On October 26, 2020, we teamed up with the hosts of the Podward State podcast to interview two members of Penn State’s coronavirus task force. Both have spent countless hours since that start of the pandemic doing all they can to help protect students, faculty, staff, and local community members in an ever-changing, endlessly challenging, and highly contentious environment.

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On October 19, 2020, we teamed up with the hosts of Podward State – a Penn State student-produced podcast, to interview researchers working on a profoundly collaborative project designed to measure multiple impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on residents and students in Centre County, PA.

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On August 20, 2020, we spoke to an interdisciplinary team of scientists collaborating at the intersection of physics, engineering, materials science, epidemiology, and information technology. Their work holds the promise of new rapid identification diagnostics for SARS-CoV-2 and other viruses through enhanced Raman spectroscopy.

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On June 8, 2020, we spoke to Riane Eisler and David Loye, two veteran systems scientists who have collaborated for more than 40 years as both researchers and marriage partners. In this wrap-up of a 2-part conversation, we explore the promise of partnership and perils of domination on the road to conscious social evolution.

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On June 8, 2020, we spoke to Riane Eisler and David Loye, two veteran systems scientists who have collaborated for more than 40 years as both researchers and marriage partners. In this first of a 2-part conversation, we unpack lost insights of Darwin and explore the basics of cultural transformation theory as a tool to evolve society.

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In this episode, recorded in-person on February 4, 2020, we talked to a team of Penn State researchers and about the stunning advancements made in recent years in the field of electron microscopy. 

Up for discussion was a short history of electron microscopy, including how the addition of cryogenics has enabled new materials and structures to be imaged, and how breakthroughs in certain scientific fields have enabled advances in some...

Aiming to better understand the efficacy of public health messaging in a pandemic, a team of Penn State researchers designed and deployed an unusually open-ended survey that has been translated into 23 languages and reached more than 73 countries. This episode recorded via Zoom on May 20, 2020.

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In this episode, recorded via Zoom on May 11, 2020, we talked to Penn State personnel about their involvement with the Manufacturing and Sterilization for COVID-19 Project, or MASC. We discussed how University staff and researchers used their resources and expertise to produce and extend the effective life of personal protection equipment needed by medical providers during the pandemic.

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For this special collaborative episode recorded via Zoom on May 6, 2020, we partnered with the Democracy Works podcast to explore the dynamic and sometimes tense relationship between peer-reviewed scientific research and public policy decision-making. And we discuss how these tensions have been brought to the forefront by the coronavirus pandemic. 

Our discussion focuses on the work of our guest Taylor Scott, Associate Director of t...

In this brief “special announcement” episode, Symbiotic Podcast host Cole Hons lays out the new direction and format for Season 2, a series of COVID-19 Research Briefs that explore radically open and transparent efforts currently underway worldwide to address the COVID-19 pandemic.

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On February 4, 2020 as the COVID-19 virus began to go global, Cole spoke with three scientists from the Center for Infectious Disease Dynamics to hear their perspective on the outbreak. The resulting conversation uncovers aspects of humanity’s complex relationship with viruses that don’t often reach the mainstream media. 

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In this episode, Cole and his guests discuss a transdisciplinary effort at Penn State to advance the printing of living tissues, from skin to bone to organs. Combining the efforts of engineers, nanotechnologists, and surgeons, the team has coined a new term – “intraoperative bioprinting” – to describe their approach.

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In this episode, Cole and his guests discuss Penn State’s launch of the world’s first Center for Parasitic and Carnivorous Plants. These fascinatingly strange organisms have much to teach us about the outrageous diversity of life - especially now that we have the capacity to study them at every scale, from the molecular to the ecological.

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This special live episode was recorded at SciWri 2019 - a national conference for science journalists hosted by Penn State in 2019. The panel featured a panel of ground-breaking Penn State researchers sharing their trials, tribulations, and hard-won best practices for trans-disciplinary life sciences research. The taping includes a live Q&A with the audience.

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In this episode, we discuss a unique, collaborative research project that brought together experts in infectious disease and communications to explore appropriate interventions for reducing the threat of antibiotic resistance. Through a collaboration with Penn State's Student Health Services, a Big 10 campus became a living laboratory for the first stages of this innovative and important experiment.

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In this pilot episode, we discuss the importance of collaboration as an evolutionary driver and explore ways that trans-disciplinary teams of scientists can mimic nature, evolving the way research is done. We also unpack the story of why and how Penn State has become a hotbed for this kind of work.

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