OYLA Podcast

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Latest Episodes:

Hieroglyphs from the Sky Jan 23, 2024

What are snowflakes? Is it true that no two are alike?

On the 28th of January, 1887, the town of Fort Keogh in Montana was experiencing unusually heavy snowfall. A ranch owner named Matt Coleman became a witness to this unique natural phenomenon. Amidst the falling snowflakes, one attracted his attention above all the rest: it was nearly 16 inches wide and 8 inches thick! Even today, it still holds the status of the largest snowflake ever recorded.

Such large flakes appear during warm winter weather. It is much colder up in the atmosphere, where snowflakes form. As they fall, they melt a little and stick together. If you catch one on your mitten, you can see that it actually consists of several different flakes. And each one is unique.

But how do we know that? Has someone examined every snowflake in the world and proved once and for all that no two of them are alike? Of course not! But that doesn’t stop scientists from confidently stating there could never be two identical snowflakes. To understand why, we have to figure out what snowflakes are and how they appear.

Story told by Garrett Tucker.

You can discover even more about science and the world around us in our magazine, so head over to oyla.us to check it out!

Why Every City Has Its Own Climate Jan 19, 2024

Living in a city is very different from living in a rural area. But did you know that even climate and weather can drastically change as you enter a big city? Temperature, wind, and humidity in an urban environment are not the same as outside of it. Why is that?

Story told by Garrett Tucker. You can discover even more about science and the world around us in our magazine, so head over to oyla.us to check it out!

Mary Anning and a World Full of Monsters Jan 12, 2024

Toothy ichthyosaurs, giant plesiosaurs, flying pterosaurs... What beasts could possibly be more terrifying? For one woman who spent her life among these fossilized giants, the problems of poverty, gender inequality, and theft of her life’s work proved to be much more ugly monsters than these.

Story told by Garrett Tucker.

You can discover even more about science and the world around us in our magazine, so head over to oyla.us to check it out!

William of Occam and His Razor: The Ruthless Blade of Logic Dec 15, 2023

The surgeon holds a scalpel, the archaeologist wields a pickaxe, the physicist can expose you to an electric shock, and the chemist possesses an entire set of tools in their laboratory. What does the philosopher have left? A metaphorical razor! And actually, this weapon is far more dangerous than it seems at first.

Story told by Garrett Tucker.

You can discover even more about science and the world around us in our magazine, so head over to oyla.us to check it out!

Stigler's Law: Call a Spade a Spade Dec 07, 2023

What unites Newton’s laws, the Penrose triangle, Gaussian elimination, the Pythagorean theorem, Halley’s Comet, and the Fermi paradox? It should be obvious: they’re all things named after their discoverers... or so it seems.

Story told by Garrett Tucker.

You can discover even more about science and the world around us in our magazine, so head over to oyla.us to check it out!

How to Invent a Language: The Story of Princess Caraboo Nov 24, 2023

Have you heard of the young woman who managed to trick all of England? Two centuries ago, the daughter of a simple shoemaker became a sensation among local aristocrats and visiting travelers alike all thanks to her ingenuity, acting skills, and innate talent for linguistics.

Story told by Garrett Tucker.

You can discover even more about science and the world around us in our magazine, so head over to oyla.us to check it out!

Who Taught Doctors to Wash Their Hands? The History of Asepsis and Antisepsis Nov 20, 2023

“First, wash your hands, and then you may eat.” Sometimes this rule can be really annoying, but we have it for a reason. We wash our hands to minimize contact with pathogenic microorganisms. But imagine how people lived when they had no clue that microbes existed! And that was only a century and a half ago.

Story told by Garrett Tucker.

You can discover even more about science and the world around us in our magazine, so head over to oyla.us to check it out!

Natural-born manipulators Nov 03, 2023

For decades, science fiction has captured our imaginations with terrifying plots of mind control and human subjugation. But who would have thought that the fungi that turned people into zombies in a popular game-turned-TV-series could be somewhat realistic? Parasitism and the manipulation of hosts are mechanisms not invented by science fiction writers but rather by... nature itself. There are numerous examples of one organism taking over the body and will of another. In this episode of the OYLA podcast, we will cover nature’s most terrifying manipulators.

Story told by Garrett Tucker. You can discover even more about science and the world around us in our magazine, so head over to oyla.us to check it out!

Why is it dark at night? Oct 20, 2023

"Why is it dark at night?" asked Lily and Emma, sitting by the campfire under the starry sky. This same question has been pondered by scientists around the world for centuries. Turns out this simple question is not that simple!

You can discover even more about science and the world around us in our magazine, so head over to oyla.us to check it out!

The Origin of Instant Noodles Oct 06, 2023

It was once considered a fancy dish and cost six times more than a serving of fresh noodles. The story of its dramatic decline in status — from a luxury item to a student’s low-budget snack — is very curious indeed. Let’s dive right in!

You can discover even more about science and the world around us in our magazine, so head over to oyla.us to check it out!

Wait, OYLA magazine has a podcast?! Oct 04, 2023

Hey there! It's OYLA, your favorite science magazine for students, and we’re excited to announce the launch of our new podcast series. Now you can read and listen to your favorite stories about math, space, biology, and history wherever you go.

Don’t forget to subscribe so you don't miss our latest episodes. You can discover even more about science and the world around us in our magazine, so head over to oyla.us to check it out!

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