Talk Nerdy with Cara Santa Maria

In this episode of Talk Nerdy, Cara is joined by Samantha Zwicker, a tropical biologist and wildlife rehabilitation specialist. Sam is also the co-founder of Hoja Nueva, a conservation organization that confronts threats to biodiversity in the Peruvian Amazon. They discuss her work with elusive Amazonian felids, as is featured in a new documentary called Wildcat.

In this episode of Talk Nerdy, Cara is joined by the California Regional Executive Director of the National Wildlife Federation, Beth Pratt. They celebrate the extraordinary life and mourn the death of Los Angeles Mountain Lion P-22. In addition, Beth shares about P-22’s legacy, including the Wallis Annenberg Wildlife Crossing.

In this episode of Talk Nerdy, Cara is joined by Dr. Feryal Özel, chair of the School of Physics at Georgia Tech. They talk about her incredible career as a theoretical astrophysicist, her important work on the recent imaging of a black hole with the Event Horizon Telescope (EHT) Collaboration, and the critical need for representation in science.

In this episode of Talk Nerdy, Cara is joined by Indigenous (Ojibwe) queer robotics inventor Danielle Boyer. They talk about her work making technical education accessible and representative for her community, primarily through the STEAM Connection, a nonprofit she founded to supply kids with no-cost, Indigenous language revitalization robots.

In this episode of Talk Nerdy, Cara is joined by Dr. Erin Macdonald, astrophysicist and consultant for the Star Trek franchise. They talk about STEM, sci-fi, and her new board book, "Star Trek: My First Book of Space." Follow Erin: @drerinmac.

In this episode of Talk Nerdy, Cara is joined by Kimberly Perkins, pilot and PhD student at the University of Washington. They talk about her research on the impact of cognitive biases on flight safety, including perspectives from psychology, neuroscience, and aviation.

In this episode of Talk Nerdy, Cara is joined by Dr. Karen Bakker, Fellow of the Harvard Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Studies and multidisciplinary professor at the University of British Columbia. They talk about her new book, "The Sounds of Life: How Digital Technology Is Bringing Us Closer to the Worlds of Animals and Plants."

In this episode of Talk Nerdy, Cara is joined by Dr. Fenwa Milhouse to talk about all things urology! They discuss common urological conditions, like erectile dysfunction, urinary tract infections, urogynecoloigical issues, and even the dreaded broken penis!

In this episode of Talk Nerdy, Cara is joined once again by author and illustrator Rachel Ignotofsky to talk about her newest book, "The History of the Computer: People, Inventions, and Technology that Changed Our World." They discuss how learning about history changes our relationship with the present and the future, with a special emphasis on the empowerment that comes from using technology to create.

In this episode of Talk Nerdy, Cara is joined by evolutionary biologist and geneticist Dr. Joseph L. Graves Jr. to talk about his new book, "A Voice in the Wilderness: A Pioneering Biologist Explains How Evolution Can Help Us Solve Our Biggest Problems." They discuss his incredible career, beginning as the first African American to earn a PhD in evolutionary biology, and continuing in the fight against racial and gender inequity in the sciences and society at large.