Sing for Science
Sing For Science is a science and music podcast produced with Talkhouse where musicians talk to scientists about science as it connects to their most famous songs. Created and hosted by New York musician, Matt Whyte, the podcast’s goal is to increase science literacy for as many people as possible by reaching a variety of different musicians’ fan bases. Listeners come to the show through their love of music and leave with a new piece of knowledge. Science literacy and respect for expertise are perhaps more vital now than ever before. The show’s chief tenet is that a more science and scientific process literate society can only contribute towards greater support for more fair, evidence-based policy in government. Sing For Science is listener supported; please contribute today at singforscience.org.
Latest episodes
Oct 19, 2022 • 43min
mxmtoon: Florida (Ethnobotany/Plant Medicine with Cassandra Quave)
Singer/songwriter and apartment plant enthusiast mxmtoon talks about the loss and sense of place that inspired her song "Florida" with ethnobotanist, Dr Cassandra Quave. Dr. Quave is the author of "The Plant Hunter: A Scientist's Quest For Nature's Next Best Medicines". We cover plant identification, traditional medicine and how to talk to your plants.
Oct 12, 2022 • 57min
Arlo Guthrie: Alice’s Restaurant (Nutritional Anthropology with Ellen Messer)
Arlo Guthrie talks about the lyrics to the 1967 anti-war masterpiece, “Alice’s Restaurant” - we talk at length about the 1960s and being Woody Guthrie’s son. Tufts University Nutritional Anthropologist Dr. Ellen Messer talks about her awakening as a scholar-activist in the 1960s and the foundations of her term “food wars” which describes the relationship between food scarcity and armed conflict.
Oct 5, 2022 • 58min
Jeff Tweedy (Wilco): Less Than You Think (Consciousness/Psychology with Shimon Edelman)
Less Than You Think: Demystifying the Hard Problem of Consciousness with Computational Psychology.Jeff Tweedy talks about the lyrics to "Less Than You Think" from Wilco's 2004 Grammy Winning Album, A Ghost is Born. We discuss creativity vis a vis his book "How To Write One Song", spirituality with a capital S, atheism, 9/11 and everything in between. Cornell University computational psychologist, Dr. Shimon Edelman weighs in on the lyrics with his theory of consciousness: that human consciousness is entirely the product of a virtual reality simulation created by our brains.
Mar 23, 2022 • 26min
Kilo Kish: New Tricks (Neuroplasticity with Wendy Suzuki)
Recorded Live in Brooklyn, NY at the 2022 On Air Fest. Kish and NYU neuroscientist Dr. Wendy Suzuki discuss brain plasticity, memory formation and more!
Mar 16, 2022 • 52min
Pat Metheny: Bright Size Life (Neuroscience of Improvisation with Charles Limb)
Jazz Guitar Legend Pat Metheny and neurosurgeon Dr. Charles Limb discuss the neuroscience of improvisation, language and music connection, freestyle rap brain scans, early career experiences, the influence of Jim Hall, and deep musical communication.
Mar 9, 2022 • 55min
Davoné Tines: The Black Clown (Voter Suppression/Data Science with Todd Hendricks)
Join Opera phenom Davóne Tines and data scientist and civil rights activist Todd Hendricks for a discussion about fighting gerrymandering in the courts with math and data science.
Mar 2, 2022 • 44min
Ruth B: Spaceship (Rocket Science with Christina Hernandez)
Canadian pop star Ruth B and NASA engineer Christina Hernandez talk rocket science, space travel and life on Mars.
Feb 23, 2022 • 56min
Portugal. The Man: Feel It Still (Indigenous Data Science with Desi Small-Rodriguez)
PTM’s John Gourley and Zach Carothers and data scientist, Dr. Desi Small-Rodriguez discuss indigenous data sovereignty, the missing and murdered indigenous women project and our collective path forward.
Feb 16, 2022 • 1h 6min
Duran Duran: Save a Prayer (Particle Physics with Brian Cox)
Duran Duran's Nick Rhodes and Particle Physicist Brian Cox discuss time travel, the intersection of politics and science and more!
Feb 9, 2022 • 42min
Majid Jordan: Waves of Blue (Marine Exploration with Fabian Cousteau)
Canadian R&B duo Majid Jordan speak with aquanaut Fabien Cousteau (grandson of Jacques Cousteau) about the construction of his monolithic underwater space station, Proteus and marine conservation.
