The Story Collider

This week, we're presenting stories about what happens when our own brains keep us from being fully ourselves. Part 1: When storyteller Sandi Marx begins to develop cognitive symptoms of lupus, she worries she'll lose the aspects of her personality that she values most. Part 2: Chemist Toria Stafford's untreated mental illness starts to overwhelm both her science and her personal life. Sandi Marx...

his week, we're presenting stories about the struggle to find friends. Science can be a lonely job -- but it can also connect us to others in ways we'd never imagine. Part 1: Feeling isolated in her new job as a particle accelerator operator at Fermilab, Cindy Joe finds comfort in the friendship of her unconventional pet. Part 2: Patrick Honner starts to doubt his lifelong love of math when gradua...

This week, we're presenting stories about surprising revelations or events in science. Part 1: When he receives a call from the vet, writer Matthew Dicks is startled to learn that his dog is in surgery -- and that he agreed to it the night before. Part 2: After traveling to Madagascar for a conservation project, climatologist Simon Donner misses his ride to the field site, and must find his way th...

This week at The Story Collider, we're presenting two stories about confronting death. Part 1: Science communicator Anthony Morgan receives an invitation to be vacuum-sealed to the bottom of a helicopter -- for science! Part 2: As a medical student, Elorm Avakame befriends a patient who is dying from alcoholism. Anthony Morgan is the Creative Director of Science Everywhere!, an organisation devote...

This week, we're presenting two stories about the science behind dating, ranging from a neuroscientist's attempts to use brain scans and personality tests to determine her compatibility with a rapper to a comedian's mishaps with a "penis-numbing spray"! Part 1: Comedian Josh Gondelman is threatened with a lawsuit after he reviews a new sexual enhancement product. Part 2: Seemingly incompatible, ne...

This week, we're presenting two stories about responsibility in science. Whether we're working in a classroom or the White House, we all have some level of responsibility for others. And sometimes we have to ask ourselves -- are we doing enough to live up to those responsibilities? Both of our stories today explore this idea. Part 1: On her first day working in the White House under President Obam...

To close out Pride Month this week, we're sharing a special bonus episode featuring stories about coming out in science! Part 1:  Science educator Charlie Cook experiments with coming out to students. Charlie Cook is a non-binary stand up comedian by night and a non-binary science educator by day. Their favourite topics include queer theory, entomology, and outer space. For more information on the...

In this week's episode, we're presenting stories about venturing into unfamiliar territory, whether it's an isolated community in Alaska or the Costa Rican island of Chira. Part 1: Journalist Arielle Duhaime-Ross finds common ground with an Alaskan community struggling with the effects of climate change. Part 2: Costa Rican ecologist Marco Quesada sees a new side of his country when he travels to...

This week, we're celebrating Father's Day by sharing stories about complicated relationships with dads. Part 1: After her father, a well-known intellectual, passes away, neurobiology PhD student Eva Higginbotham tries to live up to his academic standards. Part 2: Storyteller Nisse Greenberg travels home to care for his father after a brain injury. Eva Higginbotham is a 3rd year PhD candidate on th...

This week we're sharing stories about love that stands the test of time, transcending illness, differences, and even death. In other words -- break out that box of tissues, y'all. Part 1: Writer Alison Smith reconnects with her estranged father after he develops Alzheimer's disease.  Part 2: Science journalist Peter Brannen mourns the loss of his mother while studying the earth’s biggest mass exti...

This week, we're presenting stories about coming of age. Bildungsroman, if you will. (Thank you, eleventh-grade Honors English!) These storytellers will share stories about growing up and finding their identities -- whether it's within their family, or within their own bodies. Part 1: Growing up, Moni Avello struggles to understand her younger sister, who has Asperger's syndrome. Part 2: For Morga...

This week, we take a journey into science-fiction to find out if aliens can master the science of empathy and zombies can bring a couple closer together. Part 1: Chase Masterson's role on Star Trek Deep Space 9 inspires her to think about how she can help others. Part 2: Bethany Van Delft and her fiance reckon with the zombie apocalypse. Chase Masterson is best known for her five-year breakout rol...

This week, we present two stories about being different, and the ways our differences can become our strengths. Part 1: Growing up, Amanda Gorman is determined to eliminate her speech impediment. Part 2: An aspiring scientist brought up in a family of artists, Elisa Schaum feels like a black sheep. Called the "next great figure of poetry in the US," 19-year-old Amanda Gorman is the first ever Yout...

This week, in honor of Mother's Day, we present two stories about science and moms!  Part 1: Marine biologist Jessica Hoey tries to keep her daughter’s belief in mermaids alive. Part 2:  Jamie Brickhouse begins to notice some startling changes in his mother's behavior. Jessica Hoey is the director of reef health reporting at the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority. The reef forms part of her...

This week, we’re presenting stories about identity, whether its an external sense of cultural identity or an internal sense of self. Part 1:  Mathematician and comic book writer Jason Rodriguez feels torn between separate cultural and professional identities. Part 2:  As a graduate student, Josh Silberg begins to question whether he's cut out for science. Jason Rodriguez is a writer, editor, educa...

This week, we’re presenting stories about overcoming obstacles and breaking down barriers -- whether those barriers are institutional or written into our genetic code. Part 1:  Aletha Maybank's childhood experiences with institutional racism inspire her work to combat structural barriers as a physician. Part 2:  Joselin Linder shares a unique and deadly genetic mutation with just fourteen other pe...

This week, we're presenting stories about scientific ambitions and dreams -- and the ways in which they meet reality. Part 1:  Planetary geologist Sara Mazrouei misses out on a dream opportunity -- because of where she was born. Part 2: Working in conservation, marine ecologist Madhavi Colton faces down despair as the challenges feel overwhelming. Sara Mazrouei is a PhD candidate in planetary geol...

This week, we present two stories about confronting threats -- whether it’s actual physical danger or a threat to your career. Part 1:  Climate scientist Kim Cobb is exploring a cave in Borneo when rocks begin to fall. Part 2:  Neurobiologist Lyl Tomlinson is startled when he's accused of stealing cocaine from his lab. Kim Cobb is a researcher who uses corals and cave stalagmites to probe the mech...

This week, we present two stories about communicating science, whether it's through journalism or over a fragile Skype connection. Part 1: Science journalist Judith Stone worries about causing conflict when she writes about cultural differences aboard the International Space Station. Part 2:  Nurse Anna Freeman is frustrated by the limits of technology when she attempts to advise a Syrian hospital...

This week, we present a story about fresh starts and new beginnings in science. Part 1:  Three years into a great faculty position, psychologist Amber Hewitt realizes her passion lies elsewhere. Amber A. Hewitt , Ph. D. received her doctoral degree in counseling psychology from Loyola University Chicago in 2013. She also received her undergraduate degree in biology from the University of Southern...

This week, in honor of Women's History Month, we're presenting two stories about women in science and the unique challenges they face. Follow us on Twitter @story_collider this week as we feature highlights of other stories from women in science from our back catalog. Part 1:  Alison Williams' blossoming passion for chemistry is sidetracked by a professor's thoughtless comment. Part 2:  Climate sc...

This week, we present two stories about science and wisdom passed down through generations. Part 1:  Ted Olds fears he’ll fail to graduate after his parents sacrificed to send him to engineering school. Part 2:  Kayla Glynn’s challenging relationship with her science-loving grandfather alters the course of her life. Ted Olds has a Mechanical Engineering degree, and worked as a Patent Examiner at t...

This week, in honor of Pi Day on March 14, we're presenting two stories from mathematicians. Part 1:  After a reluctant start, mathematician Ken Ono makes an unexpected discovery. Part 2:  Mathematician Piper Harron deals with harassment after standing up for diversity in math. Ken Ono is the Asa Griggs Candler Professor of Mathematics at Emory University. He is the Vice President of the American...

This week, we present two stories about original ideas and creative solutions in science -- from a Rube Goldberg machine to using hookworms to treat an illness. Part 1: In the ninth grade, Adam Ruben and his friends create a Rube Goldberg machine for a school project. Part 2:  Science writer Leah Shaffer discovers an interesting way to manage her chronic illness -- hookworms. Adam Ruben is a write...

This week, we present two stories about being torn between love of science and a love of art. Part 1:  Saad Sarwana tries to juggle careers in physics and comedy.  Part 2:  Jean Zarate is torn between science and music until a tragic event brings both into perspective. Saad Sarwana is a Pakistani-American Physicist and Geek.  His research is in superconducting electronics. He has over 40 peer revi...