Ologies with Alie Ward

Giggles. Pseudopenises. Matriarchies? Media slander. Hyaenidologist Dr. Christine Wilkinson delivers stories about the nature of matrilinearity, hot Lion King gossip, bristle backs, tiny heads, big teeth, animation errors, human-hyena interactions, tongue bumps, termite poisons, lawsuits, and why these animals have been robbed of respect and denied the devotion the so deserve. Ready yourself for stories from this delightful carnivo...

Flying squirrels. Fox squirrels. Giant squirrels. Tiny ones. Grey ones. Black ones. Fluorescent ones? Alie is losing her mind talking to dream guest and Sciuridologist, Dr. Karen Munroe. This Baldwin Wallace University professor has studied squirrels for decades and addresses where they sleep, how many babies they have, if they bite each other’s junk, how they find their acorns, Marvel movies, birdfeeder drama, imported squir...

Advice. Hot tips. Book recs. Perspective. It’s the third and final installment of our Emmenology series on perimenopause and menopause, and it’s all wise words from Patrons. Dealing with brain fog, giving spouses grace, finding estrogen patches amid short supply, what to ask the HR department at work, and analogies that would melt even the coldest haters. Tune in, hang on, and sweat it out. 

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Hormones or no hormones? Itchy ears. Disappearing pussy syndrome. Estrogen by land, by sea, by patch, by pill, or by cream. When is it T time? What's the deal with herbal remedies? Should your moisturizer have hormones in it? Is HRT safe? Four experts weigh in on bioidentical versus synthetic, getting better sleep, what to put in or around your vagina, tips for trans folks, protein research, and why you should go pick up a brick or...

Hormones. Mood swings. Brain fog. Night sweats. And why doesn’t your shoulder work? The time is here for this whopper of a 3-part series on menopause with a total of five Ologists. No matter what your age or gender, you owe it to the people in your life who go through this to understand it. Brilliant and charming Dr. Mary Claire Haver is an OB-GYN who wrote bestsellers “The New Menopause” and the just-released &ld...

Social anxiety icebreakers. Third spaces. Slumber parties with old friends. Helping out strangers. And why primates are wired to be better connected than we are now. Dr. Nicholas Epley – a distinguished Professor of Behavioral Science at the University of Chicago and the author of “A Little More Social” – explains how important social activity is for physical and mental health, why people are experiencing a ...

Scoville units. Nightshades. Hot ones. Sweet ones. Scandalous data. Pull up a seat for a wild, hot ride through New Mexico. Pepper expert, horticulturist, and Capsicumologist Dr. Paul “The Chileman” Bosland of New Mexico State’s Chile Pepper Institute dishes up stories of how chile peppers got from the wild into your mouth, what parts of peppers are the hottest, why mild peppers don’t get enough credit, how ...

What is your Roman Empire? It’s about to be this episode. What causes the big dogs to stumble and fall? Do societies collapse suddenly, or would one notice as it happens? What *is* a complex society – and is it better than a simple one? Depends on who you ask, and we went straight to the source: the legendary anthropologist, scholar, historian and author of “The Collapse of Complex Societies,” Dr. Joseph Tai...

The promised follow up bonus episode to our biomusicology episode with theoretical, neuro- and biomusicologist Dr David Bashwiner. This one is guest hosted by Podmother Jarrett Sleeper and we steer the discussion more toward the process of creating music, where creativity comes from, the relationship between theory, technique, and creativity, how to unleash or access one’s own creativity, synthesizers, whether new sounds are ...

Music. Emotion. Brain waves. Whale songs. Toadfish. Distant moons. Loud apes. And why it’s worth it to practice piano. Brilliant and warm musician and assistant professor at Albuquerque's University of New Mexico, Dr. David Bashwiner is a theoretical, neuro- and biomusicologist. Settling into his office (with a baby grand) we covered everything from bird songs to aquatic echolocation, how scales work, major vs. minor keys and...

Will changing your sunscreen save coral reefs? What even IS a coral? Where do they grow and what do they eat and why are they so pretty? Is it reefs or reeves? The wonderful and charming coral biologist and cnidariologist Shayle Matsuda takes time out of his busy schedule during a coral spawning event to chat about how magical and beautiful coral can be and why reef health is important. Also: whether or not "Finding Nemo" got coral...

DADS. What makes a good one? What if you had a bad one? And how can fatherhood turn the tides on toxic masculinity? Also: diapers. The brilliant USC research psychologist,  fatherhood expert, and thus Paternologist Dr. Darby Saxbe covers everything from prehistoric family systems to social media expectations as we chat about male hormones during and after pregnancy, division of labor, dad bods, gorillas, TV dads, seahorses, tr...

Awe?! You can study this? You can, and it turns out it’s really important for our mental health. Dr. Dacher Keltner, the legendary UC Berkeley psychology professor, author, and founding director of the Greater Good Science Center, lent us some time to chat about his research into what makes us feel awe, and how that sense of vastness can make our lives and relationships richer. From spending some time under starry skies, to w...

Wineries vs. vineyards. Metal vs. oak. DIY wine. Carbonic fermentation situations? Enologists 

Tara Gomez and Mireia Taribó – co-owners of the boutique California winery Camins2Dreams – join us to chat about how grapes are harvested, why some are juiced with the stems, Indigenous perspectives on wine making, weird balloon chambers, wooden teabags, labcoat envy, tips for making your own wines, how they met and the s...

To chill or not to chill? That is the question. And then a bunch more questions. Thankfully, author, winemaker, sommelier, and Enology expert, André Hueston Mack is on hand to explain Old World vs. New World wines, corks vs. caps, red, rosé, orange, and white wines, stemware, judging a wine by its label, the best glass of wine he’s ever tasted, needless snobbery, aeration, decanting, and what those legs are doing dancing arou...

Listen. Sometimes we like to shake it up. So while we’re finishing up next week’s episode, I decided to open a sound file and spilled only secrets. This was an exercise in just chilling with you, and not editing a thing. Think of it as my exposure therapy + life advice and embarrassing tales from me, your actual biological father from the internet. Is it too long? Too bad! Is it too boring? I don’t know! But in th...

Wattles. Snoods. Struts. Vibes. It’s not November, which is exactly why we’re putting this episode out. All day every day, turkeys are out there like beanbags with stick legs. Let’s take a moment, or 90 minutes, with Archaeologist, Meleagrologist, and turkey researcher,  Dr. Cyler Conrad. We’ll find out if they can fly, do they like to kiss, where did they get their audacity, turkeys versus my car door,...

Mile-thick ice. Dry, rocky valleys. Tiny creatures. Red parkas. Seal mummies. We’re going to Antarctica with National Geographic Explorer, microscopic photographer, and Antarcticologist Ariel Waldman. She hosts the gorgeous PBS series “Life Unearthed” and answers a blizzard of questions about camping in the middle of an ice sheet, hauling microscopes to the ends of the Earth, what’s living in a drop of melte...

In an encore of one of our top episodes ever, Dr. Zoffness is back to chat about her brand new book, Tell Me Where It Hurts.

PAIN. What is it? Where does it come from? And how can we hurt less? Which hurts more, a kidney stone or heartache? Why does chronic pain persist? Can we turn down our pain dials? To answer these huge questions, pain psychologist Dr. Rachel Zoffness enthusiastically explains the brain, pain and how to retrain...