Smart Tea
Who are the people behind the discoveries that have changed our lives? Join Aarati as she spills the tea on scientists and inventors throughout history!
Episodes
Stress affects men and women differently. We sit down with Kiara Rodríguez-Acevedo, a Ph.D. candidate at the University of Pennsylvania to ask her how she is blending neuroscience and epigenetics to uncover how estrogen levels in the brain influence stress vulnerability and resilience.
For more information and sources for this episode, visit https://www.smartteapodcast.com.
Happy Black History month! In this episode, Aarati tells the unlikely story of a carpenter turned lab technician. Vivien Thomas created a blood shunt for the hearts of blue babies without ever having gone to medical school or earning a degree... and without getting credit for decades.
For more information and sources for this episode, visit https://www.smartteapodcast.com.
Ants may not be very big, but we have a lot to learn from these tiny creatures! We sit down with Andrew Robertson, a PhD candidate at Georgia Tech and winner of Galactic Polymath Education Studio's 2025 #MySciJourney competition, and talk about his work on ants and other social insects.
For more information and sources for this episode, visit https://www.smartteapodcast.com.
It's episode 50! Aarati tells the story of the temperamental Russian chemist who figured out a way to organize all the known (and unknown) elements into a table that ordered them by increasing atomic weight and grouped them into categories.
For more information and sources for this episode, visit https://www.smartteapodcast.com.
Why do certain things never happen in reverse? A shattered glass does not spontaneously reform, a spray of perfume doesn't concentrate back into it's bottle... but why not? In the Part III of our December Thermodynamics series (the final part!) Aarati tells us the story of the physicist who understood the true nature of entropy.
For more information and sources for this episode, visit https://www.smartteapo...
Part II of our December Thermodynamics Extravaganza! Aarati tells the story of the German scientist who formally stated that 1) energy is conserved and 2) entropy is always increasing.
For more information and sources for this episode, visit https://www.smartteapodcast.com.
Born to one of the most influential families during the French Revolution, Sadi Carnot kickstarted another revolution in physics. His perfect (although theoretical) steam engine transformed the way we think about heat and work.
For more information and sources for this episode, visit https://www.smartteapodcast.com.
After birth, a quick check to make sure the newborn is beathing and acting normally can be the difference between life and death. Aarati tells the life story of Dr. Virginia Apgar, an obstetric anesthesiologist who pioneered the field of neonatal care.
For more information and sources for this episode, visit https://www.smartteapodcast.com.
Vulcanized rubber was a revolutionary material for clothing, medical devices, life preservers and eventually, the tire industry. But life was tougher than you can imagine for this ingenious inventor.
For more information and sources for this episode, visit https://www.smartteapodcast.com.
Bat echolocation opened up a whole new world of questions regarding animal behavior. Aarati tells the story of the scientist who first put forward the idea that many animals were self-aware, could strategize, and feel emotions just like humans do.
For more information and sources for this episode, visit https://www.smartteapodcast.com.
Is intelligence something you are born with or is it a skill you can improve? Aarati tells the story of the self-taught psychologist who came up with the original IQ test to help people across the entire intelligence spectrum.
For more information and sources for this episode, visit https://www.smartteapodcast.com.
At the turn of the century, the world came together to ban chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) after scientists found evidence that they were destroying the Earth's protective ozone layer. Aarati tells the story of a chemist and Nobel Prize laureate who helped ring the alarm and continued to fight for environmental protections.
For more information and sources for this episode, visit https://www.smartteapodcast.com.
Dive into the extraordinary life of the marine biologist who transformed our understanding of the ocean and the animals that live in it. Aarati tells the story of Dr. Eugenia Clark's lifelong obsession with adventure, fish, and ocean conservation.
For more information and sources for this episode, visit https://www.smartteapodcast.com.
Can you handle the heat? Aarati tells the story of the nature-loving scientist whose discovery of Thermus aquaticus, a microbe living in the hot waters of Yellowstone Park, helped make PCR one of the fundamental tools of biotech.
For more information and sources for this episode, visit https://www.smartteapodcast.com.
An orange a day keeps the scurvy away! Aarati tells the story of the 18th century naval physician who set up the very first clinical trial to figure out what treatments for scurvy actually held (sea)water.
For more information and sources for this episode, visit https://www.smartteapodcast.com.
So much of our modern life runs on batteries: laptops, cell phones, electric cars, watches, remotes, even toothbrushes! Aarati tells the story of the Italian scientist who settled a decade long debate about how electricity is generated and stored by building the first battery.
For more information and sources for this episode, visit https://www.smartteapodcast.com.
Travel back with us to Ancient Rome! Aarati tells the story of Pliny the Elder, who made it his mission to catalogue over 20,000 "scientific" facts, laying the framework for encyclopedias.
For more information and sources for this episode, visit https://www.smartteapodcast.com.
Frances refused FDA approval of thalidomide for treating morning sickness until it was deemed safe... which it wasn't. Aarati tells the story of the FDA medical officer who held the line against a shady pharmaceutical company and saved American babies.
For more information and sources for this episode, visit https://www.smartteapodcast.com.
Even a Nobel Prize laureate couldn't stand in her way! Aarati tells the story of the first Indian woman to get a PhD in science and how she used it to help her country's people.
For more information and sources for this episode, visit https://www.smartteapodcast.com.
For someone who was literally blinded by science, Gustaf remained optimistic. And why shouldn't he have been? He saved countless lives and won the Nobel prize by improving lighthouses. And he set a new standard in home cooking!
For more information and sources for this episode, visit https://www.smartteapodcast.com.
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