Here We Are

Today I'm speaking with returning guest, Denita Hadziabdic Guerry. Denita's research focuses on population genetics of fungal plant pathogens, population biology, forest health, forest pathology, and diversity and conservation efforts of native plants. We discuss the importance of accurate science communication, what's going on with wood prices around the world, and Thousand Cankers Disease complex, which primarily affects black walnut. https://epp.tennessee.edu/people/directory/dr-denita-hadziabdic-guerry/ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Today I speak with returning guest, Kari Nixon, who is the author of the brand new book "Quarantine Life from Cholera to COVID-19: What Pandemics Teach Us About Parenting, Work, Life, and Communities from the 1700s to Today". Dr. Kari Nixon is an assistant professor of English at Whitworth University. She teaches medical humanities, Victorian literature, and is forever interested in death, disease, risk, and why we fear them. Dr. Nixon’s work has been shared on Huffington Post, March for Science, and more.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Jordan Ellenberg is a mathematician and author of the new book "Shape: The Hidden Geometry of Information, Biology, Strategy, Democracy, and Everything Else". He shares how mathematical thinking can help make elections more fair and how we can use math to better plan for pandemics. Mentioned formula: Infected tomorrow = Infected today + (0.2) x infected (today) x Susceptible(today)/Total population – (0.1) x Infected (today) https://people.math.wisc.edu/~ellenber/ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This week I learn all about what happens to your body after you die! Environmental microbiologist, Jennifer DeBruyn, researches microbiomes at the "body farm" of the University of Tennessee. Should you get cremated, turned into a tree, or fall over and let maggots eat your eyes? https://utianews.tennessee.edu/jennifer-debruyn-presented-with-agresearch-mid-career-faculty-research-excellence-award/ https://onehealthinitiative.com/ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In this episode, I talked with the authors of the book "Blindsight: The (Mostly) Hidden Ways Marketing Reshapes Our Brains". Prince Ghuman has taught consumer science, behavioral economics, and experiential marketing as a professor of neuromarketing. Matt Johnson is a consumer neuroscience professor at Hult International Business School. Their website https://www.popneuro.com/ makes learning and implementing ethical neuromarketing accessible for all. Patreon shout out to Mad Scientist Saahil Shenoy and his mom Seema Shenoy new product Omnipan! indiegogo.com/projects/omnipan-high-performance-modern-cookware# Best of luck revolutionizing cookware Seema! You raised a great son. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Am I buying into mainstream science? Is anti-conformity a form of conformity? How does the evolutionary mismatch between our parasympathetic responses and our modern environment affect our beliefs about the world? Joanne Miller, PhD explains how humans fall into fringe explanations of reality and why people trust different sources of information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This is one of the goofiest Here We Are episodes to date. Anytime a scientist wants to goof around and keep things loose, I'm way up for it. One of my biggest goals with this show is to humanize scientists and on this one we had a lot of very silly laughs. Like myself, Scott Barry Kaufman wasn't considered the best student in his youth. But his love of science had him flying over every roadblock in his path. He's a real inspiration. Read his books at https://scottbarrykaufman.com/books/ Listen to his conversations with some of the greatest minds out there on his podcast https://scottbarrykaufman.com/podcast/ We chat about overcoming perceived shortcomings and updating Maslow's hierarchy of needs. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In this special episode, Shane is joined by Ramin Nazer in a reverse role interview where C Shawn Green asks both of them about their experiences as standup comedians. Shawn Green is an associate professor of cognitive neuroscience at The University of Wisconsin-Madison. His work focuses on perceptual, motor, and cognitive domains in human learning. Learn more about Shawn's work here: https://psych.wisc.edu/staff/green-c-shawn/ Thank you for watching and being an inquisitive being. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Have you ever thought about specific stressors that farmers face?  Me EITHER!  And it is damn fascinating.  Did you know that you aren’t a real baller until you have a combine tractor? Heather Sedges Wallace is an Assistant Professor of Family and Consumer Sciences at UTK https://cfs.utk.edu/heather-sedges-wallace/ .   Heather has received one of only two national Early Career Achievement awards from the Institute of Youth, Family and Community Heather is also working with the https://onehealthinitiative.com which is a new small interdisciplinary science organization working toward making the world a better place.  Shane’s been trying to find ways to collaborate with them so you can expect to see about one guest a month helping build the bigger picture of the many ways they are trying to create a bigger network to work on endlessly complex intertwined issues. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Shane talks with long-time friend and host of the Podcast: Solo - A Single Person's Guide to a Remarkable Life, Peter McGraw. They talk about everything from lasting friendships and jealousy in relationships to being incredibly honest and motivating yourself. Peter is a marketing and psychology professor at the Leeds School of Business and the Department of Psychology and Neuroscience at University of Colorado Boulder. He teaches a PhD seminar in behavioral economics and courses in marketing management, consumer behavior, and advertising for the University of Colorado Boulder. McGraw has spent more than a decade examining the antecedents and consequences of humor—work that has moved the study of humor from the niche to the mainstream. One advantage that he has over his predecessors is his ability to conduct state-of-the-art experiments with the help of the team he directs at the Humor Research Lab (aka HuRL), a laboratory dedicated to the experimental study of humor. To hear Peter's previous appearances check out: Episode 273: Shtick to Business Part 2 https://www.herewearepodcast.com/episodes/shtick-business-part-2 Episode 272: Shtick to Business Part 1 https://www.herewearepodcast.com/episodes/shtick-business-part-2-ly723 Episode 121: Live From Boulder https://www.herewearepodcast.com/episodes/1uir2rip5c2gtojhvq0b40ss3yvjll Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices