public restrooms based on terms like "biological sex" or "genetic sex." Turns out that science isn't so binary, and legislators need to learn a little science (okay...a LOT of science...).

Resources mentioned at the end of the talk:

Scientific American, September 2017 issue
How Science is Helping Us Understand Gender, National Geographic Magazine, January 2017
Gender: When the Body and Brain Disagree, Science News for Students, July 2015
The 7 Sexes: Biology of Sex Determination, by Elof Axel Carlson
Sex Itself The Search for Male & Female in the Human Genome, by Sarah S. Richardson, 2013

Want to come to an event? Visit www.ScienceOnTapORWA.org for more info.

Thanks to Graham Tully and Stephen Perry for sound production.

As always, a final thanks to Jonathan Coulton for the use of his song Mandelbrot Set as our theme music.

Ep. 16: The Neuroscience of Pain Apr 22, 2019

Show notes

Pain is the most important and misunderstood sensory system: you cannot live without it, yet we live every day trying to avoid it. In this episode, Dr. Michael Morgan, Professor of Psychology at Washington State University Vancouver, explains how your nervous system codes pain, how your brain tries to control it, and how drugs provide relief. He'll also talk about some of the reasons why current medications are problematic (hint: the opiate epidemic) and some new ways that science is trying to treat pain.

Want to come to an event? Visit www.ScienceOnTapORWA.org for more info.

Thanks to Graham Tully and Stephen Perry for sound production.

As always, a final thanks to Jonathan Coulton for the use of his song Mandelbrot Set as our theme music.

Ep. 15: Inventive Connections Apr 08, 2019

Show notes

How are actress Hedy Lamarr, GPS, and elephant seals all connected? Find out in this episode as Dr. Leslie New from WSU Vancouver celebrates women who have contributed to the fields of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics, but who have been dismissed or deliberately forgotten because of their gender.

Want to come to an event? Visit www.ScienceOnTapORWA.org for more info.

Thanks to Graham Tully and Stephen Perry for sound production.

As always, a final thanks to Jonathan Coulton for the use of his song Mandelbrot Set as our theme music.

Ep. 14: Grunt with Mary Roach Mar 25, 2019

Show notes

If you have a sense of humor, Mary Roach is either already your favorite science author or she's about to be. She came to Portland in 2017 to talk about her latest book Grunt: The Curious Science of Humans at War, and our onstage interview ranged from asking how she gets inspiration for her books to tips on how to approach someone in special forces and ask if he's ever had diarrhea while on a secret mission. We talk about her other books too, and stick around for some audience questions at the end. Also, this one is for Jamie. Miss you, and thanks for bringing cupcakes!

Want to come to an event? Visit www.ScienceOnTapORWA.org for more info.

Thanks to Graham Tully and Stephen Perry for sound production.

As always, a final thanks to Jonathan Coulton for the use of his song Mandelbrot Set as our theme music.

Ep. 13: Evolution Under the Influence Mar 11, 2019

Show notes

We're back! This episode is a recording of the talk "Evolution Under the Influence: Alcohol and the Coevolution of Humans and Yeast" by geneticist Dr. Kevin McCabe who works at Full Sail Brewing in Hood River, Oregon. In this talk, Kevin will take you through the history of primate alcohol consumption, the importance of yeast to human history, and how early microbiology turned the tables on yeast and gave humans control over our boozy destiny.

Want to come to an event? Visit www.ScienceOnTapORWA.org for more info.

Thanks to Graham Tully and Stephen Perry for sound production.

As always, a final thanks to Jonathan Coulton for the use of his song Mandelbrot Set as our theme music.

Ep. 12: Neuroscience of Racism Dec 06, 2016

Show notes

This episode is a recording of the talk "You and Your Racist Brain: The Neuroscience of Prejudice" with Dr. Larry Sherman, a neuroscientist from OHSU. In this talk, Dr. Sherman explains how our brains have evolved to make judgments based on visual information in milliseconds, and that these preconceived opinions about other people are not based on reason or experience but on instinct. He also describes how we can we use what we know about the neuroscience of prejudice to overcome this reaction, and potentially develop methods to combat prejudice and end racism.

The Racism video produced by the students at Grant High School can be found here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LNjbBFnBnXw

Dr. Sherman's slides have been synched with this recording and uploaded as an m4a format, so depending on your media player, you may be able to see his images as the audio plays along.

Want to come to an event? Visit www.ScienceOnTapORWA.org for more info.

As always, a final thanks to Jonathan Coulton for the use of his song Mandelbrot Set as our theme music.

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