Mildly Intellectual, Mostly Nonsense

This week, Manpreet walks through adopting a cat, Tess updates us on moving apartments, and the episode wraps with a round of Would You Rather: STEM edition . Equal parts life updates, science, and nonsense.

We hit double digits. In Episode 10, we celebrate with life updates, a new rose-thorn-bud segment, and some hosting stress. We discuss recent scientific progress around genetics and Down syndrome, ethics in science, and where progress meets uncomfortable questions. Still mildly intellectual. Still mostly nonsense. 🎉

Some life updates, then Tess breaks down the Summer House Season 10 reunion. Very unserious. Just nonsense.

This week we sat down for a round of Never Have I Ever - STEM edition. From rewriting perfectly reasonable emails to sound 'less intense,' to getting interrupted mid-explanation and just... letting it happen. Fingers are going down. We discuss spontaneous piercings, pilates classes, and the small things that actually make life good. This is Mildly Intellectual, Mostly Nonsense .

In this episode, we talk about life updates, weddings, tattoos, cats, and absolutely no outline. Somewhere between Martha Stewart lore and Coachella discourse, we end up talking about burnout, balance, and why everyone is so tired all the time. This is Mildly Intellectual, Mostly Nonsense .

In this episode we start with Artemis II and what it might feel like to see Earth from space, before drifting into paint and sip nights, 3 a.m. chicken tenders, and mild existential crises about academia. From there, things spiral into research life, causality skepticism, ChatGPT and LinkedIn cringe. A little science, a lot of nonsense.

After a few quiet weeks, we’re back with a catch-up episode. We talk about what we’ve been up to, why recording didn’t go as planned, Thanks for sticking with us — more nonsense soon.

A solo mini episode while Tess is away at a conference and our pre-recorded episodes… vanished. A quick update, a little reflection, a bit of molecular cloning, and zero peer review. Regular episodes return soon.

Tess is sick, Manpreet is deep in manuscript avoidance, and neither of us is emotionally prepared to be productive. We talk academic burnout, fake productivity, reality TV drama, bad audio feedback, and why tone is apparently a crime. This is Mildly Intellectual, Mostly Nonsense .

Tess recounts the chaos leading up to her PhD candidacy exam — from anxiety spirals and last-minute panic to passing with flying colours. We talk imposter syndrome, academia brain, AI study tools, workplace sexism, and the question: if money didn’t matter, would we still choose this life? This is Mildly Intellectual, Mostly Nonsense . Audio disclaimer: editing was attempted. Results unclear.

We named the podcast!!!! In this episode, we explain our jobs, and talk about what working in STEM actually looks like - failures, misconceptions, industry vs academia, and all the uncertainty in between. This is Mildly intellectual, Mostly nonsense .

We finally did it. No name, no script, no plan. In this episode, we introduce ourselves, talk about our very different paths into STEM, what it’s like being women in science. This is Mildly Intellectual, Mostly Nonsense .