Wild Connection

Shifting Seas with Lela Schlenker

March is Women’s History Month, at least in the United States so I am continuing to feature women scientists on the podcast all month. I thought I would start off with a little history about women in Stem. We women have a way of persisting and despite continuing to face barriers to professional advancement, we just will not stop. What lengths have we gone to? Like Rosalind, of Shakepeare’s As You Like It, who disguised herself  as a young man in an effort to travel through the forest without fear of harm, Women have altered their appearance and behavior throughout history to succeed in STEM fields dominated by men. While some, like  military surgeon James Barry, whose real name was Margaret Ann Bulkley, went to  extraordinary measures that lasted a lifetime, others like Jeanne Baret disguised herself as a  man to get onboard a scientific expedition well before Darwin ever set foot on the Beagle. It  would take until 1959 before women, presented as women, were even permitted on scientific  expeditions. Fast forward to today when my guest Dr. Lela Schlenker spends most of her time asking if she can come aboard a commercial fishing boat. 

Dr. Lela Schlenker is a marine scientist with a fascinating background. She is currently a Visiting Assistant Professor at the Williams Mystic Program. This is a really special program run by Williams College in collaboration with Mystic seaport. This is an important program to Dr. Lela Schlenker and you’ll find out why in the episode.

You can keep up with Dr. Lela Schlenker on her website 

lelaschlenker.com

and on Twitter @LelaSchlenker

To follow us on social media visit @wildconnectpod  and @realDrJen for Twitter & @RealDrJen  and www.jenniferverdolin.com for more. Love the show or simply enjoyed this episode? Give us a like and share so others can find us too. 

Community Led Conservation with Samantha Farquhar

This week’s guest is Samantha Farquhar. She is a dynamic interdisciplinary researcher with a focus on coastal systems in the Integrated Coastal Science Program at East Carolina University working on her doctorate. I got to talk to her about her past and present work and the importance of community led conservation initiatives. 

Here are links to some of Samantha's work that we cover on the podcast

https://www.unh.edu/unhtoday/2021/12/industrial-fishing-distant-waters

Nepal Aquaculture

Madagascar Octopus Project

In this episode we are also celebrating International Day of Women and Girls in Science which was on February 11th. 

To follow us on social media visit @wildconnectpod  and @realDrJen for Twitter & @RealDrJen  and www.jenniferverdolin.com for more. Love the show or simply enjoyed this episode? Give us a like and share so others can find us too. 

In the Bone Room With Dr. Ann Ross

In another life I would have been a forensic anthropologist. I devoured books by Iris Johanson and her main character forensic specialist Eve Duncan. The truth is I like to solve puzzles and becoming a police detective or forensic anthropologist was high on my list. I still love crime/mystery novels and as you’ll here, who knows maybe there is a career change in my future. It is this love of forensics and solving of mysteries that drove this week’s guest to become a Forensic anthropologist. Dr. Ann Ross. She is a Professor at NC State University and works with the NC Medical Examiner to identify human remains and shed light on what happened to someone’s bones. 

She is a Professor at NC State University and works with the NC Medical Examiner to identify human remains and shed light on what happened to someone’s bones. 

Dr. Ann Ross' Lab: https://sites.google.com/ncsu.edu/forensicanthropology/

An article featuring Dr. Ross: https://raleighmag.com/2016/10/the-bone-doctor/

To follow us on social media visit @wildconnectpod  and @realDrJen for Twitter & @RealDrJen  and www.jenniferverdolin.com for more. Love the show or simply enjoyed this episode? Give us a like and share so others can find us too. 

Participating in Science with Dr. Caren Cooper

Today’s episode is part of the special WIS series. You may have heard me talking about this on other episodes and that is because I got a small grant from the AGU’s Sharing Science program to highlight some incredible women scientists.

This week it's all about what does it mean to get involved with science for the layperson or nonexpert. What does it look like, why is it important, and what are the contributions that people make to science?  

My guest is Dr. Caren Cooper. She’s part of NCSU’s Leadership in Public Science Program and the Fish and Wildlife Conservation Biology Program. She is passionate about the social side of science, getting people involved in a variety of ways, and looking at what it means for laypersons to participate in science. She’s also an ornithologist and outstanding mentor to the next generation of scientists.

You can keep up with Dr. Cooper on Twitter: @CoopSciScoop

and visit her website for more links to other parts of her work: https://www.carencooper.com

And don't forget to check out her TED TALK: Everybody Counts

To follow us on social media visit @wildconnectpod  and @realDrJen for Twitter & @RealDrJen  and www.jenniferverdolin.com for more. Love the show or simply enjoyed this episode? Give us a like and share so others can find us too. 

The Joy of Sweat with Sarah Everts

This week’s episode is all about sweat, smelling it, hiding it, and people whose job it is to decide what the nature of yours is like. Never let them see you sweat right? Not this week. And before I forget, this is the second in our special WIS series sponsored by the American Geophysical Union’s Sharing Science grant.  

Sarah Everts is the author of The Joy of Sweat: The Strange Science of Perspiration and she is also a science journalism professor and chair of digital science journalism at Carleton University in Ottawa.

To keep up with Sarah you can follow her @saraheverts on Twitter and check out her website http://saraheverts.com

To follow us on social media visit @wildconnectpod  and @realDrJen for Twitter & @RealDrJen for Instagram and www.jenniferverdolin.com for more. Love the show or simply enjoyed this episode? Give us a like and share so others can find us too. 

Into Space with Dr.Katie Mack

 It is post holiday and before New Years and this episode starts the launch of a special Women in Science Series. I want to acknowledge the sponsor of this series, the American Geophysical Union. Wild Connection was the recipient of their Sharing Science grant and I couldn’t be more thrilled.

The James Webb  infrared  telescope successfully launched this week. You might be wondering why this is a big deal. It’s a big deal because this powerful, well the most powerful, telescope ever built will let astronomers and astrophysicists like my guest, Dr. Katie Mack looks deep into the history of galaxies far far away.because of light years and all that, what we see is the past when we look in the present. This telescope will give scientists and us the chance to see far far back into time and cosmic history. It is expected to peer so far back that it will catch a glimpse of galaxies that were formed over 13 billion years ago. It’s going to take a while to start receiving images but when I recorded this podcast Dr. Katie Mack was simply hoping the launch would be a success. 

Dr. Katie Mack is an astrophysicist at North Carolina State University and she is also the Author of The End of Everything (Astrophysically Speaking).

To keep up with Katie you can follow her @AstroKatie on Twitter and check out her website https://www.astrokatie.com

To follow us on social media visit @wildconnectpod  and @realDrJen for Twitter & @RealDrJen for Instagram and www.jenniferverdolin.com for more. Love the show or simply enjoyed this episode? Give us a like and share so others can find us too. 

 

Animal Magnetism with Dr. Andres Vidal-Gadea

This episode is a fun one for me because, well, I have ummm navigational difficulties. I should be more precise. I can navigate perfectly well in exactly the opposite direction I should be going. That means if I was a snow goose that was supposed to end up on Pea Island from Alaska I would end up somewhere near the Philippines instead. I have what I call directional dyslexia and I found out that I am not the only one. Dr. Andres Vidal-Gadea is an Associate Professor of Molecular Neuroethology at Illinois State University studying the molecular and cellular basis of behavior. His research is making waves, electromagnetic waves that is.

To keep up with Dr. Andres Vidal-Gadea you can visit his lab and follow his lab on Facebook

To follow us on social media visit @wildconnectpod  and @realDrJen for Twitter & @RealDrJen for Instagram and www.jenniferverdolin.com for more. Love the show or simply enjoyed this episode? Give us a like and share so others can find us too. 

 

The Water Tree Way with Ruth Mendelson

My guest this week is composer, instrumentalist, producer, arranger, editor, and author Ruth Mendelson. She has written award-winning scores for film and television. She teaches at the Berklee College of music and she has written a fantastical, multi-dimensional, treasure hunt fairy tale for children of all ages called The Water Tree Way that will positively alter your trajectory through the world, pointing you towards joy, success and love.

We talk about her book, relationships, and how to find joy. To follow Ruth and get your copy of The Water Tree Way you can visit her website. 

You can also follow her on Twitter and Instagram

To follow us on social media visit @wildconnectpod  and @realDrJen for Twitter & @RealDrJen for Instagram and www.jenniferverdolin.com for more. Love the show or simply enjoyed this episode? Give us a like and share so others can find us too. 

Wild Connection is devoted to helping you live a better life by reconnecting with nature through conversations with scientists, filmmakers, authors, and conservationists around the world. We talk about all things wildlife, nature, science, and conservation. 

Eco-Distress and Social Prescribing with Dr. Katherine Kennet

This week we are continuing the conversation around some of the issues that came up and din't come up at COP26. My guest is Dr. Katherine Kennet, a child and adolescent psychiatrist and is who is also the social prescribing lead at the Royal College of Psychiatrists

Her and I talk about the psychological traumas associated with climate disasters and what we can expect in the future. We also chatted about what the UK is doing to pay attention to mental well-being, including social prescribing. To learn more about the position the Royal College of Psychiatrists is taking with respect to responding to climate change you can read more about that here. 

If you'd like to learn more about social prescribing, you can read more about it here. 

You can also keep up with Dr Kennet on Twitter @katherinekennet

To follow us on social media visit @wildconnectpod  and @realDrJen for Twitter & @RealDrJen for Instagram and www.jenniferverdolin.com for more. Love the show or simply enjoyed this episode? Give us a like and share so others can find us too. 

Wild Connection is devoted to helping you live a better life by reconnecting with nature through conversations with scientists, filmmakers, authors, and conservationists around the world. We talk about all things wildlife, nature, science, and conservation. 

 

Nature, Beauty, and Conservation with John de Graaf

Back from Glasgow after attending COP26. It was intense which is why I am devoting 2 weeks to talk about some of the things that came out of it. I also made a few key observations while there and one of them was that Glasgow needs to clean up it's act. Literally. Pick up your trash. 

My guest, filmmaker, community organizer and author John de Graaf and I talk about a few more things people can and should do. He’s been a passionate advocate for the environment, written books and made films like Affluenza that highlight how its our insatiable consumption that is destroying the planet and ourselves. 

We also talk about his latest film, a biopic on the late Stewart Udall. If you haven’t heard of Udall, he was many things, including a politician with guts who stood up for Indigenous communities, racial and social justice, and the environment. He paid for that commitment by never getting elected to office in his home state of Arizona ever again. The truth is we need more politicians with the guts to stand up for the issues he stood for and we need people smart enough to vote them into office. 

If you'd like to keep up to date with John you can follow him @JohndeGraaf on Twitter and check out his website for more on his books, films, and organizations:

https://www.johndegraaf.com

To support the film visit http://stewartudallfilm.org

To follow us on social media visit @wildconnectpod  and @realDrJen for Twitter & @RealDrJen for Instagram and www.jenniferverdolin.com for more. Love the show or simply enjoyed this episode? Give us a like and share so others can find us too. 

Wild Connection is devoted to helping you live a better life by reconnecting with nature through conversations with scientists, filmmakers, authors, and conservationists around the world. We talk about all things wildlife, nature, science, and conservation.