So, you don?t want colon cancer, but you DO want buttsex secrets? Have we got an episode for you. Coloprotocolgist Dr. Carmen Fong charms us in a brand-new episode about prostate orgasms, shady polyps, fibermaxxing, colon cancer branding, butt plugs, heartburn, douches, bidets, farts, vacation constipation in the nation, ostomy awareness, second sphincters, Crown Jewels, pregnancy agonies, ?roids, fissures, fixes, endometriosis, diverticulitis, IBS, hydrotherapy, a shocking shower revelation, and how a blissful colonoscopy could change and save your life.  

This one pairs great with our Field Trip: My Butt, a Colonoscopy Ride Along and How-To

Visit Dr. Fong?s website and follow her on Instagram and TikTok

Buy her book, Constipation Nation: What To Know When You Can?t Go, on Bookshop.org or Amazon

A donation went to Fight Colorectal Cancer

More episode sources and links

Other episodes you may enjoy: FIELD TRIP: My Butt, a Colonoscopy Ride Along & How-To, Gluteology (BUTTS), Scatology (POOP), Microbiology (GUT BIOME), Urology (CROTCH PARTS), Gynecology (NETHER HEALTH), Radiology (X-RAY VISION), FIELD TRIP: Alie?s Mystery Surgery, Venereology (SEXUALLY TRANSMITTED INFECTIONS), Coffeeology (YEP, COFFEE)

400+ Ologies episodes sorted by topic

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Become a patron of Ologies for as little as a buck a month

OlogiesMerch.com has hats, shirts, hoodies, totes!

Follow Ologies on Instagram and Bluesky

Follow Alie Ward on Instagram and TikTok

Editing by Mercedes Maitland of Maitland Audio Productions and Jake Chaffee

Managing Director: Susan Hale

Scheduling Producer: Noel Dilworth

Transcripts by Aveline Malek 

Website by Kelly R. Dwyer

Theme song by Nick Thorburn

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

Our Culcitology (QUILTS) episode taught you why quilts are agents of rebellion, community, and chill vibes all in one. This bonus episode  will tell you how to start and how to dive into anything creative without freaking out first, featuring advice from Joe Cunningham and Kule Haynes, plus dozens of friendly Ologies listeners/quilters. Cut up some scraps, pick up a needle,  and make something. You never know where it might lead you, and who it could help in the future. Including you, kiddo. 

Luke Haynes Ologies quilt pattern

The quilt Luke made for Alie!

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

Is anything real? How many universes are there? Is everything a simulation being run by a quantum computer through a wormhole from a future era? Is the answer to everything really ... 42? The affable and charming astrophysicist, author and philosopher of tiny particles Dr. Adam Becker pulls up a seat. And enjoy this encore episode as Alie has an existential crisis or two as they discuss the drama, intellectual battles and drunken debates of science past, and the hope that a new era of thinkers will figure out what exactly is going on in the world. Either way: cut bangs and text your crush.

Follow Dr. Adam Becker on BlueSky and Instagram

Purchase his book: What is Real? The Unfinished Quest for the Meaning of Quantum Physics

Or his new book: More Everything Forever: AI Overlords, Space Empires, and Silicon Valley's Crusade to Control the Fate of Humanity

A donation went to Techbridge Girls

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Support Ologies on Patreon for as little as a buck a month

OlogiesMerch.com has hats, shirts, pins, totes!

Follow Ologies on Instagram and Bluesky

Follow Alie Ward on Instagram and TikTok

Sound editing by Jarrett Sleeper of MindJam Media & Steven Ray Morris

Managing Director: Susan Hale

Scheduling Producer: Noel Dilworth 

Transcripts by Aveline Malek

Website by Kelly R. Dwyer

Theme song by Nick Thorburn

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

Scrap quilts. Sewing bees. Secret codes. Political activism. Controversies. Three of your new favorite Culcitologists ? Olivia Joseph, Luke Haynes, and Joe Cunningham ? are stitched together for one mega episode on one of the most underappreciated and widely practiced arts in the world: quilting. We cover donated quilts, galleries vs. linen closets, incarcerated quilters, the ONE person you do not want to enter a fair with, quilting and covid, the Gee?s Bend Alabama quilters who turned modern art criticism on its head, and the icons you need to know about. Also: washing, preserving, appraising, repairing, and enjoying quilts. It?ll change the way you interact with your aunt, your local thrift store, art shows, and your very bed itself. 

Visit Joe?s website and follow him on Instagram, YouTube, and Facebook

Visit Luke?s website and follow him on Instagram

Follow Olivia on LinkedIn

Donations went to the National AIDS Memorial, Visit Gee?s Bend, San Diego Craft Collective, and Crafting the Future

Download the FREE Ologies x Luke Haynes Quilt Pattern PDF

More episode sources and links

Other episodes you may enjoy: Museology (MUSEUMS), Genealogy (FAMILY TREES), Indigenous Fashionology (NATIVE CLOTHING), Cabinology (CABINS), Modern Toichographology (MURALS & STREET ART), Canistrumology (BASKET WEAVING), Mythology (STORYTELLING), Venereology (SEXUALLY TRANSMITTED INFECTIONS)

400+ Ologies episodes sorted by topic

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Transcripts and bleeped episodes

Become a patron of Ologies for as little as a buck a month

OlogiesMerch.com has hats, shirts, hoodies, totes!

Follow Ologies on Instagram and Bluesky

Follow Alie Ward on Instagram and TikTok

Editing by Mercedes Maitland of Maitland Audio Productions and Jake Chaffee

Managing Director: Susan Hale

Scheduling Producer: Noel Dilworth

Transcripts by Aveline Malek 

Website by Kelly R. Dwyer

Theme song by Nick Thorburn

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

Barbs. Spurs. Stinks. Scutes. Shrieks. Fashion. Drama. Animal behaviorist, evolutionary biologist, Cal State Long Beach professor, and your new favorite Zoohoplologist, Dr. Ted Stankowich, divulges about putting your dukes up or curling into a ball so you don?t die. Either/or, sometimes both. I went to his lab down at California State Long Beach, for a tour and a chat about armadillos, skunks, pangolins, horned lizards, wombats, coyotes, kit foxes, poodles, porcupines, tigers, deer and the will to keep living. 

Visit Dr. Stankowich?s Mammal Lab and follow him on Instagram, Bluesky, and Google Scholar

A donation went to the Pangolin Crisis Fund

More episode sources and links

Other episodes you may enjoy: Mammalogy (MAMMALS), Ornithorhynchology (PLATYPUSES), Erethizonology (PORCUPINES), Carnivore Ecology (LIONS, TIGERS, & BEARS), Cervidology (DEER), Myrmecology (ANTS), Paleohistology (WHY TEETH EXIST), Behavioral Ecology (REPRODUCTIVE TRADEOFFS), Screamology (LOUD VOCALIZATIONS), Fearology (FEAR), Vampirology (VAMPIRES)

400+ Ologies episodes sorted by topic

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Transcripts and bleeped episodes

Become a patron of Ologies for as little as a buck a month

OlogiesMerch.com has hats, shirts, hoodies, totes!

Follow Ologies on Instagram and Bluesky

Follow Alie Ward on Instagram and TikTok

Editing by Mercedes Maitland of Maitland Audio Productions and Jake Chaffee

Managing Director: Susan Hale

Scheduling Producer: Noel Dilworth

Transcripts by Aveline Malek 

Website by Kelly R. Dwyer

Theme song by Nick Thorburn

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

In case you missed it, ICYMI stands for In Case Y?all Missed It. And while 2025 was a weird year (not as weird as 2026!) it was filled with some favorite new Ologists and episodes. So since things have been a bit of a busy blur for many of us, we wanted to give you a sampler platter/refresher on some of the best moments of last year?s episode. Because it's not just what we learned, but it?s the friends we made along the way, RIGHT? And if you haven?t heard the full ep, hop over and enjoy it! Or send this to a friend as an intro to Ologies. Either way, kick back for a quick episode with stellar curation. 

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Follow Alie Ward on Instagram and TikTok

Editing by Mercedes Maitland of Maitland Audio Productions and Jake Chaffee

Managing Director: Susan Hale

Scheduling Producer: Noel Dilworth

Transcripts by Aveline Malek 

Website by Kelly R. Dwyer

Theme song by Nick Thorburn

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

You?ve got junk, and we have info. The charming and hilarious researcher, professor, sex-positive health advocate, and author of the science book ?Strange Bedfellows,? Dr. Ina Park, joins to talk about sores, symptoms, muffs, condoms, testing schedules, titillating vaccine developments, miracle medications, Brazilians, HIV magic, stepping out vs. opening up, toilet seats, antibiotics, new scientific shockers about bacterial vaginosis, crotch crickets, conservative obstructions, the secrets of Columbus, and most importantly how to stay horny, true to yourself, and safe. Whether you?re monogamous, open, ace, or dating, she?s giving the advice you need to communicate more openly and have more empathy for the health of friends and strangers. 

Visit Dr. Park?s website and follow her on Instagram

Buy her book, Strange Bedfellows: Adventures in the Science, History, and Surprising Secrets of STDs, on Bookshop.org or Amazon

Donations went to the University of Alabama at Birmingham Dr. C. Kirk Avent Endowed Support Fund and the San Francisco City Clinic

More episode sources and links

Other episodes you may enjoy: Sexology (SEX), Urology (CROTCH PARTS), Phallology (PENISES), Gynecology (NETHER HEALTH), Epidemiology (DISEASES), Biological Anthropology (SEXY APES), Neuroendocrinology (SEX & GENDER), Venusology (VENUS), Carcinology (CRABS), Trichology (HAIR), Eschatology (THE APOCALYPSE)

400+ Ologies episodes sorted by topic

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Transcripts and bleeped episodes

Become a patron of Ologies for as little as a buck a month

OlogiesMerch.com has hats, shirts, hoodies, totes!

Follow Ologies on Instagram and Bluesky

Follow Alie Ward on Instagram and TikTok

Editing by Mercedes Maitland of Maitland Audio Productions and Jake Chaffee

Managing Director: Susan Hale

Scheduling Producer: Noel Dilworth

Transcripts by Aveline Malek 

Website by Kelly R. Dwyer

Theme song by Nick Thorburn

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

Histories, mysteries, memories and families: it?s time to clamber up our ancestral trees. Author and genealogist Stephen Hanks -- who teaches genealogy classes in Portland, Oregon and has contributed to PBS genealogy documentaries -- sits down to chat in this encore episode about what ignited a passion for learning about his own history. Also: how to find your family through census records, county archives, death certificates and more, plus which DNA tests he?s taken, our most recent common ancestor, and how America can try to heal from its past. Also: capes, detectives and hairy fanny packs.

Stephen Hanks books on Bookshop.org and Amazon

A donation went to: BlackPast.org

More episodes to celebrate Black History Month 

400+ Ologies episodes sorted by topic

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Become a patron of Ologies for as little as a buck a month

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Editing by Mercedes Maitland of Maitland Audio Productions and Jake Chaffee

Managing Director: Susan Hale

Scheduling Producer: Noel Dilworth

Transcripts by Aveline Malek 

Website by Kelly R. Dwyer

Theme song by Nick Thorburn

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

Tall ears. Huge teeth. Underestimated wit. And vocalizations that would make a songbird envious. Let?s talk donkeys with researcher and Director at The Donkey Sanctuary, Asinologist Dr. Faith Burden. We cover pop culture donkeys, their road to domestication, how much they can carry, whether you should ever saddle up on a donkey, mule genetics, zoo sexism, how to care for a donkey, what their noises mean, milky baths, emperor gossip, squats versus donkey kicks, and why these beautiful beasts deserve all of our love. 

Follow Dr. Burden on Google Scholar

Visit The Donkey Sanctuary website and follow them on Instagram, TikTok, and YouTube

A donation went to The Donkey Sanctuary

More episode sources and links

Other episodes you may enjoy: Egyptology (ANCIENT EGYPT), Classical Archeology (ANCIENT ROME), Momiology (MUMMIFICATION), Gastroegyptology (BREAD BAKING), Paleohistology (WHY TEETH EXIST), Oreamnology (MOUNTAIN GOATS ARE NOT GOATS), Chickenology (HENS & ROOSTERS), Mammalogy (MAMMALS), Fromology (CHEESE)

400+ Ologies episodes sorted by topic

Smologies (short, classroom-safe) episodes

Sponsors of Ologies

Transcripts and bleeped episodes

Become a patron of Ologies for as little as a buck a month

OlogiesMerch.com has hats, shirts, hoodies, totes!

Follow Ologies on Instagram and Bluesky

Follow Alie Ward on Instagram and TikTok

Editing by Mercedes Maitland of Maitland Audio Productions and Jake Chaffee

Managing Director: Susan Hale

Scheduling Producer: Noel Dilworth

Transcripts by Aveline Malek 

Website by Kelly R. Dwyer

Theme song by Nick Thorburn

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

Excuse me, why do you have teeth? How did they get in your mouth and where did they come from? Let?s ask researcher, tooth enthusiast, and Paleohistologist Dr. Yara Haridy.  She opened up the archives at Chicago?s Field Museum to chat about ancient skulls, drawers of bones, and the evidence that changed how we think about chompers. Drop your jaws as we discuss the origins of teeth, why yours hurt, the long-debated rumors of extinct species, how particle accelerators and paleontology worlds collide, what tools fossil pickers rely on, teeny tiny mysteries, why you should hug a tree before it kills you, and why a catfish might become your overlord. 

Visit Dr. Yara Haridy?s website and follow her on Instagram

A donation went to the Sameer Project

Doodl: Join the Beta!

More episode sources and links

Other episodes you may enjoy: Osteology (SKELETONS/BODY FARMS), Selachimorphology (SHARKS), Elasmobranchology (MORE SHARK STORIES), Paleontology (DINOSAURS), Evolutionary Biology (DARWINISM), Functional Morphology (ANATOMY), Genicular Traumatology (BAD KNEES), Castorology (BEAVERS), Urban Rodentology (SEWER RATS), Biomineralogy (SHELLS), Scorpiology (SCORPIONS), Garology (LONG CUTE ANCIENT PATIENT BOOPABLE NIGHTMARE FISH)

400+ Ologies episodes sorted by topic

Smologies (short, classroom-safe) episodes

Sponsors of Ologies

Transcripts and bleeped episodes

Become a patron of Ologies for as little as a buck a month

OlogiesMerch.com has hats, shirts, hoodies, totes!

Follow Ologies on Instagram and Bluesky

Follow Alie Ward on Instagram and TikTok

Editing by Mercedes Maitland of Maitland Audio Productions and Jake Chaffee

Managing Director: Susan Hale

Scheduling Producer: Noel Dilworth

Transcripts by Aveline Malek 

Website by Kelly R. Dwyer

Theme song by Nick Thorburn

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

Tongue twisters. Frosty holidays. Scandals. Big ol? rodent butts. Let?s talk groundhogs with UCLA conservationist, field biologist, professor and Marmotologist, Dr. Daniel Blumstein. We cover what broadly is a marmot, the Buddhism and paganism of the midwinter slump, marmot parenthood, what they are singing into the wind, how to co-exist with one in your garden, why they don't get stressed about holiday bingeing, the real estate layout of a groundhog lair, how and why we celebrate Groundhog Day, romantic advice you should not take from a marmot, what to do if you want a marmot as a pet, why their blood boggled science, and the wandering etymology behind their aliases. It?s an episode you?ll want to hear over and over. And over. And over. And over. 

Visit the Blumstein Lab and follow Dr. Blumstein on Google Scholar

A donation went to the Rocky Mountain Biological Laboratory

More episode sources and links

Other episodes you may enjoy: Sciuridology (SQUIRRELS), Hydrochoerology (CAPYBARAS), Castorology (BEAVERS), Erethizonology (PORCUPINES), Urban Rodentology (SEWER RATS), Mammalogy (MAMMALS), Procyonology (RACCOONS), Lutrinology (OTTERS), Urocyonology (LITTLE GRAY FOXES), Witchology (WITCHES & WITCHCRAFT), Thermophysiology (BODY HEAT), Acarology (TICKS), Vampirology (VAMPIRES), Environmental Toxicology (POISONS + TRAIN DERAILMENT), Road Ecology (ROAD KILL)

400+ Ologies episodes sorted by topic

Smologies (short, classroom-safe) episodes

Sponsors of Ologies

Transcripts and bleeped episodes

Become a patron of Ologies for as little as a buck a month

OlogiesMerch.com has hats, shirts, hoodies, totes!

Follow Ologies on Instagram and Bluesky

Follow Alie Ward on Instagram and TikTok

Editing by Mercedes Maitland of Maitland Audio Productions and Jake Chaffee

Managing Director: Susan Hale

Scheduling Producer: Noel Dilworth

Transcripts by Aveline Malek 

Website by Kelly R. Dwyer

Theme song by Nick Thorburn

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

Gassy veils! Orange sunlight! Alien life? It?s the sole goddess of our solar system: Venus. And to tour us through her beauty is the charming and enthusiastic planetary geologist and Venusian expert Dr. Vickie Hansen, a Senior Scientist at the Planetary Science Institute. In what is sure to become an instant classic, Vickie will delight you with tales of space probes past and future, dazzling terrain, myths, melting machinery, ?noodle data,? analogues to Earth, tectonic misconceptions, and reactions to self-help books that capitalize on our solar geography. Also: what does Venus smell like? 

Donations went to the Planetary Science Institute and the Nature Conservancy

More episode sources and links: alieward.com/ologies/venusology

Jan. 15, 2026: "Bad Art for Good" Los Angeles event tickets

Other episodes you may enjoy: Heliology (THE SUN/ECLIPSES), Areology (MARS), Astrobiology (ALIENS), Cosmology (THE UNIVERSE), Selenology (THE MOON), Mythology (STORYTELLING), Astrobromatology (SPACE FOOD), Black Hole Theory Cosmology (WHAT ARE BLACK HOLES?!), Scotohylology (DARK MATTER), UFOlogy (UNEXPLAINED AERIAL PHENOMENA), Space Archaeology (SPACE JUNK), Quantum Ontology (WHAT IS REAL?)

400+ Ologies episodes sorted by topic

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Transcripts and bleeped episodes

Become a patron of Ologies for as little as a buck a month

OlogiesMerch.com has hats, shirts, hoodies, totes!

Follow Ologies on Instagram and Bluesky

Follow Alie Ward on Instagram and TikTok

Editing by Mercedes Maitland of Maitland Audio Productions and Jake Chaffee

Managing Director: Susan Hale

Scheduling Producer: Noel Dilworth

Transcripts by Aveline Malek 

Website by Kelly R. Dwyer

Theme song by Nick Thorburn

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

Did Part 1 leave you informed and now you need a pep talk? Get ready for an absolute banger of an encore episode with 5 experts: René Brooks of BlackGirlLostKeys.com, TEDTalk speaker and How to ADHD YouTuber Jessica McCabe and neuroscientist Dr. Jahla Osborne of University of Michigan. What is it like to get diagnosed? How do you know which medication ? if any ? is right for you? Why is there such a spike in ADHD diagnoses during the pandemic? Autism and ADHD: what?s the deal? What accommodations should a person ask for? How can you have a strong relationship with one (or more) ADHD brains? What if your boyfriend juggles flaming swords for fun? Sure there are tips and tricks, but get ready for the pep talk and self-acceptance honestly everyone needs to hear. Plus: two cameos from past Ologists: Dr. Tiara Moore (Forensic Ecology) and Dr. Adam Becker (Quantum Ontology). Oh, and how this relates to Alie?s own Dadbrain. HERE WE GO.

Start with Part 1 with Dr. Russell Barkley 

René Brooks of Black Girl Lost Keys on Bluesky, Instagram and Facebook

Jessica McCabe of How to ADHD on Instagram, YouTube and TikTok

Jahla Osborne on Google Scholar and Instagram

And check out these previous episodes with our cameo guests: Forensic Ecology (NATURE DETECTIVE) with Dr. Tiara Moore, Quantum Ontology (WHAT IS REAL?) with Adam Becker

More episode sources and links

Other episodes you might enjoy: Obsessive-Compulsive Neurobiology (OCD), Bonus Episode: The OCD Experience, Somnology (SLEEP), Chronobiology (CIRCADIAN RHYTHMS), Volitional Psychology (PROCRASTINATION), Sports & Performance Psychology (ANXIETY & CONFIDENCE), Personality Psychology (PERSONALITIES), Molecular Neurobiology (BRAIN CHEMICALS), Mnemonology (MEMORY), Traumatology (PTSD)

400+ Ologies episodes sorted by topic

Smologies (short, classroom-safe) episodes

Sponsors of Ologies

Transcripts and bleeped episodes

Become a patron of Ologies for as little as a buck a month

OlogiesMerch.com has hats, shirts, hoodies, totes!

Follow Ologies on Instagram and Bluesky

Follow Alie Ward on Instagram and TikTok

Editing by Mercedes Maitland of Maitland Audio Productions and Jake Chaffee

Managing Director: Susan Hale

Scheduling Producer: Noel Dilworth

Transcripts by Aveline Malek 

Website by Kelly R. Dwyer

Theme song by Nick Thorburn

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

Focus. Productivity. Relationships. Distraction. Neurodiversity. How do you know if you have ADHD? How can you get others to understand your ADHD brain? What are your treatment options and how can they help? In this encore of our wildly popular Part 1 episode, we talk racing thoughts, brilliant brains and the causes and effects of Attention-Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder with the world?s leading expert, Dr. Russell Barkley who is A BIG DEAL. Psychologist, retired professor of clinical psychiatry, author and speaker, Dr. Barkley has a personal connection to ADHD and has studied it for nearly 40 years. Is it all cute quirks? Nope. It?s serious business. But next week, we?ll hear about tips and tricks and self-love from 3 more experts ? Jessica McCabe of How to ADHD, René Brooks of Black Girl Lost Keys and ADHD researcher Dr. Jahla Osborne. I?M TRYING NOT TO USE A BUNCH OF EXCLAMATION POINTS. It?s exciting. 

Dr. Russell Barkley?s website dedicated to education and research on ADHD

Dr. Barkley?s book: Taking Charge of Adult ADHD

Additional books and papers by Dr. Barkley

Dr. Barkley?s seminar: 30 Essential Ideas you should know about ADHD

Donations were made to CHADD and Partners in Health

More episode sources and links

Other episodes you might enjoy: Obsessive-Compulsive Neurobiology (OCD), Bonus Episode: The OCD Experience, Somnology (SLEEP), Chronobiology (CIRCADIAN RHYTHMS), Volitional Psychology (PROCRASTINATION), Sports & Performance Psychology (ANXIETY & CONFIDENCE), Personality Psychology (PERSONALITIES), Molecular Neurobiology (BRAIN CHEMICALS), Mnemonology (MEMORY), Traumatology (PTSD)

400+ Ologies episodes sorted by topic

Smologies (short, classroom-safe) episodes

Sponsors of Ologies

Transcripts and bleeped episodes

Become a patron of Ologies for as little as a buck a month

OlogiesMerch.com has hats, shirts, hoodies, totes!

Follow Ologies on Instagram and Bluesky

Follow Alie Ward on Instagram and TikTok

Editing by Mercedes Maitland of Maitland Audio Productions and Jake Chaffee

Managing Director: Susan Hale

Scheduling Producer: Noel Dilworth

Transcripts by Aveline Malek 

Website by Kelly R. Dwyer

Theme song by Nick Thorburn

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

Duck bills. Beaver tails. Underground lairs. Eggs. Milk. Venom? A platypus has it all. Scholar, conservationist, and Ornithorhynchologist Dr. Tahneal Hawke is here to run through the baffling anatomy and answer all of our WHAT?S THE DEAL, WHAT EVEN *ARE* THEY questions, and chat about field work, evolution, how to spot a platypus, why you can?t have one in your bathtub, and myths about platypus espionage. Also, a platypus might be sexier than you. 

Follow Dr. Hawke on Instagram and Google Scholar

A donation went to the Platypus Conservation Initiative

Pods Fight Poverty is raising money for Rwandan families via GiveDirectly.org/ologies

More episode sources and links

Other episodes you may enjoy: Mammalogy (MAMMALS), Oology (EGGS), Dasyurology (TASMANIAN DEVILS), Lutrinology (OTTERS), Castorology (BEAVERS), Evolutionary Biology (DARWINISM), Chickenology (HENS & ROOSTERS)

400+ Ologies episodes sorted by topic

Smologies (short, classroom-safe) episodes

Sponsors of Ologies

Transcripts and bleeped episodes

Become a patron of Ologies for as little as a buck a month

OlogiesMerch.com has hats, shirts, hoodies, totes!

Follow Ologies on Instagram and Bluesky

Follow Alie Ward on Instagram and TikTok

Editing by Mercedes Maitland of Maitland Audio Productions and Jake Chaffee

Managing Director: Susan Hale

Scheduling Producer: Noel Dilworth

Transcripts by Aveline Malek 

Website by Kelly R. Dwyer

Theme song by Nick Thorburn

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

The microbiome is back! In 2018, we chatted with Dr. Elaine Hsiao - a UCLA microbiome researcher? and learned all about the hot cauldron of your guts. In this 2025 update bonus, we chat again with Dr. Hsiao to get updates on the last 7 years of her research. We also stop by White Plains, New York to hang out with Dr. Miguel Freitas, lead nutritional microbiologist and director of the non-profit Danone Institute North America, and ask a million questions about good vs bad microbiota, how they simulate a human gut in a lab, what exactly is a pre-biotic vs. probiotic, why are they such good friends, how diet can impact not only your gut health but also your heart and your brain ? and if friendly yogurt critters are robust enough to make the journey from your mouth to your toilet. 

 Browse Dr. Freitas?s publications on ResearchGate

Visit the Hsiao Lab at UCLA and follow Dr. Hsiao on Google Scholar

Donations went to GiveDirectly.org/ologies and the Los Angeles Regional Food Bank

More episode sources and links

Other episodes you may enjoy: Microbiology (GUT BIOME), Molecular Neurobiology (BRAIN CHEMICALS), Fromology (CHEESE), Scatology (POOP), Gustology (TASTE), Cardiology (THE HEART)

400+ Ologies episodes sorted by topic

Smologies (short, classroom-safe) episodes

Sponsors of Ologies

Transcripts and bleeped episodes

Become a patron of Ologies for as little as a buck a month

OlogiesMerch.com has hats, shirts, hoodies, totes!

Follow Ologies on Instagram and Bluesky

Follow Alie Ward on Instagram and TikTok

Editing by Mercedes Maitland of Maitland Audio Productions, Jake Chaffee, and Jarrett Sleeper of Mindjam Media

Managing Director: Susan Hale

Scheduling Producer: Noel Dilworth

Transcripts by Aveline Malek 

Website by Kelly R. Dwyer

Theme song by Nick Thorburn

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

Dehydrated eggs. Airborne tortillas. Pouches of chicken. Tang. Work up an appetite for space food with artist, designer and Astrobromatologist, Maggie Coblentz. She shares how the intersection of design and science led her skyward, doing experiments on zero G flights, and shipping miso into space. We also talk Martian gardening, stinky roommates, booze bans, contraband corned beef, velcro fatigue, the ethics of space tourism, how to make barbecued wings in orbit, and addressing the conspiracy of astronaut ice cream. 

Visit Maggie?s website and follow her on Instagram

A donation went to AstroAccess

Pods Fight Poverty is raising money for Rwandan families via GiveDirectly.org/ologies

More episode sources and links

Other episodes you may enjoy: Cosmology (THE UNIVERSE), Areology (MARS), Selenology (THE MOON), Entomophagy Anthropology (EATING BUGS), Futurology (THE FUTURE), Gustology (TASTE), Gastroegyptology (BREAD BAKING), Microbiology (GUT BIOME)

400+ Ologies episodes sorted by topic

Smologies (short, classroom-safe) episodes

Sponsors of Ologies

Transcripts and bleeped episodes

Become a patron of Ologies for as little as a buck a month

OlogiesMerch.com has hats, shirts, hoodies, totes!

Follow Ologies on Instagram and Bluesky

Follow Alie Ward on Instagram and TikTok

Editing by Mercedes Maitland of Maitland Audio Productions and Jake Chaffee

Managing Director: Susan Hale

Scheduling Producer: Noel Dilworth

Transcripts by Aveline Malek 

Website by Kelly R. Dwyer

Theme song by Nick Thorburn

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

Fronds. Forest dwellers. Spores. Houseplants. Queer icons. We?ve got ferns. The charming and hilarious professor and author of ?Ferns: Lessons in Survival from Earth?s Most Adaptable Plants,? Dr. Fay-Wei Li, tells me all about fern evolution, what ferns not to have in your house, the most expensive ferns, the tastiest ferns, mathematical mysteries, and a genome that makes no sense, to me or a lot of Pteridologists. Also, can Between Two Ferns save science? This episode is, in Fay-Wei?s words, ?ferntastic.?

Visit Dr. Li?s lab website and follow him on Google Scholar

Buy his book, Ferns: Lessons in Survival from Earth?s Most Adaptable Plants, on Bookshop.org or Amazon

A donation went to the ASPT Herbarium Emergency Fund

More episode sources and links

Other episodes you may enjoy: Bryology (MOSS), Domestic Phytology (HOUSEPLANTS), Neuroendocrinology (SEX & GENDER), Paleontology (DINOSAURS), Foraging Ecology (EATING WILD PLANTS, Ethnoecology (ETHNOBOTANY/NATIVE PLANTS), Dendrology (TREES), Myrmecology (ANTS), Forest Entomology (CREEPY CRAWLIES)

400+ Ologies episodes sorted by topic

Smologies (short, classroom-safe) episodes

Sponsors of Ologies

Transcripts and bleeped episodes

Become a patron of Ologies for as little as a buck a month

OlogiesMerch.com has hats, shirts, hoodies, totes!

Follow Ologies on Instagram and Bluesky

Follow Alie Ward on Instagram and TikTok

Editing by Mercedes Maitland of Maitland Audio Productions and Jake Chaffee

Managing Director: Susan Hale

Scheduling Producer: Noel Dilworth

Transcripts by Aveline Malek 

Website by Kelly R. Dwyer

Theme song by Nick Thorburn

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

Note: if you haven?t already heard it, please start with our original, May 2024 episode with Dr. Moses: 

Genocidology (CRIMES OF ATROCITY) Part 1

A lot has happened since then, and author, scholar and genocide expert Dr. Dirk Moses was kind enough to return for a 2025 episode. We cover how public and legal sentiment has changed since our first episode, and discuss his recent paper, ?Introduction: Gaza and the Problems of Genocide Studies,? which includes a roundtable discussion with dozens of experts. Also: some behind-the-scenes influences regarding Gaza in the media, humanitarian law precedents, munitions and the Geneva Conventions, myths, the problems surrounding the language of transgression, new research, up-to-date statistics, and how protests have been criminalized. 

Like that first Genocide episode, this one would not be possible without the input, research, producing, and additional writing of Mercedes Maitland, who joined me on this interview once again with her questions for our expert. So, huge thanks to her for that passion, hard work, and tireless advocacy for human rights. 

Donations went to Gaza Hand of Salvation Initiative and the City College of New York Colin Powell School ? Student Emergency Fund

Visit Dr. Dirk Moses?s website

Read his book, ?The Problems of Genocide: Permanent Security and the Language of Transgression?

More episode sources and links

Smologies (short, classroom-safe) episodes

Other episodes you may enjoy: 

Genocidology (CRIMES OF ATROCITY) Part 1, Agnotology (IGNORANCE), Genealogy (FAMILY TREES), Nomology (THE CONSTITUTION), Indigenous Fire Ecology (GOOD FIRE),  Indigenous Cuisinology (NATIVE FOODS), Indigenous Pedology (SOIL SCIENCE),  Ethnoecology (ETHNOBOTANY/NATIVE PLANTS), Bryology (MOSS), Black American Magirology (FOOD, RACE & CULTURE), Bisonology (BISON)

400+ Ologies episodes sorted by topic

Smologies (short, classroom-safe) episodes

Sponsors of Ologies

Transcripts and bleeped episodes

Become a patron of Ologies for as little as a buck a month

OlogiesMerch.com has hats, shirts, hoodies, totes!

Follow Ologies on Instagram and Bluesky

Follow Alie Ward on Instagram and TikTok

Editing by Mercedes Maitland of Maitland Audio Productions, Jake Chaffee, and Jarrett Sleeper of MindJam Media

Additional producing, writing, and research by Mercedes Maitland

Managing Director: Susan Hale

Scheduling Producer: Noel Dilworth 

Transcripts by Aveline Malek

Website by Kelly R. Dwyer

Theme song by Nick Thorburn

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

Bison bison! Not just something to holler into the sky, but also the scientific name for North America's majestic wild bovines. In this encore, we explore a beast that once roamed the plains in the tens of millions. What's up with their humps? On what occasion do they wear capes? What noises do they make? How many are out there? What are the best ways to help them? In this special episode, you get 4x the usual number of ologists as we talk to archeologist Dr. Ken Cannon, wildlife biologist Dr. Dan McNulty, Alie's cousin Boyd and his wife Lila Evans, of the Blackfeet Tribe, who are bison ranchers based in Northern Montana. Also, once and for all: is it buffalo or bison? And can Alie hug one?

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

We?re back with Dr. R.J. ?Rocky? Gutiérrez to answer listeners? questions on owls. How much wisdom lies behind those big, immovable eyes? Are owls good or bad omens? What?s their proclivity for snatching hats? Is The Staircase owl theory plausible? Is it ok to hoot back at them? What do you mean one of their toes is reversible? This episode?s got the answers, plus info on owl migration, conservation, burrowing, disco dancing, and more.

Follow Dr. Gutiérrez on Google Scholar

Donations went to the International Owl Center and Northcoast Environmental Center

More episode sources and links

Other episodes you may enjoy: Ornithology (BIRDS), FIELD TRIP: Birds of Prey and Raptor Facts, Condorology (CONDORS & VULTURES), Plumology (FEATHERS), Corvid Thanatology (CROW FUNERALS), Chickenology (HENS & ROOSTERS), Columbidology (PIGEONS? YES), Ophthalmology (EYES), Lutrinology (OTTERS), Lemurology (LEMURS), Procyonology (RACCOONS), Opossumology (O/POSSUMS), Scatology (POOP)

400+ Ologies episodes sorted by topic

Smologies (short, classroom-safe) episodes

Sponsors of Ologies

Transcripts and bleeped episodes

Become a patron of Ologies for as little as a buck a month

OlogiesMerch.com has hats, shirts, hoodies, totes!

Follow Ologies on Instagram and Bluesky

Follow Alie Ward on Instagram and TikTok

Editing by Mercedes Maitland of Maitland Audio Productions and Jake Chaffee

Managing Director: Susan Hale

Scheduling Producer: Noel Dilworth

Transcripts by Aveline Malek 

Website by Kelly R. Dwyer

Theme song by Nick Thorburn

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

OWLS. FINALLY. In no particular order: what?s up with their eyes, legs, hoots, feathers, silent flight, nests, folklore, necks, barfs, conservation status, and omens? Go take a walk or sit on a porch in the dusk and make friends with Rocky. Dr. R.J. ?Rocky? Gutiérrez is a celebrated researcher, Professor Emeritus at the University of Minnesota, a legend in the owl world, and simply one of the loveliest ologists. He?ll take us on a trip next to a river, scrambling up some trees, over rocky terrain and through the forest to learn why owls are so magnetic. Yeah, I called owls the best bird. Not backing down. 

Follow Dr. Gutiérrez on Google Scholar

Donations went to the International Owl Center and Northcoast Environmental Center

More episode sources and links

Other episodes you may enjoy: Ornithology (BIRDS), FIELD TRIP: Birds of Prey and Raptor Facts, Condorology (CONDORS & VULTURES), Plumology (FEATHERS), Corvid Thanatology (CROW FUNERALS), Chickenology (HENS & ROOSTERS), Columbidology (PIGEONS? YES), Ophthalmology (EYES), Lutrinology (OTTERS), Lemurology (LEMURS), Procyonology (RACCOONS), Opossumology (O/POSSUMS), Scatology (POOP)

400+ Ologies episodes sorted by topic

Smologies (short, classroom-safe) episodes

Sponsors of Ologies

Transcripts and bleeped episodes

Become a patron of Ologies for as little as a buck a month

OlogiesMerch.com has hats, shirts, hoodies, totes!

Follow Ologies on Instagram and Bluesky

Follow Alie Ward on Instagram and TikTok

Editing by Mercedes Maitland of Maitland Audio Productions and Jake Chaffee

Managing Director: Susan Hale

Scheduling Producer: Noel Dilworth

Transcripts by Aveline Malek 

Website by Kelly R. Dwyer

Theme song by Nick Thorburn

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

Metal poisons. Odorless ones. Toxic plants. Iocane powder, arsenic, old lace, poisons as self-defense, black mirrors, Aqua Tofanas, movie myths, and the start of testing for that which ails or kills you: we?ve got Historical Toxicology with Pulitzer Prize-winning science author & chemistry connoisseur Deborah Blum. She wrote the beloved ?Poisoner's Handbook: Murder and the Birth of Forensic Medicine in Jazz Age New York? and takes us through a spooky walk in time, when chemistry was magic and homicide was an easier feat.

Visit Deborah Blum?s website and follow her on Instagram

Buy her books including The Poison Squad and The Poisoner?s Handbook on Amazon or Bookshop.org

Donations went to World Central Kitchen and Earthjustice

More episode sources and links

Other episodes you may enjoy: Spooktober: Topics to Startle and Love, Toxinology (JELLYFISH VENOM), Medusology (JELLYFISH), Alligator Ecotoxicology (GATOR POISONS), Environmental Toxicology (POISONS + TRAIN DERAILMENT), Conotoxinology (CONE SNAIL VENOM), Scorpiology (SCORPIONS), Kalology (BEAUTY STANDARDS), Victimology (CRIME VICTIMS), Witchology (WITCHES & WITCHCRAFT), Mycology (MUSHROOMS), Foraging Ecology (EATING WILD PLANTS)

400+ Ologies episodes sorted by topic

Smologies (short, classroom-safe) episodes

Sponsors of Ologies

Transcripts and bleeped episodes

Become a patron of Ologies for as little as a buck a month

OlogiesMerch.com has hats, shirts, hoodies, totes!

Follow Ologies on Instagram and Bluesky

Follow Alie Ward on Instagram and TikTok

Editing by Mercedes Maitland of Maitland Audio Productions and Jake Chaffee

Managing Director: Susan Hale

Scheduling Producer: Noel Dilworth

Transcripts by Aveline Malek 

Website by Kelly R. Dwyer

Theme song by Nick Thorburn

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

What is evil? Who is evil? Does evil exist? Who decides? Can we scream over turkey at grandma?s house? Let?s chat Critical Ponerology with scholar, professor, author of Evil: A Critical Primer, and a gem of a person, Dr. Kenneth MacKendrick of the University of Manitoba. He?s been teaching courses on the notion of evil for 25 years and it?s a much deeper rabbit hole than you?d ever expect. So rub your fingers together and enjoy a discussion about different cultural approaches to evil, if your toddler is evil, vampires, angry mobs seeking vigilante justice, news personalities saying unhinged things, and subjects vs. objects. Also: why you should be nicer to your coffee table. 

Get Dr. MacKendrick?s book, Evil: A Critical Primer, on Amazon or Bookshop.org

A donation went to North Point Douglas Women?s Centre

More episode sources and links

Smologies (short, classroom-safe) episodes

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

400+ Ologies episodes sorted by topic

Smologies (short, classroom-safe) episodes

Sponsors of Ologies

Transcripts and bleeped episodes

Become a patron of Ologies for as little as a buck a month

OlogiesMerch.com has hats, shirts, hoodies, totes!

Follow Ologies on Instagram and Bluesky

Follow Alie Ward on Instagram and TikTok

Editing by Mercedes Maitland of Maitland Audio Productions and Jake Chaffee

Managing Director: Susan Hale

Scheduling Producer: Noel Dilworth

Transcripts by Aveline Malek 

Website by Kelly R. Dwyer

Theme song by Nick Thorburn

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

Cockroach milk for Spooktober. STAY HERE. Don?t tell me you like haunted houses and slasher films but can?t listen to a lovely conversation about how cockroaches make milk to feed their young. It?s one of the most nutritious substances on Earth, and I own some. Sort of. Coem along for a brief and enthralling discussion from two researchers, Dr. Joshua Benoit and Dr. Sinead English, all about why and how some insects give live birth and nurse their young. What does it taste like? Will we replicate it for barista use? And why didn?t I get to eat any on TV? 

Watch Alie with bugs on her Tonight Show segment

Blattodeology (COCKROACHES) episode with Dr. Dominic Evangelista

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

More cockroach sources and links

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

400+ Ologies episodes sorted by topic

Smologies (short, classroom-safe) episodes

Sponsors of Ologies

Transcripts and bleeped episodes

Become a patron of Ologies for as little as a buck a month

OlogiesMerch.com has hats, shirts, hoodies, totes!

Follow Ologies on Instagram and Bluesky

Follow Alie Ward on Instagram and TikTok

Produced by Mercedes Maitland of Maitland Audio Productions

Editing by Mercedes Maitland and Jake Chaffee

Managing Director: Susan Hale

Scheduling Producer: Noel Dilworth

Transcripts by Aveline Malek 

Website by Kelly R. Dwyer

Theme song by Nick Thorburn

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

Dazzling colors. Remote habitats. Gentle parenting. Fantastic genitalia. And yeah, swimming through sewers to surprise you. It?s cockroaches and I promise you will find something to love about them in this chat with cockroach evangelist and Blattodeologist Dr. Dominic Evangelista. Which are the prettiest? Are roaches better at raising kids than you? How do roach scientists feel about the ones in kitchens? How does one catch a cockroach in a dark rainforest? Can roaches pull a Ratatouille and steal our hearts with a casserole? Dominic explains it all. I swear they can be lovable, OKAY?

Visit Dr. Evangelista?s Roach Brain Lab and follow him on iNaturalist and Google Scholar

A donation went to Teach for America and Entomologists of Color

More episode sources and links

Other episodes you may enjoy: 

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

400+ Ologies episodes sorted by topic

Smologies (short, classroom-safe) episodes

Sponsors of Ologies

Transcripts and bleeped episodes

Become a patron of Ologies for as little as a buck a month

OlogiesMerch.com has hats, shirts, hoodies, totes!

Follow Ologies on Instagram and Bluesky

Follow Alie Ward on Instagram and TikTok

Editing by Mercedes Maitland of Maitland Audio Productions and Jake Chaffee

Managing Director: Susan Hale

Scheduling Producer: Noel Dilworth

Transcripts by Aveline Malek 

Website by Kelly R. Dwyer

Theme song by Nick Thorburn

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

A donation went to the Alliance for the Great Lakes

More episode sources and links

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

400+ Ologies episodes sorted by topic

Smologies (short, classroom-safe) episodes

Sponsors of Ologies

Transcripts and bleeped episodes

Become a patron of Ologies for as little as a buck a month

OlogiesMerch.com has hats, shirts, hoodies, totes!

Follow Ologies on Instagram and Bluesky

Follow Alie Ward on Instagram and TikTok

Editing by Mercedes Maitland of Maitland Audio Productions and Jake Chaffee

Managing Director: Susan Hale

Scheduling Producer: Noel Dilworth

Transcripts by Aveline Malek 

Website by Kelly R. Dwyer

Theme song by Nick Thorburn

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

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

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

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

More episode sources and links

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

400+ Ologies episodes sorted by topic

Smologies (short, classroom-safe) episodes

Sponsors of Ologies

Transcripts and bleeped episodes

Become a patron of Ologies for as little as a buck a month

OlogiesMerch.com has hats, shirts, hoodies, totes!

Follow Ologies on Instagram and Bluesky

Follow Alie Ward on Instagram and TikTok

Editing by Mercedes Maitland of Maitland Audio Productions and Jake Chaffee

Managing Director: Susan Hale

Scheduling Producer: Noel Dilworth

Transcripts by Aveline Malek 

Website by Kelly R. Dwyer

Theme song by Nick Thorburn

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

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

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

Follow Dr. Goldstone on Google Scholar

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

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

More episode sources and links

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

400+ Ologies episodes sorted by topic

Smologies (short, classroom-safe) episodes

Sponsors of Ologies

Transcripts and bleeped episodes

Become a patron of Ologies for as little as a buck a month

OlogiesMerch.com has hats, shirts, hoodies, totes!

Follow Ologies on Instagram and Bluesky

Follow Alie Ward on Instagram and TikTok

Editing by Mercedes Maitland of Maitland Audio Productions and Jake Chaffee

Managing Director: Susan Hale

Scheduling Producer: Noel Dilworth

Transcripts by Aveline Malek 

Website by Kelly R. Dwyer

Theme song by Nick Thorburn

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

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

Visit Mary Roach?s website and follow her on Instagram

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

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

More episode sources and links

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

400+ Ologies episodes sorted by topic

Smologies (short, classroom-safe) episodes

Sponsors of Ologies

Transcripts and bleeped episodes

Become a patron of Ologies for as little as a buck a month

OlogiesMerch.com has hats, shirts, hoodies, totes!

Follow Ologies on Instagram and Bluesky

Follow Alie Ward on Instagram and TikTok

Editing by Mercedes Maitland of Maitland Audio Productions and Jake Chaffee

Managing Director: Susan Hale

Scheduling Producer: Noel Dilworth

Transcripts by Aveline Malek 

Website by Kelly R. Dwyer

Theme song by Nick Thorburn

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

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

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

Donations went to Cancer Research UK and Little Lifts

More episode sources and links

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

400+ Ologies episodes sorted by topic

Smologies (short, classroom-safe) episodes

Sponsors of Ologies

Transcripts and bleeped episodes

Become a patron of Ologies for as little as a buck a month

OlogiesMerch.com has hats, shirts, hoodies, totes!

Follow Ologies on Instagram and Bluesky

Follow Alie Ward on Instagram and TikTok

Editing by Mercedes Maitland of Maitland Audio Productions and Jake Chaffee

Managing Director: Susan Hale

Scheduling Producer: Noel Dilworth

Transcripts by Aveline Malek 

Website by Kelly R. Dwyer

Theme song by Nick Thorburn

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

Neurons. Immune systems. MRIs. Weed gummies? One of the greats in neurology, Dr. Aaron Boster, takes time to chat all about Multiple Sclerosis, a neurological autoimmune disease close to our hearts. Alie?s mom, your grammapod a.k.a. Fancy Nancy, was diagnosed with MS over two decades ago, and this episode explores in depth the factors that can cause MS, therapies that do ? and don?t ?  show promise, how diet, exercise and mindfulness actually can help folks who have MS, the oftentimes agonizing journey to a diagnosis, and advice for those who?ve MS for a while ? or are newly in the community. Also: yeah, weed. 

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

A donation went to MS Views and News

More episode sources and links

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

400+ Ologies episodes sorted by topic

Smologies (short, classroom-safe) episodes

Sponsors of Ologies

Transcripts and bleeped episodes

Become a patron of Ologies for as little as a buck a month

OlogiesMerch.com has hats, shirts, hoodies, totes!

Follow Ologies on Instagram and Bluesky

Follow Alie Ward on Instagram and TikTok

Editing by Mercedes Maitland of Maitland Audio Productions and Jake Chaffee

Managing Director: Susan Hale

Scheduling Producer: Noel Dilworth

Transcripts by Aveline Malek 

Website by Kelly R. Dwyer

Theme song by Nick Thorburn

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

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

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

A donation was made to SeaOtterSavvy.org

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

400+ Ologies episodes sorted by topic

Smologies (short, classroom-safe) episodes

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Transcripts and bleeped episodes

Become a patron of Ologies for as little as a buck a month

OlogiesMerch.com has hats, shirts, hoodies, totes!

Follow Ologies on Instagram and Bluesky

Follow Alie Ward on Instagram and TikTok

Editing by by Jarrett Sleeper of MindJam Media, Mercedes Maitland of Maitland Audio Productions, and Jake Chaffee

Managing Director: Susan Hale

Scheduling Producer: Noel Dilworth

Transcripts by Aveline Malek 

Website by Kelly R. Dwyer

Theme song by Nick Thorburn

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

Train tracks. Split decisions. And a philosophy humdinger worth debating. Dr. Joshua Greene is a Harvard Psychology professor, neuroscientist, and *actual* Trolleyologist. The moral humdinger that has been used in everything from Supreme Court decisions to board games looks at: What makes you a good person? How do you reason with people who make you scream into a jar like Yosemite Sam? How far would you go to save others? Which charities should get your money? What is active versus passive harm? And what would a monk do? Also: how neurodivergence influences moral decisions, religion used as a moral compass, and your new favorite skeleton on the planet. 

Visit Dr. Greene?s website, his charity platform Giving Multiplier, and his online quiz game Tango

Buy his book, Moral Tribes: Emotion, Reason, and the Gap Between Us and Them, on Bookshop.org or Amazon

A donation went to Giving Multiplier

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Other episodes you may enjoy: Eudemonology (HAPPINESS), Genocidology (CRIMES OF ATROCITY), Obsessive-Compulsive Neurobiology (OCD), Bonus Episode: The OCD Experience, Artificial Intelligence Ethicology (WILL A.I. CRASH OUT?), Attention-Deficit Neuropsychology (ADHD), Suicidology (SUICIDE PREVENTION & AWARENESS), Dolorology (PAIN), Molecular Neurobiology (BRAIN CHEMICALS), Personality Psychology (PERSONALITIES), Ferroequinology (TRAINS)

400+ Ologies episodes sorted by topic

Smologies (short, classroom-safe) episodes

Sponsors of Ologies

Transcripts and bleeped episodes

Become a patron of Ologies for as little as a buck a month

OlogiesMerch.com has hats, shirts, hoodies, totes!

Follow Ologies on Instagram and Bluesky

Follow Alie Ward on Instagram and TikTok

Editing by Mercedes Maitland of Maitland Audio Productions and Jake Chaffee

Managing Director: Susan Hale

Scheduling Producer: Noel Dilworth

Transcripts by Aveline Malek 

Website by Kelly R. Dwyer

Theme song by Nick Thorburn

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

The info storm continues! Part 1 covered the anatomy of a cyclonic storm, the bizarre histories behind the category system, and where hurricanes come from, but this week?s conclusion with Matt Lanza and Dr. Kim Wood gets you covered on emergency preparation for any disaster occasion, climate change trends and despair, the latest on the government funding drama, if you should trust a waffle house more than a weather person, and literally what is on the horizon in the future. Also: Sharpiegate. 

Read Matt Lanza?s tropical weather forecasts at The Eyewall and Houston-based forecasts at Space City Weather

Follow Matt Lanza on Instagram and Bluesky

Visit Dr. Wood?s website and follow them on Google Scholar and Bluesky

Donations went to the Community Foundation of the Texas Hill Country's Kerr County Flood Relief Fund and The Trevor Project

More episode sources and links

Other episodes you may enjoy: Meteorology (WEATHER & CLIMATE), Oceanology (OCEANS), Nephology (CLOUDS), Disasterology (DISASTERS), Fulminology (LIGHTNING)

400+ Ologies episodes sorted by topic

Smologies (short, classroom-safe) episodes

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Transcripts and bleeped episodes

Become a patron of Ologies for as little as a buck a month

OlogiesMerch.com has hats, shirts, hoodies, totes!

Follow Ologies on Instagram and Bluesky

Follow Alie Ward on Instagram and TikTok

Editing by Mercedes Maitland of Maitland Audio Productions and Jake Chaffee

Managing Director: Susan Hale

Scheduling Producer: Noel Dilworth

Transcripts by Aveline Malek 

Website by Kelly R. Dwyer

Theme song by Nick Thorburn

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

Hurricanes. Typhoons. Cyclones. Tropical storms. Tropical depressions. What does it all MEAAAN? Let?s dive in. Career meteorologists Dr. Kim Wood of the University of Arizona and Space City Weather?s Matt Lanza join for a two-guest two-parter to address the ?deadlier? female-named hurricanes, why hurricane season happens, the category system, where hurricanes come from, why they have eyes, and how we track cyclones? paths so we can stay out of them. 

Next week we?ll be back with Kim and Matt to chat about climate change, emergency preparation ? for any disaster occasion ?, the latest on the government funding drama, if you should trust a waffle house more than a weather person, and literally what is on the horizon in the future. Also: cows. 

Read Matt Lanza?s tropical weather forecasts at The Eyewall and Houston-based forecasts at Space City Weather

Follow Matt Lanza on Instagram and Bluesky

Visit Dr. Wood?s website and follow them on Google Scholar and Bluesky

Donations went to the Community Foundation of the Texas Hill Country's Kerr County Flood Relief Fund and The Trevor Project

More episode sources and links

Other episodes you may enjoy: Meteorology (WEATHER & CLIMATE), Oceanology (OCEANS), Nephology (CLOUDS), Disasterology (DISASTERS), Fulminology (LIGHTNING)

400+ Ologies episodes sorted by topic

Smologies (short, classroom-safe) episodes

Sponsors of Ologies

Transcripts and bleeped episodes

Become a patron of Ologies for as little as a buck a month

OlogiesMerch.com has hats, shirts, hoodies, totes!

Follow Ologies on Instagram and Bluesky

Follow Alie Ward on Instagram and TikTok

Editing by Mercedes Maitland of Maitland Audio Productions and Jake Chaffee

Managing Director: Susan Hale

Scheduling Producer: Noel Dilworth

Transcripts by Aveline Malek 

Website by Kelly R. Dwyer

Theme song by Nick Thorburn

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

When were glasses invented? What happened back then if your horse stepped on them? How is the digital age changing adults? and kids? vision? The first half of this special bonus episode about Optical Technology features the charmingly hilarious director of the Museum of the Eye in San Francisco, Jenny Benjamin. Then we bop over to Houston, Texas for the ultra-knowledgeable real-life optometrist, Dr. Nadia Sledge to chat about the importance of annual exams and where our eyesight is trending in the digital age. Also: dark Roman trivia, Downton Abbey fashion, how online eye tests overlook critical conditions, and how you would have survived in the past without spectacles. 

Donations went to Onesight and the Museum of the Eye

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Other episodes you may enjoy: Ophthalmology (EYES), Medieval Codicology (WEIRD OLD MANUSCRIPT ART & MEMES & SNAILS), Experimental Archeology (OLD TOOLS/ATLATLS), Literary Olfactology (THE POLITICS OF SMELL), Proptology (THEATER & FILM PROPS), Disability Sociology (DISABILITY PRIDE), Funology (YES, FUN), Salugenology (WHY HUMANS REQUIRE HOBBIES)

400+ Ologies episodes sorted by topic

Smologies (short, classroom-safe) episodes

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Transcripts and bleeped episodes

Become a patron of Ologies for as little as a buck a month

OlogiesMerch.com has hats, shirts, hoodies, totes!

Follow Ologies on Instagram and Bluesky

Follow Alie Ward on Instagram and TikTok

Editing by Mercedes Maitland of Maitland Audio Productions and Jake Chaffee

Managing Director: Susan Hale

Scheduling Producer: Noel Dilworth

Transcripts by Aveline Malek 

Website by Kelly R. Dwyer

Theme song by Nick Thorburn

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

Smell and culture. Scent descriptions in novels. Fragrances and class. Stink and stigmas. We cover it all. Scholar, author, and Literary Olfactologist Dr. Ally Louks burst into the zeitgeist in 2024 with her PhD thesis ?Olfactory Ethics: The Politics Of Smell In Modern And Contemporary Prose? and we finally got to sit down and talk about the intersection of art and smell and culture. Breathe in the foul, the fragrant, the peppermint, the tobacco, why motel rooms smell the way they do, the forgotten organ that could control your love life, spices at the root of xenophobia, perfume ads that cruised a movement, obscenity trials, explosions, following your first love and getting the last laugh.

Follow Dr. Louks on Instagram and Bluesky

A donation went to UN Crisis Relief?s Occupied Palestinian Territory Humanitarian Fund

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Other episodes you may enjoy: Rhinology (NOSES), Gustology (TASTE), Misophonology (DISTRACTING SOUND & NOISE RAGE), Disgustology (REPULSION TO GROSS STUFF), Coffeeology (YEP, COFFEE), Black American Magirology (FOOD, RACE & CULTURE), Indigenous Cuisinology (NATIVE COOKING), Cosmetology (GLAM/GROOMING), Genocidology (CRIMES OF ATROCITY)

400+ episodes sorted by topic

Smologies (short, classroom-safe) episodes

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Transcripts and bleeped episodes

Become a patron of Ologies for as little as a buck a month

OlogiesMerch.com has hats, shirts, hoodies, totes!

Follow Ologies on Instagram and Bluesky

Follow Alie Ward on Instagram and TikTok

Editing by Mercedes Maitland of Maitland Audio Productions and Jake Chaffee

Managing Director: Susan Hale

Scheduling Producer: Noel Dilworth

Transcripts by Aveline Malek 

Website by Kelly R. Dwyer

Theme song by Nick Thorburn

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

This one?s all about lived experience: What's it like to have OCD? What?s the therapy all about? How do you support people with it? And how to accept the darkest thoughts that might haunt you. As a bonus to last week?s OCD Neurobiology episode with Dr. Wayne Goodman, the wonderful neuroscientist, board-certified mental health peer specialist, and survivor Uma Chatterjee joins to share her experience living with OCD, and how it inspired a career in research and mental health advocacy. This bonus episode is wall-to-wall heart-warming compassion and real world perspective from someone who cares deeply. OCD is a bitch, but Uma?s a gem. 

Ologies episodes, listed by topic

Visit Uma?s website and follow her on Instagram, LinkedIn, and Bluesky

Listen to her podcast, A Chat with Uma

A donation went to OCD Wisconsin

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Smologies (short, classroom-safe) episodes

Other episodes you may enjoy: Obsessive-Compulsive Neurobiology (OCD), Attention-Deficit Neuropsychology (ADHD), Molecular Neurobiology (BRAIN CHEMICALS), Volitional Psychology (PROCRASTINATION), Suicidology (SUICIDE PREVENTION & AWARENESS),  Traumatology (PTSD), Disability Sociology (DISABILITY PRIDE), Tiktokology (THE TIKTOK APP) with Hank Green, Psychedeliology (HALLUCINOGENS)

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Transcripts and bleeped episodes

Become a patron of Ologies for as little as a buck a month

OlogiesMerch.com has hats, shirts, hoodies, totes!

Follow Ologies on Instagram and Bluesky

Follow Alie Ward on Instagram and TikTok

Editing by Mercedes Maitland of Maitland Audio Productions and Jake Chaffee

Managing Director: Susan Hale

Scheduling Producer: Noel Dilworth

Transcripts by Aveline Malek 

Website by Kelly R. Dwyer

Theme song by Nick Thorburn

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

Ruminations and reassurances. Checking and counting. Suffering and stigmas. It?s OCD, babes! OCD is now considered one of the most common psychiatric conditions, afflicting 2% to 3% of the general population, and this episode is among our top-requested topics. So we snagged a top-shelf ologist: psychiatrist, researcher, advocate and OCD Neurobiologist, *the* Dr. Wayne Goodman. We cover myths, misconceptions, diagnosis and treatment options for OCD, as well as advice for loved ones. Also: PANDAS, famous folks who are helping break the silence on it, intrusive thoughts, deep brain stimulation, genetic components, links to Tourette?s Syndrome, finding the right doctor, and the behavioral therapy that is the gold standard for OCD. 

And surprise! Later this week we?ll have a bonus episode on OCD lived experience with neuroscientist, mental health advocate and OCD-haver, Uma Chatterjee. 

View Dr. Goodman?s publications on ResearchGate and follow him on Google Scholar

A donation went to International OCD Foundation

Find more episodes you'll like at Ologies.com

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Smologies (short, classroom-safe) episodes

Other episodes you may enjoy: Attention-Deficit Neuropsychology (ADHD), Molecular Neurobiology (BRAIN CHEMICALS), Volitional Psychology (PROCRASTINATION), Suicidology (SUICIDE PREVENTION & AWARENESS), Post-Viral Epidemiology (LONG COVID), Disability Sociology (DISABILITY PRIDE), Gustology (TASTE), Oikology (DECLUTTERING)

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Transcripts and bleeped episodes

Become a patron of Ologies for as little as a buck a month

OlogiesMerch.com has hats, shirts, hoodies, totes!

Follow Ologies on Instagram and Bluesky

Follow Alie Ward on Instagram and TikTok

Editing by Mercedes Maitland of Maitland Audio Productions and Jake Chaffee

Managing Director: Susan Hale

Scheduling Producer: Noel Dilworth

Transcripts by Aveline Malek 

Website by Kelly R. Dwyer

Theme song by Nick Thorburn

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

We?re back with molten hot cheese trivia in Part 2 with Fromologist Kyra James of OwnYourFunk.com. Part 1 covered the foundations and this week we address your listener questions about cows on boats, plant-based cheese options, how to properly store cheese, how cheese changes your brain chemistry, the Cooper's Hill Cheese-Rolling and Wake, the great grilled cheese debate, DIY cheeses, squeaky curds, Missouri?s cheese caves, the moon?s composition, and the ultimate charcuterie board. Also: holes, and crystals and maggots, oh my!

Visit Kyra?s website and follow her on Instagram and LinkedIn

Donations went to the Cheese Culture Coalition and Team Up?s 2025 Building Schools in Kenya

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Find more episodes you'll like at Ologies.com

Smologies (short, classroom-safe) episodes

Other episodes you may enjoy: Gastroegyptology (BREAD BAKING), Food Anthropology (FEASTS), Critical Ecology (SOCIAL SYSTEMS + ENVIRONMENT), Mammalogy (MAMMALS), Bisonology (BUFFALO), Zymology (BEER), Gustology (TASTE), Disgustology (REPULSION TO GROSS STUFF), FIELD TRIP: I Go France and Learn Weird France Stuff

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Follow Ologies on Instagram and Bluesky

Follow Alie Ward on Instagram and TikTok

Editing by Mercedes Maitland of Maitland Audio Productions and Jake Chaffee

Managing Director: Susan Hale

Scheduling Producer: Noel Dilworth

Transcripts by Aveline Malek 

Website by Kelly R. Dwyer

Theme song by Nick Thorburn

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

Soft. Hard. Fresh. Aged. Stinky. Illegal. Let?s talk cheese with Certified Cheese Professional (CCP) and Fromologist, Kyra James. We chat about proprietary bacterial slurries, basement caves, cheese knife etiquette, rind eating, vegetarian versus vegan cheeses, cheese history, different warm-blooded animals whose milk is used for cheese, American cheese side-eye, shoe deodorizers, and how to chat up a monger. 

And come back next week to learn more about plant-based cheese options, how to properly store cheese, the difference between orange and white cheddar, the grilled sandwich debate, DIY cheese, pricey varieties, squeaky curds, the moon?s composition, how cheese changes your brain chemistry, and the ultimate charcuterie board. Plus: holes and crystals and maggots, oh my! 

[Content warning: we discuss dairy and do make acknowledgments of animal rights concerns, and next week we discuss vegan options in more depth. However this episode and expert?s focus isn?t the ethics of dairy farming as a whole, but rather the process of cheesemaking. We do have a future episode planned about plant-based diets.]

Visit Kyra?s website and follow her on Instagram and LinkedIn

Donations went to the Cheese Culture Coalition and Team Up?s 2025 Building Schools in Kenya

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Find more episodes you'll like at Ologies.com

Smologies (short, classroom-safe) episodes

Other episodes you may enjoy: Gastroegyptology (BREAD BAKING), Food Anthropology (FEASTS), Critical Ecology (SOCIAL SYSTEMS + ENVIRONMENT), Mammalogy (MAMMALS), Bisonology (BUFFALO), Zymology (BEER), Gustology (TASTE), Disgustology (REPULSION TO GROSS STUFF), Speleology (CAVES), FIELD TRIP: I Go France and Learn Weird France Stuff

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Become a patron of Ologies for as little as a buck a month

OlogiesMerch.com has hats, shirts, hoodies, totes!

Follow Ologies on Instagram and Bluesky

Follow Alie Ward on Instagram and TikTok

Editing by Mercedes Maitland of Maitland Audio Productions and Jake Chaffee

Managing Director: Susan Hale

Scheduling Producer: Noel Dilworth

Transcripts by Aveline Malek 

Website by Kelly R. Dwyer

Theme song by Nick Thorburn

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

Let?s light up your life and butt. World-renowned firefly expert Dr. Sara Lewis of Tufts University gives us some updates to her 2021 episode, sharing her love of a bug that many think is merely mythological. Learn how these tiny animals illuminate the night, the dos and don?ts of firefly observation, how to take good firefly photos, femme fatales, pink glowworms, secret languages, artificial lights, what?s up with their population numbers, why Western states can chill out with their lightning bug envy, and how you can ensure the world stays aglow with these beloved bugs. Also: nuptial gifts, both human and lampyridological.

Visit Dr. Sara Lewis?s website and follow her on Threads

Buy her book, Silent Sparks: The Wondrous World of Fireflies!

A donation went to Fireflyers International

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Smologies (short, classroom-safe) episodes

Other episodes you may enjoy: Entomology (INSECTS), Acaropathology (TICKS & LYME DISEASE), Forest Entomology (CREEPY CRAWLIES), Odonatology (DRAGONFLIES), Native Melittology (INDIGENOUS BEES), Lepidopterology (BUTTERFLIES), Cicadology (CICADAS), Dipterology (FLIES), Behavioral Ecology (REPRODUCTIVE TRADEOFFS)

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Transcripts and bleeped episodes

Become a patron of Ologies for as little as a buck a month

OlogiesMerch.com has hats, shirts, hoodies, totes, more!

Follow Ologies on Instagram and Bluesky

Follow Alie Ward on Instagram and TikTok

Sound editing by Jarrett Sleeper of MindJam Media, Steven Ray Morris, Mercedes Maitland of Maitland Audio Productions and Jake Chaffee

Managing Director: Susan Hale

Scheduling Producer: Noel Dilworth

Transcripts by Aveline Malek 

Website by Kelly R. Dwyer

Theme song by Nick Thorburn

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

Fangs. Rattles. Misconceptions. Crawl out from under your rock for the angelic rattle of one of the world?s most maligned, misunderstood, gorgeous, mysterious, efficient creatures. Herpetology professor, rattlesnake scientist and thus, Crotalologist Dr. Emily Taylor discusses why rattlesnakes deserve our love, the parenthood strategies of rattlers, how to avoid getting bitten, dog rattlesnake training, rattlers? relationships with squirrels, antivenom, vaccines, mattress trivia, mood snakes and who gets bitten the most. Hint: it?s not hikers. 

Check out Project RattleCam

Visit Dr. Taylor?s website and follow her on Bluesky and Instagram

Buy Dr. Taylor?s book, California Snakes and How to Find Them, on Bookshop.org or Amazon

Her latest book, California Lizards and How to Find Them, is also available on Bookshop.org and Amazon

A donation went to The Rattlesnake Conservancy

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Smologies (short, classroom-safe) episodes

Other episodes you may enjoy: Herpetology (REPTILES), Saurology (LIZARDS), Fearology (FEAR), Sciuridology (SQUIRRELS), Acaropathology (TICKS & LYME DISEASE), Forest Entomology (CREEPY CRAWLIES)

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Transcripts and bleeped episodes

Become a patron of Ologies for as little as a buck a month

OlogiesMerch.com has hats, shirts, hoodies, totes!

Follow Ologies on Instagram and Bluesky

Follow Alie Ward on Instagram and TikTok

Editing by Mercedes Maitland of Maitland Audio Productions and Jake Chaffee

Managing Director: Susan Hale

Scheduling Producer: Noel Dilworth

Transcripts by Aveline Malek 

Website by Kelly R. Dwyer

Theme song by Nick Thorburn

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

Farmed versus wild. Basement shrimp hustles. Mangrove drama. Anthropology. Animal welfare and plant-based diets. Climb aboard to meet UCSB?s super cool dude, researcher and Aquaculture Ecologist, Dr. Ben Halpern. You?ll hear about sustainable food sources, land vs. sea farming, bycatch, shellfish guilt, salmon who wear makeup, global marine populations, ditching iceberg for seaweed, and a gentle nudge toward vegetables. Progress over perfection; every little step counts.

Visit the Halpern Lab and browse Dr. Halpern?s publications on ResearchGate

A donation went to the National Center for Ecological Analysis and Synthesis (NCEAS)

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Smologies (short, classroom-safe) episodes

Other episodes you may enjoy: Macrophycology (SEAWEED), Oceanology (OCEANS), Pectinidology (SCALLOPS), Ichthyology (FISHES), Carcinology (CRABS), Entomophagy Anthropology (EATING BUGS), Echinology (SEA URCHINS & SAND DOLLARS), Ursinology (BEARS), Chickenology (HENS & ROOSTERS), Road Ecology (ROAD KILL), Agnotology (WILLFUL IGNORANCE), Castorology (BEAVERS), Indigenous Cuisinology (NATIVE COOKING), Black American Magirology (FOOD, RACE & CULTURE)

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Become a patron of Ologies for as little as a buck a month

OlogiesMerch.com has hats, shirts, hoodies, totes!

Follow Ologies on Instagram and Bluesky

Follow Alie Ward on Instagram and TikTok

Editing by Mercedes Maitland of Maitland Audio Productions and Jake Chaffee

Managing Director: Susan Hale

Scheduling Producer: Noel Dilworth

Transcripts by Aveline Malek 

Website by Kelly R. Dwyer

Theme song by Nick Thorburn

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

Have you ever read every word of The U.S. Constitution? You don't have to, because I read it with my mouth into your brain in this weird but vital episode on civil liberties. And of course, there are little sidenotes to make sure we both understand it. There has never been a better time to know what your legal protections are. 

This episode is a follow up to Nomology (CONSTITUTIONAL LAW) with the legendary law scholar Franita Tolson, the Dean and Carl Mason Franklin Chair in Law USC?s Gould School of Law. Start there for the basics and learn why knowing your rights and using your voice can change the future.

Be safe. Stick up for yourself, and each other.

Listen to our 2019 episode: Nomology (THE CONSTITUTION) with Franita Tolson

A donation went to the American Civil Liberties Union

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Smologies (short, classroom-safe) episodes

Other episodes you may enjoy: Political Sociology (VOTER TURNOUT & SUPPRESSION), Museology (MUSEUMS), Agnotology (WILLFUL IGNORANCE), Genocidology (CRIMES OF ATROCITY), Genealogy (FAMILY TREES)

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Become a patron of Ologies for as little as a buck a month

OlogiesMerch.com has hats, shirts, hoodies, totes!

Follow Ologies on Instagram and Bluesky

Follow Alie Ward on Instagram and TikTok

Editing by Jarrett Sleeper of MindJam Media, Steven Ray Morris, and Mercedes Maitland of Maitland Audio Productions

Managing Director: Susan Hale

Scheduling Producer: Noel Dilworth

Transcripts by Aveline Malek 

Website by Kelly R. Dwyer

Theme song by Nick Thorburn

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

Moonlit seaweeds. Dreamy underwater forests. Mounds of beach debris. Not plants. Let?s talk about where seaweed grows and whether or not it will save us all. Macrophycology means ?big-ass algae? so let?s join five dazzling seaweed enthusiasts: guest-in-chief Dr. Patrick Martone of the University of British Columbia, UConn Professor Emeritus and ?grandfather of seaweed farming? Dr. Charlie Yarish, seagrass scientist Becky Swerida, and marine science PhD students Danielle McHaskell and Angela Jones. We?ll chat about what?s hidden in its cells, the best ones to eat, how fast it grows, how deep it gets, cold vs. tropical seaweeds, what to do if your vacation pictures feature mounds of sargassum, and whether or not kelp can kill a chicken. 

In next week?s episode, you?ll hear all about the aquaculture of cultivating and eating things from the seaweed to shellfish to shrimp farmed in a basement doughboy. Not really a two parter but two episodes that are friends and hang out in the same circles. 

Visit the Martone Lab and follow Dr. Martone on Google Scholar

Get the Seaweed Sorter app developed by Dr. Martone

Follow Dr. Charles Yarish on Google Scholar

Follow Danielle McHaskell on Instagram

Visit Angela Jones? website

Follow Becky Swerida on Instagram

Donations went to Raincoast Education Society, GreenWave, and Black in Marine Science

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Smologies (short, classroom-safe) episodes

Other episodes you may enjoy: Oceanology (OCEANS), Island Ecology (ISLANDS), Cnidariology (CORAL), Tardigradology (TINY SEMI-INDESTRUCTIBLE WATER BEAR MOSS PIGLET CREATURES CALLED TARDIGRADES), Bryology (MOSS), Echinology (SEA URCHINS & SAND DOLLARS), Lutrinology (OTTERS), Ethnoecology (ETHNOBOTANY/NATIVE PLANTS), Dendrology (TREES), Forensic Ecology (NATURE DETECTIVE)

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Transcripts and bleeped episodes

Become a patron of Ologies for as little as a buck a month

OlogiesMerch.com has hats, shirts, hoodies, totes!

Follow Ologies on Instagram and Bluesky

Follow Alie Ward on Instagram and TikTok

Editing by Mercedes Maitland of Maitland Audio Productions and Jake Chaffee

Managing Director: Susan Hale

Scheduling Producer: Noel Dilworth

Transcripts by Aveline Malek 

Website by Kelly R. Dwyer

Theme song by Nick Thorburn

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

Secret ciphers. Hidden treasure. Enigma breakers. Mysterious manuscripts. And ? hog Latin. Cryptology expert and author of ?The Code Book,? Simon Singh finally lets me ask him about the small mistakes that lost huge battles, the prison plots of Mary Queen of Scots, a cryptology reality show that I wish existed, the legacy of Alan Turing, Indigenous code-talking war heroes, hiding messages in your skin and guts, the role of A.I. in future deciphering and the possibility of a quantum computing apocalypse. Also: one whole ball of wax that you do not want to get into. 

Visit Dr. Singh?s website and follow him on Bluesky and X

Browse Dr. Singh?s books including The Code Book: The Science of Secrecy from Ancient Egypt to Quantum Cryptography, available on Bookshop.org and Amazon

A donation went to GiveWell

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Smologies (short, classroom-safe) episodes

Other episodes you may enjoy: Egyptology (ANCIENT EGYPT), Momiology (MUMMIFICATION), Curiology (EMOJI), Graphology (HANDWRITING/FORGERY), Anagnosology (READING), Oneirology (DREAMS), Salugenology (WHY HUMANS REQUIRE HOBBIES), Architectural Technology (COMPUTER PROGRAMMING), Neurotechnology (AI + BRAIN TECH), Artificial Intelligence Ethicology (WILL A.I. CRASH OUT?), Abstract Mathematology (UH, IS MATH REAL?)

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Editing by Mercedes Maitland of Maitland Audio Productions and Jake Chaffee

Managing Director: Susan Hale

Scheduling Producer: Noel Dilworth

Transcripts by Aveline Malek 

Website by Kelly R. Dwyer

Theme song by Nick Thorburn

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

Bushy tails! Stinky butts! Faces so cute you weep! Let?s talk foxes ? specifically the little gray ones you never knew you loved. Fox behavioral expert, researcher, conservationist, author of ?The Road to Fox Hollow? and Urocyonologist Bill Leikam chats about fuzzy foxes, baby names, parental strategies, where they live, what they eat, advice for potential pet owners, how to observe foxes, how tiny foxes wound up on islands, which foxes need conservation, Silicon Valley foxes, and why a fox on the couch is worth 1000 in the bush. Also: what do they smell like? And what do they say? 

Buy Bill?s book: The Road to Fox Hollow

A donation went to the Urban Wildlife Research Project. 

Watch the documentary: The Foxes, my Professors: Bill Leikam and the Gray Foxes of Silicon Valley

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Smologies (short, classroom-safe) episodes

Other episodes you may enjoy: Ethnocynology (HUMANS & DOGS THROUGH TIME), Lupinology (WOLVES), Felinology (CATS), Procyonology (RACCOONS), Lutrinology (OTTERS), Sciuridology (SQUIRRELS), Castorology (BEAVERS), Chickenology (HENS & ROOSTERS), Indigenous Fire Ecology (GOOD FIRE), Nassology (TAXIDERMY), Cynology (DOGS)

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Transcripts and bleeped episodes

Become a patron of Ologies for as little as a buck a month

OlogiesMerch.com has hats, shirts, hoodies, totes!

Follow Ologies on Instagram and Bluesky

Follow Alie Ward on Instagram and TikTok

Editing by Mercedes Maitland of Maitland Audio Productions and Jake Chaffee

Managing Director: Susan Hale

Scheduling Producer: Noel Dilworth

Transcripts by Aveline Malek 

Website by Kelly R. Dwyer

Theme song by Nick Thorburn

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

Shipwrecks. Treasure. Sunken planes. Scuttled submarines. New life forming around old machinery. There?s an -ology for that -- just ask Maritime Archaeologist and wreck nerd Chanelle Zaphiropoulos. This absolutely charming and passionate scuba diver, history buff and antiquities scholar dishes about pirates, warships, admirals worth admiring, and ships ranging in size from water taxis to the Costa Concordia and Titanic. Also world record diving stats, war graves, how owning a fountain pen can be egregious and why a Midwestern coal barge from the 1970ss is worthy of weeping over. Ahoy!

Follow Chanelle on Instagram and Bluesky

A donation went to Diving with a Purpose

More episode sources and links

Smologies (short, classroom-safe) episodes

Other episodes you may enjoy: Oceanology (OCEANS), Forensic Ecology (NATURE DETECTIVE), Cnidariology (CORAL), Classical Archeology (ANCIENT ROME), Disasterology (DISASTERS), Cryoseismology (ICEQUAKES), Domicology (ABANDONED BUILDINGS, RECYCLED HOUSES & GHOST TOWNS)

Sponsors of Ologies

Transcripts and bleeped episodes

Become a patron of Ologies for as little as a buck a month

OlogiesMerch.com has hats, shirts, hoodies, totes!

Follow Ologies on Instagram and Bluesky

Follow Alie Ward on Instagram and TikTok

Sound editing by Jarrett Sleeper of MindJam Media and Steven Ray Morris

Managing Director: Susan Hale

Scheduling Producer: Noel Dilworth

Transcripts by Aveline Malek 

Website by Kelly R. Dwyer

Theme song by Nick Thorburn

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