The Story Collider

This week we present two classic stories from people who found an intersection between numbers and their sex life. Part 1: When online dating isn't working out for him, Tristan Attwood decides to analyze the data himself. Part 2: In search of a deal, Gastor Almonte ends up with an unmanageable number of condoms. Tristan Attwood is a recovering analyst working for the airline industry. Originally...

In this week’s episode, both of our storytellers confront the real-world consequences of misinformation—and how it can spread faster than the truth. Part 1: Growing up, Modesta Abugu knows firsthand the challenges rural African farmers face. But when she discovers that misinformation is making things worse, she sets out to change the narrative. Part 2: While living in South Africa, Fiona Tudor Pri...

In this week’s episode, both of our storytellers find themselves reckoning with the choices they’ve made—discovering how a single decision, whether made years ago or in the chaos of a crisis, can shape who we become and the responsibilities we carry. Part 1: When Misha Gajewski’s grandfather has a stroke while the rest of her family is out of town, she suddenly becomes the emergency contact. Part...

In this week’s episode, both our storytellers come face to face with the growing power—and pitfalls—of artificial intelligence. Part 1: When AI takes over comedian Kyle Gillis’s job, he takes it personally. Part 2: While researching an AI model, engineer Omiya Hassan discovers one major problem: the amount of energy it’s consuming. Kyle Gillis is a Brooklyn-based comedian, musician, and Guinness W...

In this week’s episode, like Icarus, both our storytellers fly a little too close to the sun—and learn the hard way that confidence doesn’t always equal competence. Part 1: As a kid, JR Denson is determined to master the art of homemade french fries—but then his kitchen experiment goes up in flames. Part 2: Faced with a looming Science Olympiad deadline, Adam Ruben is sure his last-minute “clock”...

In this week’s “Best Of” episode, we present two stories of people having to navigate a new world. Part 1: Sean Bearden has never been interested in education, but when he's incarcerated at the age of 19, he finds a passion for physics. Part 2: When Victoria Manning decides to get a cochlear implant, she fears losing her identity as a deaf person. Sean Bearden is a Ph. D. candidate in Physics at U...

In this week’s episode, both of our storytellers look back on moments that might have deserved a little more drama than they got at the time. Part 1: When Jess Nurse feels a throbbing pain in her gut, she chalks it up to heartbreak. Part 2: When Maryam Zaringhalam’s physician mother goes in for brain surgery, everyone insists there’s nothing to worry about. Jess Nurse is a Boston born, NYU graduat...

In this week’s episode, both of our storytellers reckon with what happens when success doesn’t come so easily anymore. Part 1: After years of academic achievement, newly minted professor Stephanie Rowley is caught off guard when every paper she submits is rejected. Part 2: Growing up, Kate Schmidt always thought of herself as the “smart kid,” but that identity is shaken when she gets to university...

Attitude is everything—and this week’s storytellers prove it. Even when life throws challenges their way, they show how perspective and perseverance can make all the difference. Part 1: Paralyzed but undeterred, Scott Imbrie is on a mission to regain movement. Part 2: After an accident leaves them with severe burns on over a third of their body, Emily Hespeler works to find their way back to thems...

This week we present two classic stories from people who got called into action to save an animal they didn’t know they’d be called to save. Part 1: While running an errand, Andrea Azarian happens upon a lost horse that needs her help. Part 2: Left in charge of the farm for the first time, Gwynne Hogan panics when a goat goes into labor. Andrea Azarian has an undergraduate degree in Public Admini...

In this week’s episode, both storytellers must navigate heartbreaking dilemmas as they try to figure out how to convey crushing news. Part 1: While doing fieldwork in the Congo, Stella Mayerhoff must track down a local researcher to deliver devastating news. Part 2: During his second year of residency, Sam Blackman is tasked with caring for a dying child whose mother’s unwavering faith clashes wit...

In this week’s episode, both of our storytellers bite off a bit more than they can chew. Part 1: Fresh out of college and in what seems like her dream job, drug and alcohol coach Rhana Hashemi quickly realizes she has no idea how to connect with the high school students she’s supposed to help. Part 2: When Paul Davis and his wife struggle to get pregnant, they decide to foster a pregnant dog—and t...

This week, we’re teaming up with Silenced Science Stories , a volunteer project that shines a light on scientists whose work has been derailed by federal budget cuts and mass firings. In this episode, both of our storytellers share deeply personal accounts of how these political decisions upended their work—and the science itself. Part 1: When an epidemiologist dedicated to preventing violence aga...

This week, in honor of Halloween, we're presenting two classic stories about facing fears for science. Part 1:  As a newly minted PhD student in geology, Erik Klemetti starts to question his decisions when Aucanquilcha, a 20,000-foot volcano in Chile, proves difficult to tame. Part 2:  Explorer George Kourounis finds himself growing increasingly anxious as he prepares to enter a fiery si...

In this week’s episode, both of our storytellers learn the hard way that getting high doesn’t always mean having a good time. Part 1: At his friend’s bachelor party, Andrew McGill joins in on a mushroom trip that quickly spirals out of control. Part 2: In an attempt to calm his nerves about going on an Alaskan cruise, Will Clegg turns to marijuana. Andrew McGill is a storyteller born and raised in...

In honor of OCD Awareness Week, this episode features two deeply personal stories about living with obsessive compulsive disorder. Part 1: For Hannah Hedelius, a classmate’s hiccups trigger an overwhelming reaction she can’t hold back. Part 2: As a graduate student, Rachel Hostetler begins to realize that her intrusive thoughts may be more than just regular stress. Hannah Hedelius was born and rai...

In this week’s episode, we wade into the bloody (and sometimes gory) side of science. Part 1: Shawn Musgrave wants to donate blood, but runs headfirst into the FDA’s lifetime ban on gay men as donors. Part 2: While working with the condor recovery program, Molly Astell opens a freezer to find every researcher’s nightmare. Shawn Musgrave is a lawyer, journalist, lawyer-who-represents-journalists, a...

In this week’s episode, our storytellers face life-or-death moments they’ll never forget. Part 1: On a trip to Colombia for a research conference, biologist Stephanie Galla must rely on her fight-or-flight instincts when she is cornered by a mugger with a knife. Part 2: An ordinary day takes a shocking turn when Kim Weaver is struck by lightning. Stephanie Galla is an Assistant Professor in avian...

This week we present two classic stories from people who had hypotheses.  Part 1: Teaching sixth grade science becomes much more difficult when Xochitl Garcia's students start hypothesizing that fire is alive.  Part 2: When journalist John Rennie is assigned to cover an entomological society event where insects are served as food, he sees an opportunity to face his fear of bugs.  Xo...

In this week’s episode, we’re featuring two powerful stories born from our education program. Part 1: As an undergraduate with no “real” science experience, Molly Magid is thrilled to join a research project studying how bats fly—until she discovers the bats refuse to cooperate. Part 2: As a child, Léa Souccar and her father explore the wreckage in the aftermath of a devastating bombing. Molly Mag...

In this week’s episode, we explore how creativity, humor, and connection can be powerful tools for mental health and healing. Part 1: When anxiety starts taking over her life, Jude Treder-Wolff signs up for an improv class. Part 2: Counselor Belinda Arriaga and emergency medicine doctor Nancy Ewen join forces to collect scientific evidence of the power of culturally responsive mental health care....

In this week’s episode, both storytellers face the challenge of evicting some very unwelcome guests. Part 1: While housesitting for her uncle, JiJi Lee’s peaceful stay takes a chaotic turn when a squirrel breaks in. Part 2: When a serious mold infestation takes over the university campus, Joshua Wilson is tasked with eliminating it. JiJi Lee is a comedy writer and performer. She has contributed to...

This week we present two classic stories about people struggling with their identity. Part 1: When science journalist Katherine Wu interviews a scientist about a new facial recognition algorithm, the conversation turns more personal than she expected. Part 2: Hurricane Katrina gives Mary Annaise Heglar a new perspective on both her grandfather and home state. Katherine J. Wu is a Boston-based scie...

In this week’s episode, both of our storytellers transform into someone they admire—one quite literally, the other more figuratively. Part 1: While juggling climate science studies and a budding comedy career, Rollie Williams finds an unexpected niche impersonating his environmental hero, Al Gore. Part 2: Scott Acton longs to follow in Hemingway’s footsteps, but when his English teacher squashes h...

In this week’s episode, both of our storytellers are pushed out of their comfort zones—and challenged to see the world through someone else’s eyes. Part 1: As someone who always likes to play it safe, psychologist Kenneth Carter sets out to understand what makes thrill-seekers tick. Part 2: Philosophy professor Rob Reich is frustrated that so many new Stanford students are headed straight into com...