Lady Science Podcast

In this episode, the hosts say goodbye and share some of their favorite moments from the podcast. Thank you to everyone who has tuned in at any point during our podcast run. We hope you enjoyed it as much as we did! For show notes and transcripts, visit www.ladyscience.com/podcast.

In this episode, the hosts reflect on the first Pride Parade as a commemoration and celebration of the Stonewall protests by discussing the long history of the fight against anti-LGBTQ science from the 19th century to today.

This livestream was part of our April pledge drive on Patreon. The hosts talk about bonkers things men have said about women’s bodies, do a Q&A with the audience, and play a game of Balderdash! Make a pledge at www.patreon.com/ladyscience. For show note and transcripts, visit www.ladyscience/com/donate.

The hosts talk about the history of sex research, starting with Victorian sexologists and ending with current day sex self-help. Featuring interview clips with sociologist Alyson Spurgas, author of “Diagnosing Desire: Biopolitics and Femininity into the 21st Century.” For show notes and transcripts, visit www.ladyscience.com/podcast.

Leila talks with Dr. Chanda Prescod-Weinstein about her new book “The Disordered Cosmos: A Journey Into Dark Matter, Spacetime, & Dreams Deferred”: why exploring what we don’t know about the universe is just as important as what we do know; what is the physics of melanin; what can physics teach us about the gender binary; why is the freedom to look at the night sky a basic human right? For show notes and transcripts, visit www.ladyscience.com/podcast.

In this episode, the hosts discuss the long history of women in the world of beer and brewing. From ancient godesses to medieval brewsters and alewives, women dominated brewing until changing economies and men gradually pushed them out. For show notes and transcripts, visit www.ladyscience.com/podcast.

In this episode, the hosts discuss the rise of modern domestic engineering in the early 20th century. As changes in science and technology swept the world, women sought to raise house work to its level by bringing modern techniques of industry into the home.

Leila and Rebecca are joined by guest host KJ Shepherd, Lady Science’s social media editor. They talk about the plight of Jewish women refugee scientists attempting to come to the U.S. during World War II and how the U.S. and academia could have done more to save more refugees. For show notes and transcripts, visit www.ladyscience.com/podcast.

Anna and Rebecca are joined by guest hosts Emily McCartan and Lexie Briggs to talk about the National Parks Service. For show notes and transcripts, visit ladyscience.com/podcast.

We talk with historian and author Dr. Jaipreet Virdi about the history of deafness cures and technologies for hearing loss. She is the author of the recently published book “Hearing Happiness: Deafness Cures in History” from Chicago University Press. For show notes and transcripts, visit www.ladyscience.com/podcast.

In this bonus episode, Rebecca and Anna talk with the hosts of the Dope Labs Podcast Zakiya Whatley and Titi Shodiya about how Dope Labs came to be, how they approach each episode, and how the podcasting landscape needs to change. For show notes and transcripts, visit www.ladyscience.com/podcast.

In this episode, the hosts dive into the history of recipes, or receipts, and chat about what historical recipes can tell us about women’s knowledge and lives in the past. For show notes and transcripts, visit www.ladyscience.com/podcast.

For Pride Month, the hosts talk about queer physicians Sara Josephine Baker and Louise Pearce and their polyamorous relationship with novelist Ida A. R. Wylie. They also discuss the Heterdoxy, a feminist club in Greenwich Village, and the importance of queer community. For show notes and transcripts, visit www.ladyscience.com/podcast.

Emily Graslie, science communicator and Chief Curiosity Officer at the Field Museum in Chicago, joins Leila and Rebecca to talk about her new PBS show “Prehistoric Road Trip.” For show notes and transcripts, visit www.ladyscience.com/podcast.

In this episode, the hosts dive into the history of science museums and how education and public service roles in museums became a “pink collar” profession. Since women staff such a large portion of these roles, women museum workers have been particularly hard hit by COVID-19 layoffs. For show notes and transcripts, visit www.ladyscience.com/podcast.

In this episode, the hosts chat with Wendy Zukerman, executive producer and host of the Gimlet Media podcast Science Vs, about what it’s like to be a science journalist in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic and what it’s like to be a woman in science journalism. For show notes and transcripts, visit www.ladyscience.com/podcast.

This is the second and final part of Herbarium Heist. Find out if your intrepid lady scientists are able to defeat their foes and lift the cholera epidemic from London. For credits and transcripts, visit www.ladyscience.com/podcast.

This is part one of two of a special Dungeons and Dragons campaign set in a Lady Science world, called Herbarium Heist. Joined by special guests, Stephen McGann from “Call the Mdiwife,” Alexis Pedrick from Distillations Podcast, and Jessica Lynn Parsons from “The Dungeon Run,” your hosts embark on a mission to save London from a cholera epidemic. For credits and transcripts, visit www.ladyscience.com

In this episode, dendrochonologist Valerie Trouet of the Laboratory of Tree-Ring Research at the University of Arizona talks with Anna and Leila about her new book, Tree Story: The History of the World Written in Rings. She talks about the fascinating science of tree-rings and what they can tell us climate patterns and ecosystems. For show notes and transcripts, visit www.ladyscience.com/podcast.

The hosts dive into the history of menopause and trace how it became known as a specifically female experience. Dr. Susan Mattern joins in to talk about her new book, The Slow Moon Climbs, and menopause as a cultural syndrome. For show notes and transcripts, visit www.ladyscience.com/podcast.

In this episode, the hosts talk about open source software and how its seemingly liberal ethos can perpetuate some of mainstream tech’s same gender and racial biases. STS and communications scholar Christina Dunbar-Hester joins in to talk about her book Hacking Diversity and how some open source advocates are attempting to make their communities more inclusive. For show notes and transcripts, visit www.ladyscience.com/podcast.

In this episode, the hosts talk about the history of children’s science toys and then get a little nostalgic telling each other about their own childhood toys. Historian and writer Rebecca Onion joins in the discussion to talk about science and childhood in the U.S. and about her book, Innocent Experiments: Childhood and the Culture of Public Science in the United States. For show notes and transcripts, visit www.ladyscience.com/podcast.

In this episode, the hosts look at the Indigenous knowledge and science that produced the first Thanksgiving and the ways Indigenous knowledge has been dismissed by modern Western science. Kelsey Dokis-Jensen of the Indigenous STS group at the University of Alberta joins in to talk about her research on caribou populations, which combines Indigenous knowledge and modern research methods. For show notes and transcripts, visit ladyscience.com/podcast.

The hosts dive into the long history of the Anatomical Venus, a three-dimensional life-sized dissectable female wax model. They discuss its origins in the Middle Ages and the lasting influence it has had on biological theories about race. Amanda Mahoney, curator of the Dittrick Medical History Center and Museum at at Case Western Reserve University, joins into to talk about the ethical considerations curators need to take into account in today’s museums. For show notes and transcripts, visit www.ladyscience.com/podcast.history-anatomical-venus-wax-anatomy.

This episode is all about sports! The hosts discuss the history of sex verification testing in women’s sports, looking at the examples of Stella Walsh and Caster Semenya. They are joined by Amira Rose Davis, professor of History, African American Studies and Women, Gender, and Sexuality Studies at Penn State University and co-host of Burn It All Down, a feminist sports podcast. Davis talks about her research on black girls and women in 20th century sports. For show notes and transcripts, visit www.ladyscience.com/podcast.

The hosts go behind the scenes of the BBC series ‘Gentleman Jack,’ based on the diaries of Anne Lister, with the show’s consultant Anne Choma. Choma tells us about adapting Lister’s diaries for television drama, Anne Lister’s science reading list, and more! For show notes and transcripts, visit. www.ladyscience.com/podcast/behind-the-scenes-gentleman-jack-anne-lister-anne-choma.

In this episode, the hosts talk with Ingrid Okert, who researchers the history of science education on television. Ingrid goes behind the scenes of the Children’s Television Workshop to show what made the programs Sesame Street and 3-2-1 Contact so special. For show notes and transcripts, visit www.ladyscience.com/podcast.

To get into the Back-to-School spirit, the hosts discuss some classic and current science education television shows, including The Magic School Bus, Bill Nye the Science Guy, and Cosmos: A Spacetime Odyssey. For show notes and transcripts, visit ladyscience.com/podcast/ep22-science-education-tv.com.

In this episode, the hosts talk about the long history of women advocating for nature and wildlife conservation, and how these early women paved the way for our current environmental justice movements. Dr. Tina Sikka joins in to talk about feminist science as a remedy for anthropogenic climate change. For show notes and transcripts, visit www.ladyscience.com/podcast/how-women-built-the-environmental-movement.

To honor Pride Month, the hosts take a look at queer women in the history of science. In telling the story of physicians Elizabeth Cushier and Emily Blackwell, the hosts explore how queer women were able to build marriages and families together before romantic friendship between women became taboo. Historian of archaeology Kathleen Sheppard joins in to talk about the queer relationship between archaeologists Maggie Benson and Nettie Gourlay and how their relationship was integral to both their personal and professional lives. For show notes and transcripts, visit ladyscience.com/podcast/episode-20-romantic-friendship-and-queer-marriage-in-science.

In this bonus episode, the hosts talk about their favorite and least favorite women scientists in popular culture! This episode is also part of the Lady Science Spring Pledge Drive! To learn more about our pledge drive, which runs May 20-27, and how you can become a Lady Science patron, visit ladyscience.com/donate. For show notes and transcripts, visit ladyscience.com/podcast/bonus-popculture-gabfest-lady-science-pledge-drive.

In this episode, the hosts discuss the historical figure of the secretary as the precursor to modern digital assistants and the importance of the female voice in these devices. Researcher Hilary Bergen joins the conversation to talk about how the use of female voices in digital assistants contributes to the erasure of women’s labor. For show notes and transcripts, visit ladyscience.com/podcast/digital-assistants-female-voices-labor.

In this episode of the Lady Scientists bonus series, Leila talks with astrophysicist Chanda Prescod-Weinstein about intersectionality, history of science, and how scientific knowledge is produced and who produces it. For show notes and transcripts, visit ladyscience.com/podcast/talking-feminist-astrophysics-chanda-prescod-weinstein.

The hosts talk about the intersection of gender and health in the court system through the history of breast implants. Starting with the first implant surgery to the current debates about the safety of implants, the hosts explore what counts as “scientific evidence” in the courtroom and our own cultural assumptions about breast implants and the women who choose to get them. For show notes and transcripts, visit www.ladyscience.com/podcast/messy-history-of-breast-implants.

In this bonus episode, Anna talks with Laura Shir, the co-host of the Resting Pitch Face podcast, and Alexis LaMarsh, who runs the website Pinch Hero, about the intersection of science, gender, and baseball. They discuss statistics, women’s baseball, and baseball fandom. For show notes and transcripts, visit ladyscience.com/podcast/science-gender-baseball.

In this episode, the hosts discuss the key role that the wives, sisters, and helpers of “great” men of science have played in shaping the history of science, and why it is so difficult to pinpoint their influence in the historical record. Michelle DiMeo joins in to talk about Lady Ranelagh, the sister and life-long influence of Robert Boyle.For show notes and episode transcripts, visit ladyscience.com/podcast/episode17-wives-sisters-helpers-of-science.

In the second installment of our Lady Scientists series, Leila talks with anthropologist Emma Backe about the emergence of feminist practice within the field of anthropology, impact within the field, and how feminist anthropology is applied to analysis of gender-based violence.Content warning: sexual violenceFor show notes and transcripts, visit www.ladyscience.com/podcast/talking-feminist-anthropology-with-emma-backe.

In this episode, the hosts discuss the role archaeology played in colonial collecting practices of Western museums and how this practice perpetuated white supremacist notions of colonized nations. Guest Meira Gold joins the discussion to talk about her research on Victorian archaeology in Egypt. For show notes and transcripts, visit www.ladyscience.com/podcast/episode-16-the-colonial-history-of-archaeology-and-museums,

This bonus episode is the first in a series of interviews with practicing feminist scientists from a variety of fields. To kick off the series, Leila talks with sociologist Zuleyka Zevallos about the history of sociology and how intersectional feminism and the framework of otherness shapes her work. For shownotes, visit ladyscience.com/podcast/bonustalking-feminist-sociology-with-zuleyka-zevallos-

In this episode, the hosts dive into science’s search for differences in male and female brains, attempting to uncover women’s inferiority. And to end the episode on a positive note, in lieu of One Annoying Thing the hosts share One Delightful Thing that is helping them get through the dark times. For show notes, visit www.ladyscience.com/podcast/episode-15-the-search-for-male-and-female-brains.

For this episode, the hosts discuss tech start-up products, services, and devices sent in by listeners, with a few of their own thrown in. From pregnancy devices to diet and weight loss products, the hosts discuss issues of self-surveillance technology and gender in the tech industry. For shownotes, visit www.ladyscience.com/episode14-the-tech-industry-and-their-bad-ideas

In this episode, the hosts have an extended interview with long-time Lady Science contributing editor Joy Rankin, author of the new book A People's History of Computing in the United States. Then the hosts air their (many) grievances about the latest academic hoax "Sokal Squared."

In this episode, the hosts discuss the masculine design, construction, and use of technology in the American Space Program. Then the hosts have an extended discussion with space historian Dr. Jordan Bimm about the gendering of primates in the Space Program, the Lovelace Women in Space Program (aka Mercury 13), and space medicine. For show notes and transcripts, click here.

In this episode, the hosts talk about the history of the IQ test and how disparities in intelligence have been used as a tool of oppression against people of color. Dr. Safiya Umoja Noble joins in to talk about her book Algorithms of Oppression: How Search Engines Reinforce Racism, which explores how Google and other search engines are engineered to marginalize people of color, particularly black women. For show notes, visit ladyscience.com/episode-11-the-myth-of-raw-data-and-scientific-racism.

As Lady Science nears the end of it’s summer pledge drive, the hosts talk about what Lady Science means to them and beg you for money. We also include a conversation between editors in chief, Leila and Anna, about writing, editing, and mental illness.

In this bonus episode, Leila and Rebecca talk with Dr. Susan Stryker, a historian of trans history and director of the Emmy award winning documentary Screaming Queens: The Riot at Compton's Cafeteria. Stryker discusses her work in trans history, history as activism, and the transformative power of trans history. For show notes, visit ladyscience.com/podcast/bonus-episode-talking-trans-history-with-susan-stryker.

In this episode, the hosts tell the story of 19th century Irish surgeon James Barry and discuss the importance and complexity of trans and queer histories. For show notes and transcripts, visit ladyscience.com/podcast/episode9-trans-and-queer-histories-of-science.

In this episode, guest host Deanna Day, who first made her appearance on our Star Trek episode, joins in to discuss the bonkers, bizarre, and dangerous things men have believed about women and women's bodies. Listeners sent us examples from history and the present day, and we compiled their submissions into a chronological timeline of to illustrate how women's bodies have been persistently pathologized. For show notes, further reading, and a transcript of this episode, click here.

For this episode, the hosts explain the history behind the Great Man Theory of history and discuss how it has marginalized and completely left out women, people of color, and other disenfranchised communities from in our retellings of history. Historian of science Marilyn Ogilvie joins in to talk about her long career in recovering voices and scientific work of women who had been lost to history. For show notes and further reading visit ladyscience.com/podcast/episode7-greatmantheory

In this episode, the hosts talk about gender and sexuality in the various iterations of the Star Trek TV series, discussing what the show gets right--and wrong. Guest Deanna Day joins the hosts to talk about our favorite Starfleet android, Data, and emotional labor in "The Next Generation." For show notes and transcripts, click visit ladyscience.com/podcast/episode5-startrek-genderandsexuality.

In this episode, Anna, Leila, and Rebecca talk about why the BBC series Call the Midwife is the best show on TV. Guest Dr. Amy Chambers joins in to talk about her work on women and minorities in entertainment media, particularly science fiction. For show notes, visit ladyscience.com/podcast/episode4-stemwomen-popculture