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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

Bushy tails! Stinky butts! Faces so cute you weep! Let’s talk foxes – specifically the little gray ones you never knew you loved. Fox behavioral expert, researcher, conservationist, author of “The Road to Fox Hollow” and Urocyonologist Bill Leikam chats about fuzzy foxes, baby names, parental strategies, where they live, what they eat, advice for potential pet owners, how to observe foxes, how tiny foxes wound up on islands, which foxes need conservation, Silicon Valley foxes, and why a fox on the couch is worth 1000 in the bush. Also: what do they smell like? And what do they say? 

Buy Bill’s book: The Road to Fox Hollow

A donation went to the Urban Wildlife Research Project. 

Watch the documentary: The Foxes, my Professors: Bill Leikam and the Gray Foxes of Silicon Valley

More episode sources and links

Smologies (short, classroom-safe) episodes

Other episodes you may enjoy: Ethnocynology (HUMANS & DOGS THROUGH TIME), Lupinology (WOLVES), Felinology (CATS), Procyonology (RACCOONS), Lutrinology (OTTERS), Sciuridology (SQUIRRELS), Castorology (BEAVERS), Chickenology (HENS & ROOSTERS), Indigenous Fire Ecology (GOOD FIRE), Nassology (TAXIDERMY), Cynology (DOGS)

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

Urocyonology (LITTLE GRAY FOXES) with Bill Leikam

Remembering names! Preventing dementia! Photographic memories! Weed! Goldfish! It’s the thrilling conclusion of Mnemonology with Dr. Michael Yassa, the Director of UC Irvine’s Center for the Neurobiology of Learning and Memory. We talk long vs. short term memories, how smells can pack a wallop of emotions, prosopagnosia (“facial blindness”), the fog of new parenthood, Alzheimer's and other causes of dementia, and tips to keep your brain in tip-top shape. Let’s make some mems. 

Listen to Part 1 here

Follow Dr. Yassa on Google Scholar and X

Visit the Yassa Translational Neuroscience Laboratory at UCI website

A donation went to UC Irvine Center for the Neurobiology of Learning and Memory’s graduate student and postdoctoral Junior Scholar Fund

More episode sources and links

Smologies (short, classroom-safe) episodes

Other episodes you may enjoy: Attention-Deficit Neuropsychology (ADHD), Molecular Neurobiology (BRAIN CHEMICALS), Eudemonology (HAPPINESS), Traumatology (PTSD), Sports & Performance Psychology (ANXIETY & CONFIDENCE), Phonology (LINGUISTICS), Neuropathology (CONCUSSIONS), Quantum Ontology (WHAT IS REAL?), Surgical Angiology (VEINS & ARTERIES), Disability Sociology (DISABILITY PRIDE MONTH), Dolorology (PAIN)

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

Mnemonology (MEMORY) Part 2 with Michael Yassa

Orange teeth! Vanilla butts! Architecture with twigs! Olde-timey joke books? Field naturalist, conservationist, wildlife tracker and “beaver believer” Rob Rich works with the National Wildlife Federation’s coordination of the Montana Beaver Working Group and answers all of our Castorological questions about: baby beavers, tooth tools, lodges, dams, the sound of water, the slap of a tail, who eats beaver and why, beavers in peril, in folklore, in smut books, in your neighborhood and in your dreams forever. Also: yes we discuss slang. 

Follow Rob Rich on LinkedIn

A donation went to Tracker Certification North America

More episode sources and links

Smologies (short, classroom-safe) episodes

Other episodes you may enjoy: Hydrochoerology (CAPYBARAS), Bisonology (BUFFALO), Road Ecology (ROAD KILL), Sciuridology (SQUIRRELS), Oreamnology (MOUNTAIN GOATS ARE NOT GOATS), Lutrinology (OTTERS), Procyonology (RACCOONS), Opossumology (O/POSSUMS), Mammalogy (MAMMALS), Scatology (POOP), Gynecology (NETHER HEALTH), Sexology (SEX), Dasyurology (TASMANIAN DEVILS)

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

Castorology (BEAVERS) with Rob Rich

The time is right to revisit cabins: Log cabins, woodsy getaways, A-frame cuties, cottages, tiny homes, lake houses. WE GET INTO IT, including 2024 updates. World famous Minnesota architect, author, professional cabinologist and human delight Dale Mulfinger sits down to discuss everything from what makes a cabin a cabin, to why we bond better surrounded by wood, Scandinavian hygge-ness, where to situate windows, cabin history, horror flicks and vacation activities. Alie sits there starry-eyed and stammers a bunch because she's so excited.

More on Dale Mulfinger

SALA Architects on Instagram

Buy Dale's books on Bookshop.org and Amazon

Donations went to: Clarence Wigington Minority Architectural Scholarship & The Slave Dwelling Project

More episode sources and links

Smologies (short, classroom-safe) episodes

Other episodes you may enjoy: Indigenous Cuisinology (NATIVE FOODS), Domicology (ABANDONED BUILDINGS), Bisonology (BUFFALO), Oneirology (DREAMS), Xylology (LUMBER), Dendrology (TREES), Sciuridology (SQUIRRELS), Ursinology (BEARS), Nassology (TAXIDERMY), Acaropathology (TICKS & LYME DISEASE)

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

Sound editing by Jarrett Sleeper of MindJam Media & Steven Ray Morris

Additional 2024 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

Cabinology (CABINS) Encore with Dale Mulfinger

HAPPINESS RESEARCH, straight up. What is happiness? How do our circumstances affect happiness? Why is the word “gratitude” kinda cringey? What can we do to feel better? Should we feel guilty for feeling happy? When is positivity “toxic?” In this encore of an episode favorite, Yale cognitive scientist, Eudemonologist, and host of The Happiness Lab podcast Dr. Laurie Santos chats about how scientists measure human happiness and what their research has shown helps achieve it, even during the worst of times. Also: silver medal face & countering counterfactuals, which will make sense when you listen.

Visit Dr. Santos's website and follow her on Instagram, Threads, X, YouTube, and Facebook

Her podcast: Happiness Lab

A donation went to DonorsChoose.org

More episode sources and links 

Other episodes you may enjoy: Awesomeology (GRATITUDE FOR LITTLE THINGS), Molecular Neurobiology (BRAIN CHEMICALS), Thanatology Encore (DEATH & GRIEF), Attention-Deficit Neuropsychology (ADHD), Traumatology (PTSD), Sports & Performance Psychology (ANXIETY & CONFIDENCE), Phonology (LINGUISTICS), Neuropathology (CONCUSSIONS), Quantum Ontology (WHAT IS REAL?), Disability Sociology (DISABILITY PRIDE MONTH), Dolorology (PAIN)

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

Sound editing by Jarrett Sleeper of MindJam Media & Steven Ray Morris

Additional 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

Eudemonology (HAPPINESS) Encore with Laurie Santos

As wildfires burn across L.A. — and my neighborhood evacuates — we thought it would be a good time to encore these Fire Ecology episodes so I can literally catch my breath. First Dr. Gavin Jones brings the heat talking about what fire is, how hot it burns, fire trends, tinderboxes, lots and lots of forest fire flim-flam, tolerant wombats, Angelina Jolie Movies, cunning pine cones, thick bark, Indigenous fire stewardship and more. 

After the break, co-host of the podcast Good Fire Dr. Amy Christianson talks about how cultural burns and prescribed blazes can create healthy forests. She also discusses Indigenous history, collaborations between Western science & First Nations elders, Aboriginal thoughts on cultural burns, more flim-flam, evacuations, snowmelt, hunting strategies, land stewardship, happy trees, climate strategies, and the social science behind wildfire education. Also learning from Native wildfire fighters. Huge thanks to her and Matt Kristoff -- who also hosts the Your Forest Podcast -- for allowing us to use excerpts from their interview to launch Good Fire. Subscribe to both podcasts to get more ecological knowledge in your ears.

CDC Advisory on Wildfire Smoke

Follow Dr. Gavin Jones on Bluesky, Google Scholar and Instagram

Follow Dr. Amy Christianson on Bluesky, Google Scholar and LinkedIn

Donations were made to The Common Good Community Foundation and Indigenous Residential School Survivors

Listen to the Good Fire podcast

Also great: Your Forest podcast

Other episodes you may like: Dendrology (TREES), Forest Entomology (CREEPY CRAWLIES), Xylology (LUMBER), Pyrotechnology (CAMPFIRES)

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 Steven Ray Morris, Mercedes Maitland of Maitland Audio Productions and Jarrett Sleeper of MindJam Media

Managing Director: Susan Hale

Scheduling Producer: Noel Dilworth

Transcripts by Aveline Malek 

Website by Kelly R. Dwyer

Theme song by Nick Thorburn

Fire Ecology (WILDFIRES & INDIGENOUS FIRE MANAGEMENT) Mega Encore with Gavin Jones & Amy Christianson

Ancient dogs! Domestic wolves! Anthropology! Archaeology! It’s all Ethnocynology: when humans and dogs started living and working together. The wonderful and iconic David Ian Howe is an educator and professional archaeologist whose focus is canines and people. So let’s curl up and be cute – like dogs – as we listen about breed histories, what evidence we have for doggies being friends, how wolves tamed themselves, why our relationships with canines make us what we are, talking dogs, if it’s fair it ask your dog to love you back, corn paws, and why your dog is trying to make fetch happen. 

Visit David’s website and his podcasts, The David Ian Howe Show & Ethnocynology with David Ian Howe

Follow David on Instagram, TikTok, YouTube, Patreon and Bluesky

A donation went to the Native American Humane Society

More episode sources and links

Smologies (short, classroom-safe) episodes

Other episodes you may enjoy: Lupinology (WOLVES), Canine Speech Pathology (DOGS WITH BUTTONS), Felinology (CATS), Experimental Archaeology (ATLATLS), Momiology (MUMMIFICATION), Egyptology (ANCIENT EGYPT), Classical Archaeology (ANCIENT ROME), Mythology (STORYTELLING), Indigenous Cuisinology (NATIVE COOKING), Radiology (X-RAY VISION), Delphinology (DOLPHINS), Functional Morphology (ANATOMY), Zymology (BEER & YEAST), Columbidology (PIGEONS)

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 Jacob Chaffee

Managing Director: Susan Hale

Scheduling Producer: Noel Dilworth

Transcripts by Aveline Malek 

Website by Kelly R. Dwyer

Theme song by Nick Thorburn

Ethnocynology (HUMANS & DOGS THROUGH TIME) with David Ian Howe

Dogs doing science. With their faces. As a follow-up to last week’s Ethnocynology episode about humans domesticating wolves, we chat with conservation biologist and Eco-odorologist Kayla Fratt (and her working dog Barley) about how trained animals help scientists. Sit – and stay – to learn how rescue dogs can get their dog-torate degrees, which rewards work when training, dogs on a boat, dogs in the jungle, wolves in the sea, why noses are wet, how your sense of smell is trash, the price of a police dog, and how you can get into this field working with your best buddy. 

Visit Kayla Fratt’s website and follow her on Bluesky

Visit K9 Conservationists’s website and follow them on Instagram, YouTube and TikTok

Listen to the K9 Conservationists podcast on Apple and Spotify

Donations went to K9 Conservationists and Fundación Naturaleza El Salvador

More episode sources and links

Smologies (short, classroom-safe) episodes

Other episodes you may enjoy: Ethnocynology (HUMANS & DOGS THROUGH TIME), Field Trip: How to Change Your Life, Cervidology (DEER), Mammalogy (MAMMALS), Urban Rodentology (SEWER RATS), Lupinology (WOLVES), Canine Speech Pathology (DOGS WITH BUTTONS), Felinology (CATS), Island Ecology (ISLANDS), Wildlife Ecology (FIELDWORK), Scatology (POOP)

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 Jacob Chaffee

Managing Director: Susan Hale

Scheduling Producer: Noel Dilworth

Transcripts by Aveline Malek 

Website by Kelly R. Dwyer

Theme song by Nick Thorburn

Eco-Odorology (SCIENCE-SNIFFING DOGS) with Kayla Fratt

Sad? Cold? Hot? Wired? Blame the thyroid. Maybe. In your throat there is a butterfly-shaped gland under a shield-shaped Adam’s Apple and it controls your whole life, kind of. We asked Thyroidologist and surgeon Dr. Kepal Petal of NYU's Langone Hospital about libido factors, radioactive cats, stress and thyroids, how diet can affect them, deciphering labs, flim-flam and how being on TV might save your life. He’s a delight and your thyroid honestly DESERVES the attention. Pass it on to everyone who has ever talked to you about a thyroid. 

Learn more about Dr. Patel 

Follow NYU Langone Health on Instagram and YouTube

NYU Langone’s Thyroid Program

A donation went to The American Association of Endocrine Surgeons (AAES)

More episode sources and links

Smologies (short, classroom-safe) episodes

Other episodes you may enjoy: Diabetology (BLOOD SUGAR), Laryngology (VOICE BOXES), Trichology (HAIR), Evolutionary Anthropology (METABOLISMS), Environmental Toxicology (POISONS + TRAIN DERAILMENT)

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 Jacob Chaffee

Managing Director: Susan Hale

Scheduling Producer: Noel Dilworth

Transcripts by Aveline Malek 

Website by Kelly R. Dwyer

Theme song by Nick Thorburn

Thyroidology (THYROID GLAND) with Kepal Patel

Do they sweat blood? Will one kill you? What are cocaine hippos? Is Moo Deng… okay? Actual real life Hippopotomologist Dr. Rebecca Lewison explains how hippos have some of the best – and worst – PR. We chat about pet hippos, subspecies, daily diets, the current state of hippo conservation, the absolute chaotic affection we have for pygmy hippos, their role as ecosystem engineers, what’s up with their nostrils, and how to keep a hippo in your pocket. Also: how to flatter your friends into planning a group vacation. 

Visit the Lewison Lab at SDSU and follow Dr. Lewison on Google Scholar

A donation went to The Wechiau Community Hippo Sanctuary (WCHS)

More episode sources and links

Smologies (short, classroom-safe) episodes

Other episodes you may enjoy: Pinnipedology (SEALS & WALRUSES), Wildlife Ecology (FIELDWORK), Cucurbitology (PUMPKINS), Culicidology (MOSQUITOES), Scatology (POOP), Conservation Technology (EARTH SAVING)

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

Hippopotomology (HIPPOS) with Rebecca Lewison

Machine poets. ChatGPT fails. Neurological surveillance. Brain implants that treat depression. Is it scary? Cool? Let’s firehose some questions at Duke Law professor, neuro and bioethicist, author and TED speaker Dr. Nita Farahany. She explains the history of AI, the dawn of chatbots, what’s changed recently, the potential for good, the possible perils, how different lawmakers are stepping in, and whether or not this is scary dinner party conversation. Do you have feelings about AI and brain implants? Hopefully, and we talk about why. 

Buy Dr. Nita Farahany’s books: The Battle for Your Brain: Defending the Right to Think Freely in the Age of Neurotechnology (2023) and The Impact of Behavioral Sciences on Criminal Law (2009)

Dr. Farahany’s 2023 TED Talk: Your right to mental privacy in the age of brain-sensing tech

Follow Dr. Farahany on Instagram, TikTok and Twitter

A donation was made to Human Rights Watch

More episode sources and links

Smologies (short, classroom-safe) episodes

Other episodes you may enjoy: Field Trip: A Hollywood Visit to the Writers Guild Strike Line, Neuropathology (CONCUSSIONS), Attention-Deficit Neuropsychology (ADHD), Molecular Neurobiology (BRAIN CHEMICALS), Radiology (X-RAY VISION), Futurology (THE FUTURE), Gizmology (ROBOTS), Diabetology (DIABETES)

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, masks, totes!

Follow @Ologies on Twitter and Instagram

Follow @AlieWard on Twitter and Instagram

Editing by Mercedes Maitland of Maitland Audio Productions and Jarrett Sleeper of MindJam Media and Mark David Christenson 

Transcripts by Emily White of The Wordary

Website by Kelly R. Dwyer

Theme song by Nick Thorburn

Neurotechnology (AI + BRAIN TECH) with Nita Farahany

Lyssna när som helst, var som helst

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