Stay ConnectedDo you have a curious mind? Do you sometimes daydream about having a PhD in literature, science, or history?
Go inside the minds of PhDs at Harvard University with the Veritalk podcast. Veritalk is produced at Harvard’s Graduate School of Arts and Sciences. In each three-episode miniseries of Veritalk, you’ll hear how PhD students from different fields are trying to answer really big questions about the world.
Copyright: © The President and Fellows of Harvard College
When you taste the subtle flavor of a perfectly brewed cup of coffee, or smell the funk of an aged blue cheese – you don’t just experience those flavors with your taste buds and nose, you experience them with your brain! Neuroscience PhD Jess Kanwal says that our brain’s ability to combine taste and smell is just one example of how our brains are able to mix and match senses – with very interesting results.
The Veritalk Team:
Host/Producer: Anna Fisher-Pinkert
Sound Designer: Ian Coss
Logo: Emily Crowell
Executive Producer: Ann Hall
Special thanks to Jess Kanwal and the PRX Podcast Garage.
Jess Kanwal’s research is funded by a National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship Award, and a National Institutes of Health F31 Grant.
Can robots ever learn to feel? Our ability to perform delicate tasks, like giving a gentle hug or picking a piece of fruit, is something that robots can't yet mimic.Ryan Truby, an alum of the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences and the Harvard John A. Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Sciences has created bioinspired soft robots that can squish, stretch, and feel their way around the world - and they have the potential to change how we understand robotics.
The Veritalk Team:
Host/Producer: Anna Fisher-Pinkert
Sound Designer: Ian Coss
Logo: Emily Crowell
Executive Producer: Ann Hall
Special thanks to Ryan Truby and Jennifer Lewis. Ryan Truby’s research is supported by the Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering, National Science Foundation through the Harvard MRSEC, the National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship and the Schmidt Science Fellows program, in partnership with the Rhodes Trust.
From the moment you open your eyes in the morning, your sense of sight helps you navigate and interact with the world. But how do our brains understand what our eyes are telling us? And how do we know what's surrounding us, where we can move, and what objects are within reach? Emilie Josephs, a PhD student at the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences, is discovering that the way our brain processes vision is even more complex than scientists initially thought.
The Veritalk Team:
Host/Producer: Anna Fisher-Pinkert
Sound Designer: Ian Coss
Logo: Emily Crowell
Executive Producer: Ann Hall
Special thanks to Emilie Josephs and Phil Lewis, who voiced our brain. Emilie Josephs’ research is supported by the NIH Shared Instrumentation Grant Program.
Why isn’t King Kong scaling the Empire State Building right now? Should we worry about Godzilla rising from the depths of the Pacific Ocean? Shane Campbell-Staton, co-host of the podcast The Biology of Superheroes and Harvard PhD ’15 in Organismic and Evolutionary Biology, talks about our favorite movie monsters, and some of the biological processes that could make them come to life.
The Veritalk Team:
Host/Producer: Anna Fisher-Pinkert
Executive Producer: Ann Hall
Sound Designer: Ian Coss
Logo Designer: Emily Crowell
Special thanks Shane Campbell-Staton and Graham Ball.
Some monsters live inside us. PhD candidate in Biological Sciences in Public Health Maddy McFarland studies Trypanosoma cruzi, a parasite that transforms its shape to sneak inside our cells and makes us sick. The scariest part: Our cells can’t signal that they’re infected until it’s too late.
The Veritalk Team:
Host/Producer: Anna Fisher-Pinkert
Executive Producer: Ann Hall
Sound Designer: Ian Coss
Logo Designer: Emily Crowell
Special thanks to the lab of Barbara Burleigh, professor of immunology and infectious diseases at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, and to the National Institutes of Health, which funds the research of the Burleigh lab.
Originally released in 2018.
Mermaids: They’re cute, innocent, and great singers, right? Think again! PhD candidate in Celtic Languages and Literatures Greg Darwin explains why you wouldn’t want to meet a mermaid in a dark aquatic alley. He also talks about selkie tales – and legendary creatures that live at the edge of humanity.
The Veritalk Team:
Host/Producer: Anna Fisher-Pinkert
Executive Producer: Ann Hall
Sound Designer: Ian Coss
Logo Designer: Emily Crowell
Originally released in 2018
Can nutrition education solve the obesity epidemic? Hannah Cory asked that question over and over while working as a dietician in a public school system. Now, as a PhD candidate in Population Health Sciences, Hannah’s research seeks to uncover the connection between fat-phobia, racism, and obesity in the US.
The Veritalk Team:
Host/Producer: Anna Fisher-Pinkert
Sound Designer: Ian Coss
Logo: Emily Crowell
Executive Producer: Ann Hall
Special Thanks: Hannah Cory, Rick Sheiber, Julia King, Noah Leavitt, and the PRX Podcast Garage.
What does it mean to have a "healthy gut?" Is it worth drinking kombucha or taking probiotics? What about that gut-brain connection? PhD candidates Cary Allen-Blevins and Vayu Maini Rekdal explore how "good" bacteria help us to break down our food – from our “first food” (breast milk) to meat and veggies.
Love this episode? There are more stories about Harvard scientists' research into microbes on the podcast Proof, from America's Test Kitchen.
The Veritalk Team:
Host/Producer: Anna Fisher-Pinkert
Sound Designer: Ian Coss
Logo: Emily Crowell
Executive Producer: Ann Hall
Special Thanks to: Cary Allen-Blevins, Vayu Maini Rekdal, the Harvard Museum of Natural History, and the PRX Podcast Garage.
In the last few years, the popularity of "plant-based diets" has exploded. Celebrities from Tom Brady to Beyoncé promote eating less meat. Even Burger King introduced a meatless burger. Nina Gheihman, a PhD candidate in sociology, tells us how vegan cultural entrepreneurs, celebrities, and researchers are changing hearts, minds, and dinner plates. She'll also explain why we might all be eating vegan soon - whether we like it or not.
Host/Producer: Anna Fisher-Pinkert
Sound Designer: Ian Coss
Logo: Emily Crowell
Executive Producer: Ann Hall
Special Thanks to: Graham Ball, Youth Radio Oakland, and Nina Gheihman
After moving to the US from Mauritius, PhD candidate in Romance Languages and Literatures Nikhita Obeegadoo felt homesick. Her experience eating a bowl of dal (spiced lentils) in the US led her to ask questions about food and diaspora, cultural appreciation, and cultural appropriation through a course she designed and taught called "Translate the Menu, Please."
The Veritalk Team:
Host/Producer: Anna Fisher-Pinkert
Sound Designer: Ian Coss
Logo: Emily Crowell
Executive Producer: Ann Hall
Special thanks to Nikhita Obeegadoo, and the PRX Podcast Garage.
When developers try to revitalize the nightlife in Johannesburg, not everyone is invited to the party. PhD candidate Chrystel Oloukoi explores the ways that race, gender, and class shape the nightlife culture in Johannesburg and Lagos. The last episode in our series on the secret life of cities.
The Veritalk Team:
Host/Producer: Anna Fisher-Pinkert
Executive Producer: Ann Hall
Sound Designer: Ian Coss
Logo Designer: Emily Crowell
Special thanks: Chrystel Oloukoi, Pien Huang, Emma Jacobs, Sarah Montgomery, and Graham Ball
Potholes are an everyday annoyance for commuters, but they're a really complex problem for cities to solve. Many cities, including Boston, have 311 apps that allow citizens to report potholes in their own neighborhoods. But Elijah de la Campa is curious to know whether those apps are actually improving citizen participation in local government.
The Veritalk Team:
Host/Producer: Anna Fisher-Pinkert
Executive Producer: Ann Hall
Sound Designer: Ian Coss
Logo Designer: Emily Crowell
Special Thanks: Graham Ball, Elijah de la Campa, the Government Performance Lab at the Harvard Kennedy School, and the What Works Cities Initiative funded by Bloomberg Philanthropies.
One jetlagged night in Manila leads PhD candidate Justin Stern into the world of business process outsourcing. The first episode in Veritalk's series on the Secret Life of Cities.
The Veritalk Team:
Host/Producer: Anna Fisher-Pinkert
Executive Producer: Ann Hall
Sound Designer: Ian Coss
Logo Designer: Emily Crowell
Special thanks: Justin Stern, the Harvard Graduate School of Design, Anne Brown, and Graham Ball.
Additional sound recorded by Kevin Luce, whose work you can find at www.freesound.org
Why isn’t King Kong scaling the Empire State Building right now? Should we worry about Godzilla rising from the depths of the Pacific Ocean? Shane Campbell-Staton, co-host of the podcast The Biology of Superheroes and Harvard PhD ’15 in Organismic and Evolutionary Biology, talks about our favorite movie monsters, and some of the biological processes that could make them come to life.
The Veritalk Team:
Host/Producer: Anna Fisher-Pinkert
Executive Producer: Ann Hall
Sound Designer: Ian Coss
Logo Designer: Emily Crowell
Special thanks Shane Campbell-Staton and Graham Ball.
Some monsters live inside us. PhD candidate in Biological Sciences in Public Health Maddy McFarland studies Trypanosoma cruzi, a parasite that transforms its shape to sneak inside our cells and makes us sick. The scariest part: Our cells can’t signal that they’re infected until it’s too late.
The Veritalk Team:
Host/Producer: Anna Fisher-Pinkert
Executive Producer: Ann Hall
Sound Designer: Ian Coss
Logo Designer: Emily Crowell
Special thanks to the lab of Barbara Burleigh, professor of immunology and infectious diseases at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, and to the National Institutes of Health, which funds the research of the Burleigh lab.
Mermaids: They’re cute, innocent, and great singers, right? Think again! PhD candidate in Celtic Languages and Literatures Greg Darwin explains why you wouldn’t want to meet a mermaid in a dark aquatic alley. He also talks about selkie tales – and legendary creatures that live at the edge of humanity.
The Veritalk Team:
Host/Producer: Anna Fisher-Pinkert
Executive Producer: Ann Hall
Sound Designer: Ian Coss
Logo Designer: Emily Crowell
PhD graduate in Sociology Monica Bell’s interviews with poor youth of color in Baltimore led her to formulate the idea of “legal estrangement.” While the press focuses on a “trust gap” between black youth and the police, Monica believes that the issue is far deeper. Her interviews revealed a generation of young Americans who feel both stateless and powerless.
The Veritalk Team:
Host/Producer: Anna Fisher-Pinkert
Executive Producer: Ann Hall
Sound Designer: Ian Coss
Logo Designer: Emily Wilson
During World War II, many Greek people had to flee their homes and seek safety in the Middle East. Today, Syrian refugees flee violence in the Middle East, and wind up on the shores of Greece. Argyro Nicolaou, a PhD student in Comparative Literature, wants us to take a second look at the literature and art that displaced people produce, particularly in the Mediterranean. Can we find common ground between displaced Greeks in World War II, and displaced Syrians today?
The Veritalk Team:
Host/Producer: Anna Fisher-Pinkert
Executive Producer: Ann Hall
Sound Designer: Ian Coss
Logo Designer: Emily Wilson
Almost no outsiders have visited the internally displaced persons camps in Burma where over 140,000 Rohingya Muslims are forced to live. Cresa Pugh, a PhD student in sociology, was able to visit last year. She saw a community in turmoil – but many Burmese people deny that the Rohingya are being persecuted. Cresa asks why marginalized people like the Rohingya are often blamed for their own suffering.
The Veritalk Team:
Host/Producer: Anna Fisher-Pinkert
Executive Producer: Ann Hall
Sound Designer: Ian Coss
Logo Designer: Emily Wilson
In our last episode about plumage, Chloe Chapin, PhD student in American Studies, explores how humans have used fashion to express gender and status -- and how present-day fashion can bend the "rules" we've come to know.
The Veritalk Team:
Host/Producer: Anna Fisher-Pinkert
Executive Producer: Ann Hall
Sound Designer: Ian Coss
Logo Designer: Emily Wilson
What if you wanted to recreate the iridescent blue-green of a peacock feather in a lab? It turns out that scientists are still trying to figure out how to replicate some of nature's most impressive plumage.
The Veritalk Team:
Host/Producer: Anna Fisher-Pinkert
Executive Producer: Ann Hall
Sound Designer: Ian Coss
Logo Designer: Emily Wilson
Harvard PhD student Dakota McCoy, who studies Organismic and Evolutionary Biology, asks why birds of paradise evolved to have brightly colored feathers. Then she asks an even bigger question: Why did some of these brightly colored birds also develop super-black feathers?
Learn more about Dakota McCoy's research.
The Veritalk Team:
Host/Producer: Anna Fisher-Pinkert
Executive Producer: Ann Hall
Sound Designer: Ian Coss
Logo Designer: Emily Wilson
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