The (Un)Scientific Method
What is science? What do scientists do all day? Do they all wear lab coats? What if they study polar bears in the arctic? That sounds cold… We’ve all had these thoughts. Sometimes the world of scientific research seems like a giant black box. Let’s explore current research straight from mouths of the lab rats themselves.
Episodes
Do you know who's been chatting with you throughout these episodes? Come join us in for our season finale by getting to know your two hosts, Beth and Sarah! Among the interesting chats about their research fields in blood stem cell transplants and the biology in autism spectrum disorder, they share stories from their time as undergraduate students on the East Coast of Canada and life outside of research! Tune in to have fun with yo...
How can our health care system be better to help those with a stigmatized diagnosis of Hepatitis C get the help they need? Listen to PhD researcher, Nance Cunningham, on her understanding of doctor-patient relationships and the methods she develops to help members in the Hep C community. You'll hear her stories which span both economic and political topics in healthcare. Listen in to the important work which Nance is doing to impro...
Have you ever heard of edutainment? We bring in Master's student, Conan Lee, who studies how pop culture can be tied together with science. He also has his own YouTube: PhyPsyFilm that pieces out the science in popular films! Tune in to listen in on whether the physics of some movies hold up!
Have you ever thought how the topics of geochemestry, human health, bees, and policy could all come into research? PhD student Brooke Hoppstock-Mattson explores and monitors the trace metals that makes it way into our environment by studying bees. Okay, she doesn't just get to work with bees, but she also works with salmon and whales-- how cool is that? Take a listen to learn more about how this kind of science helps us understand ...
We know that DNA carries the stuff that makes us, well, us! But what happens in supercoiled DNA? What does it even mean to be supercoiled? Does it change how our genes are expressed? Tune in to listen to PhD student, Cindy Shaheen, who's exploring supercoiling in DNA. With her interesting perspective from biology and physics, you'll be sure to learn a thing or two and maybe about how supercoiling might influence our genetics!
Ever think about what makes animals so different from one another? Then zooming in even more, how do we think about differentiating animals within the same species, like the chipper little sap-suckers (a type of woodpecker!)? PhD student Libby Natola studies exactly this-- using genomics behaviour and the ecology of these birds, Libby explores how new species arise. Be sure to listen in on this headbanger of an episode!
Do you ever wonder how scientists predict disease and the solutions to stopping unwanted infections? A lot of it is because scientists like Nicola work on mathematical models to probe the complex lifestyles of bacteria populations! Tune in to this episode to learn more about how her work helps in understanding COVID-19 and how we can make new medicines to combat other disease!
What does our gut-health have to do with Parkinsons Disease, a brain disorder? Can mice help us with this kind of research? We bring in PhD student Nina Radisaljevic who tells us about her research where she searches for questions and answers related to mouse models, gut bacteria, and their role in our brain health! Listen along to what might be the future of disease treatment! (Spoilers: might include poop pills!)
Ever wonder how new medical technology gets developed and so that it can be used in a clinic? And how physics research can contribute to medicine? We explore the magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) research being done by physics PhD student Sarah Morris. She shares how MRI research can help us see inside the brain and spinal cord in new ways. Tune in to hear about her research, perspective on imposter syndrome, and favourite type of M...
Have you ever wondered what “quantum physics” really means? What do theoretical physicists actually do? What type of chalk do they prefer when they confer at the blackboard? We discuss these questions and more with Dr. Alex May, a theoretical physicist and post-doctoral fellow at Stanford. He tells us about the theories that physicists use to understand the basic rules that govern the universe, specifically how quantum mechanics ca...
Here's a short trailer of what we do at The (Un)Scientific Method and the snippets of conversation between scientists and our host, Beth Castle!
What’s it like to be a COVID-19 researcher during the pandemic? How do scientists figure out what a virus looks like at a molecular level? In this episode of the (un)Scientific Method podcast, we sat down with MD/PhD student Dhiraj Mannar to learn about just that! He tells us about his exciting work in visualizing the SARS-CoV-2 spike protein by freezing and bombarding the protein with electrons, his unique path to science as a for...
Have you ever wondered how someone can do research in the Arctic? Today we interview Danielle Grant, a molecular biologist and paleo-oceanographer researcher. What do these terms mean? Well, tune in to hear our discussion of what she studies and how she explores ancient DNA and past climate change to make predictions about our future world.
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