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Alie Ward

Alie Ward

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Alie Ward posts

Call for questions: TURKEYS

Turkey time isn't only Thanksgiving. Turkey time is all the time. Because they are winged, wattled wonders. I'll next be interviewing an anthropologist who studies turkeys and their relationships to humans. What do you want to know about the gobbl...

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Discussion thread: GROUNDHOGS episode is published!

*This episode is published and ready to hear wherever you get podcasts. Let's talk about it.*

WHAT IS A GROUNDHOG? What's their deal? Why do they have their own holiday?

I got myself to UCLA during the winter...

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Discussion thread: Venusology is published!

*This episode is published and ready to hear wherever you get podcasts. Let's talk about it!*

This one will surely stick with you. In all of our nearly 500* episodes, Dr. Viki Hansen is one of the most enthusiastic ...

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LOS ANGELES: come hang out January 15

LA: JANUARY 15th! $15! Let's hang out.

Teuthology squid expert Dr. Sarah McAnulty of Skyoe a Scientist will be in town and we’re throwing a $15 live event downtown to make science and political art and just hang out. Tickets going fast so ...

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Discussion thread: PLATYPUS episode is published!

We got a good one for you. SUCH A GOOD ONE. I’m posting this from a car en route to the first annual TikTok Awards, so please root on our friend Alexis Nikole Nelson and send good vibes for her nominations tonight!

And enjoy the platypus i...

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Call for questions: GROUNDHOGS

I need some schooling on groundhogs because I didn't even know they're the same thing as woodchucks. What else don't I know?! I set up an interview with a marmot ecologist to find out. Tell me what you want to know about groundhogs in the comments...

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Call for questions: STIs

STI stands for "sexually transmitted infection," an update from sexually transmitted disease (STD) and veneral disease (VD). Whatever you call them, I'll be asking an expert about them. This expert is a professor, researcher, author, and medical c...

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Discussion thread: SPACE FOOD is published!

This episode is published and ready to hear wherever you get your podcasts.

I hope you're hungry for some dehydrated casserole because the lovely Maggie Coblentz and I chatted all about food in space: the tastes, the smells,...

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Call for questions: VENUS

This week I'm interviewing a global geologist who focuses on the evolution of Earth's sister planet, Venus. She specifically studies "crustal plateau formation, deformation belt formation, coronae evolution, circular low formation, lowland process...

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Discussion thread: FERNS episode is published!

Aaah, somehow I forgot to post this yesterday! We finally have an episode on FERNS and the Ologist is as charming and hilarious and enthusiastic as they come. Dr. Fay-Wei Li loves ferns, and he will delight you with facts about spores, Lady Gaga, ...

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Discussion thread: New 2025 Interview with Genocidologist, Dr. Dirk Moses

Hope everyone traveling is safe and enjoying some downtime. I'm grateful for so much this year: the safety and comfort I have, a dream job, and luckily my health. But I know it's come at a price that others have had to pay, and that there are bill...

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Call for questions: BUTT HEALTH

Next up: an interview on butt health with a researcher, professor, and board-certified colorectal surgeon. They wrote a comprehensive book on constipation and can also talk about hemorrhoids, fissures, fistulas, IBS, colorectal cancer, and other b...

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About last night…

THANK YOU, BROOKLYN. And thank you Patrons. The audience last night at the Bell House was fucking awesome. Wow. Thank you thank you thank you for coming.

If you missed it, it was a chaotic jumble of different segments I wanted to try out, an...

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POLL: How do you listen to Ologies?

To get our episodes sounding the best, we're curious: What is the primary audio device you use for listening to Ologies?

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Discussion thread: OWLS episode is published!

This episode is published and ready to hear wherever you get podcasts. Let's talk about it!

Owls owls owls owls owls. Are they the best birds? Depends on who you ask. (Yes.) Please gaze into a tree and listen to the dulcet s...

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Call for questions: FERNS

A plant that's seedless and flowerless? Here you go: FERNS. Do they have wood? Are they toxic? Can they cross pollinate? Are they prehistoric? I don't know! So I'll be asking an author, professor and prominent plant evolutionary biologist who disc...

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Discussion thread: OLD TIMEY POISONS episode is published!

**This episode is up and ready to hear wherever you get podcasts.**

We’re rounding out Spooktober with a look back at vintage forensics and Historical Toxicology with Pulitzer Prize-winning writer Deborah Blum who authored “The Poisonerâ...

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Discussion thread: Critical Ponerology (WHAT IS EVIL?) is ready to listen to!

This episode is published and ready to hear wherever you get podcasts!

Okay. So. Evil.

What is it? Does it exist? Says who? How evil do you have to be to BE evil? What can we do about it? In this Spooktober episode wi...

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Discussion thread: Blattodeology episode is ready to hear!

This episode is published and ready to listen to wherever you get podcast.

HEAR ME OUT. It's cockroaches. But, like, not just the ones you hate.

Dr. Dominic Evangelista is a cockroach scientist and he let me ask him a...

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Call for questions: SPACE FOOD

Astronauts need to eat, and it turns out that making food that’s safe, nutritious, and tasty in space is not easy. Next week I'm interviewing a scientist who researches space food. How does taste and smell transform in weightlessness? What cooki...

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Discussion thread: Haunted Hydrology Spooky Lakes ep is published!

Geo Rutherford is here! The creator of Haunted Hydrology and the author of "Spooky Lakes: 25 Strange and Mysterious Lakes that Dot Our Planet" chats all about: mudbank bones, river wrecks, salty seas, pink ponds, poison dust devils, steamy stream...

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Monday Nov. 17: Ologies first-ever live show in NYC -- ticket link for Patrons!

Okay, this makes it official. THE FIRST EVER OLOGIES SHOW is in New York at the Bell House on Monday, Nov. 17.

Tickets went on sale today but ONLY for Patrons! Here's the presale link: 2025-10-06 23:46:47 +0000 UTC View Post

Discussion thread: WHAT IS CREEPY? episode is published!

Let's call it Serpopyschology. And let's kick off Spooktober 2025.

In this episode with Dr. Frank McAndrew, we chat: dates that give you the willies, Weary Willie the Clown, haunted dolls, college goths, dark alleyways, evolutionary neurobi...

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Call for questions: ANIMAL DEFENSES

This weekend I'm interviewing a biology professor with expertise in predator-prey interactions, specifically animal defensive behaviors, adaptations, and mechanisms. Quills, shells, spines, chemicals. Camouflage, distraction, mimicry, playing dead...

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Discussion thread: Revolutionology episode is ready to hear!

**This episode is published and ready to hear wherever you get podcasts.**

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

Y'ALL LIKE REVOLUTIONS?

We spoke with Dr. Jack Goldstone -- the world'...

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Call for questions: SPOOKY LAKES

Guys! I'm interviewing Geo Rutherford about spooky lakes! You've been requesting an episode with Geo for YEARS ever since her videos blew up on TikTok and View Post

Discussion thread: Human Technomorphology with Mary Roach is ready to hear!

This episode is published and ready to hear wherever you get podcasts.

It's Mary Roach. And it's me, freaking out about talking to her. The absolute legend science writer of Stiff, Bonk, Gulp, and ...

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Call for questions: COCKROACHES

They live in your kitchens, bathrooms, and nightmares. I was afraid of backlash if I posted a photo of them. Cockroaches! What questions do you have for an evolutionary biologist who specializes in roaches?

Deadline: Wednesday, September 17 ...

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Discussion thread: POTTERY episode is published!

This episode is up and published and ready to hear wherever you get podcasts.

The traditional 8th anniversary gift is pottery so to mark the September 2017 start of Ologies, we just published a lovely new Ceramology episod...

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Call for questions: NUDIBRANCHS

In grade school we laughed at the word "nudibranch" because we were saying "nude-y." Well, nudibranchs are indeed "nude-y" -- they're molluscs without shells and their naked bodies are some of the most vibrant in the ocean. What do you want to kno...

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