Talk Nerdy with Cara Santa Maria

Cara sits down with Dr. Kevin Folta (Professor and Chair of Horticultural Sciences, University of Florida) to continue their conversation about genetically modified organisms. Especially poignant: the philosophy of activism denying opportunities for the developing world.

Cara chats with YouTuber Jaclyn Glenn about her departure from the Catholic Church and subsequent rise as an atheist advocate. Also discussed: hate comments on YouTube and how life would be different if there were no religion.

Dr. Shini Somara (TechKnow) sits down with Cara to talk about why computational fluid dynamics is so important. Also included: lots of airplane talk and Shini’s journey across the pond to communicate science to the American public.

Cara and Dannielle Owens-Reid (Everyone Is Gay and The Parents Project) talk about issues facing LGBTQ youth, including the special struggles of bisexual and pansexual individuals. They also open up about their own sexual identities and histories.

Cara and photographer Rachael Porter nerd out about the history of photography, the weird and wonderful Burning Man community, and the role of art in demystifying the true lives of scientists and engineers.

Cara talks nerdy with entomologist Aaron Pomerantz about his work at thenextgenscientist.com, exploring the Amazonian rainforest, and how researching bugs can have far-reaching implications--including global health benefits.

Cara sits down with actress, writer, and producer Taryn O'Neill (Granite Flats, After Judgment) to talk about her love of scifi and her STEM advocacy group SCIRENS. Also discussed: why we need more strong female characters on screen, including scientists and engineers. Hear hear!

Rocket scientist, explorer, and champion for women in engineering Natalie Panek connects with Cara across international borders to talk about how we can attract more women to STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) fields and then retain them. They also discuss the state of modern television as it relates to science literacy and what we can do about all that space junk orbiting planet Earth.

Cara speaks with Chris Mooney, Energy And Environment Reporter for the Washington Post, about all things climate change. Topics discussed include: how personality and psychology play into the decisions we make about the environment, how understanding liberal vs. conservative viewpoints can help us affect environmental change in a more meaningful way, and the difference between sea ice and land ice in ever-warming Antarctica.

Cara talks nerdy with master of teh interwebs Hank Green (SciShow, Crash Course, vlogbrothers, etc, etc, etc). He talks about his love affair with science, how crowd funding is changing the way we create really good content, why people can be so awful on the internet, and all the hard work YouTubers put into their craft. Also he is very funny.