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Speaker 3: Oh hey, it's that coconut cream pie with the pastry crust.
Speaker 3: It's pretty good. Would have been better with the Graham
Speaker 3: cracker crust. But anyway, Ali Ward back with the most
Speaker 3: special episode of Ologies maybe ever, literally maybe my favorite ever.
Speaker 3: So let's get to it asap. First off, thank you
Speaker 3: for everyone who has been rating and subscribing and who
Speaker 3: leaves reviews. You know I read them all and I
Speaker 3: pick out a fresh one. So thank you, LWHG N
Speaker 3: J s H s h u U. I promise you
Speaker 3: that I'm going to get more sleep next week. Okay,
Speaker 3: if you listened to last week's episode Pelicanology with Chuwea Martinez,
Speaker 3: you likely have pelicans on the brain, saggy sacks and all,
Speaker 3: and hopefully celebrated last week's Black Birders Week, the inaugural one.
Speaker 3: It ran from May thirty first to June fifth, and
Speaker 3: it was launched as reaction to some recent really distressing events.
Speaker 3: And zoologist and wildlife enthusiast Karina Newsom is one of
Speaker 3: the co founders of Blackbirders Week, and she announced it
Speaker 3: to her ever growing Twitter audience over sixty thousand people
Speaker 3: last week.
Speaker 4: For far too long, black people in the United States
Speaker 4: have been shown that outdoor exploration activities such as birding
Speaker 4: are not for us, whether it be because of the
Speaker 4: way the media chooses to present who is the outdoorsy
Speaker 4: type or the racism experienced by black people when we
Speaker 4: do explore the outdoors, as we saw recently in Central Park. Well,
Speaker 4: we've decided to change that narrative. A group of black
Speaker 4: birds explorers and scientists got to get to start the
Speaker 4: first ever Blackbirders Week. Help us to show the world,
Speaker 4: especially the next generation of young blackbirders and nature enthusiasts
Speaker 4: that we exist, that they are welcome, and that this
Speaker 4: space belongs to them too.
Speaker 3: This exploded. It resulted in news articles on like CNN
Speaker 3: and trending hashtags for Blackbirders Week live streams with thousands
Speaker 3: of people watching, and we celebrated with pelicanology for it.
Speaker 3: And you should definitely follow at blackaf in Stem on Twitter.
Speaker 3: They gained twenty five thousand followers from all the press
Speaker 3: just last week. So you can click on link tree
Speaker 3: in their bio you'll find all the live streams and recaps.
Speaker 3: It's a really wonderful way to catch up after the
Speaker 3: fact if you missed it.
Speaker 5: But wait, there's more.
Speaker 3: But Blackbirder's Week was so transformative, so huge, I did
Speaker 3: not want it to end. It shouldn't. Elevating black scientists
Speaker 3: and listening to and advocating for people is not a
Speaker 3: TikTok trend. This is a life long battle to dismantle
Speaker 3: a system that is oppressing people. So before Blackbird's Week started,
Speaker 3: I reached out to some Internet buddies who formed black
Speaker 3: af and STEM, and I asked them if I could
Speaker 3: make a compilation episode so we could all kind of
Speaker 3: walk away having like thirty new science heroes. Listen to
Speaker 3: their weird facts and passions and work and get them
Speaker 3: in your timelines. You can follow on social media. You
Speaker 3: can cheer on their successes, listen to their frustrations and experiences.
Speaker 3: If you're a person of color in STEM who needs
Speaker 3: icons and community, follow along and see them just owning
Speaker 3: what they do. So please enjoy the following very special
Speaker 3: episode with the most Ologists Ologies has ever had the
Speaker 3: most ologies in one ologies. As you learn about everything
Speaker 3: from electric fish noses to turtle butts, to how to bird,
Speaker 3: how to be an ally, how to be black af
Speaker 3: and stem advice from black scientists and more so, get
Speaker 3: ready to root for, follow and fawn over the assorted
Speaker 3: logists who are black aff.
Speaker 6: Hey, what's up, Alli? This is Alex or Alexi g.
Speaker 6: Most people know me as David Attenborough. That is my
Speaker 6: Twitter handle online, but in real life out there, I'm
Speaker 6: actually I've been working in the zoo field for the
Speaker 6: better part of six years now, so most of the
Speaker 6: organisms I'm close with are actually nocturnal mammals. So I
Speaker 6: spend a lot of time inside of a building that
Speaker 6: has this really cool reverse light cycle. But I'm gonna
Speaker 6: pause right there. I'm actually gonna go tell a little
Speaker 6: bit about my history in the field, because before I
Speaker 6: was zookeeper, I was a zoo educator, and in that job,
Speaker 6: I would talk to thousands of people every single day.
Speaker 6: My personal goal, or my goal, I guess in the job,
Speaker 6: was to share conservation with anyone and everyone. I wanted
Speaker 6: people to walk away with some sort of positive interaction
Speaker 6: related to either an animal or a concept, and then
Speaker 6: I wanted them to be able to take that energy
Speaker 6: out into the world. Sometimes it worked, sometimes it didn't,
Speaker 6: but it's all a numbers game. So my personal goal,
Speaker 6: though despite the professional one, was to simply be present.
Speaker 6: I wanted a black face to be on conservation. Maybe
Speaker 6: I wasn't out there like Bill Ny, but my goal
Speaker 6: was simply for people to see me and associate my
Speaker 6: face my skin tone with conservation, and maybe young black
Speaker 6: kids would see me and know that they could do
Speaker 6: it too, because there really wasn't that much special about me,
Speaker 6: especially not at a time. So in the capacity as
Speaker 6: a zoo keeper now, I still maintain that goal. I
Speaker 6: still want to be out there for those kids, but
Speaker 6: I'm not as much in the public eye as I
Speaker 6: was in the past, so I tend to hang out
Speaker 6: in this very dark building with a number of nocturnal mammals,
Speaker 6: and one of my favorite animals in this building is
Speaker 6: the prehensile tailed porcupine. This is a salt and pepper
Speaker 6: colored porcupine that lives in the trees and is found
Speaker 6: primarily in Central and South America.
Speaker 7: They're salt and pepper.
Speaker 6: Colored and they have this really cool taiale that is
Speaker 6: that acts essentially like a finger. But their most notable
Speaker 6: feature or trait that people catch when they see them
Speaker 6: is they're really big, cute, squishy button nose. Now I
Speaker 6: could go on and tell you about these animals for hours,
Speaker 6: but I won't do that today. But if you guys
Speaker 6: do want to learn more about them, follow me at
Speaker 6: David Attenborough on Twitter and hope you have a great night.
Speaker 6: Thanks for having me on Ali.
Speaker 7: Take care.
Speaker 3: Okay, real quick, I looked up this button nose and
Speaker 3: it looks like a big soft velvet pencil eraser on
Speaker 3: its face. I had a literal heart palpitation. It's so
Speaker 3: cute I want to kiss it. So that is Alexig
Speaker 3: and I'm making a Twitter list of all these wonderful folks.
Speaker 3: So you can just zip through and hit follow on
Speaker 3: all of them. It's going to be writ in the
Speaker 3: show notes your timeline will improve by one million percent. Okay,
Speaker 3: onward to your new favorite math nerd and econ whiz
Speaker 3: Anna who also co founded a nonprofit, the SADI Collective,
Speaker 3: which is the first American nonprofit organization which aims to
Speaker 3: increase the representation of black women in economics and related
Speaker 3: data fields. Shoe rolls.
Speaker 8: Hi.
Speaker 9: My name is Anna Gifthiopoguajman.
Speaker 10: I am a graduate of the University of Maryland, Baltimore County,
Speaker 10: and I majored in mathematics and minored in economics.
Speaker 9: I study economics.
Speaker 10: It's not an ology per se, but it's a really
Speaker 10: important discipline that makes important decisions about our world in
Speaker 10: a lot of different spaces. So economists sit and government
Speaker 10: and industry and academia and even in like different places
Speaker 10: in the natural sciences, a lot of people inform sort
Speaker 10: of budgets around scientific funding and that sort of thing.
Speaker 10: In terms of where to follow me, I'm on Twitter
Speaker 10: at its Acronomics and Instagram at Anna.
Speaker 9: Gifty a n n A gift y Oh thanks.
Speaker 3: Side note, Anna just finished a research fellowship at Harvard
Speaker 3: No big deal and an appointment at the National Bureau
Speaker 3: of Economic Research, and came up with the idea of
Speaker 3: Blackbirders Week. I am wearing clean pants today. That's about it.
Speaker 3: Anna moderated a Black Birder's Week Facebook panel and she
Speaker 3: brings an energy to her public speaking and moderating that
Speaker 3: is like a true talent. So if you need someone
Speaker 3: to host something about math or econ or stem, track
Speaker 3: down Anna. Now, this next new friend you may already
Speaker 3: know of is an amazing host instant follow. You heard
Speaker 3: her in the intro and I have been wanting to
Speaker 3: make it to Atlanta to interview her for ages, but
Speaker 3: I may have to settle on a remote interview once
Speaker 3: her field season is over. I cannot wait.
Speaker 11: Hi.
Speaker 4: My name is Karina Newsom and I am a graduate
Speaker 4: biology student at Georgia Southern University and I study avian
Speaker 4: ecology and I focus specifically on a species called the
Speaker 4: seaside sparrow. Now, one weird fact about the seaside sparrow
Speaker 4: is that they are really well adapted to life in
Speaker 4: a salt marsh. And they are so well adapted, in fact,
Speaker 4: that they can drink salt water without ever getting sick. Now,
Speaker 4: one reason why I love what I do is because
Speaker 4: I get to look very very closely at the natural world,
Speaker 4: more than I ever have in my life, and I
Speaker 4: get to share it with whoever will listen. It brings
Speaker 4: me such joy to share my fascination with the natural
Speaker 4: world with as many people as possible. If you're interested
Speaker 4: in following me, you can find me on Twitter at
Speaker 4: Hood Underscore Naturalist or Instagram at Hood Underscore Underscore Naturalist. Now,
Speaker 4: for those of you listening, one way that you can
Speaker 4: be an ally to black people in STEM is by
Speaker 4: not silencing or asking us to censor our lived experiences
Speaker 4: brushing it off as getting too political, because it's our
Speaker 4: reality and it's one that intersects very deeply with our
Speaker 4: lived experiences as students and professionals in STEM.
Speaker 3: So listen to experiences. Use what privilege you have to
Speaker 3: stand up to racism when you see it. Karina aka
Speaker 3: Hood Naturalist is amazing. Okay, let's hear more about birdiees
Speaker 3: Hi alien Ologists.
Speaker 9: My name is Manni Pepkin and I am a first
Speaker 9: year PhD student at Cornell University and I study stress.
Speaker 9: I'm listening, so stressology. There's not a real word for
Speaker 9: that yet, and I'm not quite sure why. Anyway, I
Speaker 9: like to spend my time thinking about why some animals
Speaker 9: are better able to do well in stressful environments and
Speaker 9: others not able to do so, and also within the
Speaker 9: same species. So if we're looking at two twice swallows
Speaker 9: and they're in a noisy environment, why is one able
Speaker 9: to do better in that environment than others? Is there
Speaker 9: some type of behavioral difference. Can one change how they're
Speaker 9: singing and be heard in noise better than the other
Speaker 9: and avoid that negative side effect? Or maybe one bird
Speaker 9: is that are able to calm itself down and doesn't
Speaker 9: have any of those like other physiological or body physical
Speaker 9: responses to being stressed. Or maybe there's a personality difference
Speaker 9: and one type can just cope better than the other.
Speaker 3: I feel seen and embarrassed.
Speaker 9: It's really exciting because I can look at a single
Speaker 9: animal at a time point and ask all these questions
Speaker 9: about why is this thing happening to this individual right now,
Speaker 9: and are others able to do it? And how rare
Speaker 9: or common is that in a population? And it's super
Speaker 9: exciting because basically I kind of get to see the
Speaker 9: resiliency of nature. All these animals are able to do
Speaker 9: this thing and persist despite being really stressful and really hard,
Speaker 9: and I don't know, I see it as really helpful
Speaker 9: and inspiring instead of a fun fact on this year.
Speaker 9: A quick fun story. Back when I was still studying
Speaker 9: how noisy environments would stress birds and how birchwood changed
Speaker 9: with behavior in them, I was auditioning for a choir
Speaker 9: and I would just tell people I studied bird songs
Speaker 9: to make it simple. But after I told all the
Speaker 9: judges that, they then all singing different bird songs at
Speaker 9: me and ask me to help them try to identify
Speaker 9: the birds they always hear in their life and just
Speaker 9: do not have any idea what they are. And I
Speaker 9: did it. It was really fun. I also made the choir,
Speaker 9: which also an added bonus, so very exciting. Anyway, if
Speaker 9: you're interested in following me, you can follow me at
Speaker 9: Monique Pipkin on Twitter. That's spelled m O n I
Speaker 9: q U E p I p A I N great. Thanks,
Speaker 9: bye guys.
Speaker 3: If you ever run into Monique, ask her a favorite
Speaker 3: bird song and thank her for unraveling why some of
Speaker 3: us crumble under stress while others just keep whistling along
Speaker 3: in life. Okay, let's hear more about birds. Hello.
Speaker 11: My name is Amelia Demri and I am a PhD
Speaker 11: candidate at Cornell University. I study ornithology. Specifically, I look
Speaker 11: at the genetics of beak color plasticity in birds. One
Speaker 11: weird fun fact about my work is that, whereas most
Speaker 11: ornithologists are perceived as having these like romantic you know,
Speaker 11: treks through nature and looking at birds, I am that weird,
Speaker 11: mad scientist student that actually doesn't get a lot of
Speaker 11: exposure to sunlight and does experiments on the birds. But
Speaker 11: I love what I do because I'm discovering new things
Speaker 11: every day, I'm finding unique challenges, and most importantly, I
Speaker 11: get to share it with people who may not always
Speaker 11: understand why what I do so interesting and why can
Speaker 11: connect different aspects of our community. People can follow me
Speaker 11: on Twitter at ac Demery. A way that listeners can
Speaker 11: be allies to black people in STEM is pretty straightforward.
Speaker 11: It's all about educating yourself and being self aware about
Speaker 11: how we all have been part of the problem, but
Speaker 11: we also can be part of this solution and using
Speaker 11: the resources that are available that extend beyond just your
Speaker 11: black friend to look at all the different ways that
Speaker 11: the black community has strived to educate our society on
Speaker 11: how to be effective allies, how to give back, how
Speaker 11: to show support in a very healthy way. I love
Speaker 11: this initiative. I am proud to be black in stem AF.
Speaker 3: Thank you. So this means, don't just pepper your black
Speaker 3: friends or acquaintances or co workers with texts and dms,
Speaker 3: tossing white guilt on them. That doesn't help. There are
Speaker 3: a lot of really heavy emotions and a lot of
Speaker 3: trauma to process, and our black friends do not need
Speaker 3: the extra labor of dabbing away our white tears. Rather
Speaker 3: fellow white people. Here's some recommended reading. Ibram x Kendy
Speaker 3: in twenty nineteen published the book How to Be an
Speaker 3: Anti Racist. That is next on my reading list. Very excited. Also,
Speaker 3: another great resource is an article from the Smithsonian National
Speaker 3: Museum of African American History and Culture. Links to those
Speaker 3: we'll be up at alleyword dot com, slash ologies, slash
Speaker 3: Black af and stem Now onward to another Ward.
Speaker 12: Hello everyone, my name is Jeffrey Ward, and I'm a
Speaker 12: birder studying ornithology. Birding is so therapeutic. All you really
Speaker 12: need are pale binoculars and preferably a green space. Birds
Speaker 12: are everywhere. It's really an easy way to get out
Speaker 12: into the fresh air and be in touch with nature
Speaker 12: and learn. I've learned so much about the other aspects
Speaker 12: of nature through birding, like what trees certain birds prefer,
Speaker 12: or what insects certain birds like to eat. All in all,
Speaker 12: birds are truly amazing. Everything from the colors to the
Speaker 12: songs is just so easy to get lost in nature
Speaker 12: while outstudying birds. Okay, let me not keep you guys
Speaker 12: here for too long. For more bird content, follow me
Speaker 12: on Twitter at Jeffrey m Ward or on Instagram at
Speaker 12: underscore Jeffrey m Ward.
Speaker 13: Hi everyone, my name is Cassandra Ford and I'm a
Speaker 13: PhD candidate at the University of Louisiana at Lafayette. I
Speaker 13: study fish, which is a study called ichthyology, but more specifically,
Speaker 13: I look at electric fish. Something crazy interesting about these
Speaker 13: fish is their incredible diversity of headshape. There are fish
Speaker 13: with snouts that even look like elephant trunks. I love
Speaker 13: studying fish because there are so many questions that haven't
Speaker 13: been asked, much less answered. There's always something new to
Speaker 13: look at. I'm on Twitter and Instagram at casts the
Speaker 13: fish kass t e fi sh and I'd also like
Speaker 13: to add to our listeners that fantastic allies to people
Speaker 13: of color work hard to amplify those voices instead of
Speaker 13: only listening to their own. Thanks for having me, Cassie.
Speaker 3: You get extra points for being the first person to
Speaker 3: email me your sound file just boom. Your promptness is
Speaker 3: an inspiration to me personally, So let's keep this fish
Speaker 3: school a swimming along.
Speaker 14: Hey everyone, my name is Alexis Roberts. I'm a four
Speaker 14: theraphd candidate at the University of California Davis. I study
Speaker 14: macroevolution and functional morphology in fishes, and those are a
Speaker 14: lot of big words, but basically what that means is
Speaker 14: that I relate shape and form of a fish's body
Speaker 14: or parts of a fish's body, to its functions such
Speaker 14: as locomotion or its movement, and also its feeding patterns.
Speaker 14: I'm specifically interested in the anatomy of fish feeding structures
Speaker 14: or fish mouths, and other morphological traits that they use
Speaker 14: to feed on different prey items, and specifically I am
Speaker 14: interested in how those structures and those traits have evolved
Speaker 14: in some major ways over really large time periods. So
Speaker 14: one trait that I'm particularly interested in is the pharyngeal
Speaker 14: jaw structure. And this is a second set of jaws
Speaker 14: that most fishes have and that they use to process
Speaker 14: prey similar to how we process food with our teeth.
Speaker 14: So fish have an oral jaw structure or the system
Speaker 14: that they use to capture prey items, and then they
Speaker 14: use their pharyngeal jaws to process those prey items for
Speaker 14: further digestion.
Speaker 9: It is super super.
Speaker 14: Cool and I just love studying it. And one of
Speaker 14: the reasons that I love what I do is because
Speaker 14: there's always always something new to discover or observe when
Speaker 14: you're studying the natural world. There are nearly thirty five
Speaker 14: thousand fish species lipping in really different habitats all over
Speaker 14: the Earth, so you can only imagine how much diversity
Speaker 14: there is in form and function in the fishes of
Speaker 14: the world. Anyway, to keep hearing more about my research
Speaker 14: and some nerdy fish facts, you can follow me on
Speaker 14: Twitter at at Alexis s Underscore Simone hope to see you.
Speaker 15: There.
Speaker 3: Two sets of jaws, two sets, one to bite and
Speaker 3: one to chew. Who knew that Alexis that's who. Okay,
Speaker 3: this next ologist one, mister Troutman. He's got to study fish, right,
Speaker 3: go ahead.
Speaker 16: Hey y'all, I'm Alice Troutman. Yes, my name is trout
Speaker 16: like the fish and man, and I'm a wildlife worker.
Speaker 16: Currently I am a grad student studying wetland ecology. When
Speaker 16: I'm not in school, i'm a seasonal wildlife worker for
Speaker 16: several federal agencies. During my off season from my federal job,
Speaker 16: i am an endangered species of observer or ESO on
Speaker 16: dredging ships. A dredging ship is a ship that goes
Speaker 16: out after hurricanes and digs up sand and throws back
Speaker 16: on the beach attorney. That's called beach renourishment. Or they
Speaker 16: also can go out and deepen and widen shipping channels.
Speaker 16: So my role as an ESO on those ships are
Speaker 16: to make sure when we're not coming to close proximity
Speaker 16: or contact with marine mammals like wells and man and
Speaker 16: t's and also I make sure that we are not
Speaker 16: digging up any sea turtles and surgeon and I do
Speaker 16: that by checking the teds or the turtle exclusion device
Speaker 16: to make sure that the chains are all in order
Speaker 16: to exclude any turtles or surgeons from being dug up
Speaker 16: with the sand.
Speaker 3: So we heard a little bit about this in Pelchnology
Speaker 3: with Juweta essentially putting land back and renewing habitat loss
Speaker 3: by climate change and in this case hurricanes. So when
Speaker 3: they're dredging up all that sand, there is Al Troutman
Speaker 3: making sure that sturgeon and sea turtles and other endangered
Speaker 3: species are safe. What a dude. I want to hang
Speaker 3: out Troutman.
Speaker 16: When I'm not working. I love being in outdoors. I
Speaker 16: love fishing, hiking, camping, wildlife photography and birding. Also during
Speaker 16: my downtime, I enjoy eating food, especially baking and making pizza.
Speaker 16: You guys can follow me at nature ol so that's
Speaker 16: nature Unin squorel on Instagram and Twitter and once again
Speaker 16: that's nature ol so it's in the number A t
Speaker 16: u R underscore al So Nature underscorel get.
Speaker 3: It, Nature al get it. Okay, So follow him on
Speaker 3: Instagram and Twitter if you want your feed to have
Speaker 3: more gorgeous wildlife photos and videos of baby turtles akac turtles.
Speaker 3: And he also just has an absolutely infectious smile. I
Speaker 3: love his posts so much. And his name is Troutman.
Speaker 3: I mean come on the best. Okay, let's stay in
Speaker 3: Turtleville a minute, shall we.
Speaker 17: I'm my name is Armand Can. I'm a wildlife biologist,
Speaker 17: more specifically a herpetologist, and that just means that I
Speaker 17: study mostly amphibians and reptiles. You recently graduate from Leola University,
Speaker 17: Chicago and recently defended my massive thesis this past April.
Speaker 17: And that thesis, it was on Blanding's turtles, which is
Speaker 17: an endangered species internationally as well as at state level
Speaker 17: for many different states in the Ules. And what I
Speaker 17: was looking at was a conservation program for the species
Speaker 17: called head starting, where they would take these individuals, the
Speaker 17: release the eggs, raise them indoors and captivity for one
Speaker 17: to two years of ASI, and then release them into
Speaker 17: the wild. And my graduate work focused on the after effects.
Speaker 17: I was looking at blood physiology as well as spatial
Speaker 17: ecology because I wanted to see being raised in captivity
Speaker 17: have an effect such as a habituation effect on how
Speaker 17: much space they're using or their responses to their physiology
Speaker 17: according to environmental differences. But a weird fact about my work.
Speaker 17: I can't really think of a weird fact about my work,
Speaker 17: but there is a weird fact about one of the
Speaker 17: species that I've encountered, which is a painted turtle. This
Speaker 17: is another semi aquatic turtle species. It lives in the
Speaker 17: United States and Canada. But this species, when it gets
Speaker 17: to winter, a lot of times there's permanent ice essentially
Speaker 17: on top of the water where they're overwintering.
Speaker 3: A little chili out here.
Speaker 17: The ice doesn't melt, and they don't have any access
Speaker 17: to air to breathe through their mouth and nostrils, so
Speaker 17: they actually have this unique adaptation of kloakal respiration, which
Speaker 17: is essentially them breathing through their butts, the kloaca being
Speaker 17: one opening for both your digestive system and reproductive system.
Speaker 17: So I think that's pretty funny, cool and interesting. I
Speaker 17: remember telling my class about that, and they definitely did
Speaker 17: not find it as humorous as most ecologists would I think.
Speaker 3: I mean, you know me, I loved it.
Speaker 17: Why I love what I do. I love the fact
Speaker 17: that I get to learn about so many different taxa
Speaker 17: locally and globally. I love learning about the interconnectiveness between
Speaker 17: all of those things, including humans. A lot of times,
Speaker 17: ecology I equate to building a puzzle with each study,
Speaker 17: no matter where it is. We're on a global ecosystem.
Speaker 17: It's all interconnected, and we just keep building and building
Speaker 17: upon that as our understanding increases, and I think that
Speaker 17: being involved with that is really cool. But if you're
Speaker 17: interested in following me, you can give me a follow
Speaker 17: on my Instagram or tenitor at Devonian one. So that's
Speaker 17: d v N I A N Underscore one. Thank you all.
Speaker 17: I hope you all have a good day, turtles.
Speaker 3: Let's keep it up.
Speaker 18: How do everyone? My name is Sidney Woodruff and I
Speaker 18: am a black gender queer PhD student at the University
Speaker 18: of California at Davis. I personally study herpetology and conservation ecology,
Speaker 18: and for my research that means native reptile and amphibian
Speaker 18: conservation and sort of researching ways to sustain those species
Speaker 18: and changing environments. My own work is primarily done in
Speaker 18: Yusemity National Park with the National Park Service, and through
Speaker 18: that I hope to really bridge, you know, the gap
Speaker 18: between theoretical and applied science and management so that we
Speaker 18: can make the best decisions going forward. So my own
Speaker 18: work focuses on a California native turtle species called the
Speaker 18: western pond turtle that is state protected and has been
Speaker 18: petitioned to be federally protected under the Endangered Species Act.
Speaker 18: Something pretty cool about the species, but is also seen
Speaker 18: and some other turtles in the same family, is that
Speaker 18: when the male turtles want to impress a female turtle
Speaker 18: for mating, the males will actually swim in front of
Speaker 18: the female and kind of like flitter their front claws
Speaker 18: right onto her face, kind of like a look at
Speaker 18: my beautiful, healthy nails. You know, are you impressed? If
Speaker 18: you're fortunate enough to see it in person, it's really cute.
Speaker 18: So it always kind of makes me think, you know,
Speaker 18: like we have these lame, huge gender norms that don't
Speaker 18: exist in the turtle world, which is exciting. First and foremost.
Speaker 18: I want to say that I love what I do
Speaker 18: in science because it allows me to work and you
Speaker 18: know these quote unquote wild spaces, but I do have
Speaker 18: to remember that, you know, I'm not always welcome in
Speaker 18: these places because of the color.
Speaker 9: Of my skin.
Speaker 18: Many people and even academics will say that we don't
Speaker 18: need to talk about gender and race and politics in
Speaker 18: science or outdoor recreation, but as we saw with Christian
Speaker 18: Cooper in Central Park, that is not the case at all.
Speaker 18: So I personally want to continue addressing and dismantling those
Speaker 18: barriers to science so that everyone has the opportunity to
Speaker 18: do what I do and feel welcomed in whatever space
Speaker 18: they want to occupy. Secondly, I also want to take
Speaker 18: the opportunity to bring wildlife knowledge to collective spaces and
Speaker 18: collect with the public about the work that we're doing
Speaker 18: as managers on our shared public land. You know, we
Speaker 18: have to remember that we all own these public lands
Speaker 18: in the US, and your voice matters and can directly
Speaker 18: affect the decisions being made. So if you're not fortunate enough,
Speaker 18: you know, to grow up with family owned land and
Speaker 18: safe places to recreate. Our national parks and other public
Speaker 18: lands should be there for you to explore. So if
Speaker 18: you'd like to hear more about that or hear other
Speaker 18: random turtle mating facts, follow me on Twitter at Woodruff
Speaker 18: Sydney and that's Sydney with an ie, or on Instagram
Speaker 18: at Sydney Woodruff, which is the opposite. So take care everyone,
Speaker 18: and thank you Ali for providing this platform and making
Speaker 18: the space for us.
Speaker 3: From turtles to other fascinating reptiles.
Speaker 19: Hi, my name is Carl get In. The second I
Speaker 19: am a third year master's student at Howard University. I
Speaker 19: study herpetology, ethology, and ecology. I primarily work with crocodilians,
Speaker 19: but I'm doing my master's research on lizard behavior. I
Speaker 19: have love acadians since I was a little kid. When
Speaker 19: I was about five or six years old, I got
Speaker 19: a book called The Amazing Animals of the World, and
Speaker 19: it had a chapter on crocadians and dinosaurs, and it
Speaker 19: was my favorite chapter. I used to read that chapter
Speaker 19: pretty much every night, and I've loved crocadians ever since.
Speaker 19: And when I took a herpetology class in undergrad I
Speaker 19: knew that that was what I wanted to do for
Speaker 19: the rest of my life. You can follow me on
Speaker 19: social media at Afrosukia on Twitter and Instagram. That's Afro
Speaker 19: s u c Chia. I posted a lot about my
Speaker 19: research and my travel, mostly doing croc stuff, but also
Speaker 19: doing all kinds of other heart stuff and outreaches from
Speaker 19: when I worked at an aquarium and just all kinds
Speaker 19: of other stuff.
Speaker 3: You like crocs, You're gonna love carl.
Speaker 19: I think one of the best ways that people can
Speaker 19: be allies to black people in STEM is creating a
Speaker 19: safe space for us in the field. Generally speaking, black
Speaker 19: people in stem are the only they're the only ones
Speaker 19: there or one of only a few people there, and
Speaker 19: so just making this making the space feel like they
Speaker 19: belong there is a great way to be an ally
Speaker 19: for black people instead.
Speaker 3: Thank you very much, lizards. Let's keep at it with
Speaker 3: this next amazing herper Hi, my name is Chelsea Connor.
Speaker 20: I am a herpetologist and artist and I'm from the
Speaker 20: Commonwealth of Dominica and the Caribbean. I study anoles. I'm
Speaker 20: not sure if there's anology for that. Maybe analogy.
Speaker 9: I don't know. You can find out, Okay.
Speaker 3: I look this up and all I found were analogies
Speaker 3: about lizards. But I think we can make anology.
Speaker 20: I think right now I'm studying the dietary niche overlap
Speaker 20: in the native and invasive species of a knoll on
Speaker 20: my island. One really fun weird fact about my work
Speaker 20: is the part where you had to sometimes squeeze the
Speaker 20: vehicle sample out of the lizard. This does not harm
Speaker 20: them at all. They're fine, except maybe their pride and
Speaker 20: dignity when you squeeze the poop ride out of them.
Speaker 20: I love studying and ols because there's so much diversity
Speaker 20: and variation within species. They're beautiful lizards, there's such a
Speaker 20: wide color and pattern range, and there's so much to learn.
Speaker 20: If you think you know everything, there's still more questions
Speaker 20: that are unanswered. And I love learning. I love learning,
Speaker 20: and I love sharing knowledge. The sharing knowledge part is
Speaker 20: why I started hashtag did you annull? And every week
Speaker 20: I pick and a knoll. Sometimes I have someone who's
Speaker 20: working on that and know who's studying that at all
Speaker 20: helped me with the facts that I share with people
Speaker 20: so more people are aware of these lizards. You can
Speaker 20: follow me on Twitter and check out that hashtag at
Speaker 20: Chelsea Herbs, and you can also catch you on Instagram
Speaker 20: at out to Chelsea. Just a addition here, if you'd
Speaker 20: like to be an ally to black people and STEM,
Speaker 20: it is very, very important that you listen sometimes what's happening,
Speaker 20: what's wrong is not always a glaring, obvious thing, a
Speaker 20: glaring statement. There are microaggressions, and if you look that up,
Speaker 20: you'll get lots of examples, and those are just as
Speaker 20: harmful as straight up racist statements. Listen and remember to
Speaker 20: create spaces for the people who would not normally have
Speaker 20: the same opportunity that you do that is also really vital.
Speaker 9: Thank you so much.
Speaker 3: So follow Chelsea and enjoy the hashtag did you annul?
Speaker 3: And in case you haven't heard, by the way of
Speaker 3: a microaggression, it is not something that your esthetician performs
Speaker 3: on your face. These are little comments, sometimes disguised or
Speaker 3: even well meaning as compliments, that, according to psychologists, communicate
Speaker 3: derogatory or negative or even hostile messages or assumptions about
Speaker 3: race to the receiver, and people of color deal with
Speaker 3: them all the time. And if you hear something like this,
Speaker 3: doctor DARYLD Wing Sue, a psychologist who studies racism, suggests
Speaker 3: a micro intervention. Essentially, if you hear someone doing this
Speaker 3: to someone else, let them know not cool. And also,
Speaker 3: if you'd like a better look at what black academics
Speaker 3: face and a lot of examples of what a microaggression
Speaker 3: can look like, you can check out the hashtag black
Speaker 3: in the Ivory like being black in the Ivory Tower
Speaker 3: or follow at black in the Ivory and it is
Speaker 3: a place for academics to share what they've gone through
Speaker 3: and for non black folks to really learn about microaggressions
Speaker 3: or sometimes mega aggressions. Now if you want to be
Speaker 3: an ally and you hear microaggressions, help stop them. If
Speaker 3: you have said things that you later realize or are
Speaker 3: told our microaggressions, understand how comments land, and pledge to
Speaker 3: do better. It really matters. Also, let's move on from
Speaker 3: the indignities of pooping lizards to kissing Hello.
Speaker 21: My name is Kaylee Arnold. I am a PhD student
Speaker 21: at the University of Georgia and I am a disease ecologist.
Speaker 21: Disease ecology is broadly the study of how the environment
Speaker 21: influences the spread of diseases. For my PhD work, I
Speaker 21: study the gut bacteria or microbiome of kissing bugs that
Speaker 21: spread chaugust disease to better understand how they transmit this disease.
Speaker 21: Chagas disease affects millions of people throughout the Americas, especially
Speaker 21: in Latin America, and I conduct my research in Panama.
Speaker 21: One interesting fact is that, unlike mosquitoes, kissing bugs spread
Speaker 21: the chaggest disease parasite through their feces. So you first
Speaker 21: have to be pooped on by this little insect, and
Speaker 21: then their feces has to get into your blood stream
Speaker 21: free to contract Shawgis. Another quick fact is that they
Speaker 21: get the name kissing bug because they tend to bite
Speaker 21: humans and animals near their mouths and eyes.
Speaker 3: Sorry, that was a real misdirect there, Okay, Kaylee continues.
Speaker 21: In addition to disease ecology, I have led my departments
Speaker 21: K through twelve science outreach program for the last several years.
Speaker 21: As one of the few black scientists in my field,
Speaker 21: it's important for me to bring environmental science education to
Speaker 21: local black families and other marginalized communities in my area.
Speaker 21: In terms of what true allies can do to help
Speaker 21: out the Black STEM community, the easiest thing to do
Speaker 21: is just listen to us, ask us what we need,
Speaker 21: how you can help, put money down, don't just tweet,
Speaker 21: And most importantly, protect your black colleagues, students, friends, strangers, etc.
Speaker 21: On all friends. Just because you feel safe in a
Speaker 21: certain situation or area does not mean we do too.
Speaker 21: You can find me on Twitter at Black Underscore Ecologist,
Speaker 21: and you can follow my outreach group at eco reach
Speaker 21: UGA on both Twitter and Instagram.
Speaker 3: Oh you know, I love bug facts.
Speaker 2: Hi.
Speaker 22: My name is Fallen Morey Gilmour. I'm a PhD candidate
Speaker 22: in entomology at Penn State University, and myology is medical entomology.
Speaker 22: Medical entomology is the study of insects and arthropods that
Speaker 22: have public health importance. So that includes our ticks, our
Speaker 22: kissing bugs, our bedbugs, and most known are mosquitoes, which
Speaker 22: I study. Did you know that mosquito is Spanish for
Speaker 22: little fly? The word reportedly originated in the early sixteenth
Speaker 22: century in Africa, New Zealand and Australia. Mosquitos are often
Speaker 22: called mazi's. And on that note, you can follow me
Speaker 22: on Twitter at Mozzi Foul.
Speaker 3: Follow Mazzi Foul for more awesome and very mind boggling
Speaker 3: medical en top facts. And hey, people of planet Earth's
Speaker 3: northern hemisphere, it's tick season, so you might want to
Speaker 3: go back and listen to the Disease Ecology and Acroology
Speaker 3: episodes from last Spring and Bonus. Both are with amazing
Speaker 3: women of color. Now they think about it, so yes,
Speaker 3: check those crevices. Okay, more bucks. Hi.
Speaker 23: My name is Tyler. I'm a budding science communicator in
Speaker 23: honeybee nutritionally collegist. Did you know that when bees forge
Speaker 23: for pollen but don't actually pollinate, it's called consumptive emasculation.
Speaker 23: You can follow me on Twitter at at moliferosity.
Speaker 3: Bye.
Speaker 15: Hi, my name is Dakota Lane and I'm an environmental
Speaker 15: science major at Loyola University Chicago interested in invertebrate ecology
Speaker 15: and marine ecology. I don't have any current projects, but
Speaker 15: some of my past research has looked at the escape
Speaker 15: mechanics and crayfish and the difference in neuron firing patterns.
Speaker 15: So when crayfish, which are essentially a small lobster, they're
Speaker 15: about three inches long, when they meet a potential predator,
Speaker 15: they'll flick their tails backwards and propel themselves backwards. I'm Audi,
Speaker 15: and I really want to see the difference in neuron
Speaker 15: firing patterns when they meet a predator and are trying
Speaker 15: to get away from something that escape mechanic versus when
Speaker 15: they are just swimming and not stimulated by anything. And
Speaker 15: I also looked at the potential of natural compounds influencing
Speaker 15: neuron firing. So kiate, which is a well known neural toxin,
Speaker 15: interrupts the communication between nerve cells and muscle cells, and
Speaker 15: I was really interested in not that communication, but how
Speaker 15: the actual neuron fired and the neuron firing patterns when
Speaker 15: that neural toxin was introduced. I think what's most fulfilling
Speaker 15: about what I do and what I enjoy most is
Speaker 15: simply learning. Whenever you're on any research project, you're always
Speaker 15: learning something new, and I love being able to share
Speaker 15: that with you know, other people, especially kids, because they
Speaker 15: get excited about everything, even the smallest details. But it's
Speaker 15: that my discoveries can possibly help further life saving. You know,
Speaker 15: research studies or my studies can themselves be life changing.
Speaker 15: And that's what I do love about science. You know
Speaker 15: that science has the power to change lives. The simplest
Speaker 15: of curiosities of really looking at the world in a
Speaker 15: different light and saying, huh, I wonder how that works.
Speaker 15: You can potentially save and change lives. You can follow
Speaker 15: me on Twitter at delany, which is spelled d e
Speaker 15: l A n e I. I thank you so much.
Speaker 3: Science changes lives all of ours and yours too when
Speaker 3: it's your passion and you follow it. Now. In asking
Speaker 3: for these sound clips, I wanted to give an immediate
Speaker 3: platform to all these people that I admire, and I
Speaker 3: told them that if anyone wanted to include something that
Speaker 3: they think allies should know or do, a lot of
Speaker 3: listeners would be really grateful for that, but they definitely
Speaker 3: did not have to address that or do that labor.
Speaker 3: Now in editing, I realized what I didn't do is
Speaker 3: ask what messages they would have for other folks who
Speaker 3: are black and stem. Now that is me, with the
Speaker 3: best of intentions, still working from my place of privilege,
Speaker 3: and asking them for their time and insight to inform
Speaker 3: white people how to act, not asking them for lessons
Speaker 3: to fellow black scientists. So let that be a lesson
Speaker 3: to all of us that being anti racist and being
Speaker 3: an ally, no matter how well intentioned, you're probably going
Speaker 3: to fall short sometimes. Just in editing this yesterday I
Speaker 3: smacked myself literally on the forehead. We all like science,
Speaker 3: and science often involves some humbling failures, and being anti
Speaker 3: racist is a process of learning and understanding, and we
Speaker 3: will never move forward if you don't take a risk
Speaker 3: by using your voice and your privilege. It's kind of
Speaker 3: like cooking. You got one pan going and then you
Speaker 3: realize that you burned another pan. But guess what, the
Speaker 3: more you cook, the better you're going to get at it.
Speaker 3: No reason to throw in the towel. But I really
Speaker 3: want to add that advice from people who are Black
Speaker 3: AF and STEM to others. And so Black AF and
Speaker 3: STEM did some really great q and as over the
Speaker 3: last week, and I want to read you a few
Speaker 3: from their Twitter sessions. So someone asked any advice on
Speaker 3: how to connect new burders with mentors. Brianna Amigua, who
Speaker 3: is a horse lover and a naturalist who goes by
Speaker 3: ranger bris on Twitter and Instagram, said, depending on the
Speaker 3: age with kids, expose them to people who bird already,
Speaker 3: build community, teach them local birds, tap online to the
Speaker 3: Black AF and STEM hashtag and community tap into local networks. Again,
Speaker 3: that was from at ranger Bris and another question they
Speaker 3: got was what advice do you have for younger black
Speaker 3: students as they enter predominantly white spaces? And J Drew Lanham,
Speaker 3: a Birder and Wildlife of collegist whose handle is one
Speaker 3: black Burder, said, sometimes you're going to be the first.
Speaker 3: Don't shy away from that. You have to be comfortable
Speaker 3: in your own skin. You may face barriers from people
Speaker 3: who don't look like you, and some who do. Someone
Speaker 3: may try to take your black cards because you're doing
Speaker 3: something they don't think you should, he says. Now Finding
Speaker 3: a mentor is also something that's greatly encouraged, and being
Speaker 3: a mentor is too. Some other resources to hear more
Speaker 3: Black Voices and STEM are podcasts, of course, PHDVAS, Dope Labs,
Speaker 3: sip Inside all have black hosts. Thermophysiology episode guest doctor
Speaker 3: Shane Campbell Staton's podcast The Biology of Superheroes is incredible.
Speaker 3: There's also Onward for Wildlife, which is hosted by another
Speaker 3: great Blackbirds Week organizer, Tykee. James. Take is the Government
Speaker 3: Affars Coordinator at the National autobonn Society NICE and his
Speaker 3: podcast Onward for Wildlife features political interviews and discussions on
Speaker 3: wildlife conservation. So you can find Onward for Wildlife on
Speaker 3: Twitter at Onward four the number four Wildlife, and Tikei
Speaker 3: is on Twitter at Taikei Underscore James. Now, stay tuned.
Speaker 3: In a minute or so, we will jump back into
Speaker 3: more stories from amazing scientists. But first a few words
Speaker 3: from the sponsors of the show, who make it possible
Speaker 3: each week for us to make a donation to a
Speaker 3: charity of the ologists choosing, and usually we do a
Speaker 3: portion of the proceeds, but this week we're digging deeper.
Speaker 3: We're sending a flat five thousand dollars from Ologies to
Speaker 3: black af and Stem as an honorarium for educating us
Speaker 3: all with this episode and as a thank you for
Speaker 3: the incredible work that they do year round. I'm looking
Speaker 3: forward to continuing to contribute as a year goes on
Speaker 3: to some more grant projects. I'm working on hatching with
Speaker 3: some previous Ologies guests too, so stay tuned for that.
Speaker 3: So this five thousand dollars donation was also made possible
Speaker 3: by all the supporters at patreon dot com slash Ologies
Speaker 3: who let me have a little wiggle room with budgets,
Speaker 3: and of course that donation was also made possible by
Speaker 3: sponsors of the show. You may hear about now get value.
Speaker 2: You can't argue with aunt Tesco with their amazing club
Speaker 2: card prices. Have the perfect night in with their finest
Speaker 2: frozen pizza meal deal. Get a finest frozen pizza, chips
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Speaker 2: and ice cream like cecil de Caramo or Pistachio for dessert.
Speaker 2: Can't argue with that shop in store line Tesco. Every
Speaker 2: little helps available in most stories, prices varying express.
Speaker 3: Okay, let's meet some more scientists who are black, af
Speaker 3: and stem.
Speaker 8: Hello everyone, and thank you Ali for allowing me to
Speaker 8: be a part of your amazing podcast. My name is
Speaker 8: Jasmine Childress. I am a PhD Student in the Department
Speaker 8: of Ecology, Evolution, and Marine Biology at the University of California,
Speaker 8: Santa Barbara.
Speaker 9: Who it's a mouthful.
Speaker 8: My work falls into the fields of parasitology, which is
Speaker 8: the study of parasites, ecology, and conservation biology. My dissertation
Speaker 8: work has taken me to the Channel Islands National Park,
Speaker 8: which is located just off the coast of the southern
Speaker 8: California Fighte. Currently, I am working with the once endangered
Speaker 8: San Miguel Island fox and a newly found parasite that
Speaker 8: has negatively impacted the survival and reproduction of the fox
Speaker 8: population recently. These parasites are known as akantusphalins and are
Speaker 8: commonly referred to as thorny headed work. I think a
Speaker 8: cool fact about how they got their name. It's because
Speaker 8: individuals have an attachment organ that's completely covered in hooks,
Speaker 8: which is used to anchor into host tissue. No thanks,
Speaker 8: the foxes, while they're no longer endangered, are still very
Speaker 8: vulnerable to extinction due to parasitic infections. So I work
Speaker 8: in partnership with the USGS and biologists at the Channel
Speaker 8: Islands National Park to determine how infections are spread between
Speaker 8: foxes and ultimately to develop a new management plan where
Speaker 8: we can hopefully prevent the extinction or the threat of
Speaker 8: extinction to these foxes once more. I love doing what
Speaker 8: I do because I can take part in research with
Speaker 8: tangible end goals like developing a species management plan, while
Speaker 8: enjoying both outdoor field work and indoor lab work. I
Speaker 8: also love introducing undergraduates and young people to the ecology
Speaker 8: of parasites. I find it very enjoyable to engage others
Speaker 8: about my parasite ecology projects because we all inherently have
Speaker 8: a sort of visceral initial reaction when we think about
Speaker 8: when we think about parasites.
Speaker 3: Now doctors call this very reaction to parasites the creepy
Speaker 3: crawley heck nos.
Speaker 8: I frequently post on social media about my research as
Speaker 8: well as the experiences of other black people in nature
Speaker 8: and stim fields. I think this is an awesome chance
Speaker 8: that I have to enhance visibility for those who look
Speaker 8: like me and shed light on some pretty awesome research
Speaker 8: at the same time. If you're interested in following me
Speaker 8: for parasite photos, field work fails, or learning more about
Speaker 8: people of color and stin, you can reach me on
Speaker 8: Twitter and Instagram with a handle at underscore Jay Childress.
Speaker 8: And for those who are looking for ways to foster allyship,
Speaker 8: using your platforms to share photos, posts and research of
Speaker 8: black people in stin is very helpful. Ali, I want
Speaker 8: to thank you today for sharing your platform with me.
Speaker 8: I'm very grateful for this space to geek out a
Speaker 8: little bit about my work and also shed light online
Speaker 8: and others' experiences in STEM.
Speaker 3: Thank you, Thank you. There's nothing that I love more. Okay,
Speaker 3: speaking of communicating science, here's Ashley aka the Wildlife Host.
Speaker 24: Hey, I'm actually Gary and I'm a science communicator. So
Speaker 24: I studied environmental science in grad school and after taking
Speaker 24: a course in environmental communications, oh.
Speaker 22: My gosh, I was hooked.
Speaker 24: Science communication is basically the art of taking a confusion
Speaker 24: out of science and making it accessible to others, which
Speaker 24: is essentially what Ali does with this podcast. So I
Speaker 24: believe that science belongs to everyone, so I try to
Speaker 24: make it open and welcoming for folks, and you know,
Speaker 24: especially people who are less familiar with it.
Speaker 20: And the weirdest part about.
Speaker 24: Being a science communicator is really that, you know, I
Speaker 24: created this opportunity out of than air. I just decided
Speaker 24: that I wanted to talk with people about wildlife and
Speaker 24: I just started. I just started one day, and I
Speaker 24: love sharing the wide range of diversity of life. People
Speaker 24: get so excited see all the different species, and I
Speaker 24: love that energy. It's just amazing. So if you're interested,
Speaker 24: you can follow me on Instagram and Twitter at the
Speaker 24: Wildlife Host. I share really amazing wildlife photos and facts
Speaker 24: from all around the world. And thank you Ali for
Speaker 24: using your platform to amplify black voices and listeners. You
Speaker 24: can be an ally by supporting black lit initiatives and
Speaker 24: supporting black businesses.
Speaker 3: Thank you so much. Everyone.
Speaker 5: Greetings. My name is Joseph Saunders. I am a professional
Speaker 5: wildlife photographer. I focus on the areas of herpetology and entomology.
Speaker 5: I have loved reptiles all of my life. My love
Speaker 5: of insects and other invertebrates came quite a bit later.
Speaker 5: I'm especially obsessed with jumping spiders. Not a weird fact,
Speaker 5: but I think an important fact about me is that
Speaker 5: I have been permanently disabled since birth. I'm a paraplegic
Speaker 5: and I use a wheelchair full time. I have yet
Speaker 5: to meet more than maybe two or three other people
Speaker 5: with an injury like mine who are also naturalists. This
Speaker 5: is a really good opportunity for BBC, not GEO. If
Speaker 5: you guys are listening, y'all don't have any representation for
Speaker 5: disabled people amongst your photographers. You can find my content
Speaker 5: on Twitter. You can reach me at JD. Monroe two
Speaker 5: one zero. It's capital J D M lowercase O N
Speaker 5: R O E two one zero. I'm also on Instagram
Speaker 5: at Reels on Wheels r E E l S O
Speaker 5: n W H E E l S. I think an
Speaker 5: important aspect for people who wish to be allies of Black,
Speaker 5: Indigenous and POC in STEM is to be in tolerance
Speaker 5: of discrimination entirely institute within your organization's a zero tolerance policy.
Speaker 5: This would have to include academics, your hobbyist groups that
Speaker 5: support the academics, and where professional environments as well.
Speaker 3: Joseph Sunder's photography is bananas. I gasped when I saw it.
Speaker 17: I like.
Speaker 3: So many gorgeous macrophotos of jumping spiders and bugs and
Speaker 3: lizards and frogs. Just takes your breath away as I
Speaker 3: record this. Joseph has eight hundred and ninety two followers
Speaker 3: on Instagram. He should have like at least one hundred thousand.
Speaker 3: If you are listening and on Instagram, follow Reels on Wheels.
Speaker 3: I will also link on my website again Joseph Saunders
Speaker 3: Reels on Wheels on Instagram if he does not have
Speaker 3: twenty thousand followers on Instagram by Monday, I'm striking and
Speaker 3: I'm never putting up another Ologies episode, So don't make
Speaker 3: me take a vacation at a spite. Folks Instagram dot
Speaker 3: com Reels on Wheels do not piss off to adword here, kiddos,
Speaker 3: I will turn this car around.
Speaker 25: Hi. My name is Dajah Perkins and I'm a graduate
Speaker 25: student at North Carolina State University studying fisheries and wildlife conservation.
Speaker 25: Bio my ology is urban ecology. I consider myself in
Speaker 25: urban ecolleges because I focus on urban birds and how
Speaker 25: they are influenced by human culture. My research takes a
Speaker 25: look at the methods behind two popular citizens and science
Speaker 25: informed data sets eBird checklists and systematic point counts. eBird
Speaker 25: is a popular app used by birds to record bird
Speaker 25: observations all over the world. Systematic point counts, on the
Speaker 25: other hand, are a more structured way of collecting data.
Speaker 25: They consist of five to ten minute surveys at specific
Speaker 25: joke tag locations across a gridded area and are submitted
Speaker 25: by a coordinated team of technicians or volunteers. These data
Speaker 25: sets are commonly used to inform research, policy, and management decisions.
Speaker 25: My research aims to determine if these two methods are
Speaker 25: able to equally detect the human influences that shape cities
Speaker 25: and as a result, influence the spaces that birds occupy
Speaker 25: within the cities.
Speaker 3: Where are those birds though not equally distributed as it
Speaker 3: turns out.
Speaker 25: I use GIS or geographic information systems to look at
Speaker 25: where birds are reported, especially within urban areas, to determine
Speaker 25: if there are any blind spots and where birds are
Speaker 25: reported and if they reflect patterns of social inequity. Social
Speaker 25: inequity in cities can be displayed through lasting legacies such
Speaker 25: as street cover, which are a reflection of historical patterns
Speaker 25: of inequity resulting from systematic forces such as segregation and racism,
Speaker 25: which have shown to have lasting effects on how cities
Speaker 25: function economically and ecologically. These legacies influence the distribution of
Speaker 25: bird diversity and abundance of native species within cities. I
Speaker 25: love studying urban birds because it emphasizes that urban areas
Speaker 25: are used by more than just people, and more importantly,
Speaker 25: that we're all connected. You don't have to live in
Speaker 25: rural areas to experience nature, and I want to ensure
Speaker 25: that cities are properly managed for both people and wildlife,
Speaker 25: with equitable spaces that benefit us all.
Speaker 3: So think about that next time you're in a city.
Speaker 3: The more privilege you have, the better neighborhoo you might
Speaker 3: live in, the more trees out your window, and the
Speaker 3: more birds you get to see. It's not fair. Let's
Speaker 3: change that. So how wonderful that people are studying these things.
Speaker 3: Urban ecology, It's a thing. I'm into it.
Speaker 26: Hi, my name is Jason Windsor, and I'm a student
Speaker 26: at the University of Arizona studying biology and africana studies. Officially,
Speaker 26: My work focuses on plant and insect interactions, as well
Speaker 26: as a bit of urban ecology. My recent projects so
Speaker 26: focused on agriculture and right perian habitats, but recently I've
Speaker 26: started studying citizen science using a naturalists you butterfly, a
Speaker 26: bit of art, and a lot of coffee flavored ice cream.
Speaker 26: I'm working a sea of zoos and botanical gardens operate
Speaker 26: as productive green spaces. I also do a bit of
Speaker 26: science communication on the side. I got my start in
Speaker 26: science pulling ladybugs out of my grandfather's yard, and now
Speaker 26: I introduce people to insects in their own backyard. I
Speaker 26: know most people think insects are gross and creepy and mean,
Speaker 26: but that's what I love about the work that I do.
Speaker 26: Once you find yourself squatting on a trail watching a
Speaker 26: beetle cross in front of you, most people will come
Speaker 26: and ask you what you're doing, or they'll walk away
Speaker 26: in fear. But on the rare occasion that they become interested,
Speaker 26: you started a conversation.
Speaker 9: You've found a new scientist.
Speaker 26: You've made someone brave, and I love seeing that developing people,
Speaker 26: especially adults who will never touch a bug in their
Speaker 26: lives where kids will touch just about anything, especially when
Speaker 26: it comes to butterflies. Butterflies are a great way to
Speaker 26: spoon feed the loveliness that is arthropod's to people. Insects
Speaker 26: can be fun and friendly and taste with their feet.
Speaker 26: So if you are at all interested in learning about
Speaker 26: insects or urban ecology, come find me and spicy undersquare chicken.
Speaker 26: That's chicken without the second sea. See you soon.
Speaker 3: Okay, let's continue on this city critters track. There's a
Speaker 3: new word alert anthropogenic, resulting from humans.
Speaker 27: Hello.
Speaker 28: My name is Lauren Farr and I am a current
Speaker 28: graduate student pursuing my masters at North Carolina State University
Speaker 28: in Fisheries, Wildlife and conservation biology.
Speaker 8: I am a.
Speaker 28: Wildlife biologist who specializes in ornithology, or the study of birds.
Speaker 28: I'm currently researching how urbanization affects avian morphology. With the
Speaker 28: growing number of people rising in urban areas every day,
Speaker 28: anthropogenic or human factors affect all kinds of inhabiting wildlife.
Speaker 28: Urbanization has been a key thing linked to changes in
Speaker 28: avian behavior and physiology, and I am looking more into
Speaker 28: how it has affected things such as bird body mass
Speaker 28: and other body features. Did you know that urbanization can
Speaker 28: also affect arthropods or bugs, which in turn can have
Speaker 28: an effect on a bird's overall development. Since most chicks
Speaker 28: rely on an arthropod diet, with a limited amount of
Speaker 28: arthropods and urban areas, this can lead to affect a
Speaker 28: chick's growth rate, nutrition, and overall health. I absolutely love
Speaker 28: to do what I do because I absolutely just love birds.
Speaker 28: I get to be hands on with these awesome creatures,
Speaker 28: and what better way to learn than to be hands on?
Speaker 28: What can I say? I'm just your average bird NERD
Speaker 28: thought this was interesting. Well, you can learn more about
Speaker 28: me and my research by following me on Twitter and
Speaker 28: Instagram at LDFAR that's l d pha r R, or
Speaker 28: visit my website at www dot LFAR dot com. One
Speaker 28: way that listeners can be allies to black people in
Speaker 28: STEM is awareness. Valeria Kudakova, author of the article how
Speaker 28: to be a Best Ally in STEM, states that constantly
Speaker 28: learning and educating yourself is also crucial for developing a
Speaker 28: fuller understanding of the experiences of marginalized groups and hints
Speaker 28: being a better ally.
Speaker 3: Thank you, Lauren, you are great and I will link
Speaker 3: that article on my site now. This next one is
Speaker 3: birds and Bats and Cities. How's all.
Speaker 29: Hi. My name is Elosi to Carpenter, and I'm an
Speaker 29: urban ecologist and naturalist educator. I completed my PhD last
Speaker 29: year studying the urban backcommunity in Baltimore, Maryland, where I
Speaker 29: wanted to determine if and why bats might use vacant lots.
Speaker 29: And vacant lots are small patches of vegetation that form
Speaker 29: after a house has been removed from a lot. Currently,
Speaker 29: I'm analyzing about fifteen years worth of bird surveys also
Speaker 29: done here in Baltimore to see how the city's bird
Speaker 29: community has changed over time than if there are certain
Speaker 29: natural and human based reasons for those changes. Over the
Speaker 29: past seven years of doing research here, my colleagues and
Speaker 29: I have documented at least one hundred bird species in
Speaker 29: Baltimore and about six species of bats, which is half
Speaker 29: of the bat species present in the state of Maryland.
Speaker 29: I've lived in Baltimore most of my life and never
Speaker 29: expected to stay here and study wildlife. I always want
Speaker 29: it to be somewhere out in the wilderness. But what
Speaker 29: I really love about urban ecology is that it's full
Speaker 29: of surprises. Despite all the people living in urban areas.
Speaker 29: There have been many cool discoveries made about how wildlife
Speaker 29: are using and navigating the city in our backyards and neighborhoods.
Speaker 29: And because it's urban ecology, we have to include human
Speaker 29: measures in our studies as well, things like our upbringing
Speaker 29: and culture, our neighborhood structure, the income we and our
Speaker 29: neighbors make, and even events from the past like apartheid
Speaker 29: or redlining can play a role in what plants and
Speaker 29: animals exist around us today. My Twitter account is Cherokee
Speaker 29: Cita and my Instagram account is Elasita.
Speaker 3: And now from Bats to Medicine from Stephanie, who I
Speaker 3: had the pleasure of meeting at last year's psychon camp.
Speaker 3: She dules out some stats.
Speaker 30: Hi, I'm Stephanie Renee, an undergraduate neuroscience major, breast cancer researcher,
Speaker 30: and dog mom. So statistics show that in twenty fifteen,
Speaker 30: of all the women who were granted a bachelor's degree
Speaker 30: in neuroscience, only five percent were black. Even fewer were
Speaker 30: granted to those at masters or PhD levels. And that's
Speaker 30: something that I want to change because we do deserve
Speaker 30: to take up space. There's a lot that goes into
Speaker 30: barriers to education for underrepresented populations. But it's the small thing.
Speaker 30: Psychology is giving us a platform to sh stories that
Speaker 30: makes Blackensteon voices heard and not just an afterthought. So
Speaker 30: thanks for that.
Speaker 3: Ali.
Speaker 30: You can find me on the interwebs on Twitter and
Speaker 30: Instagram at osmosis Reeds and.
Speaker 3: I yeah by follow her as well. I love learning
Speaker 3: from her. And another great sycommer is Ashley doc Sippins.
Speaker 9: Hey, Ali, my name is Ashley.
Speaker 31: I'm a biophysicist podcaster, and I study basically how proteins
Speaker 31: get inside the mitochondria and what else are happening with
Speaker 31: those proteins that regulate how proteins can get inside. One
Speaker 31: weird fact about my work is that ninety percent or
Speaker 31: so of the mitochondria's proteins are actually not even made
Speaker 31: in the mitochondria, even though they have their own DNA
Speaker 31: as well as their own protein making machinery. I love
Speaker 31: what I do because I think it's always fascinating to
Speaker 31: visualize really tiny things, right, you know, I think about
Speaker 31: proteins all the time, but the fact that I have
Speaker 31: the ability to actually figure out what proteins look like
Speaker 31: and how they work is something that I find fascinating
Speaker 31: and always have.
Speaker 15: You can follow me.
Speaker 31: On all social media at sip, inside pod, sip nscipod.
Speaker 31: And one way that people can really be allies to
Speaker 31: black people in STEM is remembering that we're not just scientists,
Speaker 31: and we still have to move and operate with the
Speaker 31: weight of the world around us, as we're constantly, constantly
Speaker 31: getting messages that we are not good enough and we
Speaker 31: don't belong. And so go out of your way and
Speaker 31: make someone feel a little bit more comfortable and at home.
Speaker 9: And I think that's one of the biggest ways you
Speaker 9: can be an ally. Thanks again, Ali.
Speaker 3: So this next voice belongs to a wonderful wildlife biologist
Speaker 3: whose Twitter name is Richard Sissel, and I was like,
Speaker 3: what turns out that is an ornithology joke that I
Speaker 3: did not comprehend until seeing someone tweet about a bird
Speaker 3: called a dick sizzle. I already love this person.
Speaker 2: Hi.
Speaker 27: I'm Danielle Bellanie, a passionate birder naturalist and wildlife biologist.
Speaker 27: I love, love, love studying ecology. I'm getting paid to
Speaker 27: be curious, take a look at how and why natural
Speaker 27: systems functions and help heal the planet. I'm so glad
Speaker 27: to have other black scientists in this space with me,
Speaker 27: and honestly, I'm living my best life. A fun fact
Speaker 27: about my most recent work, I had to learn how
Speaker 27: to herd and care for one hundred and seventy goats.
Speaker 27: The goats were helping us restore native grasslands by grazing
Speaker 27: the encroaching shrubs and well, one hundred and seventy goats.
Speaker 27: They cause a lot of mischief, plenty of stories there.
Speaker 27: You can follow me on Instagram and Twitter at Bell's
Speaker 27: is Birding. That's b e lll z Bells is Birding.
Speaker 27: One way for listeners, especially white listeners, to be allies
Speaker 27: to black people in STEM is to pass on the
Speaker 27: opportunities to collaborate with well known organizations or big grants
Speaker 27: or well known people by referring black people and people
Speaker 27: of color who do some more work to them.
Speaker 3: Thanks.
Speaker 27: Oh and also just chill out when you're talking to
Speaker 27: us at a conference.
Speaker 3: I mean a delight. So she is based in Central
Speaker 3: Texas and again is a wildlife biologist. Professionally, she's worked
Speaker 3: with all kinds of species, and she happens to be
Speaker 3: looking for new work right now. She is willing to
Speaker 3: relocate anywhere in and out of the US. So, if
Speaker 3: you are listening to this and need a wildlife biologist
Speaker 3: on staff, hire a fellow ologite, Danielle Bellamy again Bell's
Speaker 3: with a z is Birding. She will be in the
Speaker 3: Twitter list that I will link in the show notes,
Speaker 3: and I will add a way to contact her to
Speaker 3: my website if she so chooses. Now, if you have
Speaker 3: a job you need to fill and you want to
Speaker 3: make sure that it gets in front of a diverse
Speaker 3: array of scholars, you can also check out the website
Speaker 3: Diverse Sky.
Speaker 7: And finally, Hi, my name is Tyas Williams. I am
Speaker 7: a wildlife ecologist with a specialization in carnivor ecology. I
Speaker 7: am intrigued at the intersection of utilizing spatial analysis to
Speaker 7: understand movement patterns of predators across the landscape and their
Speaker 7: crucial role that influences trophic ecologies throughout ecosystems worldwide.
Speaker 3: Ps I had to look it up, but trophic means
Speaker 3: where an animal is on the food chain.
Speaker 7: Essentially, carnivores are fascinating. The order Carnivora actually translates to
Speaker 7: flesh devour or meat eater. These are organisms that have
Speaker 7: specially modified teeth, which we refer to as carnascial teeth
Speaker 7: that can sheer, slice and tear through flesh with ease
Speaker 7: a lot, giving them the ability to subdue their prey
Speaker 7: without much effort at all. An interesting component to carnivores
Speaker 7: is there's about two hundred and seventy species or so.
Speaker 7: But what's really interesting is you have all these various
Speaker 7: types of carnivores with very different types of physical features,
Speaker 7: but they're essentially divided into two categories, which we refer
Speaker 7: to as suborders under Carnivora filiforma in cana forma, and
Speaker 7: you can discern between those two as cat like features
Speaker 7: and dog like features. A lot of people think there
Speaker 7: are certain animals that are more closely related to one another,
Speaker 7: but sometimes there's some misconceptions around them, like, for example, mongoose, hyena,
Speaker 7: and the fosa are all in fila forma. They are
Speaker 7: more closely related to felids than they are canis. And
Speaker 7: then you have animals like bears, raccoons, and seals that
Speaker 7: are in cana forma because they're actually more closely related
Speaker 7: to dogs. And it's really cool because you look at
Speaker 7: all these animals and you would never guess looking at
Speaker 7: them sometimes that they could be within those categories. And
Speaker 7: I just think that's a really interesting fact that maybe
Speaker 7: a lot of people don't think about sometimes. I love
Speaker 7: carnivores not only because they are megacharismatic and they have
Speaker 7: an alluring, majestic feature that just demands your respect and attention,
Speaker 7: but they're crucial to the health of land escape in ecosystems.
Speaker 7: We need carnivores. They influence prey item population control, and
Speaker 7: their trophy ecology cascade that they initiate and insight is
Speaker 7: necessary for the health and stability across all landscapes. If
Speaker 7: you are interested in following me, you can follow me
Speaker 7: at Science with Ties on Instagram and Twitter. And I
Speaker 7: know that things have been very turbulent right now in
Speaker 7: terms of our recent news, and I just wanted to
Speaker 7: take a moment to address that black people are under
Speaker 7: siege right now. Sadly, we have been for a very
Speaker 7: long time historically. I just think because of media coverage
Speaker 7: and the technological advancements it's become it's been brought to
Speaker 7: light more than ever. And in terms of the daunting
Speaker 7: whores that we're seeing across the globe and We need help,
Speaker 7: We need support, we need solidarity, we need action, and
Speaker 7: we need need mobilization, if not more than anything, when
Speaker 7: it comes to our non people of color brothers and sisters,
Speaker 7: we need people to stand up and fight for us.
Speaker 7: We need people to take action and vote correctly and
Speaker 7: fight for our lives. We can't do this alone. We
Speaker 7: need help, and I hope that maybe through these efforts
Speaker 7: and actions, maybe we can gather a little bit more
Speaker 7: peace on this planet. Thank you so much for your time.
Speaker 3: So that was Tias d Williams, and you can follow
Speaker 3: him at Science. With Tias, you can look forward to
Speaker 3: a future Ologies episode with him and several of the
Speaker 3: people you just heard whose jobs and lives are fascinating.
Speaker 3: It has been an honor getting to know you all
Speaker 3: better and to hear the voices behind the tweets. I
Speaker 3: just respect and admire you all so much, and thank
Speaker 3: you for making the world a better place. Speaking on
Speaker 3: behalf of myself and the hordes of non POC allies,
Speaker 3: we are here for you and we have your back.
Speaker 3: We will fight for you until there is justice and
Speaker 3: equity for all. If you're out there hearing this and
Speaker 3: you don't see anyone in your field or in the
Speaker 3: room who looks like you. Just know that room needs
Speaker 3: you even more. You belong there even more, and that
Speaker 3: people who may not look like you are willing to
Speaker 3: stand up for you. We're getting better at it every day.
Speaker 3: Thank you for showing us how and for letting us learn.
Speaker 3: So ask smare people stupid questions, but lay off our
Speaker 3: black friends right now, and you know, ask Google, get
Speaker 3: a book, read blogs, listen to podcasts, don't barge into
Speaker 3: anyone's DMS processing your own emotions. Now's not the time
Speaker 3: for it.
Speaker 11: Now.
Speaker 3: We will be back next week with a super fascinating
Speaker 3: conversation about gender and the brain. I can't wait, It's
Speaker 3: so good. Meanwhile, follow at black AF and STEM on
Speaker 3: Instagram and Twitter. They are amazing. Follow them right now,
Speaker 3: head to a link in the show notes where you
Speaker 3: can follow everyone that we have just heard from, plus
Speaker 3: a few more awesome black voices in STEM. There will
Speaker 3: also be a PayPal link to black AF and STEM
Speaker 3: in case you want to throw a few bones their way,
Speaker 3: even if it's just the price of a coffee or
Speaker 3: a sandwich. That adds up and we all work together.
Speaker 3: All of those links will be up at Aliward dot com,
Speaker 3: slash Ologies slash blackaf in Stem. Thank you Shannon Felds
Speaker 3: and Bonnie Dutch for managing ologiesmerch dot Com. Happy tenth birthday,
Speaker 3: Little Aiden, We love you. Thank you Aaron Talbert for
Speaker 3: managing the Ologies podcast Facebook group. Thank you to Emily
Speaker 3: White and her army of transcribers who turned these episodes
Speaker 3: around so fast for accessibility. Those as well as episodes
Speaker 3: bleeped by Caleb Patten, are all up at aliward dot com,
Speaker 3: slash Ologies dash Extras. Thank you to Noel the Worth
Speaker 3: for helping me stay on top of my schedule. I
Speaker 3: would be literally lost without you. And thank you te
Speaker 3: Jarrett Sleeper of mind Jam Media and the Mental Health Podcast,
Speaker 3: My Goodbad Brain, who helped edit this big heap of
Speaker 3: voice files together, And to the lovely Stepnray Morris who
Speaker 3: ushered it safely into your ears with the final edits.
Speaker 3: So the theme song was written by Nick Thorburn of
Speaker 3: the band Islands, and if you listen through the credits,
Speaker 3: I tell you secrets. This week's secret is that I
Speaker 3: was supposed to have in fizzle Line for like seven
Speaker 3: months and it's almost two years because I just forget
Speaker 3: a lot. So Hey, we're doing our best. I'm sorry,
Speaker 3: doctor Colin. I'll wear them tonight, I promise. Okay, go out,
Speaker 3: use your voice, be good to each other. Thank you
Speaker 3: for letting me learn so publicly. Okay, good bye, pacodermatology, homology,
Speaker 3: your do zoology, lithology, technology, meteorology, paratology, ethology, ceriology, selenology.
Speaker 3: Get value.
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