Podcasts about science diction

Patreon https://www.patreon.com/renegadefilesMerch https://www.bonfire.com/store/renegade-files/Website http://therenegadefiles.comYouTube https://www.youtube.com/@renegadefiles  Instagram https://www.instagram.com/renegadefiles/  X https://x.com/RenegadeFiles  If you like the show, please leave us a 5 star review on Apple Podcasts or Spotify if you think we deserve it. (It helps new listeners find the show.) Thank you. This is Renegade Files Episode 74, Grave-Robbing For Morons: A Bizarre Film Mystery. In the earliest days of the internet it was mysterious just because it was unfamiliar to the majority. At the same time, there was very little there. Mostly data: green text on black screens.  Eventually the tech developed and we could upload and download images, then audio and video, and today the internet is the most powerful communication tool ever created by humankind.  What has made it revolutionary is the facilitation of the ability for a wide range of creators to publish content to forums that are widely accessible. But when you open a publishing framework to what amounts to unlimited access and reach, you also open it to the entire scope of human interest, activity, and predilection.  The vast majority of such information is healthy, harmless, or even helpful. But a small percentage of such content will always be incomprehensible, disturbing, or mysterious. Today we will dive into the latter. One of the strangest, most bizarre, and most mysterious creations the glorious internet has ever given us: a disturbing documentary called Grave-Robbing For Morons. This very strange short film has spawned hours of speculation from internet detectives searching for answers. Is the movie real, does it really show what it claims to, and who are the people involved in making it?  So join me my friend, and together we will explore a deep, dark rabbit hole in the form of the most mysterious movie you have hopefully never seen: Grave-Robbing For Morons. Help Crowdfund RF on Patreon https://www.patreon.com/renegadefiles Get cool RF Merch https://www.bonfire.com/store/renegade-files/Visit and Share the Website http://therenegadefiles.comDig us on YouTube https://www.youtube.com/@renegadefiles  Follow RF on Instagram https://www.instagram.com/renegadefiles/  If you like the show, please leave us a 5 star review on Apple Podcasts or Spotify if you think we deserve it. (It helps the show find new listeners.) Thank you. *Disclaimer: grave robbing is illegal and a terrible idea in general, and in no way does Renegade Files suggest or defend any such activity. Don't be a Grave Robber, and don't buy or sell bones on the black market.Music and Audio Licensing: Theme Song: “Steve's Djembe” by Vani, FMA, licensed: Creative Commons CC BY-SA 4.0 License.  “Science Diction” by Flow Lab Cult, DV8NOW Records, licensed: Creative Commons CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 License. RF074 © 2024 Lex Gordon - DV8NOW Publishing

Welcome to Renegade Files you filthy animal! Once again we gather here on the weird side of the internet to explore Paranormal Experiences, Unsolved Mysteries, and the fractal edges of Conspiracy Culture. I'm your host Doctor Lex Gordon coming to you from The Jungle Villa Outpost, Deep in the Uncharted Tropics. This is Renegade Files Episode 52, Hunter S. Thompson: The Last Outlaw Journalist.  Hunter S. Thompson was an American writer who created the Gonzo genre of journalism, a highly personal style of reporting that injects the author's perspective and experience into the story being covered. Thompson's definitive works within the genre made him a counterculture icon. He explored themes of political and popular culture with a laser-like wit, purple prose, and an unapologetic, audacious flair that challenged authority figures and sacred institutions, while never bowing to either side of the political spectrum. He criticized American politics, media, and social constructs with rebellious sarcasm and a pure love of real freedom. Because he shunned the distant objectivity of tidy journalism, and immersed himself in the stories he wrote, he was able to deliver insights and observations that traditional journalists would have never noticed.  He was one of the first writers to offer alternative perspectives to mainstream media narratives, and as such, is a hero of many writers who value truth and common sense over spin and agenda.  So let's do this. Join me on a road trip into the twisted mindscape of a counterculture rebel who infuriated many, inspired more, and left us with, not only his own stunning words and observations, but a new way of both writing about and looking at this wonderful, terrible, impossible world we live in. As your attorney I advise you to rent a fast car with no top. Are you ready for that? Checking into a podcast episode created by a madman and listened to by degenerates with intent to commit capital fraud on a head full of conspiracies. I sure hope so. --------------------------Please Share the show by sharing a link to our website ( therenegadefiles.com ) with your friends. Thank You! Help the show keep going and get Bonus Episodes only available for the RFA Agents on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/renegadefiles Get RF Hats, T-Shirts, and more: https://www.bonfire.com/store/renegade-files/ For all things Renegade Files, visit our website: https://therenegadefiles.com The Harrison Salisbury interview with HST from 1975: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZsRqLcD-1sE If you listen to Renegade Files on Spotify or Apple Podcasts, consider giving the show a 5 star review if you think we deserve it, which helps the show find new listeners. Thank you.--------------------------Music Licensing: Theme Song: “Steve's Djembe” by Vani, FMA, licensed: Creative Commons CC BY-SA 4.0 License.  “Science Diction” by Flow Lab Cult, DV8NOW Records, licensed: Creative Commons CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 License.

Marv reads from his journal The Pod Files to highlight some of his listening, and goes off on a few tangents. Shows mentioned in this episode include Daily Dad Jokes, Grumble Goat, Tracing Owls, Bad Counsel, Punky Radio, The Mindbuzz, The Rise of King Asilas, Breaker Whiskey, The Bright Sessions, Bridgewater, Review It Yourself, Bill Reads Bad Reviews, Deleted Saves, Neon Shadows, The Slowdown, Ice T's Daily Game, Digging In The Dome, The Book Realm, Reel Film Reviewed, Kris Of All Trades, Strike Force Five, A Breath of Fresh Air, Face The Music: An Electric Light Orchestra Song By Song Podcast, Stew World Order, Science Diction, The Bones Booth, Everything Everywhere Daily, Vintage Rock Pod, The MasterCast, Nothing But Nursing, and Aaron Mahnke's Cabinet of Curiosities.

Glitter Gets An Eco-Friendly Glimmer Glitter—it's everywhere this time of year. You open up a holiday card, and out comes a sprinkle of it. And that glitter will seemingly be with you forever, hugging your sweater, covering the floor. But glitter doesn't stop there. It washes down the drain, and travels into the sewage system and waterways. Since it's made from microplastics, it's never going away. As it turns out, all that glitters is not gold—or even biodegradable. But what if you could make glitter that was biodegradable? Silivia Vignolini, professor of chemistry at the University of Cambridge joins Ira to discuss her latest discovery—eco-glitter made from plant cellulose. The Resurrection Of The American Chestnut At the turn of the 20th century, the American chestnut towered over other trees in forests along the eastern seaboard. These giants could grow up to 100 feet high and 13 feet wide. According to legend, a squirrel could scamper from New England to Georgia on the canopies of American chestnuts, never touching the ground. Then the trees began to disappear, succumbing to a mysterious fungus. The fungus first appeared in New York City in 1904—and it spread quickly. By the 1950s, the fungus had wiped out billions of trees, effectively driving the American chestnut into extinction. Now, some people are trying to resurrect the American chestnut—and soon. But not everyone thinks that's a good idea. Reporter Shahla Farzan and “Science Diction” host and producer Johanna Mayer bring us the story of the death and life of the American chestnut.   A DNA Map You Can Touch—Or Walk Through When science involves visualizing the intricate movements of DNA through time and space, examining minutiae like how DNA folds and rearranges itself during cell division, or the relationships between miniscule beads on microscopic strings, the data can get complicated really fast. Which is why biophysicist Adam Lamson is collaborating with artist Laura Splan in a project the two of them call ‘Sticky Settings.' It's a kind of an inside joke about the nature of DNA strands, and the kinds of digital transformations that can be applied to data in animation software. But the result of this partnership has been anything but a joke. From giant tapestries that present maps of DNA in colorful, tactile formats, to otherworldly animations set to music, their art invites a non-scientific audience to literally walk into the processes our own cells are undergoing every day. Producer Christie Taylor talks with Splan and Lamson about their partnership, and the natural intersection between an artist's creativity and a scientist's. Plus how an artist's interpretation can bring new insights to difficult data.   The Secret Life Of Mistletoe (When It's Not Christmas) This time of year, it's not uncommon to see a little sprig of greenery hanging in someone's doorway. It's probably mistletoe, the holiday decoration that inspires paramours standing beneath it to kiss. But as it turns out, we may have miscast mistletoe as the most romantic plant of the Christmas season. In reality, the plant that prompts your lover's kiss is actually a parasite. Ira talks with evolutionary biologist Josh Der about the myth and tradition behind the parasitic plant, and what it may be up to the other 11 months of the year.  

Science Diction - No Spoilers! From WNYC Radio and Science Friday, this podcast is equal parts etymology and science. Newsletter turned podcast, every week host Johanna Mayer dived deep into a single word and the science behind it. Some words or ideas are clearly science-forward (Myers-Briggs, Ambergris, Mercury) but others are not (honeymoon, serendipity, etc). No matter what the subject, the show found the history and science behind the term. A lot of the words covered are interesting stories that don't meet the standard flashy news criteria and so otherwise would be stories that go untold. Facts, trends, predictions, and interviews are weaved together with the interruptions of music or ads. The show has 4.7 out of 5 and 588 Ratings. You may have caught the past tense and I have to confirm your future fears. The podcast said goodbye in April of 2022 with a mini-recap episode that looked back at all the show had done. During its run, a total of 42 episodes were published. On average they are about 17 minutes long. My favorites, which I recommend listening to first, were “Vocal Fry: Why I'm Not Getting A Voice Coach” and “Hydrox: How A Cookie Got A Name So Bad.” The episode on vocal fry is a must-listen! I won't go on my usual vocal fry rant but it isn't “hard on your ears.” It's a natural occurrence in women AND men (although women are almost exclusively judged for it) that can change the meaning of words in many different languages. The host was often criticized for her vocal fry but uses the opportunity to educate others on the topic. Honestly listening through I didn't notice anything. Similar pods: Surprisingly Brilliant, Distillations | Science History Institute, and Disappearing Spoon: a science history podcast by Sam Kean. Sources: https://www.podchaser.com/podcasts/science-diction-1032503https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/science-diction/id1500919715 ★ Support this podcast ★

Dear Science Diction listeners, It is with sadness that we announce the finale of the Science Diction podcast. Starting with a simple newsletter and a passionate audience, the Science Diction podcast grew to serve up episodes on topics as varied as meme, ketchup, and juggernaut. It has been a joy to share these stories with you for the last two years. In celebration of Science Diction, we are sharing with you now a final mini-episode, a look back on this labor of love. You can relisten and read past editions of Science Diction anytime by visiting www.sciencefriday.com/ScienceDiction. If you find yourself longing for more science esoterica, we invite you to join us at our weekly trivia nights. Hosted by Diana Montano and a variety of guest experts, they are a free, and absolutely nerdy, delight. On behalf of Johanna, Elah, and everyone that has contributed to making Science Diction, thank you for listening!

Science Diction - What does the word “meme” have to do with evolutionary biology? And why do we call it “Spanish flu” when it was never Spanish? Science Diction is a podcast about words—and the science stories within them. If you like your language with a side of science, Science Diction has you covered. Brought to you by Science Friday and WNYC Studios.https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/id1500919715The Allusionist - Adventures in language with Helen Zaltzman. TheAllusionist.orghttps://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/id957430475Words for Granted - Words for Granted is a podcast that looks at how words change over time. Host Ray Belli uses linguistic evolution as a way of understanding larger historical and cultural changes.https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/id1123201523Lexicon Valley - A close examination of language — its power to inform and misinform, to elucidate and obfuscate — from renowned Columbia University linguistics professor John McWhorter. A true polymath, McWhorter analyzes the words and phrases that dominate our discourse and make the headlines. For extra content, including bonus episodes and written columns, please consider becoming a paying subscriber to Booksmart Studios!https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/id1576564760Lingthusiasm - A podcast that's enthusiastic about linguistics by Gretchen McCulloch and Lauren Gawne. A weird and deep conversation about language delivered right to your ears the third Thursday of every month.https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/id1186056137 See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

The Resurrection Of The American Chestnut At the turn of the 20th century, the American chestnut towered over other trees in forests along the eastern seaboard. These giants could grow up to 100 feet high and 13 feet wide. According to legend, a squirrel could scamper from New England to Georgia on the canopies of American chestnuts, never touching the ground. Then the trees began to disappear, succumbing to a mysterious fungus. The fungus first appeared in New York City in 1904—and it spread quickly. By the 1950s, the fungus had wiped out billions of trees, effectively driving the American chestnut into extinction. Now, some people are trying to resurrect the American chestnut—and soon. But not everyone thinks that's a good idea. Reporter Shahla Farzan and “Science Diction” host and producer Johanna Mayer bring us the story of the death and life of the American chestnut. 'Don't Look Up' Asks If Satire Can Stir Us From Climate Apathy What if scientists warned of a certain upcoming doomsday and no one took them seriously? That's the plot of director Adam McKay's latest dark comedy, Don't Look Up. Two astronomers discover a comet that's heading towards the Earth. The catch: There's only six months and 14 days to avert a total annihilation of humanity. The scientists, played by Leonardo DiCaprio and Jennifer Lawrence, embark on a media campaign to convince the world and the president, played by Meryl Streep, to take the threat seriously. Joining Ira to talk about the parallels between this movie and real world crises like climate change and COVID-19 are Sonia Epstein, executive editor and associate curator of science and film at the Museum of the Moving Image in New York City, and Samantha Montano, assistant professor of emergency management at the Massachusetts Maritime Academy, based in Buzzards Bay, Massachusetts. Montano is also the author of Disasterology: Dispatches from the Frontline of the Climate Crisis. Surfing Particles Can Supercharge Northern Lights For thousands of years, humans have been observing and studying the Northern lights, aurora borealis, and their southern hemisphere counterpart, aurora australis. The simplest explanation for how these aurora form has been unchanged for decades: Charged particles, energized by the sun, bounce off the Earth's protective magnetic field and create flashes of light in the process. But for a long time, scientists have known it was more complicated than that. What exactly gives those incoming particles the energy they need to create the patterns we see? And why are some aurora more dramatic and distinct, while others are subtle and hazier? Aurora researcher Jim Schroeder explains new work published in Nature Communications that suggests that in more vivid aurora, electrons may “surf” waves of energy from space into our atmosphere. The waves, called Alfvén waves, are a side effect of the solar wind warping the Earth's magnetic field. Schroeder explains the weird physics of our aurora, and what we could learn about other objects in the universe as a result.   

We have a favor to ask! We want to know more about what you like, what you don't, and who you are—it'll help us make better episodes of Science Diction. Please, take our brief survey. Thank you! At the turn  of the 20th century, the American chestnut towered over other trees in Eastern  forests. The trees would grow as much as 100 feet high, and 13 feet wide. According to legend, a squirrel could scamper from New England to Georgia on the canopies of American chestnuts, never touching the ground. And then, the trees began to disappear, succumbing to a mysterious fungus. The fungus first appeared in New York City in 1904—and  then it spread. By the 1950s, the fungus had wiped out billions of trees, and effectively finished off the American chestnut. Now, some people are trying to resurrect the American chestnut—and soon. But not everyone thinks that's a good idea. Guests:  Sara Fitzsimmons is Director of Restoration, North Central Regional Science Coordinator, and Regional Science Coordinator Supervisor at the American Chestnut Foundation.  Susan Freinkel is the author of American Chestnut: The Life, Death, and Rebirth of a Perfect Tree. ​​Neil Patterson Jr. works at the Center for Native Peoples and the Environment at SUNY, and is a member of the Tuscarora Nation.  Bart Chezar is a chestnut enthusiast, and volunteers with the Prospect Park Alliance. Footnotes & Further Reading:  Listen to oral histories from people who grew up with the American chestnut. Credits: This episode of Science Diction was produced by Shahla Farzan and Johanna Mayer. Elah Feder is our Editor and Senior Producer. Daniel Peterschmidt is our composer, and they sound designed this episode. Lauren J. Young contributed research, and Danya AbdelHameid fact checked the episode. Our Chief Content Officer is Nadja Oertelt.  

The Why Of Vocal Fry For decades, vocal fry lived a relatively quiet existence. A creaky or breathy sound that occurs when your voice drops to its lowest register, this phenomenon was long known to linguists, speech pathologists, and voice coaches—but everyday people didn't pay much attention to it. Then in 2011, people started noticing it everywhere. So, what happened? What's going on in our vocal chords when we fry? And why does it bother so many people so very much? “Science Diction” host Johanna Mayer explains the history of vocal fry, and looks at languages where fry is a feature, not a bug.   Tribal Concerns Grow As Water Levels Drop In The Colorado River Basin Lorenzo Pena pulls off the highway and into a drive-through water distribution center on the Southern Ute Indian Tribe reservation in southwest Colorado. He parks his truck and connects the empty tank it's hauling to a large hose and thousands of gallons of water quickly rush in. Pena, who works for the Southern Ute Indian Tribe's hauled water program, has made this trip countless times to deliver water to tribal members who don't have clean water piped to their homes from the local utility. “It's pretty dry around here,” Pena said. “So if people have wells, they're real slow or the wells aren't really producing much water.” If a family on the reservation doesn't use well water or lives outside of town, they have to haul water to fill their cistern to flow through their home.   The Colorado River is the lifeblood for the Southern Ute and dozens of federally recognized tribes who have relied on it for drinking water, farming, and supporting hunting and fishing habitats for thousands of years. The river also holds spiritual and cultural significance. Today, 15 percent of Southern Utes living on the reservation in southwest Colorado don't have running water in their homes at all. That rate is higher for other tribes that rely on the Colorado River, including 40 percent of the Navajo Nation. Native American households are 19 times more likely to lack piped water services than white households, according to a report from the Water & Tribes Initiative. The data also show Native American households are more likely to lack piped water services than any other racial group. Leaders of tribes who depend on the Colorado River say the century-old agreement on managing a resource vital to 40 million people across the West is a major factor fueling these and other water inequalities. State water managers and the federal government say they will include tribes in upcoming Colorado River policymaking negotiations for the first time. Read more at sciencefriday.com.   Space Tourists, Asteroids, And Anti-Satellite Tests, Oh My! Space has been a busy place this year. In February, NASA's Perseverance rover landed on Mars and embarked on its mission to collect samples, alongside the first ever helicopter to fly on the Red Planet. July and September saw the launches of billionaires, space tourists, and civilian astronauts to various elevations above the Earth. Human beings are arriving to the International Space Station via Cape Canaveral for the first time since the discontinuation of the shuttle program in 2011. In November, NASA launched a mission to test our ability to deflect dangerous asteroids. And China, the United Arab Emirates, and Russia have all continued to make their way through the solar system as well. But what about the continued concerns astronomers have about the steep rise and future plans for fleets of private telecommunications satellites in low Earth orbit, like SpaceX's StarLink? Will the increasing footprint of private industry in space exploration have potential drawbacks for science? And what about that Russian anti-satellite test, which disrupted operations at the International Space Station for several days after? Ira and a trio of star space reporters—WFME's Brendan Byrne, Axios' Miriam Kramer, and The Verge's Loren Grush—round up 2021's out-of-this-world headlines.

In a collaboration with our friends at Science Diction [hyperlink], we explore the Indian temple complex that gave rise to the word "juggernaut," which means an unstoppable force. But the real story behind it is far more complicated.READ MORE IN THE ATLAS: https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/jagannath-temple

In 2014, a grad student in Kolkata named Ujaan Ghosh came across an old book by a Scottish missionary. And as Ghosh paged through the book, he noticed the missionary kept using a word over and over: Juggernaut. But the missionary wasn't using it the way we do today—to mean an unstoppable, overwhelming force. He  was using it to talk about a place: a temple in Puri, India. So Ghosh dug further, and as he grasped the real story of where the English word, juggernaut, had come from, he realized there was just no way he could keep using it. A transcript of this episode is being processed and will be available within a week. Guests:  Chris Egusa is an audio producer and 2020 KALW Audio Academy fellow. Dylan Thuras is co-founder of Atlas Obscura, and host of the Atlas Obscura podcast. Ujaan Ghosh is a PhD candidate at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Footnotes & Further Reading:  Read Ujaan Ghosh's article on the origins of the word “juggernaut.”  Learn more about Jagannath Temple in Atlas Obscura.  Listen to more episodes of the Atlas Obscura podcast. Credits:  This episode was a collaboration between Science Diction and Atlas Obscura. It was produced by Johanna Mayer and Chris Egusa, and edited by Elah Feder and John DeLore. Daniel Peterschmidt is our composer, and Danya AbdelHameid fact checked the episode. It was mixed by Luz Fleming.

Have you ever wondered how politicians make decisions using science? Or about how politics shape what's dissected under the microscope? This is why we need people like Farah Qaiser (she/her) to better understand the role of policy for science, and science for policy! Farah is the new Director of Research and Policy at Evidence for Democracy, a non-partisan, not-for-profit organization aimed at promoting the use of evidence in Canada's decision-making. We explore the changing landscape of science policy and how investing in Canada's scientists impacts our national capacity to ask and answer innovative and creative science questions. We'll also explore Farah's dedication to advocating for under-represented scientists in her role as a member of 500 Women Scientists' leadership team. A transcript of the episode can be found here: https://bit.ly/3Dsk2KY. Learn more about Farah Qaiser on her website, and follow her on social media @this_is_farah Also mentioned in this episode: Science Diction podcast

The one about rebranding in the digital era, DJI Action 2 camera, UK Health Radio and “Interview with the Vampire” – TG58    00:00:00 Introduction   Here are your hosts, Roger and Pascal.      00:02:25 In the News   A selection of announcements and news releases from the world of marketing and technology that caught our attention.    00:16:31 Content Spotlights   ROGER: Is the Future Really All That Different by Matt Desmier at TEDxSouthampton: https://youtu.be/DNqPFBCiFjY (https://youtu.be/DNqPFBCiFjY)    PASCAL: The Art of Rebranding for the Digital Era by Paul Hiebert for AdWeek: https://www.adweek.com/brand-marketing/digital-era-rebrand-velveeta-screens-tiny-icons/ (https://www.adweek.com/brand-marketing/digital-era-rebrand-velveeta-screens-tiny-icons/)    00:26:49 Marketing Tech and Apps    ROGER: It's all about action cameras.  The DJI Action 2 and accessories. Camera. Front screen module. Power Module. Magnetic Lanyard: https://www.dji.com/uk/dji-action-2 (https://www.dji.com/uk/dji-action-2)  PASCAL: It's all about your next webinar and online resources.  https://slidesgo.com/ (https://slidesgo.com/) Free and Premium Google Slides and Microsoft Powerpoint templates across many business categories.  https://www.timeline.ly/ (https://www.timeline.ly/) Online annotation and commenting tool for YouTube videos, ‘play it, pause it and instantly add a comment'.    00:34:23 This Week in History   Our selection of historical events and anniversaries from the world of science, technology and popular culture.    00:43:40 Creator Shout Outs   ROGER: Johanna Mayer is a podcast producer and hosts Science Diction from Science Friday. Thanks to Owen Philipson for pointing me at this episode: https://www.wnycstudios.org/podcasts/science-diction/articles/jargon-we-love-to-hate-it (https://www.wnycstudios.org/podcasts/science-diction/articles/jargon-we-love-to-hate-it)  PASCAL: UK Health Radio https://www.ukhealthradio.com/ (https://www.ukhealthradio.com/) “Real feel good radio”. The first-ever radio station in the world dedicated only to health and wellness founded by Johann Ilgenfritz.    00:49:12 Film Marketing   Interview with the Vampire (1994)  Director: Neil Jordan   Writer: Anne Rice   Stars: Tom Cruise, Brad Pitt, Christian Slater, Antonio Banderas  This gothic horror masterpiece set in New Orleans and Paris re-defined the vampire genre and features great performances from Pitt and Cruise along with copious amounts of gore.  Whilst little information exists about the marketing of the film apart from the trailer and posters, we know that writer Anne Rice objected to Tom Cruise being cast in the role of Lestat. She kicked up a torrent of publicity whilst airing her concerns.  Once the film came out she admitted Cruise's performance was excellent and the film was a masterpiece. She even took out an advert in the NY Times to admit she was wrong.  We dig into this story in more detail.    About Two Geeks and A Marketing Podcast     Hosted by the two geeks, Roger Edwards and Pascal Fintoni, to keep you up to date with the latest news, tech, content and wisdom from the world of marketing.   Roger is a man on a mission to keep marketing simple. He is the voice of the Marketing & Finance Podcast and the host of the RogVLOG series.    Pascal is also on a mission to demystify digital marketing. He's the host of the Content Marketing Studio video podcast and many other video series.   Every week we'll bring you the following segments.   In the...

This episode is a re-broadcast. It originally aired in November 2020.  Every year, the World Meteorological Organization puts out a list of 21 names for the season's hurricanes and tropical storms. But in 2020, the Atlantic hurricane season was so active that by September, we'd flown through the whole list of names and had to switch to the Greek alphabet. Thus, Hurricane Iota became the 30th named storm of the season. We've only had to dip into the Greek alphabet once before, in 2005. But the practice of naming hurricanes goes back to the 19th century, and it was a bumpy ride to land on the system we use today. In this episode: The story of a meteorologist in Australia, a novel, and a second-wave feminist from Florida—and how they brought us hurricane names. Guests: Christina M. Gonzalez is a doctoral candidate in anthropology at the University of Texas at Austin.Liz Skilton is a historian and the author of Tempest: Hurricane Naming and American Culture. Footnotes & Further Reading: For more hurricane history, check out A Furious Sky: The Five-Hundred-Year History of America's Hurricanes by Eric Jay Dolin. To learn more about Roxcy Bolton and the fight to change the naming system, read Liz Skilton's article “Gendering Natural Disaster: The Battle Over Female Hurricane Names.” Credits: Science Diction is hosted and produced by Johanna Mayer. Our editor and Senior Producer is Elah Feder. We had story editing from Nathan Tobey, and fact checking by Michelle Harris. Our composer is Daniel Peterschmidt. Chris Wood did sound design and mastered the episode. Special thanks to the Florida State Library & Archives for allowing us use footage from Roxcy Bolton's oral history interview. Nadja Oertelt is our Chief Content Officer. 

When Isabel Briggs Myers imagined that her homegrown personality test would change the world, she couldn't have pictured this. Today, millions take the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator each year. Countless organizations use it, from General Motors to the CIA. But there's one field that mostly rolls its eyes at the test: psychology.  In our final chapter, Isabel rescues her indicator from the verge of extinction, but has to make some compromises. And we explore what the Myers Briggs does (and doesn't) measure, and why people love it despite psychologists' complaints. Listen to Chapter 1 and Chapter 2 of this series. A transcript of this episode is being processed and will be available within a week.  Guests:  Merve Emre is a writer and English professor at the University of Oxford. Annie Murphy Paul is a science journalist and author.   Dan McAdams is a professor of psychology at Northwestern University.  Quinisha Jackson-Wright is a writer and the author of Working Twice as Hard.  Jeffrey Hayes is the President and CEO of the Myers-Briggs Company. Rich Thompson is Senior Director of Global Research at The Myers-Briggs Company. Peter Geyer is a Myers-Briggs practitioner in Melbourne Australia. Footnotes & Further Reading:  Check out Merve Emre's book, ​​The Personality Brokers: The Strange History of Myers-Briggs and the Birth of Personality Testing. Read Annie Murphy Paul's book, The Cult of Personality Testing. Credits: This episode of Science Diction was produced by Johanna Mayer, Chris Egusa, and Senior Producer Elah Feder. Daniel Peterschmidt is our composer, and they mastered the episode. We had fact checking help from Sona Avakian. Special thanks to Peter Geyer for providing archival audio. Nadja Oertelt is our Chief Content Officer. 

Why The Delta Variant Will Make More Kids Sick As cases of the highly contagious Delta variant of COVID-19 continue to spike around the U.S., children are one of the hardest-hit groups. As children under 12 remain ineligible for vaccination, they and other unvaccinated groups are facing the highest rates of infection and hospitalization of the entire pandemic.  Meanwhile, the Centers for Disease Control announced Wednesday that adults in the general population would be eligible for a third booster shot of their mRNA vaccine beginning eight months after their first dose. While the CDC cited concern about rising breakthrough cases in vaccinated adults, some epidemiologists have objected that the data does not support more vaccines for most already-vaccinated adults. MIT Technology Review's Amy Nordrum walks through these stories, plus a new human trial for mRNA vaccines against HIV, how historic drought in the West will mean the first-ever limits on farmers' use of water next year, a promising experiment in fusion energy generation, and why the core of Saturn may be more liquid than solid.      Pandemic Unveils Growing Suicide Crisis For Communities Of Color Rafiah Maxie has been a licensed clinical social worker in the Chicago area for a decade. Throughout that time, she'd viewed suicide as a problem most prevalent among middle-aged white men. Until May 27, 2020. That day, Maxie's 19-year-old son, Jamal Clay—who loved playing the trumpet and participating in theater, who would help her unload groceries from the car and raise funds for the March of the Dimes—killed himself in their garage. “Now I cannot blink without seeing my son hanging,” said Maxie, who is Black. Clay's death, along with the suicides of more than 100 other Black residents in Illinois last year, has led locals to call for new prevention efforts focused on Black communities. In 2020, during the pandemic's first year, suicides among white residents decreased compared with previous years, while they increased among Black residents, according to state data. But this is not a local problem. Nor is it limited to the pandemic. Interviews with a dozen suicide researchers, data collected from states across the country and a review of decades of research revealed that suicide is a growing crisis for communities of color—one that plagued them well before the pandemic and has only been exacerbated since. Overall suicide rates in the U.S. decreased in 2019 and 2020. National and local studies attribute the trend to a drop among white Americans, who make up the majority of suicide deaths. Meanwhile, rates for Black, Hispanic and Asian Americans—though lower than their white peers—continued to climb in many states. (Suicide rates have been consistently high for Native Americans.) “COVID created more transparency regarding what we already knew was happening,” said Sonyia Richardson, a licensed clinical social worker who focuses on serving people of color and an assistant professor at the University of North Carolina-Charlotte, where she researches suicide. When you put the suicide rates of all communities in one bucket, “that bucket says it's getting better and what we're doing is working,” she said. “But that's not the case for communities of color.” Read the full story, produced in collaboration with Kaiser Health News.     The Minds Behind The Myers-Briggs Personality Test If you're one of the 2 million people who take the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator every year, perhaps you thought Myers and Briggs are the two psychologists who designed the test. In reality, they were a mother-daughter team who were outsiders to the research world: Katharine Briggs and Isabel Briggs Myers.  They may have been outsiders, but Katharine and Isabel did their homework, and approached the test the way a trained psychologist likely would have. And the product they created—the Myers Briggs Type Indicator—would eventually become the world's most popular personality test. But how did it all begin? Science Diction is releasing a special three-part series on the rise of the Myers-Briggs. In the first episode: A look at the unlikely origins of the test, going all the way back to the late 1800s when Katharine Briggs turned her living room into a “cosmic laboratory of baby training” and set out to raise the perfect child. Science Diction host Johanna Mayer and reporter Chris Egusa join John Dankosky to tell that story.

Honeymoon: It just seems like a word that would have a lovely story behind it, doesn't it?  When a listener named Eric emailed us from Centerville, Ohio asking about the word, that's what we were hoping to find. Instead, we found a more bittersweet origin stretching all the way back to an early modern poem. Plus: We take a look at what's going on in our brains during the honeymoon period—and whether it's all downhill from there.  If you want us to cover a word on the show, get in touch! Give us a call, leave a message, and we might play it on the show. The number is 929-499-WORD, or 929-499-9673. Or, you can always send an email to podcasts@sciencefriday.com. Guest:  Christine Proulx is an Associate Professor in Human Development and Family Science at the University of Missouri. Footnotes & Further Reading:  Read the full John Heywood poem where the word "honeymoon" appears for the first time. Learn more about what's happening in your brain during the honeymoon phase. Read the full study on how researchers used an fMRI to find activity in the ventral tegmental area of the brains of people who recently fell in love. Credits:  Science Diction is produced by Johanna Mayer and Senior Producer Elah Feder. Daniel Peterschmidt is our composer, and they mastered the episode. Nadja Oertelt is our Chief Content Officer. Special thanks this week to Michael Lorber and Helen Fisher. See you soon.

We're joined this week by Johanna Mayer and Chris Egusa from the Science Diction podcast to discuss the psychological origins of the word 'introvert'!Hosted by Emily Brewster, Neil Serven, Ammon Shea, and Peter Sokolowski.Produced in collaboration with New England Public Media.Science Diction is a production of Science Friday and WNYC.Transcript available here.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

They're not ladies and they're not birds; they're not even technically bugs! But that's not the most surprising thing about ladybirds/ladybugs and their brilliant variety of names. Tamsin Majerus AKA Dr Ladybird explains why ladybirds are so great; and Johanna Mayer and Elah Feder of the podcast Science Diction, about words and the science stories behind them, consider what's in a (ladybird) name. This episode is one half of a collaboration with Science Diction, so go to their feed to listen to their episode It'll Never Fly, where they set me a quiz about the outlandish and intriguing names given to fruitfly genes. There's more about this episode, and a transcript, at theallusionist.org/ladybird. The music is by Martin Austwick. Hear Martin's own songs at palebirdmusic.com or search for Pale Bird on Bandcamp and Spotify, and he's @martinaustwick on Twitter and Instagram.  Sign up to be a patron at patreon.com/allusionist and as well as supporting the show, you get discounted tickets to the upcoming Allusionist live show on 4 September 2021, plus the story of my all too brief spell of having a loveliness of pet ladybirds. The Allusionist's online home is theallusionist.org. Stay in touch at twitter.com/allusionistshow, facebook.com/allusionistshow and instagram.com/allusionistshow. Our ad partner is Multitude. To sponsor an episode of the show, contact them at multitude.productions/ads. This episode is sponsored by: • Acorn TV, the streaming service featuring hundreds of dramas, mysteries and comedies from around the world. Try Acorn TV free for 30 days, by going to Acorn.TV and using my promo code allusionist. (Be sure to type that code in lower case.)  • Bombas, makers of the most comfortable socks in the history of feet - and super-smooth undies and T-shirts too. Get 20 percent off your first purchase at bombas.com/allusionist. • Squarespace, your one-stop shop for building and running a good-looking, good-acting website. Go to squarespace.com/allusionist for a free trial, and get 10 percent off your first purchase of a website or domain with the code allusionist.  Support the show: http://patreon.com/allusionist See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

A transcript for this episode is in progress. In 1910, a fruit fly geneticist named Thomas Hunt Morgan noticed something strange in one of his specimens. Out of his many, many fruit flies—all with brilliant red eyes—a single fly had white eyes. This fruit fly turned out to be a very big deal. From those white eyes, Morgan eventually figured out that genes can be sex-linked, confirmed that genes exist on chromosomes, and won the Nobel prize. But he also cemented his legacy another way, with what he chose to name that gene: “white.” It might sound uninspired, but it kicked off a tradition that decades later gave us names like spatzle, hamlet, and ken and barbie. Here and there, a name went too far, but overall, fanciful names brought joy to researchers and worked well—until genes like these were discovered in humans, and everything went awry. Johanna and Senior Producer Elah Feder team up with Helen Zaltzman of The Allusionist to talk about fruit flies, genes, and whether it's ok to name a gene after a German noodle. Plus, after much demand, we bring you... the origin of defenestration! Guests:  Helen Zaltzman is the host of The Allusionist. Credits: Science Diction is produced by Johanna Mayer and Senior Producer Elah Feder. Our composer is Daniel Peterschmidt. Nadja Oertelt is our Chief Content Officer.

California's Climate Program Is Actually Adding Carbon To The Atmosphere California has a reputation as the state that's doing the most about climate change. And the lynchpin of those efforts is California's Cap-and-Trade program, where the state's biggest polluters—like ExxonMobil, BP, and others—are required to offset their carbon dioxide emissions by investing in carbon reduction strategies. But according to a recent investigation by ProPublica and others, this climate solution is actually adding millions of tons of carbon to the atmosphere. They discovered a loophole in the state's forest offset program, which seeks to reduce carbon emissions by preserving trees. Uncovered by additional reporting, they found that the Massachusetts Audubon Society, a forest conservation organization, enrolled 9,700 acres it owned into California's program and received the credits, even though it was unlikely that Mass Audubon ever intended to cut down its preserved forests. The intended use of these offsets was to change the behavior of landowners who were likely to cut down trees, releasing carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. The result, in this instance, seemed to go against the spirit of the Cap-And-Trade program, that the state's biggest polluters' emissions weren't truly being offset. Guest host Sophie Bushwick is joined by Lisa Song, a ProPublica reporter who broke this story with MIT Technology Review, with help from Carbon Plan, a nonprofit that analyzes the scientific integrity of carbon removal efforts. Read Lisa's investigative story here.     A Monterey Bay Aquarium Scientist Gives Fun Facts About Cephalopods It's the most wonderful time of the year! No, not the holidays—it's Cephalopod Week, and SciFri uses any excuse to celebrate the mysterious squid, the charismatic octopus and the cute cuttlefish. If anyone matches SciFri's enthusiasm for marine invertebrates, it's the folks at the Monterey Bay Aquarium. Guest host Sophie Bushwick talks to Christina Biggs, senior aquarist at the Monterey Bay Aquarium in Monterey, California. Biggs spills behind-the-scenes details about everything from raising cephalopods from eggs to how their dietary preferences can resemble those of picky toddlers. “She'll come right over to grab food,” Biggs says of one of the aquarium's Giant Pacific Octopuses. “And on Sardine Sundays, she just tosses it right over her head and just waits for something better.” Can't get enough of Cephalopod Week? Listen to the latest episode of SciFri's Science Diction podcast, or check out some fun cephalopod-themed videos on TikTok.     The Long Tail Of Long COVID As the highly transmissible delta variant of COVID-19 continues to spread, it now makes up more than 20% of cases in the United States—including in Missouri, where cases are the highest since mid-February. Meanwhile, a new report finds the number of people experiencing long-term COVID symptoms is as high as 23% of those who have ever had the disease, including people who never had symptoms in their initial infection. The report from FAIR Health, which surveyed the insurance records of more than two million people, is the largest yet to investigate long COVID. Guest host Sophie Bushwick talks to the MIT Technology Review's Amy Nordrum about the long reach of COVID-19. Plus a bet about improbable physics, the arrival of baby bobtail squid at the International Space Station, and what happens when a spider eats a snake.

What pigment do we owe to the squid? And what do you name a teeny tiny octopus that's cute as a button? In this episode of Diction Dash, we're talking about those clever and often tentacled marine invertebrates: Cephalopods.  Diana Montano, Science Friday's resident trivia maestro, quizzes Johanna. But this time, Johanna calls in reinforcements—from Science Friday host Ira Flatow himself. If you want us to cover a word on the show, get in touch! Give us a call, leave a message, and we might play it on the show. The number is 929-499-WORD, or 929-499-9673. Or, you can always send an email to podcasts@sciencefriday.com.  This episode is part of Science Friday's annual Cephalopod Week! Join the cephalo-bration.  Guests:  Diana Montano is the Outreach Manager at Science Friday. Ira Flatow is the Host of Science Friday. Footnotes & Further Reading: Join Science Friday's annual Cephalopod Week celebration of our favorite, often tentacled, marine invertebrates. In the episode, we mention Science Friday's video on the Adorabilis—check it out, and prepare to say “awww.”  For a detailed explanation of how to pluralize “octopus,” Merriam-Webster has your back. Sponsor a cephalopod! With every donation of $8 made during Cephalopod Week, you'll get a special Cephalopod Badge, featuring your choice of ceph, your first name and city. You'll find it swimming in our very own Sea of Support. Credits:  This episode of Science Diction was produced by Johanna Mayer with Diana Montano and Katie Feather. Elah Feder is our Senior Producer. Daniel Peterschmidt composed all our music and they mastered this episode. Nadja Oertelt is our Chief Content Officer.

How To Talk About Medical Marijuana With Your Doctor Over the last decade, cannabis has had a moment. Thirty-six states and Washington D.C. have legalized it for medical use. (Fifteen states, plus D.C., have also legalized weed recreationally.) Altogether, about 5.5 million people in the U.S. now have medical marijuana cards. One of the primary arguments for expanding marijuana laws is the drug's potential usefulness for medical treatments. While each state has its own rules for which conditions are eligible, issues like chronic pain are nearly universally accepted as a reason for using medical marijuana. But there's still a large divide between the traditional medical establishment and the cannabis industry. Cannabis is still illegal federally, and a recent study showed that many clinicians feel they don't know enough about medical marijuana to make a recommendation to patients. This in turn impacts how patients feel about talking to their doctor about using cannabis to treat medical conditions. Joining Ira to talk about the ins and outs of connecting cannabis to the larger medical establishment are Dr. Ziva Cooper, research director for UCLA's Cannabis Research Initiative in San Francisco, California, and Dr. Donald Abrams, integrative oncologist and professor emeritus at University of California San Francisco's Osher Center for Integrative Medicine.     What Can Crayfish Tell Us About Drugs In Our Waterways? Wastewater is a grab bag of chemicals. There's industrial run-off, bits of animal and viral DNA, and then there are compounds that trickle out from our households. The medicines we're flushing down the toilet or releasing through urine are making their way into countless bodies of water. Antidepressants are one of the drugs that frequently end up in the environment. A team of scientists wanted to study the effects of these antidepressants on streams wending their way through ecosystems. So they looked to none other than the crayfish. They found that crayfish exposed to these drugs were a bit bolder. Their results were published this week in the journal Ecosphere. Freshwater ecologist Lindsey Reisinger and freshwater biogeochemist A.J. Reisinger, who are both authors on that study, talk about how these drugs affect crayfish and potential downstream effects on waterways and the ecosystem.     We Aren't Squidding Around—It's Cephalopod Week 2021! The wait is over—Cephalopod Week 2021 is finally here. It's Science Friday's annual ceph-lo-bration of all things mostly-tentacled, and this year's lineup of events is going to be ceph-tacular. Visit behind-the-scenes at the Monterey Bay Aquarium, play deep sea trivia, watch mini documentaries, chat with real scientists working with cephalopods every day, and a whole lot more. Diana Montano, SciFri's outreach manager and emcee of the deep sea, joins Ira and Science Diction host Johanna Mayer to kick things off, with some trivia about the origins of squiddy words.     Kids Are Benefiting From Adult Vaccinations, Too Something interesting is happening in some communities where most adults are vaccinated against COVID-19: infection rates in kids are going way down, too. Right now, Americans 12 and older are eligible for the vaccine, leaving the country's youngest still exposed. So this is a promising sign, considering about two-thirds of U.S. adults have received at least one shot of a COVID-19 vaccine. But some experts are saying we still need to be cautious about throwing kids together again before they're vaccinated. Joining Ira to chat about this story is Maggie Koerth, senior science writer at FiveThirtyEight in Minneapolis, Minnesota. They also talk about other top science stories of the week, including news that cicada broods might emerge more often with climate change.        

If you read the title of this episode and cringed, you're not alone. At Merriam-Webster, editors and lexicographers receive countless letters grousing about the addition of certain words to the dictionary. And here at Science Diction, we get our fair share of emails pointing out our linguistic missteps.  But the more you dig into the origins of words, the more you notice that when it comes to language, “correctness” is a slippery concept. In fact, some of our most beloved English words - nickname! newt! - were born of mistakes.  In this episode, Merriam-Webster lexicographers Emily Brewster and Peter Sokolowski explain the mistake-ridden origins of our words, how language evolves, and how wrong becomes right. Plus, we answer a listener question about the most exported word in the English language. Guests:  Emily Brewster is a Senior Editor and Lexicographer at Merriam-Webster.  Peter Sokolowski is a Lexicographer at Merriam-Webster. Credits:  Science Diction is produced by Johanna Mayer and Senior Producer and Editor Elah Feder. Daniel Peterschmidt composed our music, and they mastered this episode. Nadja Oertelt is our Chief Content Officer.

How did a country's name end up inside the word, “serendipity"? And what’s a “syzygy"? And, more importantly, why does it have so many y’s?    Over the past year, several listeners have written to us asking about these two words. Now, we answer—with a little help. Eli Chen and Justine Paradis join us for a round of Diction Dash, where Johanna tries (and usually fails) to guess the correct origin or meaning of a word.  If you want us to cover a word on the show, get in touch! Give us a call, leave a message, and we might play it on the show. The number is 929-499-WORD, or 929-499-9673. Or, you can always send an email to podcasts@sciencefriday.com.  Guests:  Justine Paradis is a reporter and producer for Outside/In from New Hampshire Public Radio.  Eli Chen is senior editor of Overheard at National Geographic.  Footnotes & Further Reading:  More on how a syzygy helped free the Suez ship at the Wall Street Journal Read The Three Princes of Serendip Credits:  Science Diction is produced by Johanna Mayer and Senior Producer and Editor Elah Feder. Daniel Peterschmidt composed all our music. Fact checking by Robin Palmer. Nadja Oertelt is our Chief Content Officer.

Last month, Science Diction received a letter from a listener named Ben. He wanted to know about ambergris, a strange substance that washes up on beaches from time to time. So today, we’re talking about this thing that for centuries, rich people coveted, rubbed on their necks, and even ate, all without having any idea what it really was. If they had known, they might have put their forks right down. Plus, Science Diction now has a phone number! If you, like Ben, want us to cover a certain word, you can call in, leave us a message, and we might play it on the show. Call 929-499-WORD or 929 499 9673. Or send us an email at podcasts@sciencefriday.com. Guest:  Christopher Kemp is the author of Floating Gold: A Natural (and Unnatural) History of Ambergris. Special thanks to Ben Gartner for emailing us and inspiring this episode. Footnotes & Further Reading:  To learn more about ambergris, read Christopher Kemp’s book Floating Gold. Credits:  Science Diction is produced by Johanna Mayer and senior producer Elah Feder. Daniel Peterschmidt is our composer. Robin Palmer helped fact check this episode. Nadja Oertelt is our Chief Content Officer.

A two-fer: (1) A bonus interview with me about the orphan vaccine episode, from a great WNYC podcast called Science Diction. (2) A short episode of Science Diction on Edward Jenner and the very first vaccines. Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brands Privacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy