Jess Phoenix is running for California's 25th District Congressional seat. Our Congress lacks expertise in science and how science works at a basic level, and as a result there are some poorly thought out decisions are being made. Even worse, Congress is allowed to engage in explicitly anti-science political activities, such as assembling activist science deniers as the so-called science committees or subcommittees in both houses. This would not be as easy if there were a few dozen actual scientists in the House and Senate.
Jess Phoenix sees this as a challenge that must be met by scientists joining as active and influential members of the government. The seat she is running for is currently being held by a climate denialist.
Please consider donating to the campaign. Even if you don't live in her future district, as a nation we need to have more scientists guiding policy from seats of power, such as the House of Representatives. Here is the campaign site: Jess2018.
Here is a TEDx talk, about geology, by the candidate:
Greg Laden interviewed Dr. Phoenix for this podcast.
We are back!
[caption id="attachment_321" align="alignright" width="199"] Bill Schutt, auther of Pump: A Natural History of the Heart[/caption]
Join us with part one of an interview with zoologist and author Bill Schutt, as we discuss his latest book, Pump: A Natural History of the Heart, a delightful and informative exploration of the heart, in all its (anatomical) forms.
We have changed our format a little, and hope you enjoy it. Feedback is welcome as long as you are nice about it.
Material discussed in this and the next episode:
Pump: A Natural History of the Heart
Meteorite Crash-Landed in Canada Woman's Bed
COVID-19 slows birth rate in U.S., Europe
Bat guts become less healthy through diet of 'fast food' from banana plantations
Threatened rattlesnakes' inbreeding makes species more resistant to bad mutations
Dr. Karen Stollznow is a linguist who earned her PhD at the University of New England, in Australia. She hosts the skeptical podcast Monster Talk with Blake Smith (subscribe, you'll thank us!) She is also a prolific author, having published academic works, non-fiction as well as fiction.
In this episode, we open with the ways in which we judge and stereotype each other based on the dialect and language that we use and move on to the meanings of words and how the change in time and space. Not only does the cafe lose the accent after a time, but bad words turn good and good words turn bad. It's hysterical, how that works.
We marked this episode "explicit" because we discuss some of the words that are not used in polite language and how the relative offense of using some words varies based on where the speaker is as well as how the audience may be.
Check out her Amazon Author's Page Here and also check out Monster Talk.