The Story Collider

This week, we bring you two stories about long journeys home, from an Iranian-American biologist and a psychologist who survived Chernobyl. Part 1: Biologist Maryam Zaringhalam is visiting her family's home country of Iran when the travel ban goes into effect in January 2017. Part 2: Chernobyl survivor Janina Scarlet flees the Soviet Union with her family as a child, only to find new challenges in America.  Maryam Zaringhalam is Story Collider DC's newest co-producer. She's a molecular biologist who traded in her pipettes for the world of science policy. She comes to DC from the concrete jungles of New York, where she received her PhD from The Rockefeller University. She co-hosts the science policy podcast Science Soapbox, and her words have appeared in Slate, Scientific American, and Quartz. Her cat is named Tesla, after Nikola and not Elon Musk's car. For insights like this and more, follow her on Twitter @webmz_. Janina Scarlet is a Licensed Clinical Psychologist, a scientist, and a full-time geek. A Ukrai