The Story Collider

Charles Van Rees desperately pursues a bird through the desert for the sake of data. Charles van Rees is a conservation biologist and PhD student at Tufts University. His research in biology focuses on how ecological research can be used to integrate biodiversity conservation with economic development and create "win-win" situations for people and wildlife. He has worked throughout the United States, in Costa Rica, and Vietnam on a variety of zoological research topics and wildlife conservation issues. He has studied sea turtles, tropical bees and butterflies, and a number of bird species in seashores, tropical forests, farms, and deserts. He is an ardent believer in the need for public participation in wildlife conservation, and strives to integrate communication, outreach, and good old-fashioned story telling into his work. Help keep us going! If you love the podcast, please donate here: http://www.patreon.com/thestorycollider Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Amy is passionate about becoming a hospice nurse, but finds she can't fully understand what the families she works with are going through--until one day. Amy is a registered nurse with over sixteen years of experience in critical care, home care, hospice, and telehealth/teletriage. She is currently a Clinical Manager in a tele-triage department for a large non-profit home care agency in New York City providing education and after-hours clinical support to patients or caregivers, in all aspects of care via electronic health care coordination. Amy has also studied improv comedy and storytelling at Second City, The PIT, and The Upright Citizens Brigade, and narrative writing in nursing at the Center for Health Media and Policy at Hunter College. As a holistic board-certified nurse, Amy is currently exploring ways to integrate creativity, storytelling, narrative writing in nursing and healthcare. Help keep us going! If you love the podcast, please donate here: http://www.patreon.com/thestorycollider Learn more

An accidental revelation causes Rabiah Mayas to question her identity. Rabiah Mayas, PhD, is madly in love with science and driven by life’s questions, large and small. As Director of Science and Integrated Strategies at the Museum of Science and Industry, Chicago, her work is focused on supporting that same spirit in youth who face barriers to accessing quality science experiences. She leads a multidisciplinary department that develops, implements and researches programs that support youth in pursuit of their own scientific passions and pathways. She holds a doctorate in biochemistry and molecular biology and is passionate about exploring the intersections of science with art, health, and community. Help keep us going! If you love the podcast, please donate here: http://www.patreon.com/thestorycollider Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Jesse Dunietz wasn't thrilled to be the one assigned to the music portion of his high school science team -- the one part of the team that was definitely going to lose. Jesse Dunietz is a Ph.D. student in computer science at Carnegie Mellon University. Originally from New Jersey, Jesse's circuitous route to Pittsburgh has included residences in Israel, Cambridge (the Massachusetts one), Cambridge (the English one), and California (the only one). He teaches computers to understand language, coaxing them to stitch the pieces of a sentence into a coherent interpretation. He is also a founder and the current president of Carnegie Mellon's Public Communication for Researchers program, which helps graduate students learn and practice communicating science to people of all backgrounds. He is easily distracted by birds. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Marine biologist Skylar Bayer faces her fears to go on a deep-ocean dive aboard the Alvin submersible, and ends up getting more than she expected. Skylar Bayer is a native to the suburbs of Boston, Massachusetts. She has been pursuing a career in marine science since the age of eight and is currently working on her PhD in marine reproductive ecology at the Darling Marine Center in Walpole, Maine. She manages, edits and writes for the blog, Strictlyfishwrap (www.strictlyfishwrap.com), sharing anecdotal science stories, and writes for the National Shellfish Association newsletter. This past year she was featured on the Colbert Report in a field report piece on the epic case of the missing scallop gonads. Help keep us going! If you love the podcast, please donate here: http://www.patreon.com/thestorycollider Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Tonia Pinheiro is conflicted when her doctor's instructions seem dangerous. Tonia (tone-ya) Pinheiro is a Wake Up! Artist (sm) and founder of Wake Up! Works and ISEEU Theater. She's a diverse and dynamic improvisational actor, singer, and sound healer. Tonia is dedicated to social change and social healing by engaging and empowering people to shift their operating paradigm from fear to love through the use of sound, improvisation, and other creative expressions. Help keep us going! If you love the podcast, please donate here: http://www.patreon.com/thestorycollider Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

For a young Brad Lawrence, fears of a nuclear apocalypse are put into perspective by his mother, at first intentionally. Brad Lawrence is a host of And I Am Not Lying, Best In Show, and has also hosted for The Moth. He has performed to sold-out houses everywhere from South By Southwest to The Edinburgh Fringe Festival and can regularly be seen contributing to storytelling, stand-up, variety, and burlesque shows throughout New York. Help keep us going! If you love the podcast, please donate here: http://www.patreon.com/thestorycollider Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

As a chemistry student, Rowena Fletcher-Wood has to reconstruct the structure of chemicals, and a relationship with a friend, by interpreting complex data. Rowena Fletcher-Wood is a keen science communicator and doctoral researcher in materials chemistry at the University of Birmingham. She graduated from Oxford in 2011 and has since divided her time between research, outreach, story-writing and climbing. Help keep us going! If you love the podcast, please donate here: http://www.patreon.com/thestorycollider Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

When Kishore Hari is hired to run a new science festival he thinks he has the perfect plan, but the reality was much more than he expected. Kishore Hari is the Director of the Bay Area Science Festival, an annual celebration of science in San Francisco. After spending years operating an environmental services company, he left industry for the greener pastures of public science events and science education. He has founded numerous public science ventures, including a science cafe, a science field trip series, and a comprehensive calendar of science events across the Bay Area. Help keep us going! If you love the podcast, please donate here: http://www.patreon.com/thestorycollider Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

After abandoning a love of flying, a former military officer gets behind the controls of a plane for the first time. Growing up in an army family, Julian failed to resist the urge to follow in his father's footsteps, but after a short but brilliant military career he stumbled into the world of corporate investigation where he has successfully managed to avoid being found out for over 20 years. Help keep us going! If you love the podcast, please donate here: www.patreon.com/thestorycollider Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

There is one rule more important than any other in an fMRI experiment: no metal. But a stuck piercing makes aspiring neuroscientist Anna Wexler make a crucial choice -- end her career, or face possible serious injury? Anna Wexler is a documentary filmmaker and writer currently pursuing her PhD at MIT in the Science, Technology, and Society Program, where she is studying the social and ethical implications of neuroscience advancements. She graduated from MIT with two Bachelors of Science degrees, one in Brain and Cognitive Science and the other in Humanities and Science with a focus in Writing. She was selected as a 2007-2008 filmmaker-in-residence at WGBH to work on her debut feature documentary, UNORTHODOX, which follows three rebellious Orthodox Jewish high school teenagers through a transformative post-high school year in Israel. The film premiered in November 2013 at the Boston Jewish Film Festival and at DOC NYC. Anna's writing has been published in numerous outlets and anthologized in "Best Travel Writi

Pakistan-born physicist Saad Sarwana gets a visit from the FBI. Saad Sarwana grew up in Pakistan, and moved first to Canada and then eventually to the US to attend graduate school in Physics. He's a professional physicist by day and an amateur standup comedian by night! As a Physicist, Saad has over 30 peer reviewed publications and two US patents. As a comedian Saad has performed at every major comedy club in the NYC area, and has been featured on an ABC 20/20 story about Muslim Standup Comedians. This winter you can see him in the US on the Discovery Science Channel show "You Have Been Warned." Help keep us going! If you love the podcast, please donate here: http://www.patreon.com/thestorycollider Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

When tragedy strikes his high school friend, David Epstein vows to find out what happened. David Epstein is author of the recent New York Times bestseller The Sports Gene, an exploration of the genetic basis of athleticism. He is currently an investigative reporter at the non-profit ProPublica. Up until September, he was a senior writer at Sports Illustrated. He has been a crime reporter at the New York Daily News, and an education reporter at Inside Higher Ed. In his past life, David was a geology grad student. He has lived in the Sonoran Desert, on a ship in the Pacific Ocean, in the Arctic in Alaska, and -- like every other writer -- in Brooklyn. Help keep us going! If you love the podcast, please donate here: www.patreon.com/thestorycollider Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

As a woman of color working in science, Danielle N. Lee has always encountered challenges. But she doesn't expect the email she receives one morning, or the events it sets in motion. Dr. Danielle N. Lee is a biologist and outreach scientist. Her research areas include animal behavior, behavioral ecology, and mammalogy; She is currently examining individual behavioral differences and natural history of African Giant Pouched Rats, Cricetomys ansorgei. DNLee (as she is known online) specializes in informal science outreach to urban youth audiences and the use of social media technology to engage broad audiences in the understanding of science. She focuses on relevant, accessible, and experiential-based lessons -- formal and informal -- to engage diverse audiences in science. Her blog, The Urban Scientist, discusses urban ecology, environmental science, and STEM opportunities (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics) as well as diversity in the sciences. Help keep us going! If you love the podcast, plea

Psychologist Pete Etchells' father inspired him -- to hate neurons. Pete Etchells is a lecturer in biological psychology at Bath Spa University, UK, and a science blogger for the Guardian's psychology blog, Head Quarters. When he was growing up though, he really wanted to be a dinosaur. His research interests cover everything from how the human visual system works, to understanding how modern technology (particularly video games) affects behaviour and development. Every week the Story Collider brings you a true, personal story about science. Find more and subscribe to our podcast at our website: http://storycollider.org/ Help keep us going! If you love the podcast, please donate here: http://www.patreon.com/thestorycollider Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

While studying bioengineering, Craig Lehocky discovers he's different from the other students. Craig Lehocky's tinkering runs deep. He currently develops surgical robots as an M.D. / Ph.D. student at CMU and University of Pittsburgh. Before that, he worked on prosthetic limbs controlled by the brain at the University of Pittsburgh. And even before that, he restored cars, houses, and guitar amplifiers at the University of his Dad. He doesn't know what tinkering his future holds, but hopes it unfolds in Pittsburgh. Every week the Story Collider brings you a true, personal story about science. Find more and subscribe to our podcast at our website: http://storycollider.org/ Help keep us going! If you love the podcast, please donate here: http://www.patreon.com/thestorycollider Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The Story Collider needs your help! Our initial funding is coming to an end, and we need your help to keep going. It doesn't take a lot, $1/podcast will go a long way. As a thanks if you donate, we'll give you a special podcast with some of the storylets we tell in the live shows between the main stories. Here's a sample of those. If you'd like to contribute or for more info, head to http://www.patreon.com/thestorycollider. Thanks! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

A wrong number to a friend in Sri Lanka leads Saswato Das to the final interview with a famous science fiction writer. Saswato R. Das has written about science and technology for more than two decades for publications that include the Economist, Scientific American, New Scientist, the International Herald Tribune/ New York Times global edition, the Los Angeles Times, Newsday, the Times Literary Supplement (UK), the Times of India, IEEE Spectrum, the Bell Labs Technical Journal, etc. He has a background in astrophysics and has taught undergraduate astronomy within the CUNY system. Every week the Story Collider brings you a true, personal story about science. Find more and subscribe to our podcast at our website: http://storycollider.org/ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Jim O'Grady's attempts to woo his housemate are stymied by the monkey she's training to help quadriplegics. Jim O'Grady is a reporter for WNYC Radio and a Moth GrandSLAM champ. He has worked as a reporter for The New York Times, a professor of journalism at NYU and research director at The Center for an Urban Future. That's a policy think tank for whom he co-wrote this science-y report: http://bit.ly/7vx5Ei. He is the author of two biographies, Dorothy Day: With Love for the Poor and Disarmed & Dangerous: The Radical Lives and Times of Daniel and Philip Berrigan. Ask him how his high school science teacher, who was a nut job, pronounced "mitochondria." Every week the Story Collider brings you a true, personal story about science. Find more and subscribe to our podcast at our website: storycollider.org/ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

At age 7, Deborah Blum starts a mystery when she interrupts her parent's dinner party. So their guest, famed biologist E.O. Wilson, investigates. Deborah Blum, a Pulitzer prize-winning science journalist, author and blogger, is the Helen Firstbrook Franklin Professor of Journalism at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Author of five books and a popular guide to science writing, her most recent publication, The Poisoner's Handbook, was a 2011 New York Times best seller and will be the subject of an American Experience documentary on PBS in January. She writes a monthly environmental chemistry column for The New York Times called Poison Pen. She also blogs about toxic compounds at Wired; her blog Elemental was named one of the top 25 blogs of 2013 by Time magazine. She has written for a wide range of other publications including Scientific American , Slate, Tin House, The Atavist, The Wall Street Journal, The Guardian, The Los Angeles Times and Discover. Before joining the university in 1997, she was a scienc