As you have probably noticed, Weekly Weinersmith updates have been few and far between in the past few months. I really love doing this podcast, but this is the last year of my PhD and I have had to prioritize my dissertation experiments, manuscript writing, and applying for postdoc positions. I was hoping I would still have time to podcast, but my schedule simply isn’t allowing it. The experiment ends and all of my postdoc applications are due by early January, so our intention is to start back up again around that time. Zach and I look forward to bringing your more nerdiness ASAP!

This week Zach and Kelly talk to Dr. David Hughes about zombie ants.

This week Zach and I talk with Dr. Joan Strassman about Dictyostelium discoideum, a social amoeba.

This week Zach and Kelly talk naked mole rats.

This week Zach and Kelly talk about cheating in bacterial biofilms, and how the microbiome influences susceptibility to disease in bumble bees.

This week we let Ryan Haupt and Benjamin Tippett take over the show. Ryan and Ben are co-hosts on the Science...sort of podcast, and Ben is host of The Titanium Physicists podcast. Both of these podcasts are part of the Brachiolope Media Network, the podcast network to which the Weekly Weinersmith belongs. Ryan and Ben will talk about....well....you'll see.

This podcast is probably not appropriate for a younger audience (you know, as usual).

This week Zach and Kelly talk with Dr. Christopher Dana Lynn, an anthropologist at the University of Alabama who studies the relationship between glossolalia and stress in Apostolic Pentecostals.

This week Zach and Kelly talk about how the smell of coffee changes gene expression and protein production in rat brains, and discuss a study that hooked rat brains up to one another so the rats could share information and perform tasks together.

For Valentine’s Day, Zach and Kelly talk whether or not brazilian waxing is causing the extinction of pubic lice, and about how housework influences the frequency of sex.

This week Zach and Kelly discuss a study that used infusion of donor feces to treat a bacterial infection, and a second study that found that light is important for eye development in fetal mice. 

This week Zach and Kelly talk about how fear and/or awe of math differs between academic fields.

This week Zach and Kelly bring back Dr. Elizabeth Iorns to talk about the Reproducibility Initiative through Science Exchange. Elizabeth was recently named one of Nature’s 10 People Who Mattered This Year!

This week Zach and Kelly talk about National Institute of Health (NIH) funding practices, and the increasing administrative burdens placed on academic scientists.