The Story Collider

This week, we present two stories about dark moments in science. Part 1: Astrophysicist Jesse Shanahan tries to uncover the mysteries behind both the black holes she studies and her own chronic pain. Part 2: Comedian Sarah Pearl checks into a psychiatric hospital after having suicidal thoughts. Jesse Shanahan is a science writer and astrophysicist, currently serving as a Coordinating Committee mem...

This week, in honor of Valentine's Day, we're presenting two stories about heartbreak in science. Part 1:  Rattled by a recent heartbreak, neuroscientist Prabarna Ganguly makes a mistake in the lab. Part 2: Marine ecologist Kirsten Grorud-Colvert bonds with her diving buddy when they have an unexpected encounter with a hammerhead shark.  Prabarna Ganguly is one of the many Bostonian graduate stude...

This week, we're p​resenting stories about the ways we respond and recover to dire situations in science, whether it's cancer or sexual assault.​​​​​​ Part 1: Biochemist Melanie McConnell encounters unexpected resistance when she tests an experimental cancer treatment. Part 2:  Rape survivor Mo Culberson helps train doctors to treat other rape survivors. Melanie McConnell has a life-long interest...

This week, we bring you two stories about the science of morality. Or morality in science. Either way you want to look at it. Part 1: Political scientist Ethan Hollander interviews a Nazi war criminal. Part 2:  As a graduate student, Cather Simpson was excited to present her work -- but then her adviser lies about it. Ethan J. Hollander is a professor of political science at Wabash College in Craw...

This week, we bring you two stories about frustrations in the field, whether it's a failure to find dinosaur fossils or a struggle with a painful medical condition. Part 1:  Paleontologist David Evans and his team start to feel defeated after three days of searching fruitlessly for fossils.  Part 2: When   cave geologist Gabriela Marks Serrato develops fibromyalgia, exploring caves becomes a chall...

This week we present two stories about the inspiration behind scientists' careers. Part 1: Kate Marvel's dream of being a genius takes her to Cambridge to study astrophysics. Part 2: When Joe Normandin begins to question his sexuality as a teenager, he turns to neuroscience for help. Kate Marvel is a scientist at Columbia University and the NASA Goddard Institute of Space studies. She uses compute...

This week, we present two stories about the struggles "math people" face. Part 1:  Lew Lefton tries to succeed as both a math professor and a math comedian. Part 2:  Vanessa Vakharia faces her first day as student teacher of a math class. Lew Lefton is a faculty member in the Georgia Tech School of Mathematics and the Assistant Dean of Information Technology for the Georgia Tech College of Science...

This week, we present two stories about finding community with science. Part 1: Keoni Mahelona leaves his home in Hawaii in pursuit of science. Part 2: After growing up wealthy, Chuck Collins' thinking is transformed by his work with mobile home park tenants. Aloha. O Keoni koʻu inoa. No Hawaiʻi au. I tēnei wā, noho au i Taipā. Keoni Mahelona is a melting pot of diversity in so many ways -- ethnic...

This week, we present two science stories about becoming the people we're meant to be.  Part 1:  Research technician Jean Ansolabehere finds herself falling in love with a woman in her lab. Part 2:  As a child, psychologist Scott Barry Kaufman is told by a school psychologist that he's doomed by his low IQ score. (This story comes from an event produced in partnership with Scientific American and...

This week, we're presenting two stories about loss and resilience in science. Please note: Our first story this week contains graphic depictions of violence. Part 1:  Anthropologist Andrew Oberle barely survives an attack by the chimpanzees he was studying. Part 2: After cosmologist Renee Hlozek's father dies, science becomes a solace. While conducting his Anthropology Master's research in South A...

This week, we present two stories of doubt in science, from a mysterious illness to imposter syndrome.  Part 1:  A sudden illness casts doubt on whether Maia Pujara will be able to finish her neuroscience PhD. Maia Pujara received her Ph. D. in Neuroscience from the University of Wisconsin-Madison, where she developed a passion for science outreach, science communication, and promoting women and u...

This week, we present two stories about psychotropic substances, from a study on the impacts of magic mushrooms on cancer surivors to a comedian's spiritual epiphany. Part 1: Actor Gail Thomas is invited to take part in a study testing mushrooms as treatment for depression in cancer survivors. Part 2: Comedian Myq Kaplan has a spiritual epiphany while experimenting with ayahuasca. Gail Thomas has...

This week, we present two stories about the challenges of studying winged wildlife, from bats to honey bees. Part 1: Cylita Guy finds unexpected adventure when she studies bats in the field. Part 2:  Rachael Bonoan discovers she may be dangerously allergic to the honey bees she studies. Cylita Guy is a PhD candidate and ACM SIGHPC/Intel Computational and Data Science Fellow in the Department of Ec...

This week, we present two stories about the things that make up our sense of self, from our appearance to our memories. Part 1:  On the verge of losing her teeth, Jean Le Bec travels abroad to find a solution. Part 2:  Science writer Michael Lemonick interviews an old friend who lost the ability to form memories after an injury. Born and bred in Brooklyn New York,  Jean Le Bec is a Moth StorySlam...

This week, we bring you two stories about science and family, from a biochemist and a neuroscientist. Part 1: Biochemist Katie Wu is lactose intolerant, but her mother won't believe her. Part 2: Neuroscientist Oliver Vikbladh and his family look for answers about his sister's mysterious disability.  Katherine (Katie) Wu is a graduate student at Harvard University. Currently, she is studying how ba...

This week, we present two stories about the mother-child relationship intersecting with science, from a daughter and a mother.  Part 1: Actor and writer Erica Silberman tries to find a place for her mother with Alzheimer’s. Part 2:  When Pat Furlong’s sons are diagnosed with a severe type of muscular dystophy, she’s determined to find answers. Erica Silberman showed promise in science for one brie...

This week, we present two stories of scientists under professional and academic pressure, both in the field and in the lab. Part 1: In China, ornithologist   Sam Snow and his colleague gather as much data about a species of bird as possible -- but it comes at a cost. Part 2: Biologist Megan Hatlen worries that she’ll never make a breakthrough in her research. Sam Snow is an evolutionary biologist...

This week, we present two stories of adapting to survive, from a cancer survivor's creative solution to the after-effects of his treatment to an Iraqi who becomes a computer scientist to survive the war. Part 1: Ben Rubenstein survived cancer, but now there are new challenges to contend with. Part 2: A young Iraqi computer scientist must adapt to survive war and its aftermath. Benjamin Rubenstein...

This week, we bring you two stories of invisibility, from a man looking to escape his identity to a marine biologist who feels invisible to her colleagues. Part 1:  Richard Cardillo escapes his problems by joining a Catholic mission in Peru, where he becomes a community health organizer. Part 2:  Marine biologist Liz Neeley is excited to be a part of a coral conservation project in Fiji, but her c...

This week, we present two stories from science journalists about the ways the ways we perceive -- or misperceive -- the world around us.  Part 1: When science journalist Eli Chen begins to have doubts in her relationship, she tries to control her feelings using neuroscience. Part 2:  Just out of college, Shannon Palus takes a public relations internship at a nuclear energy lab in Idaho. Eli Chen i...

This week, we bring you two stories about long journeys home, from an Iranian-American biologist and a psychologist who survived Chernobyl. Part 1: Biologist Maryam Zaringhalam is visiting her family's home country of Iran when the travel ban goes into effect in January 2017. Part 2: Chernobyl survivor Janina Scarlet flees the Soviet Union with her family as a child, only to find new challenges in...

In this week's podcast, two chemists try to balance their love and their science, and a mother must choose her newborn daughter's surgeon. Part 1: Heather Abbott-Lyon falls in love with another physical chemist, but can they solve the two-body problem? Part 2: Tracey Segarra must choose a surgeon when her baby is born with a dangerous heart problem. Heather Abbott-Lyon is a physical chemist who te...

This week, we present two stories about identity, from a neuroscientist's encounters with racism to an OB-GYN's struggle with her feelings about motherhood. Part 1:  After a thoughtless remark from a colleague, neuroscientist Devon Collins reflects on the way racism has impacted his life and science. Part 2:  OB-GYN Veronica Ades tries to save a pregnant woman’s life in South Sudan, while struggli...

This week, we present two stories about science intersecting with love -- in both fortunate and unfortunate ways. Part 1:  Nothing can come between Lindzi Wessel and her new boyfriend, David -- except maybe herpes. Part 2:  Marine biologist Skylar Bayer and first mate Thom Young find love on a boat. Lindzi Wessel  is a science and health journalist who recently graduated from the UC Santa Cruz Sci...

In this week's episode, we bring you two stories of scientists experiencing radical change, whether at home or in 1980s Berlin. Part 1:  Nadia Singh decides she doesn’t want children, believing it will detract from her scientific career, but then her husband issues an ultimatum. Part 2:  Kinari Webb’s philosophy as a scientist is shaped by her experience of the fall of the Berlin Wall as a teenage...