Ologies with Alie Ward

Other episodes you may enjoy: Spooktober: Topics to Startle and Love, Demonology (EVIL SPIRITS), Vampirology (VAMPIRES), Teratology (MONSTERS), Genocidology (CRIMES OF ATROCITY), Momiology (MUMMIFICATION), Witchology (WITCHES & WITCHCRAFT), Indigenous Pedology (SOIL SCIENCE), Environmental Toxicology (POISONS + TRAIN DERAILMENT), Disinfectiology (BLEACH), Obsessive-Compulsive Neurobiology (OCD), Disgustology (REPULSION TO GROSS STUFF), Medieval Codicology (WEIRD OLD MANUSCRIPT ART & MEMES & SNAILS), Victimology (CRIME VICTIMS), Artificial Intelligence Ethicology (WILL A.I. CRASH OUT?)

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 Bluesky

Follow Alie Ward on Instagram and TikTok

Editing by Mercedes Maitland of Maitland Audio Productions and Jake Chaffee

Managing Director: Susan Hale

Scheduling Producer: Noel Dilworth

Transcripts by Aveline Malek

Website by Kelly R. Dwyer

Theme song by Nick Thorburn

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Bonus Episode: COCKROACH MILK with Joshua Benoit and Sinead English Oct 20, 2025

Show notes

Cockroach milk for Spooktober. STAY HERE. Don’t tell me you like haunted houses and slasher films but can’t listen to a lovely conversation about how cockroaches make milk to feed their young. It’s one of the most nutritious substances on Earth, and I own some. Sort of. Coem along for a brief and enthralling discussion from two researchers, Dr. Joshua Benoit and Dr. Sinead English, all about why and how some insects give live birth and nurse their young. What does it taste like? Will we replicate it for barista use? And why didn’t I get to eat any on TV?

Watch Alie with bugs on her Tonight Show segment

Blattodeology (COCKROACHES) episode with Dr. Dominic Evangelista

Learn about Dr. Josh Benoit’s lab and Dr. Sinead English’s lab

Spooktober: Topics to Startle and Love, Entomology (INSECTS), Mantodeology (PRAYING MANTISES), Odonatology (DRAGONFLIES), Discard Anthropology (GARBAGE), Forest Entomology (CREEPY CRAWLIES), Disgustology (REPULSION TO GROSS STUFF), Fearology (FEAR), Entomophagy Anthropology (EATING BUGS), Speleology (CAVES)

Other episodes you may enjoy:

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 Bluesky

Follow Alie Ward on Instagram and TikTok

Editing by Mercedes Maitland of Maitland Audio Productions and Jake Chaffee

Managing Director: Susan Hale

Scheduling Producer: Noel Dilworth

Transcripts by Aveline Malek

Website by Kelly R. Dwyer

Theme song by Nick Thorburn

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Haunted Hydrology (SPOOKY LAKES) with Geo Rutherford Oct 08, 2025

Show notes

Mudbank bones. River wrecks. Salty seas. Pink ponds. Poison dust devils. Steamy streams.. It’s Haunted Hydrology with your favorite Spooky Lakes ambassador, the artist and author Geo Rutherford who is widely known as Geodesaurus. Geo covers the dark history of The Great Lakes, a stump that controls the weather, the what and why of a good lagoon, the field excursions she’s been on for research, the lakes she wants to see the most, and how a drought can shiver your spine. It’s a Spooktober spectacular, folks. It’s Haunted Hydrology.

Ologies live show tickets for Monday Nov. 17 at the Bell House

Visit Geo Rutherford’s website and follow her on TikTok and Instagram

Buy Geo’s Spooky Lakes Books including her new coloring book and 2026 calendar

Visit SpookyLakes.com to buy stickers, pins, prints and more designed by Geo

A donation went to the Alliance for the Great Lakes

Other episodes you may enjoy: Spooktober: Topics to Startle and Love, Maritime Archaeology (SHIPWRECKS), Speleology (CAVES), Oceanology (OCEANS), Disasterology (DISASTERS), Indigenous Pedology (SOIL SCIENCE), Environmental Microbiology (TESTING WASTEWATER FOR DISEASES), Ichthyology (FISHES), Salugenology (WHY HUMANS REQUIRE HOBBIES), Ethnoecology (NATIVE PLANTS)

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 Bluesky

Follow Alie Ward on Instagram and TikTok

Editing by Mercedes Maitland of Maitland Audio Productions and Jake Chaffee

Managing Director: Susan Hale

Scheduling Producer: Noel Dilworth

Transcripts by Aveline Malek

Website by Kelly R. Dwyer

Theme song by Nick Thorburn

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Serpopsychology (WHAT’S CREEPY?) with Frank McAndrew Oct 01, 2025

Show notes

Are you creepy? How would you know? What’s “creepy” as opposed to scary or eerie? We talk to the pioneer of this research, Serpopsychologist, Dr. Frank McAndrew, a professor emeritus at Knox College. We chat: dates that give you the willies, Weary Willie the Clown, haunted dolls, college goths, dark alleyways, evolutionary neurobiology, what NOT to get Oprah, the line between horror and comedy, the phobia of balloons, dating tips, and why you should re-evaluate your bathmat. Welcome to Spooktober 2025. We have more waiting in the wings for you this month.

Visit Dr. McAndrew's website and follow him on Google Scholar, Facebook, and Bluesky

A donation went to WTVP, the PBS affiliate for Central Illinois

Other episodes you may enjoy: Spooktober: Topics to Startle and Love, Fearology (FEAR), Demonology (EVIL SPIRITS), Disability Sociology (DISABILITY PRIDE), Speleology (CAVES), Quasithanatology (NEAR-DEATH EXPERIENCES), Thanatology (DEATH & DYING), Attention-Deficit Neuropsychology (ADHD), Human Technomorphology (SWAPPING OUT BODY PARTS), Systems Biology (MEDICAL MATHEMATICS), Personality Psychology (PERSONALITIES), Obsessive-Compulsive Neurobiology (OCD), Cosmology (THE UNIVERSE)

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 Bluesky

Follow Alie Ward on Instagram and TikTok

Editing by Mercedes Maitland of Maitland Audio Productions and Jake Chaffee

Managing Director: Susan Hale

Scheduling Producer: Noel Dilworth

Transcripts by Aveline Malek

Website by Kelly R. Dwyer

Theme song by Nick Thorburn

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Revolutionology (REBELLIONS & SOCIAL CHANGE) with Jack Goldstone Sep 24, 2025

Show notes

Storming the Bastille. Facing off with tanks. Canceling a streaming subscription.

We’re talking protests, boycotts, insurrections, and demonstrations. Scholar, professor, and actual real life Revolutionologist Dr. Jack Goldstone lays out the whys – and the hows. What revolts have been the gold standard? How has social media impacted social change? What happens when you install the wrong new leader? Does non-violent protest work? And how does one go about orchestrating big social change? Also: defining facism, antifacism, anti-antifacism, and dusting off your guitar.

Follow Dr. Goldstone on Google Scholar

Buy his book, Revolutions: A Very Short Introduction (Second Edition), on Bookshop.org or Amazon

Donations went to City of Hope in honor of Rita Saleman and to the Hand of Salvation Initiative in Gaza

Other episodes you may enjoy: Genocidology (CRIMES OF ATROCITY), Nomology (THE CONSTITUTION), FIELD TRIP: Activism Art Panel Recorded at WonderCon, Egyptology (ANCIENT EGYPT), Classical Archaeology (ANCIENT ROME), Agnotology (IGNORANCE), Critical Ecology (SOCIAL SYSTEMS + ENVIRONMENT), Economic Sociology (MONEY/FREAKONOMICS), Vexillology (FLAGS)

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 Bluesky

Follow Alie Ward on Instagram and TikTok

Editing by Mercedes Maitland of Maitland Audio Productions and Jake Chaffee

Managing Director: Susan Hale

Scheduling Producer: Noel Dilworth

Transcripts by Aveline Malek

Website by Kelly R. Dwyer

Theme song by Nick Thorburn

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Human Technomorphology (SWAPPING OUT BODY PARTS) with Mary Roach Sep 17, 2025

Show notes

Pigs with human kidneys. Iron lungs. Bionic prostheses. And bendable genitals. Mary Roach is here, and Alie is freaking out. Over the last two decades, this science icon has written seven New York Times bestsellers, including Stiff, Bonk, Gulp, and Packing for Mars. Her latest release, Replaceable You: Adventures in Human Anatomy is all about Human Technomorphology. Prep your flesh for getting to 4th base in a lab, bugs on drugs, elective amputation, gene-tweaked farm animals, vacuum chambers, beating hearts, leftover tendons and much more with a scicomm legend who’s Alie’s personal career hero.

Visit Mary Roach’s website and follow her on Instagram

Check out Mary’s books including her latest, Replaceable You, available on Amazon and Bookshop.org

Donations went to The Amputee Coalition and United Ostomy Associations of America

Other episodes you may enjoy: Disability Sociology (DISABILITY PRIDE), Genicular Traumatology (BAD KNEES), Stem Cell Biology (CELLS MAKING CELLS), Systems Biology (MEDICAL MATHEMATICS), Neurotechnology (AI + BRAIN TECH), Osteology (SKELETONS/BODY FARMS), Surgical Oncology (BREAST CANCER), Dipterology (FLIES)

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 Bluesky

Follow Alie Ward on Instagram and TikTok

Editing by Mercedes Maitland of Maitland Audio Productions and Jake Chaffee

Managing Director: Susan Hale

Scheduling Producer: Noel Dilworth

Transcripts by Aveline Malek

Website by Kelly R. Dwyer

Theme song by Nick Thorburn

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Ceramology (POTTERY) with Potted History’s Graham Taylor & Sarah Lord Taylor Sep 10, 2025

Show notes

Porcelain. Earthenware. China. Archaeology. Stoneware. Anthropology. Amphora. Throwing wheels. We got it all. Master potters, history aficionados and Potted History’s icons Sarah Lord Taylor and Graham Taylor are here for our 8th anniversary episode. We get the dirt on ceramics versus pottery, where clay comes from, if there’s enough in the world, how can you spot clay in the wild, how long have humans being making pots, what were the first ceramics, what is glaze exactly, why did your pots explode, what excavations of stoneware have revealed about our ancient ancestors, the Venus figurines of history, the hidden ingredients that might surprise you, and how to feel about thrift store finds. Also: how to bond with a potter instantly.

Visit the Potted History website and follow them on Instagram, TikTok, and YouTube

Donations went to Cancer Research UK and Little Lifts

Other episodes you may enjoy: 5th Anniversary Special! Xylology (LUMBER), Experimental Archeology (OLD TOOLS/ATLATLS), Canistrumology (BASKET WEAVING), Museology (MUSEUMS), Indigenous Pedology (SOIL SCIENCE), Geology (ROCKS), Scatology (POOP)

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 Bluesky

Follow Alie Ward on Instagram and TikTok

Editing by Mercedes Maitland of Maitland Audio Productions and Jake Chaffee

Managing Director: Susan Hale

Scheduling Producer: Noel Dilworth

Transcripts by Aveline Malek

Website by Kelly R. Dwyer

Theme song by Nick Thorburn

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Neuropathoimmunology (MULTIPLE SCLEROSIS) with Aaron Boster Sep 03, 2025

Show notes

Neurons. Immune systems. MRIs. Weed gummies? One of the greats in neurology, Dr. Aaron Boster, takes time to chat all about Multiple Sclerosis, a neurological autoimmune disease close to our hearts. Alie’s mom, your grammapod a.k.a. Fancy Nancy, was diagnosed with MS over two decades ago, and this episode explores in depth the factors that can cause MS, therapies that do – and don’t – show promise, how diet, exercise and mindfulness actually can help folks who have MS, the oftentimes agonizing journey to a diagnosis, and advice for those who’ve MS for a while – or are newly in the community. Also: yeah, weed.

Visit the Boster Center for Multiple Sclerosis and follow Dr. Boster on YouTube

A donation went to MS Views and News

Other episodes you may enjoy: Disability Sociology (DISABILITY PRIDE), Diabetology (BLOOD SUGAR), Post-Viral Epidemiology (LONG COVID), Dolorology (PAIN), Salugenology (WHY HUMANS REQUIRE HOBBIES), Psychedeliology (HALLUCINOGENS), Cardiology (THE HEART), Somnology (SLEEP)

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 Bluesky

Follow Alie Ward on Instagram and TikTok

Editing by Mercedes Maitland of Maitland Audio Productions and Jake Chaffee

Managing Director: Susan Hale

Scheduling Producer: Noel Dilworth

Transcripts by Aveline Malek

Website by Kelly R. Dwyer

Theme song by Nick Thorburn

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Lutrinology (OTTERS) Encore with Chris J. Law Aug 27, 2025

Show notes

YOU’RE NOT READY. But it’s time. Otters. Sea otters. River otters. Big beefy otters. Tiny otters. Giant river otters. Otters chasing you down the street. Dr. Chris J. Law, a professional Lutrinologist, shares tales about coastal vs. inland otters, otter terrorism, magical teeth, lustrous fur, rock pockets, kelp naps, otter terrorism, cautionary motherhood, toxic relationships, hand holding and why otters make you trust them, despite the fact that you should perhaps not trust an otter.

Visit Dr. Law's website and follow him on Bluesky and Instagram

A donation was made to SeaOtterSavvy.org

You may also enjoy our episodes on: Echinology (SEA URCHINS & SAND DOLLARS), Osteology (SKELETONS/BODY FARMS), Ichthyology (FISHES), Oceanology (OCEANS), Macrophycology (SEAWEED), Mammalogy (MAMMALS), Selachimorphology (SHARKS), Malacology (SNAILS & SLUGS), Carcinology (CRABS), Scatology (POOP)