Goggles Optional

Trisha, Chelsea, Greg, and Diego are joined by Dr. HoJoon Lee, an expert in colon cancer. Our hosts and HoJoon explore how big data and genetics are helping us identify the drivers of this disease. Plus, how bats can jam each other's signals and one of the steamiest game shows ever.

How can physicists aid in humanitarian work? This week, we speak with Toly Rinberg and Andrew Bergman on their work to locate internally displaced people in the war torn country of the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Our hosts also cover why small things are having a big impact on cancer research. Special note: If you would like to donate to Toly and Andrew's cause, please visit here: https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/displaced-populations-in-north-kivu-dr-congo

On our birthday episode, Chelsea, Diego, Greg, and Dave cover the controversial decision to stop research on "super viruses." Plus, can bacteria be turned into an electric wire? Do cancer cells just want a Snickers bar? And can Diego ever beat a physicist on the game show?

For episode 51, we cover a story right out of Area 51: tractor beams! Learn how scientists are developing the first ever tractor beam that can move objects up and down by heating the air. Plus, how do lizards get around the planet, and do Chinese Herbal remedies actually work?

We celebrate our fiftieth episode with Dr. Brice Gaudilliere and Gabi Fragiadakis, who are examining a patient's immune system for clues on how well they will recover following surgery! We also cover the recent announcement of the Nobel Prizes (in science!). Learn about how the LED, the microscope, and the place cells have garnered science's top prize. Plus, Trisha Shakes it Off in her new song, a French themed game show category, and our weekly hot start!

What do left handed molecules, plates on the moon, and cheetah poop have in common? They're all featured in this week's Goggles Optional. Our hosts discuss why there are no left-handed molecules in biology, the real reason for the "Man on the Moon," and what a cheetah's um... droppings can teach us about their lifestyle.

How do you study a rapidly changing population that you can't even see? By modeling it! This week, we welcome theoretical biologist Dr. Meike Wittman as we converse about modeling genetic diversity, the Allee effect, and a matchmaking site for plankton. In our second feature, we cover how new research can help little people, like Tyrion Lannister, grow taller.

Did you know chimps can go to war? Maybe the movies aren't all fiction after all. Our hosts explore the reasons why our furry cousins are on the warpath. Plus, we explore whether diet soda is good for you (and your gut bacteria!) and Nora shares how the retina is inspiring new detection methods for large hadron colliders.

It's a physicist take-over on Goggles Optional! Physicist Ted Sanders joins hosts Greg, Chelsea, and remaining biologist Lisl to talk about solar flares and physics demons. Also, if James Cameron is listening, please check out this cool deep-water ecosystem called a Whalefall. You can listen to Trisha's song for inspiration!

This week, we are joined by Dr. Kat Arney, science communicator extraordinaire, who shares her experiences with outreach, knitting DNA scarves, shedding the evil scientist stereotype, and the joys of sharing science whilst naked. Our hosts also cover the latest development involving the coffee plant, and Trisha shares her love of coffee with an all new song!

We celebrate Labor Day in style with a smorgasbord of alcohol-friendly science topics! Grab a pint and join our hosts as we discuss sleep drunkenness, wolves versus dogs, Half Drunken Ideas (TM), artsy robots, mysterious moving rocks, and whirlpools of death!

This week is all about the animals! First we make a Life Aquatic-style dive into the ocean to find the unseen consequences from the Deepwater Horizon oil spill. Next, are you hungry listeners, and have you ever wondered what would you serve a hummingbird that you wouldn't serve a dinosaur? Finally, we talk about... talk! We cover recent work that has better modeled both human and animal communication.

This week, we cover robot swarms - what it takes to get over a thousand robots to behave as one. We explore the origins of the super-athlete gene found in Tibetans. Finally, we cover a cool new way plants and parasites can share messages.

What were you doing in 2004? Well this week's interviewee was busy working on the Rosetta project, an initiative that just succeeded in sending a spacecraft to rendezvous with a comet! Professor Erik Adli joins the podcast to explain the purpose and challenges of the mission, as well as his latest work at the SLAC accelerator. You don't want to miss an epic parody duet by hosts Trisha and Greg, how big data is challenging the mouse model, and finally, a special game show question to our writer Dr. JT Neal.

This week on Goggles Optional, Apocalypse! Hosts Diego, Dave, Chelsea, and Nora discuss the terrifying Ebola outbreak, and in this context, why you might want to watch out for Batman. Next, where have all the bees gone, and can we dress Diego in a bee suit to address this issue? Finally, we share tidbits on giant penguins, more of the California drought, and how Google is getting up close and personal with health data in the name of science!

This week, we present a film-noir inspired story of a hunt for an elusive phage virus. We also have our steamiest section ever, as our hosts unveil a new steam producing method that can revolutionize clean energy. Finally, is curing HIV Mission Impossible? Maybe not if we harness the genome editing powers of CRISPR.