Smologies with Alie Ward

Plumage! Dance battles! Possible holographic disco birds? Natural History Museum of LA ornithology curator Dr. Allison Shultz is a professional plumologist aka feather expert. We visit the museum’s collection of rare specimens and chat about everything from fossilized dinosaur feathers to peacock tails, the fanciest roosters, quill pens, pigments, flight feathers, the blackest black birds, and why birdwatching is like seeing tiny purple raccoons zoom overhead. Birds: like Pokemon Go but weirder. Visit Dr. Allison Shultz’s website [https://www.allisonshultz.com/] and follow her on Bluesky [https://bsky.app/profile/ajshultz622.bsky.social] Full-length (*not* G-rated) Plumology episode + tons of science links [https://alieward.com/ologies/plumology] More kid-friendly Smologies episodes! [https://www.alieward.com/smologies] Become a patron of Ologies [https://www.patreon.com/ologies] for as little as a buck a month OlogiesMerch.com [https://www.ologiesmerch.com/] has hats, shirts, hoodies, totes! Follow Ologies on Instagram [https://www.instagram.com/ologies] and Bluesky [https://bsky.app/profile/ologies.bsky.social] Follow Alie Ward on Instagram [https://www.instagram.com/alieward] and TikTok [https://www.tiktok.com/@alie_ologies] Sound editing by Mercedes Maitland of Maitland Audio Productions [http://maitlandaudio.com/], Jarrett Sleeper [https://www.jarrettsleeper.com/] of MindJam Media [https://www.mindjammedia.com/], and Steven Ray Morris [https://twitter.com/stevenRayMorris] Made possible by work from Noel Dilworth, Susan Hale, Jacob Chaffee, Kelly R. Dwyer, Aveline Malek and Erin Talbert Smologies theme song by Harold Malcolm

What exactly is “fun?” How will you know when you’re having it? What’s a fun magnet? Catherine Price is an award-winning journalist and author who spent years researching the science of fun for her book “The Power of Fun: How to Feel Alive Again.” She let me lob many questions at her including: what’s the difference between happiness and laughter and fun, how can you have more of it, do animals have fun, and is it the same for everyone? It’s a fun one, I promise.  Visit Catherine’s website [https://catherineprice.com/] and follow her on Instagram [https://www.instagram.com/_catherineprice/] Read her book: The Power of Fun: How to Feel Alive Again [https://bookshop.org/p/books/the-power-of-fun-how-to-feel-alive-again-catherine-price/16503842] Subscribe to her Substack newsletter, How to Feel Alive with Catherine Price [https://catherineprice.substack.com/] A donation went to Breakthrough T1D [https://www.breakthrought1d.org/] Full-length (*not* G-rated) Funology episode + tons of science links [https://www.alieward.com/ologies/funology] More kid-friendly Smologies episodes! [https://www.alieward.com/smologies] Become a patron of Ologies [https://www.patreon.com/ologies] for as little as a buck a month OlogiesMerch.com [https://www.ologiesmerch.com/] has hats, shirts, hoodies, totes! Follow Ologies on Instagram [https://www.instagram.com/ologies] and Bluesky [https://bsky.app/profile/ologies.bsky.social] Follow Alie Ward on Instagram [https://www.instagram.com/alieward] and TikTok [https://www.tiktok.com/@alie_ologies] Sound editing by Mercedes Maitland of Maitland Audio Productions [http://maitlandaudio.com/] and Jacob Chaffee Made possible by work from Noel Dilworth, Susan Hale, Kelly R. Dwyer, Aveline Malek and Erin Talbert Smologies theme song by Harold Malcolm

At just 22, Iddris Sandu’s life story was already legendary. This Architectural Technologist learned to program at the age of 11 and has worked with everyone from Kanye West to Nipsey Hussle to Space X. In this episode from 2020 we talk coding, holograms, what ancient flutes have to do with computers, how programming works and why it's important. The designer and entrepreneur also shares his favorite programming languages, philosophies on future technology and why we should all strive to be dynamic rather than single-minded. He’s a true inspiration and Alie shamelessly begged him for life advice.  Follow Iddris on Instagram [https://www.instagram.com/IddrisSandu] Visit Spatial Labs [https://www.slabs.one/], the tech company founded by Iddris Full-length (*not* G-rated) Architectural Technology episode + tons of science links [https://www.alieward.com/ologies/architecturaltechnology] More kid-friendly Smologies episodes! [https://www.alieward.com/smologies] Become a patron of Ologies [https://www.patreon.com/ologies] for as little as a buck a month OlogiesMerch.com [https://www.ologiesmerch.com/] has hats, shirts, hoodies, totes! Follow Ologies on Instagram [https://www.instagram.com/ologies] and Bluesky [https://bsky.app/profile/ologies.bsky.social] Follow Alie Ward on Instagram [https://www.instagram.com/alieward] and TikTok [https://www.tiktok.com/@alie_ologies] Sound editing by Mercedes Maitland of Maitland Audio Productions [http://maitlandaudio.com/], Jarrett Sleeper [https://www.jarrettsleeper.com/] of MindJam Media [https://www.mindjammedia.com/], and Steven Ray Morris [https://twitter.com/stevenRayMorris] Made possible by work from Noel Dilworth, Susan Hale, Jacob Chaffee, Kelly R. Dwyer, Aveline Malek and Erin Talbert Smologies theme song by Harold Malcolm

SHAAAARKS. Leading shark researcher Dr. Chris Lowe dishes about why sharks get a bad rap, antibiotic mucus, 120 year old teenagers, eye lasers, and how to snooze when you’ve got to keep swimming. Alie learns that sharks are not the ocean's bad guys but true evolutionary marvels who suffer from sensationalized reputations and sometimes inside-out butts. Listen up as a science primer during this, the Week of the Shark. Dr. Chris Lowe's SharkLab [https://www.csulb.edu/shark-lab] at Cal State University Long Beach Follow the CSULB SharkLab on Instagram [https://www.instagram.com/csulbsharklab] and Facebook [https://www.facebook.com/CSULBSharkLab/] Full-length (*not* G-rated) Selachimorphology episode + tons of science links [https://www.alieward.com/ologies/selachimorphology] More kid-friendly Smologies episodes! [https://www.alieward.com/smologies] Become a patron of Ologies [https://www.patreon.com/ologies] for as little as a buck a month OlogiesMerch.com [https://www.ologiesmerch.com/] has hats, shirts, hoodies, totes! Follow Ologies on Instagram [https://www.instagram.com/ologies] and Bluesky [https://bsky.app/profile/ologies.bsky.social] Follow Alie Ward on Instagram [https://www.instagram.com/alieward] and TikTok [https://www.tiktok.com/@alie_ologies] Sound editing by Mercedes Maitland of Maitland Audio Productions [http://maitlandaudio.com/] and Steven Ray Morris [https://twitter.com/stevenRayMorris] Made possible by work from Noel Dilworth, Susan Hale, Jacob Chaffee, Kelly R. Dwyer, Aveline Malek and Erin Talbert Smologies theme song by Harold Malcolm

Scorpions: the victims of undue shade. A handful of people on planet Earth have a PhD in scorpions and Dr. Lauren Esposito is one of them. She spills the beans on how venom works, what's up with the blacklight glow effect, how dangerous they *really* are, what all the movies get wrong, the best names for scorpions, where she's traveled to look under rocks, where a scorpion's butt is, if scorpions dance (SPOILER: YES), what good mothers they are, and how big they used to be millions of years ago. Get this one in your ears right away. Learn more about Dr. Lauren Esposito on Wikipedia [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lauren_Esposito] and follow her on Bluesky [https://bsky.app/profile/arachnologynerd.bsky.social] A donation went to Islands & Seas [https://www.islandsseas.org/] Full-length (*not* G-rated) Scorpiology episode + tons of science links [http://alieward.com/ologies/scorpiology] More kid-friendly Smologies episodes! [https://www.alieward.com/smologies] Become a patron of Ologies [https://www.patreon.com/ologies] for as little as a buck a month OlogiesMerch.com [https://www.ologiesmerch.com/] has hats, shirts, hoodies, totes! Follow Ologies on Instagram [https://www.instagram.com/ologies] and Bluesky [https://bsky.app/profile/ologies.bsky.social] Follow Alie Ward on Instagram [https://www.instagram.com/alieward] and TikTok [https://www.tiktok.com/@alie_ologies] Sound editing by Mercedes Maitland of Maitland Audio Productions [http://maitlandaudio.com/], Jarrett Sleeper [https://www.jarrettsleeper.com/] of MindJam Media [https://www.mindjammedia.com/], and Steven Ray Morris [https://twitter.com/stevenRayMorris] Made possible by work from Noel Dilworth, Susan Hale, Jacob Chaffee, Kelly R. Dwyer, Aveline Malek and Erin Talbert Smologies theme song by Harold Malcolm