As 2017 comes to a close, we revisit our first 12 interviews to highlight some of the themes and trends across our inaugural episodes. Clips highlight everything from planning and carrying out research studies to the trials and tribulations of academic publishing. We also hear from guests about the use of crowdsourcing in science, the importance of collaboration, and the challenges and surprises of doing impactful research. Some clips have never aired, so check out even more of the unpublished stories behind the world’s most compelling science.

Listen to Full Episodes and Bonus Material

Science Writing as Storytelling – Ryan Kelly

What matters more in getting cited — what you say or how you say it? In our first episode of the show we're visited by Ryan Kelly from the University of Washington's School of Marine and Environmental Affairs. He talks with us about his article "Narrative Style Influences Citation Frequency in Climate Change Science," published in the December 2016 edition of the open-access journal PLoS One, along with co-authors Annie Hillier ...
Listen to Episode

Accuracy of Health Outcome Predictions – Scott Halpern

How well can doctors and nurses really predict the outcomes of their ICU patients? In this episode, Scott Halpern from the University of Pennsylvania's School of Medicine, discusses how he and his colleagues explored the accuracy of ICU physicians and nurses in predicting the health outcomes of their patients. Their work is detailed in his open-access article "Discriminative Accuracy of Physician and Nurse Predictions for Survival and Functional Outcomes 6 Months ...
Listen to Episode

Christians and Science – Kim Rios

Can stereotypes about Christians really limit who pursues science? In this episode, Kim Rios from Ohio University discusses how self-concepts and group identities may change how we look at the role of religion in science. Kim tells the stories behind her article "Negative Stereotypes Cause Christians to Underperform in and Disidentify With Science." She co-authored the article with Zhen Cheng, Rebecca Totton and Azim Shariff, which was published in the ...
Listen to Episode

Semantic Meaning in Images – Devi Parikh

A picture may be worth 1000 words, but can we also teach computers to create stories from the stories that lie inside our images? In this episode, Devi Parikh of Georgia Tech’s school of interactive computing discusses her work training computers to determine the semantic meaning within images. Devi talks about the stories behind her open-access article "Bringing Semantics Into Focus Using Visual Abstraction," which she co-authored with Larry Zitnick ...
Listen to Episode

Induced Auditory Hallucinations – Al Powers & Phil Corlett

Many people hear voices that aren't really there. It drives some to seek psychiatric treatment, but others are able to make use of it in healthy ways. In this episode, Al Powers and Phil Corlett from Yale University talk about their research into the similarities and differences between these two groups, and what the rest of us can learn from their experiences. They tell their stories behind developing their open-access ...
Listen to Episode

Archaeology of Space Culture – Alice Gorman

The rich archaeological records of human space exploration can tell us much about human behavior, geopolitics, and the history of science and technology. In this episode we're joined by Alice Gorman of Flinders University in South Australia. Alice tells us about her research that explores archaeological perspectives derived from the artifacts left by humans on the Moon from 1969 to 1972. She shares stories behind her article “Culture on the ...
Listen to Episode

Open Science and Replications (Part 1 of 2) – Brian Nosek & Tim Errington

Open access to both the scientific process and results should be the default, not the exception. In the first of this two-part episode, Brian Nosek and Tim Errington from the Center for Open Science talk about the important role of open science in accelerating scientific progress, as discussed in their open-access article "Reproducibility in Cancer Biology: Making sense of replications." In part two of this episode, they share stories from ...
Listen to Episode

Open Science and Replications (Part 2 of 2) – Tim Errington & Brian Nosek

Reproducing research results can help accelerate the scientific progress. In the second half of this two-part episode, Tim Errington and Brian Nosek from the Center for Open Science share insights from their the Center's replication of a high-profile anti-cancer treatment study. In the episode Tim also discusses how the preregistration of research proposals and registered reports can improve the our confidence in scientific findings. Websites Reproducibility Project: Cancer Biology (RP:CB) Overview ...
Listen to Episode

Emotions and Rubber Hand Illusion – Beatrice de Gelder

Sometimes our emotions and the power of illusions can put our sense of reality to the test. In this special Halloween episode, Beatrice de Gelder from Maastricht University in The Netherlands shares stories behind her study "Affective vocalizations influence body ownership as measured in the rubber hand illusion," which she coauthored with Tahnée Engelen, Rebecca Watson, and Francesco Pavani, published in the open-access journal PLOS One. Websites Funded in part by ...
Listen to Episode

Electoral Systems and Female Candidates – Laura Stephenson

In this episode we talk with Laura Stephenson from the University of Western Ontario about her research into how the structures of electoral systems can shape support for female political candidates. Her open-access article "Votes for Women: Electoral Systems and Support for Female Candidates" with Sona N. Golder and six other researchers in the March 2017 issue of Politics & Gender. Websites Laura's website Supplemental materials for article "The Euro ...
Listen to Episode

Retaliatory Punishment – Adam Morris

Adam Morris from Harvard University's Department of Psychology talks with us about his game theory research into why people engage in retribution with little regard for its effectiveness, yet they respond to punishment from others with flexibility based on costs and benefits. His open-access article "Evolution of Flexibility and Rigidity in Retaliatory Punishment" was published with James MacGlashan, Michael Littman, and Fiery Cushman in the Proceedings of the National Academy ...
Listen to Episode

Reactivation of Earthquakes – Folarin Kolawole

In this episode we talk with Folarin Kolawole from the University of Oklahoma about his research into how the reactivation of faults can lead to earthquakes in places where they've never before occurred in recorded history. His open-access article "Aeromagnetic, gravity, and Differential Interferometric Synthetic Aperture Radar analyses reveal the causative fault of the 3 April 2017 Mw 6.5 Moiyabana, Botswana, earthquake" with was published with seven other researchers in ...
Listen to Episode

Hosts / Producers

Doug Leigh

How to Cite

Leigh, D.. (2017, December 26). Parsing Science: Best of 2017 Special. figshare. https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.6229379

Music

What’s The Angle? by Shane Ivers