Carry the One Radio: The Science Podcast

Consciousness, ecstasy, tentacles…. Dr. David Scheel tells all in our new episode about octopuses! We take a dive into the scientific research on these fascinating creatures, and what they can tell us about the oceans and ourselves. This episode was produced by Julianne Riggs, Cindy Liu and Marilyn Steyert. You can find the pdf of this transcript on carrytheoneradio.com.

The fundamental task of our immune systems is to recognize foreign objects in our bodies and destroy them. But what happens when there’s an object inside you that’s half foreign and half you? What happens when you’re carrying a fetus? We were all once fetuses and we all made it past our mother’s immune systems and into this world. How that all works has puzzled scientists for decades. So much so t...

In the epic battle against scientific fraud, a courageous assembly of researchers stood united and rebelled against the dark forces of data manipulation and fabrication. Armed with powerful forensic and statistical tools, these heroes sought to vanquish all that is deceitful and guide the scientific community back to the path of righteousness.  In the second installment of our two-part series: Sci...

Carry the One Radio alum and recent UCSF Neuroscience graduate Dr. Anna Lipkin is on the other side of the mic to talk about how overlooking tiny aspects of the neuron lead to surprising gaps in what we know about the cells that make up our body.

A long time ago in a galaxy far, far away... diligent scientists on Earth dedicated their lives to making groundbreaking discoveries, aiming to forge a brighter future for humanity. However, amidst this noble pursuit, a sinister presence emerges. Some scientists succumbed to the temptations of scientific fraud and turned to the dark of data manipulation and fabrication. Join us in the first instal...

What can you learn from old bones? A lot more than you think! In this episode, we learn how ancient remains can tell new stories about the societies they come from. Bioarcheologists Ben Schaeffer, Trent Trombley and Jordi Rivera Prince explain how they use remains from all over the world to uncover the lives of people overlooked or misunderstood by history. This episode was produced by Maggie Colt...

Climate change is here-- are we prepared? In this episode, three experts tackle the question of how best to armor ourselves against the changing tides of climate change. Should we genetically modify a species to make it more resistant to rising temperatures? Should we uproot plants threatened by soaring sea levels, or build a frozen zoo of coral sperm for future generations to resurrect? Join us a...

It’s springtime in California, which means wondering how early this year’s wildfire season will start. Should we be buying air purifiers and more masks? If you’re not in California, should you even pay attention to these stories? Immunologist Dr. Mary Prunicki says you absolutely should care, no matter where you live, and that air purifiers are, unfortunately, barely a band-aid solution to the smo...

BE-STEM and Carry The One Radio teamed up this February to create a series dedicated to honoring Black scientists at UCSF! Follow Maggie Colton and Sydney Williams as they interview Black faculty and graduate students to shed light on their research, their motivations to pursue graduate school, and their personal journeys through higher education. Tune in to hear these insightful stories and open...

For the third episode of our Black Excellence in STEM mini-series, and our final faculty interview, we’re bringing you an interview with Dr. Catera Wilder. Dr. Wilder studies how lung cells communicate with the immune system and explains to us how she uses mathematical models to inform real-world experiments and vice-versa. She also answers the age-old question: does it ever get easier to explain...

For the second episode of our Black Excellence in STEM mini-series, we are bringing you an interview with Dr. Sara Suliman. She is an assistant professor at UCSF studying trying to find biomarkers for people infected with tuberculosis that will predict how severe their disease becomes. She shares with us her experience living all over the world and overcoming adversity early in her research career...

We’re kicking off Black History Month a little early this year with the first episode of our Black Excellence in STEM mini-series, a collaboration with BE-STEM at UCSF. Tune in for an interview with Dr. Akinyemi Oni-Orisam about how he’s working to improve cardiovascular care (and you may just get a few music recommendations too!)

A geneticist makes a DNA-shaped lollipop. Then helix (he licks) it. The iconic structure of DNA was first discovered by Rosaland Franklin using X-ray crystallography. Dr. Arun Richard Chandrasekaran, a researcher at the RNA institute in Albany, takes it a step further and folds these DNA molecules into complex structures using a technique called DNA origami. His DNA contraptions come in all shapes...

Eva Danielson has loved science since she was a kid, and now she is instilling a passion for science in the next generation of young learners. In this Young Scientist Spotlight, we sit down with this graduate student and children’s book author(not to mention former pastry chef!) to talk about her tuberculosis research and her path from business major to nanny to scientist. Learn how vaccines annot...

Australia’s battle against the invasion of cane toads goes all the way back to 1935 when they were initially introduced to fight cane beetle infestation. In a few decades’ time, cane toads have become a big bully and taken over the top spot in the local ecosystem. In this episode, Dr. Roshmi Sarma, an ecologist from UNSW, shares her research on these invasive cane toads. She talks about how these...

What happens when offshore oil and gas structures stop operating? PhD candidate Amy MacIntosh tells us about the impacts and risks of operating and closing these structures to marine life, the environment, and to humans, and teaches us why radioactivity isn’t as scary as you think it is. 

What happens when you bring together a marine mammal veterinarian and a stem cell researcher? You save a life! More specifically, Cronutt’s - a sea lion diagnosed with epilepsy, but who just happened to be at the right place at the right time.  Epilepsy is a chronic brain disorder characterized by excessive and abnormal seizures, and while there are existing medications that can help manage these...

You might know that it takes a very, very, very long time to develop new drugs, but it seems like there are new treatments for COVID-19 all the time…how is that possible? It’s all thanks to the exciting field of drug repurposing! What is that, you ask? Well, it might sound self-explanatory, but, like most things in life, there’s more to it. Listen to our latest episode and learn from the experts,...

Fossils of ancient viruses are living inside us, and they may reveal important clues about how we became who we are today. In this Young Scientist Spotlight, PhD candidate Emma Harding tells us about her research studying viral fossils in marsupials, and why she suspects these chunks of ancient DNA are sticking around for a reason. She also talks about what it’s like working in a brand-new field,...

We, like many animals, live in groups. We need these groups to survive -- but why? What are the benefits of group living? What do we gain from each other? What quirks of evolution drove us to band together, form collectives, and solve problems together? In this episode, we’re joined by collective behavior researchers Iain Couzin and Naomi Leonard, who study networks, teamwork, and interactions bet...

When you think about the future of medicine, do you picture cure-all pills? Instant diagnostics from a drop of blood? What about going back to the basics with plant-based treatments with a side of spiritual healing? In this episode, we sat down with scientist and social entrepreneur Dr. Victoria Hale, co-founder of an ayahuasca tea company called Sacred Medicines. Listen to our conversation about...

What do cancer cells and t-shirts have in common? You might be surprised! In this Young Scientist Spotlight, Dr Danielle Twum explains how she uses her communication skills and expertise to help doctors and researchers improve the way they treat cancer. In addition to working in industry, Dr Twum also works with AAAS IF/THEN to teach young students about being a scientist. We talk about her transi...

The earth can’t wait, and it’s imperative that we are climate aware and are moved to action to maintain it. In this episode covering sustainability and climate change, we talk to Dr. Sheri Weiser, a physician-scientist at UCSF with a long history of researching food insecurity and climate justice. Dr. Weiser has been a Principal Investigator on over 25 research grants and has published over 165 ma...

Before this episode, if someone asked me what could be done to improve maternal and newborn health outcomes, one of the last things on my mind would have been “kindness” because that part should be obvious, right? Wrong. In this episode, we speak with Dr. Afulani and Dr. Walker, two faculty members in the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology and affiliates with the Institute of Global Health Sc...

Contact tracing is a term that almost all of us are familiar with, but what exactly does it entail? As part of a collaboration with the Institute of Global Health Sciences (IGHS) at UCSF, we spoke to three contact tracing experts in San Francisco. From our conversations with librarian and manager at the Excelsior Branch Public Library Ramses Escobado, deputy director of the Center for Global Healt...