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Astu lugude lõputusse maailma

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Alie Ward

Volcanoes. Trees. Drunk butterflies. Mars missions. Slug sex. Death. Beauty standards. Anxiety busters. Beer science. Bee drama. Take away a pocket full of science knowledge and charming, bizarre stories about what fuels these professional -ologists' obsessions. Humorist and science correspondent Alie Ward asks smart people stupid questions and the answers might change your life.

Ologies with Alie Ward

What is evil? Who is evil? Does evil exist? Who decides? Can we scream over turkey at grandma’s house? Let’s chat Critical Ponerology with scholar, professor, author of Evil: A Critical Primer, and a gem of a person, Dr. Kenneth MacKendrick of the University of Manitoba. He’s been teaching courses on the notion of evil for 25 years and it’s a much deeper rabbit hole than you’d ever expect. So rub your fingers together and enjoy a discussion about different cultural approaches to evil, if your toddler is evil, vampires, angry mobs seeking vigilante justice, news personalities saying unhinged things, and subjects vs. objects. Also: why you should be nicer to your coffee table. 

Get Dr. MacKendrick’s book, Evil: A Critical Primer, on Amazon or Bookshop.org

A donation went to North Point Douglas Women’s Centre

More episode sources and links

Smologies (short, classroom-safe) episodes

Other episodes you may enjoy: Spooktober: Topics to Startle and Love, Demonology (EVIL SPIRITS), Vampirology (VAMPIRES), Teratology (MONSTERS), Genocidology (CRIMES OF ATROCITY), Momiology (MUMMIFICATION), Witchology (WITCHES & WITCHCRAFT), Indigenous Pedology (SOIL SCIENCE), Environmental Toxicology (POISONS + TRAIN DERAILMENT), Disinfectiology (BLEACH), Obsessive-Compulsive Neurobiology (OCD), Disgustology (REPULSION TO GROSS STUFF), Medieval Codicology (WEIRD OLD MANUSCRIPT ART & MEMES & SNAILS), Victimology (CRIME VICTIMS), Artificial Intelligence Ethicology (WILL A.I. CRASH OUT?)

400+ Ologies episodes sorted by topic

Smologies (short, classroom-safe) episodes

Sponsors of Ologies

Transcripts and bleeped episodes

Become a patron of Ologies for as little as a buck a month

OlogiesMerch.com has hats, shirts, hoodies, totes!

Follow Ologies on Instagram and Bluesky

Follow Alie Ward on Instagram and TikTok

Editing by Mercedes Maitland of Maitland Audio Productions and Jake Chaffee

Managing Director: Susan Hale

Scheduling Producer: Noel Dilworth

Transcripts by Aveline Malek 

Website by Kelly R. Dwyer

Theme song by Nick Thorburn

 
Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Critical Ponerology (WHAT IS “EVIL”?) with Kenneth MacKendrick

Cockroach milk for Spooktober. STAY HERE. Don’t tell me you like haunted houses and slasher films but can’t listen to a lovely conversation about how cockroaches make milk to feed their young. It’s one of the most nutritious substances on Earth, and I own some. Sort of. Coem along for a brief and enthralling discussion from two researchers, Dr. Joshua Benoit and Dr. Sinead English, all about why and how some insects give live birth and nurse their young. What does it taste like? Will we replicate it for barista use? And why didn’t I get to eat any on TV? 

Watch Alie with bugs on her Tonight Show segment

Blattodeology (COCKROACHES) episode with Dr. Dominic Evangelista

Learn about Dr. Josh Benoit’s lab and Dr. Sinead English’s lab

More cockroach sources and links

Other episodes you may enjoy: Spooktober: Topics to Startle and Love, Entomology (INSECTS), Mantodeology (PRAYING MANTISES), Odonatology (DRAGONFLIES), Discard Anthropology (GARBAGE), Forest Entomology (CREEPY CRAWLIES), Disgustology (REPULSION TO GROSS STUFF), Fearology (FEAR), Entomophagy Anthropology (EATING BUGS), Speleology (CAVES)

400+ Ologies episodes sorted by topic

Smologies (short, classroom-safe) episodes

Sponsors of Ologies

Transcripts and bleeped episodes

Become a patron of Ologies for as little as a buck a month

OlogiesMerch.com has hats, shirts, hoodies, totes!

Follow Ologies on Instagram and Bluesky

Follow Alie Ward on Instagram and TikTok

Produced by Mercedes Maitland of Maitland Audio Productions

Editing by Mercedes Maitland and Jake Chaffee

Managing Director: Susan Hale

Scheduling Producer: Noel Dilworth

Transcripts by Aveline Malek 

Website by Kelly R. Dwyer

Theme song by Nick Thorburn

 
Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Bonus Episode: COCKROACH MILK with Joshua Benoit and Sinead English

Dazzling colors. Remote habitats. Gentle parenting. Fantastic genitalia. And yeah, swimming through sewers to surprise you. It’s cockroaches and I promise you will find something to love about them in this chat with cockroach evangelist and Blattodeologist Dr. Dominic Evangelista. Which are the prettiest? Are roaches better at raising kids than you? How do roach scientists feel about the ones in kitchens? How does one catch a cockroach in a dark rainforest? Can roaches pull a Ratatouille and steal our hearts with a casserole? Dominic explains it all. I swear they can be lovable, OKAY?

Visit Dr. Evangelista’s Roach Brain Lab and follow him on iNaturalist and Google Scholar

A donation went to Teach for America and Entomologists of Color

More episode sources and links

Other episodes you may enjoy: 

Spooktober: Topics to Startle and Love, Entomology (INSECTS), Mantodeology (PRAYING MANTISES), Odonatology (DRAGONFLIES), Discard Anthropology (GARBAGE), Forest Entomology (CREEPY CRAWLIES), Disgustology (REPULSION TO GROSS STUFF), Fearology (FEAR), Entomophagy Anthropology (EATING BUGS), Speleology (CAVES)

400+ Ologies episodes sorted by topic

Smologies (short, classroom-safe) episodes

Sponsors of Ologies

Transcripts and bleeped episodes

Become a patron of Ologies for as little as a buck a month

OlogiesMerch.com has hats, shirts, hoodies, totes!

Follow Ologies on Instagram and Bluesky

Follow Alie Ward on Instagram and TikTok

Editing by Mercedes Maitland of Maitland Audio Productions and Jake Chaffee

Managing Director: Susan Hale

Scheduling Producer: Noel Dilworth

Transcripts by Aveline Malek 

Website by Kelly R. Dwyer

Theme song by Nick Thorburn

 
Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Blattodeology (YES, COCKROACHES) with Dominic Evangelista

Mudbank bones. River wrecks. Salty seas. Pink ponds. Poison dust devils. Steamy streams.. It’s Haunted Hydrology with your favorite Spooky Lakes ambassador, the artist and author Geo Rutherford who is widely known as Geodesaurus. Geo covers the dark history of The Great Lakes, a stump that controls the weather, the what and why of a good lagoon, the field excursions she’s been on for research, the lakes she wants to see the most, and how a drought can shiver your spine. It’s a Spooktober spectacular, folks. It’s Haunted Hydrology. 

 

Ologies live show tickets for Monday Nov. 17 at the Bell House 

Visit Geo Rutherford’s website and follow her on TikTok and Instagram

Visit Geo Rutherford’s website and follow her on TikTok and Instagram

Buy Geo’s Spooky Lakes Books including her new coloring book and 2026 calendar

Visit SpookyLakes.com to buy stickers, pins, prints and more designed by Geo 

A donation went to the Alliance for the Great Lakes

More episode sources and links

Other episodes you may enjoy: Spooktober: Topics to Startle and Love, Maritime Archaeology (SHIPWRECKS), Speleology (CAVES), Oceanology (OCEANS), Disasterology (DISASTERS), Indigenous Pedology (SOIL SCIENCE), Environmental Microbiology (TESTING WASTEWATER FOR DISEASES), Ichthyology (FISHES), Salugenology (WHY HUMANS REQUIRE HOBBIES), Ethnoecology (NATIVE PLANTS)

400+ Ologies episodes sorted by topic

Smologies (short, classroom-safe) episodes

Sponsors of Ologies

Transcripts and bleeped episodes

Become a patron of Ologies for as little as a buck a month

OlogiesMerch.com has hats, shirts, hoodies, totes!

Follow Ologies on Instagram and Bluesky

Follow Alie Ward on Instagram and TikTok

Editing by Mercedes Maitland of Maitland Audio Productions and Jake Chaffee

Managing Director: Susan Hale

Scheduling Producer: Noel Dilworth

Transcripts by Aveline Malek 

Website by Kelly R. Dwyer

Theme song by Nick Thorburn

 
Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Haunted Hydrology (SPOOKY LAKES) with Geo Rutherford

Are you creepy? How would you know? What’s “creepy” as opposed to scary or eerie? We talk to the pioneer of this research, Serpopsychologist, Dr. Frank McAndrew, a professor emeritus at Knox College. We chat: dates that give you the willies, Weary Willie the Clown, haunted dolls, college goths, dark alleyways, evolutionary neurobiology, what NOT to get Oprah, the line between horror and comedy, the phobia of balloons, dating tips, and why you should re-evaluate your bathmat. Welcome to Spooktober 2025. We have more waiting in the wings for you this month.

Visit Dr. McAndrew's website and follow him on Google Scholar, Facebook, and Bluesky

A donation went to WTVP, the PBS affiliate for Central Illinois

More episode sources and links

Other episodes you may enjoy: Spooktober: Topics to Startle and Love, Fearology (FEAR), Demonology (EVIL SPIRITS), Disability Sociology (DISABILITY PRIDE), Speleology (CAVES), Quasithanatology (NEAR-DEATH EXPERIENCES), Thanatology (DEATH & DYING), Attention-Deficit Neuropsychology (ADHD), Human Technomorphology (SWAPPING OUT BODY PARTS), Systems Biology (MEDICAL MATHEMATICS), Personality Psychology (PERSONALITIES), Obsessive-Compulsive Neurobiology (OCD), Cosmology (THE UNIVERSE)

400+ Ologies episodes sorted by topic

Smologies (short, classroom-safe) episodes

Sponsors of Ologies

Transcripts and bleeped episodes

Become a patron of Ologies for as little as a buck a month

OlogiesMerch.com has hats, shirts, hoodies, totes!

Follow Ologies on Instagram and Bluesky

Follow Alie Ward on Instagram and TikTok

Editing by Mercedes Maitland of Maitland Audio Productions and Jake Chaffee

Managing Director: Susan Hale

Scheduling Producer: Noel Dilworth

Transcripts by Aveline Malek 

Website by Kelly R. Dwyer

Theme song by Nick Thorburn

 
Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Serpopsychology (WHAT’S CREEPY?) with Frank McAndrew

Storming the Bastille. Facing off with tanks. Canceling a streaming subscription. 

We’re talking protests, boycotts, insurrections, and demonstrations. Scholar, professor, and actual real life Revolutionologist Dr. Jack Goldstone lays out the whys – and the hows. What revolts have been the gold standard? How has social media impacted social change? What happens when you install the wrong new leader? Does non-violent protest work? And how does one go about orchestrating big social change? Also: defining facism, antifacism, anti-antifacism, and dusting off your guitar. 

Follow Dr. Goldstone on Google Scholar

Buy his book, Revolutions: A Very Short Introduction (Second Edition), on Bookshop.org or Amazon

Donations went to City of Hope in honor of Rita Saleman and to the Hand of Salvation Initiative in Gaza 

More episode sources and links

Other episodes you may enjoy: Genocidology (CRIMES OF ATROCITY), Nomology (THE CONSTITUTION), FIELD TRIP: Activism Art Panel Recorded at WonderCon, Egyptology (ANCIENT EGYPT), Classical Archaeology (ANCIENT ROME), Agnotology (IGNORANCE), Critical Ecology (SOCIAL SYSTEMS + ENVIRONMENT), Economic Sociology (MONEY/FREAKONOMICS), Vexillology (FLAGS)

400+ Ologies episodes sorted by topic

Smologies (short, classroom-safe) episodes

Sponsors of Ologies

Transcripts and bleeped episodes

Become a patron of Ologies for as little as a buck a month

OlogiesMerch.com has hats, shirts, hoodies, totes!

Follow Ologies on Instagram and Bluesky

Follow Alie Ward on Instagram and TikTok

Editing by Mercedes Maitland of Maitland Audio Productions and Jake Chaffee

Managing Director: Susan Hale

Scheduling Producer: Noel Dilworth

Transcripts by Aveline Malek 

Website by Kelly R. Dwyer

Theme song by Nick Thorburn

 
Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Revolutionology (REBELLIONS & SOCIAL CHANGE) with Jack Goldstone

Pigs with human kidneys. Iron lungs. Bionic prostheses. And bendable genitals. Mary Roach is here, and Alie is freaking out. Over the last two decades, this science icon has written seven New York Times bestsellers, including Stiff, Bonk, Gulp, and Packing for Mars. Her latest release, Replaceable You: Adventures in Human Anatomy is all about Human Technomorphology. Prep your flesh for getting to 4th base in a lab, bugs on drugs, elective amputation, gene-tweaked farm animals, vacuum chambers, beating hearts, leftover tendons and much more with a scicomm legend who’s Alie’s personal career hero. 

Visit Mary Roach’s website and follow her on Instagram

Check out Mary’s books including her latest, Replaceable You, available on Amazon and Bookshop.org

Donations went to The Amputee Coalition and United Ostomy Associations of America

More episode sources and links

Other episodes you may enjoy: Disability Sociology (DISABILITY PRIDE), Genicular Traumatology (BAD KNEES), Stem Cell Biology (CELLS MAKING CELLS), Systems Biology (MEDICAL MATHEMATICS), Neurotechnology (AI + BRAIN TECH), Osteology (SKELETONS/BODY FARMS), Surgical Oncology (BREAST CANCER), Dipterology (FLIES)

400+ Ologies episodes sorted by topic

Smologies (short, classroom-safe) episodes

Sponsors of Ologies

Transcripts and bleeped episodes

Become a patron of Ologies for as little as a buck a month

OlogiesMerch.com has hats, shirts, hoodies, totes!

Follow Ologies on Instagram and Bluesky

Follow Alie Ward on Instagram and TikTok

Editing by Mercedes Maitland of Maitland Audio Productions and Jake Chaffee

Managing Director: Susan Hale

Scheduling Producer: Noel Dilworth

Transcripts by Aveline Malek 

Website by Kelly R. Dwyer

Theme song by Nick Thorburn

 
Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Human Technomorphology (SWAPPING OUT BODY PARTS) with Mary Roach

Porcelain. Earthenware. China. Archaeology. Stoneware. Anthropology. Amphora. Throwing wheels. We got it all. Master potters, history aficionados and Potted History’s icons Sarah Lord Taylor and Graham Taylor are here for our 8th anniversary episode. We get the dirt on ceramics versus pottery, where clay comes from, if there’s enough in the world, how can you spot clay in the wild, how long have humans being making pots, what were the first ceramics, what is glaze exactly, why did your pots explode, what excavations of stoneware have revealed about our ancient ancestors, the Venus figurines of history, the hidden ingredients that might surprise you, and how to feel about thrift store finds. Also: how to bond with a potter instantly. 

Visit the Potted History website and follow them on Instagram, TikTok, and YouTube

Donations went to Cancer Research UK and Little Lifts

More episode sources and links

Other episodes you may enjoy: 5th Anniversary Special! Xylology (LUMBER), Experimental Archeology (OLD TOOLS/ATLATLS), Canistrumology (BASKET WEAVING), Museology (MUSEUMS), Indigenous Pedology (SOIL SCIENCE), Geology (ROCKS), Scatology (POOP)

400+ Ologies episodes sorted by topic

Smologies (short, classroom-safe) episodes

Sponsors of Ologies

Transcripts and bleeped episodes

Become a patron of Ologies for as little as a buck a month

OlogiesMerch.com has hats, shirts, hoodies, totes!

Follow Ologies on Instagram and Bluesky

Follow Alie Ward on Instagram and TikTok

Editing by Mercedes Maitland of Maitland Audio Productions and Jake Chaffee

Managing Director: Susan Hale

Scheduling Producer: Noel Dilworth

Transcripts by Aveline Malek 

Website by Kelly R. Dwyer

Theme song by Nick Thorburn

 
Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Ceramology (POTTERY) with Potted History’s Graham Taylor & Sarah Lord Taylor

Neurons. Immune systems. MRIs. Weed gummies? One of the greats in neurology, Dr. Aaron Boster, takes time to chat all about Multiple Sclerosis, a neurological autoimmune disease close to our hearts. Alie’s mom, your grammapod a.k.a. Fancy Nancy, was diagnosed with MS over two decades ago, and this episode explores in depth the factors that can cause MS, therapies that do – and don’t – show promise, how diet, exercise and mindfulness actually can help folks who have MS, the oftentimes agonizing journey to a diagnosis, and advice for those who’ve MS for a while – or are newly in the community. Also: yeah, weed. 

Visit the Boster Center for Multiple Sclerosis and follow Dr. Boster on YouTube

A donation went to MS Views and News

More episode sources and links

Other episodes you may enjoy: Disability Sociology (DISABILITY PRIDE), Diabetology (BLOOD SUGAR), Post-Viral Epidemiology (LONG COVID), Dolorology (PAIN), Salugenology (WHY HUMANS REQUIRE HOBBIES), Psychedeliology (HALLUCINOGENS), Cardiology (THE HEART), Somnology (SLEEP)

400+ Ologies episodes sorted by topic

Smologies (short, classroom-safe) episodes

Sponsors of Ologies

Transcripts and bleeped episodes

Become a patron of Ologies for as little as a buck a month

OlogiesMerch.com has hats, shirts, hoodies, totes!

Follow Ologies on Instagram and Bluesky

Follow Alie Ward on Instagram and TikTok

Editing by Mercedes Maitland of Maitland Audio Productions and Jake Chaffee

Managing Director: Susan Hale

Scheduling Producer: Noel Dilworth

Transcripts by Aveline Malek 

Website by Kelly R. Dwyer

Theme song by Nick Thorburn

 
Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Neuropathoimmunology (MULTIPLE SCLEROSIS) with Aaron Boster

YOU’RE NOT READY. But it’s time. Otters. Sea otters. River otters. Big beefy otters. Tiny otters. Giant river otters. Otters chasing you down the street. Dr. Chris J. Law, a professional Lutrinologist, shares tales about coastal vs. inland otters, otter terrorism, magical teeth, lustrous fur, rock pockets, kelp naps, otter terrorism, cautionary motherhood, toxic relationships, hand holding and why otters make you trust them, despite the fact that you should perhaps not trust an otter. 

Visit Dr. Law's website and follow him on Bluesky and Instagram

A donation was made to SeaOtterSavvy.org

More episode sources and links

You may also enjoy our episodes on: Echinology (SEA URCHINS & SAND DOLLARS), Osteology (SKELETONS/BODY FARMS), Ichthyology (FISHES), Oceanology (OCEANS), Macrophycology (SEAWEED), Mammalogy (MAMMALS), Selachimorphology (SHARKS), Malacology (SNAILS & SLUGS), Carcinology (CRABS), Scatology (POOP)

400+ Ologies episodes sorted by topic

Smologies (short, classroom-safe) episodes

Sponsors of Ologies

Transcripts and bleeped episodes

Become a patron of Ologies for as little as a buck a month

OlogiesMerch.com has hats, shirts, hoodies, totes!

Follow Ologies on Instagram and Bluesky

Follow Alie Ward on Instagram and TikTok

Editing by by Jarrett Sleeper of MindJam Media, Mercedes Maitland of Maitland Audio Productions, and Jake Chaffee

Managing Director: Susan Hale

Scheduling Producer: Noel Dilworth

Transcripts by Aveline Malek 

Website by Kelly R. Dwyer

Theme song by Nick Thorburn

 
Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Lutrinology (OTTERS) Encore with Chris J. Law

Trains. Locomotives. Choochoos. Bullet trains. Hyperloops. Subways. How fast can they go? How did they change American history? Why do people love them? What should we do with all that abandoned track? Can you marry a train? What's it like to shovel coal into a steam engine?

Alie went off the rails at the Henry Ford Museum in Dearborn, Michigan talking to an official ferroequinologist and curator Matt Anderson -- who confessed to some youthful railroad mischief, delivered a succinct slice of U.S. History, has train movie recommendations and discussed cars vs. trains in the great transportation debate. Also, why transporting isn't always about the trains.

The Henry Ford Museum Railroad Exhibit

More episode sources & links

Become a patron of Ologies for as little as a buck a month

OlogiesMerch.com has hats, shirts, pins, totes!

Follow @Ologies on Twitter and Instagram

Follow @AlieWard on Twitter and Instagram

Sound editing by Jarrett Sleeper

Theme song by Nick Thorburn

 
Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Ferroequinology (TRAINS) Encore with Matt Anderson

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