In Plain English: Science Made Simple

Green energy technologies like solar and wind have been improving for decades. So why aren't we closer to replacing our fossil fuels with clean energy? One major bottleneck is energy storage: being able to store energy when you make more than what you need, and discharge it when demand exceeds supply. Join expert Maria Bruce and guest Ezra House to learn about building-sized batteries and othe...

Now more than ever, academic unions are critical for supporting workers, creating a strong and sustainable institution, and defending research from political attacks. Join Eileen Schaub, Jacob Walker, and Carla Villanueva to learn about the role of academic unions and how you can form or support a union at your institution. Tell your representatives to protect research funding: https://5calls.org/...

What does your brain have in common with water, earthquakes, and maybe even society itself? Join expert Leandro Fosque and guests Alejandro Gonzales and Peter Thatcher to learn about the theory of criticality, an idea from physics that could help explain how the brain is able to take in so much information, why we need sleep, and what goes wrong when someone has epilepsy or dementia. Want to be a...

In this episode, In Plain English joins the discourse on the All of Us Genomics project and their use of UMAP, an algorithm that reduces complex data to 2 dimensions. Join guests Konrad Kording, William Lima, and Jake Walker to learn why this mathematical model made such a splash on Twitter, and how scientists can analyze and communicate large data sets more rigorously. See how UMAP works on rando...

In this special episode, my friend Dr. Sharon Abada shares the story of her grandfather, Dr. Marshall Klaus, and how he helped discover a lifesaving treatment for premature infants called surfactant. This story weaves together family, scientific curiosity, failure, and collaboration to tell the story of a treatment that has saved countless lives. You can read Dr. Klaus's paper on the website: http...

Do police disproportionately target Black drivers for traffic stops? This is an important question to ask, but actually answering it poses a surprisingly difficult problem. Join expert Luke Brinkman and guests Sofia Angulo Lopera and Grace Moore to discuss a paper that proposes one way to answer this tricky question. Read the paper here: https://inplainenglishpod.org/2024/10/08/season-4-episode-1-...

Earlier this summer, I participated in a science communication program in combination with the ⁠Pain Research Forum⁠ and the ⁠North American Pain School⁠ . As part of this program, I had the honor of interviewing  ⁠Jessica Merlin⁠  – a clinical pain researcher focusing on the intersection of chronic pain and opioid misuse/use disorder across populations and settings. During their wide-ranging conv...

Science can be found everywhere, even in your favorite board games, books, and video games! In this fun-filled episode of In Plain English , I sat down with James Reed of Science Night , Maura Lydon of Her Dark Ministrations , and Max Wolslegel to discuss the science concepts embedded in our favorite nerdy hobbies! Want to be on the podcast? We are looking for both expert and layperson guests for...

In April 2024, I attended the conference for the United States Association for the Study of Pain (USASP) in Seattle, Washington. This episode is the sixth in a series of interviews I conducted there, and features research on endogenous opioids - opioids that your brain makes - and the connection between pain and alcohol use disorder. View the posters here: https://inplainenglishpod.org/2024/07/16/...

Scientific rigor is an incredibly important topic...but what does rigor actually mean? And how can we create communities where rigor is the norm? Join Konrad Kording, Kaela Singleton, Arjun Raj, and me for the first ever In Plain English live show, where we discuss these issues and more! Kaela Singleton is a Black, Samoan, Queer neuroscientist who founded the nonprofit Black in Neuro and directs t...

In April 2024, I attended the conference for the United States Association for the Study of Pain (USASP) in Seattle, Washington. This episode is the fifth in a series of interviews I conducted there, and features novel animal models for studying back pain, innovative research into diabetic nerve pain using human tissue, and early studies into the link between facial pain and nervous system dysregu...

In April 2024, I attended the conference for the United States Association for the Study of Pain (USASP) in Seattle, Washington. This episode is the fourth in a series of interviews I conducted there, and features research on the role of gene regulation in chronic pain, the intersection of HIV, sleep, and pain, and rates of opioid use disorder treatment among veterans. Link to RSVP to the In Plain...

In autoimmune disease, your own immune system turns against you. But advances in immunology research reveal a promising new kind of treatment: targeting rogue immune cells with...other immune cells! In this episode, expert Clarice Pavlak and guests Johari Hunt and Andrew Holder discuss how this treatment, called CAR-T cells, works, the wide range of diseases it could treat, and the benefits and dr...

In April 2024, I attended the conference for the United States Association for the Study of Pain (USASP) in Seattle, Washington. This episode is the third in a series of interviews I conducted there, and features research on Complex Regional Pain Syndrome, understanding arthritis using an "organ-on-a-chip", and how autoimmune diseases cause chronic pain. See the posters here: inplainengl...

In April 2024, I attended the conference for the United States Association for the Study of Pain (USASP) in Seattle, Washington. This episode is the second in a series of interviews I conducted there, and features research on pain and sleep disturbances, muscle pain in Long COVID, and chronic pelvic pain. Interview 1: Ashley Bocanegra, a graduate student at Indiana University, on the relationship...

In April 2024, I attended the conference for the United States Association for the Study of Pain (USASP) in Seattle, Washington. This episode is the first in a series of interviews I conducted there, and features research on the role of skin cells in sickle cell and nerve pain, as well as risk and resilience factors that could contribute to prescription opioid misuse. See the posters here: https:/...

Math is everywhere, even in places you didn't expect to find it. Join expert Will Lima and guests Parker Craft and Nick Wolslegel as we go down the rabbit hole of one of the most complex areas of mathematics: category theory. Find the book on the website: https://inplainenglishpod.org/2024/04/02/season-3-episode-15-math-down-the-rabbit-hole/ In Plain English now has a Discord server! Join  ⁠⁠h...

Opioid drugs, like morphine or fentanyl, can cause death by stopping the brain from telling the body to breathe. But is the effect of opioids on breathing that straightforward? And how can a better understanding of the breathing centers of the brain help treat opioid overdoses? Join expert Nick Burgraff and guests James Reed and Gabi Sullens to learn more about the complex relationship between opi...

In this set of interviews from the Society for Neuroscience 2023 conference, we cover a technology to help researchers study the behavioral and emotional aspects of pain, new research into treatments for ALS, and possibilities for early detection of glaucoma. This is the ninth and final episode in a multi-part series called "SfN Shorts" that features these brief (5-10 minute) discussions...

In this set of interviews from the Society for Neuroscience 2023 conference, we cover how your state of mind affects learning and memory, how COVID-19 infection during pregnancy affects the health of both parent and child, and how a treatment for trigeminal neuralgia causes measurable changes in the brain. This is the sixth in a multi-part series called "SfN Shorts" that features these b...

In this set of interviews from the Society for Neuroscience 2023 conference, we cover how sex differences and pain affect opioid use disorder, and the brain regions involved in social interactions. This is the sixth in a multi-part series called "SfN Shorts" that features these brief (5-10 minute) discussions. Check out Parts ⁠⁠1⁠⁠ , ⁠⁠2⁠⁠ , ⁠⁠3⁠⁠ , ⁠4⁠ , 5 , and 6 as well as " ⁠⁠Ri...

Is degrowth a viable solution for climate change, or is the cure worse than the disease? Join expert Alejandro Gonzalez and guests William Lima and Evelyn Fraser for a critical discussion on the potential and pitfalls of degrowth. You can follow along with the articles on the website: https://inplainenglishpod.org/2024/02/06/season-3-episode-10-interrogating-degrowth/ You can find more of Alejandr...

In this set of interviews from the Society for Neuroscience 2023 conference, we cover deep brain stimulation for Parkinson's disease patients, how music therapy can help people with Alzheimers, and how opioids affect sleep and memory. Follow along with the posters here: https://inplainenglishpod.org/2024/01/30/season-3-episode-9-sfn-shorts-part-6/ This is the sixth in a multi-part series calle...

In this set of interviews from the Society for Neuroscience 2023 conference, we cover how opioids affect breathing and how we can use asthma medication to improve overdose reversal; a promising new treatment for one of the symptoms of spinal cord injury; and how our brains coordinate movements differently after a stroke. This is the fifth in a multi-part series called "SfN Shorts" that f...

Last November, I attended the Society for Neuroscience conference in Washington, DC and interviewed neuroscientists from across the world about their research. This is the third in a multi-part series called "SfN Shorts" that features these brief (5-10 minute) discussions. Check out Parts 1 , 2 , and 3 , as well as " Rigor Jeopardy !" with Community for Rigor. I hope that these...