Here We Are

Shane talks about bees with Arizona Research Conservation Scientist, Kim Franklin. Where does the Honey Bee rank among the 20,000+ species of bees. How do honey bees compete with Native North American bees and why are they important to agriculture.   Learn more about Kim's work  http://www.desertmuseum.org https://www.tucsonbeecollaborative.com/   Laugh, Read, Learn, and/or Support: Check out my n...

Shane reunites with musician, artist, writer, and host of Future Fossils Podcast, Michael Garfield. They discuss the difficulty of scientific communication and understanding data to make accurate predictions.  Laugh, Read, Learn, and/or Support: Check out my new comedy web series Quarantine Couple ! https://www.quarantinecouple.net Hunker down with an audiobook and support your local bookstore wit...

Shane talks about the evolving world of online education with seasoned learning designer, instructor, researcher, and trainer, Laura Pasquini. How will the future of learning change in the wake of a pandemic?   Laugh, Read, Learn, and/or Support: Check out my new comedy web series Quarantine Couple ! https://www.quarantinecouple.net  Hunker down with an audiobook and support your local bookstore w...

Shane talks about perception and threat with Assistant Professor of Cognitive and Information Sciences at The University of California, Merced, Colin Holbrook. What other factors, besides size and strength, can impact our perception of threat.  Laugh, Read, Learn, and/or Support: Check out my new comedy web series Quarantine Couple! https://www.quarantinecouple.net Hunker down with an audiobook an...

Shane talks about bats with Associate Professor of Biology at Southern New Hampshire, Katharine York. Was White Nose disease brought to the United States by a modern-day caveman and should we be alarmed about the spread of this disease? Laugh, Read, Learn, and/or Support: Check out my new comedy web series Quarantine Couple! https://www.quarantinecouple.net Hunker down with an audiobook and suppor...

Shane talks Forestry, the environment, diversity and change with the Assistant Dean of Community and Inclusion at The Yale School of Forestry & Environmental Studies,Thomas Easley. Thomas shares with Shane his path into Forestry Science and how he brought his outdoorsman skills to the city. What is "Hip Hop Forestry?" Has this quarantine time made us step back, slow down and rethink what we may ha...

Shane finds out what life is like living in a Biosphere for 2 years. In this episode, he talks with Dr. Mark Nelson, who is a founding director of the Institute of Ecotechnics. Mark has also worked for several decades in closed ecological system research, ecological engineering, the restoration of damaged ecosystems, desert agriculture and orchardry and wastewater recycling. He is Chairman and CEO...

Kristina Durante research lies at the intersection of social psychology, evolutionary biology, and consumer decision-making. Kristina’s research program focuses on how our evolved biology (ancestral ecology and internal physiological systems) and our modern social environment interact to influence behavior. Kristina Durante https://kristinadurante.com is an associate professor of marketing at Rutg...

Shane talks with Professor of Psychology and University of Tennessee Knoxville, Garriy Shteynberg. Garriy explains that human beings communicate by establishing a collective perspective via referencing common knowledge. How has this collective perspective changed during this global pandemic and how might it change how we communicate in a Post-Corona Virus world. Check out my new comedy web series...

Shane talks with Professor Shawn Green about the concerns and benefits of playing video games during a pandemic and how they can fill voids and give people a sense of autonomy and control.  Laugh, Read, Learn, and/or Support:   Check out my new comedy web series Quarantine Couple ! Hunker down with an audiobook and support your local bookstore with my longtime partner Libro.fm. They're the first a...

How has pressing pause on humanity given us a new look at climate change?  Is this a fire drill for worse things to come? Is this a chance to help our ecosystem or a threat to the regulations protecting it? Who thought of this idea of the carbon footprint in the first place?  What would create a bigger impact, change at an individual level or at a policy level?     Admittedly, I don’t talk about c...

Raj Sivaraman is a comedian with a PHD in virology. He joins the show to talk about living in NYC right now, comedy, and virology. Join us as we reminisce about the old days when we were all worried about herpes. Nothing like a pandemic to make one reprioritize. Sorry herpes! We overreacted. Check out Raj's work here https://rajsivaraman.wordpress.com Check out my new comedy web series Quarantine...

Return guests Selin Malkoc & Joe Goodman are my favorite couple in science.  Every couple has disagreements, but these two marketing professors put their disagreements to the test for the good of us all.  In the past we have discussed topics like how to make the most of your vacation and when selfies do and don’t help wellbeing.  I check back in to talk about what their research says about quarant...

Sleep researcher Zlatan Krizan shares his thoughts on how the quarantine is impacting people’s sleep.  What might happen if more people stop using alarm clocks?   Let’s learn about sleep's impact on the immune system and what we can do to improve both.   Dr. Križan is a Professor of Psychology at Iowa State University and an affiliate of the Center for Study of Violence. He directs the Sleep, Self...

Shane finishes his conversation with Author, Podcaster, and Professor, Peter McGraw. They share open mic stories and strategies that apply to their experiences in the comedy world and the entertainment industry. What is "success?"  Buy Peter's book "Shtick To Business" here. Read, Learn, and Support The Show: All support on Patreon goes to my team: https://www.patreon.com/shanemauss  I have an ove...

Schtick + Business Part 2 Shane finishes his conversation with Author, Podcaster, and Professor, Peter McGraw. They share open mic stories and strategies that apply to their experiences in the comedy world and the entertainment industry. What is "success?"  Buy Peter's book "Schtick To Business" here. Read, Learn, and Support The Show: All support on Patreon goes to my team: https://www.patreon.co...

Nidhi Agrawal is a marketing superhero using her powers for the good of public health.  Why don't we think bad things can happen to us? Why do we assume that when bad things happen to others, it's their fault? Can we guilt someone into making the right choices? When might that work? When might it backfire?  Nidhi Agrawal is a Professor of Marketing at the Foster School of Business at The Universit...

Emotions researcher Jeff Larsen returns to the show to explain exponential growth and how exponential growth distinguishes the threat of a pandemic like the Corona Virus up against the threat of the flu. Even more importantly, we exam the importance and difficulty of cognitive reflection. We also explore a mix of emotions. Jeff is a Professor of Psychology at The University of Tennessee Knoxville...

This feels like one of the most important podcasts I have ever done. Nina Fefferman has spent a career working on mathematical models of pandemics. I cannot express how reassuring it is to have a mind like this working to help us all. Nina's ability to communicate such complex topics in a way that a child could understand makes this a MUST LISTEN episode.  Please share this information with anyone...

In a time of hoarding, Caroline Roux is one of the precious few experts on scarcity. We talk about why people hoard, and what happens when everyone takes a little more than they need. If you don't leave enough hand sanitizer for your neighbor, you endanger yourself and everyone else. We also get some related marketing tips for your business and more importantly, I find out how I can dupe more peop...

Kari Nixon is a disease loving, well-read oddball with a contagious interest in contagion and a wonderful sense of humor. She also has some pretty amazing timing on the release of her first book “Kept from All Contagion:” Germ Theory, Disease, and the Dilemma of Human Contact.  We discuss diseases through history, what literature, and how they have appeared in pop culture in the past. We talk abou...

Return guest Athena Aktipis is an author, professor and podcaster. She is also the chair of the (wait for it...) Zombie Apocalypse Medicine Meeting (ZAMM) an interdisciplinary conference where art, science and medicine come together with the aim of solving complex issues. Yup. You read that right.  Sure she does a bunch of more sciencey sounding things too, but who more fitting at a time like this...

Jennifer Verdolin joins me as I apologize for not heeding her early prophetic warning and ask her to take a whack at how long we will have to be physical distancing.  It's a charming, fun, and educational conversation about how animals deal with illness, responsible pet care during a pandemic, and why cues of scarcity are making us buy 80 year supplies of toilet paper. Website: jenniferverdolin.co...

Tired of the same news on a loop? On these special episodes, we discuss unique pandemic related scientific perspectives. On this episode, authors of the book 'Objection: Disgust, Morality, and the Law' discuss how evolution shaped our disgust system. We expand on how this disgust systems which was originally adapted for other tasks has influenced our moral judgements, societies, and laws. How can...

Shane talks about cognitive psychology, teaching and learning with Assistant Professor of Psychology at Rhode Island College, Megan Sumeracki.  Charity Of The Week: Planned Parenthood http://www.plannedparenthood.org/ Check out here Learning Science Podcast HERE The Great Courses www.thegreatcoursesplus.com/hereweare  Libro.fm is the first audiobook company to make it possible for you to buy audio...