The story collider

Science writer Ed Yong is confronted by a flatulent rhino while on safari.

Ed Yong is a science journalist who reports for The Atlantic, and is based in Washington DC. His work appears several times a week on The Atlantic's website, and has also featured in National Geographic, the New Yorker, Wired, Nature, New Scientist, Scientific American, and many more. He has won a variety of awards, including the Michael E. DeBakey Journalism Award for biomedical reporting in 2016, the Byron H. Waksman Award for Excellence in the Public Communication of Life Sciences in 2016, and the National Academies Keck Science Communication Award in 2010 for his old blog Not Exactly Rocket Science. He regularly does talks and radio interviews; his TED talk on mind-controlling parasites has been watched by over 1.5 million people. I CONTAIN MULTITUDES, his first book, looks at the amazing partnerships between animals and microbes. Published in 2016, it became a New York Times bestseller, and was listed in best-of-2016 lists by the NYT, NPR, the Economist, the Guardian, and several others. Bill Gates called it "science journalism at its finest", and Jeopardy! turned it into a clue.  

This story originally aired on The Story Collider's podcast on August 11, 2017, in an episode titled "Zoology." Find the transcript and other information here: https://www.storycollider.org/stories/2017/8/11/zoology-stories-about-wild-animals

Ed Yong: Ed vs. the Flatulent Rhino

In Antarctica, scientist Gifford Wong attempts to save a seal that has gone into “dive mode.”

Gifford Wong is an American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) Science and Technology Policy Fellow working at the Department of State. He previously served in the Senate as the American Geosciences Institute Congressional Geoscience Fellow. He received his Ph.D. in Earth Sciences from Dartmouth College, his Honours in Antarctic Studies from the University of Tasmania at Hobart, and his Bachelor’s degree in Asian American Studies from the University of California at Berkeley. He has done fieldwork in Greenland and Antarctica, co-developed and co-instructed a graduate-level science communication course at Dartmouth, and thinks penguins and unicorns are cool. Every now and again he is on Twitter as @giffordwong.

This story originally aired on The Story Collider's podcast on August 11, 2017, in an episode titled "Zoology." Find the transcript and other information here: https://www.storycollider.org/stories/2017/8/11/zoology-stories-about-wild-animals

Gifford Wong: A Half-Ton Fish-Eating Machine With Teeth

OB-GYN Veronica Ades tries to save a pregnant woman’s life in South Sudan, while struggling with her own feelings about motherhood.

Note: You can read more details about Veronica's experience on her blog here.

Veronica Ades, MD, MPH is a board-certified obstetrician-gynecologist. She attended medical school at the State University of New York at Downstate in Brooklyn, NY, and obtained residency training in obstetrics and gynecology at the Albert Einstein School of Medicine in the Bronx, NY. After residency, she obtained a Master’s degree in Public Health with a concentration in Quantitative Methods at the Harvard School of Public Health. Dr. Ades then completed a three-year fellowship in Reproductive Infectious Disease at the University of California, San Francisco, in which she lived and worked in rural Uganda, and  conducted research on placental malaria in HIV-infected and –uninfected women. Dr. Ades also completed a Certificate in Comparative Effectiveness at the NYU School of Medicine. Dr. Ades has worked with Médecins Sans Frontières/Doctors Without Borders on assignments in Aweil, South Sudan in 2012 and 2016 and in Irbid, Jordan in 2013. Dr. Ades is currently an Assistant Professor of Obstetrics and Gynecology and Director of Global Women’s Health at the New York University School of Medicine (NYUMC). Her clinical work is at the New York Harbor VA and at Gouverneur Health. At NYUMC, Dr. Ades has created an educational and research partnership with Korle Bu Teaching Hospital in Accra, Ghana. She is also the Director of the EMPOWER Clinic for Survivors of Sex Trafficking and Sexual Violence at Gouverneur Health on the Lower East Side. Dr. Ades’ main research focus is on post-sexual trauma gynecologic care. She runs the Empower Lab at the College of Global Public Health at NYU, where she has active research projects on sexual and gender-based violence, intimate partner violence, military sexual trauma, and global women’s health.

This story originally aired on The Story Collider's podcast on Sept. 15, 2017, in an episode titled "Identification." Find the transcript and other information here: https://www.storycollider.org/stories/2017/9/14/identification-stories-about-who-we-are

Veronica Ades: Motherhood

Biologist Maryam Zaringhalam is visiting her family's home country of Iran when the travel ban goes into effect in January 2017.

Maryam Zaringhalam is Story Collider DC's newest co-producer. She's a molecular biologist who traded in her pipettes for the world of science policy. She comes to DC from the concrete jungles of New York, where she received her PhD from The Rockefeller University. She co-hosts the science policy podcast Science Soapbox, and her words have appeared in Slate, Scientific American, and Quartz. Her cat is named Tesla, after Nikola and not Elon Musk's car. For insights like this and more, follow her on Twitter @webmz_.

This story originally aired on The Story Collider's podcast on Sept. 29, 2017, in an episode titled "Migration." Find the transcript and other information here: https://www.storycollider.org/stories/2017/9/29/migration-stories-about-science-and-immigration

Maryam Zaringhalam: My Parents' American Dream

Chernobyl survivor Janina Scarlet flees the Soviet Union with her family as a child, only to find new challenges in America. 

Janina Scarlet is a Licensed Clinical Psychologist, a scientist, and a full-time geek. A Ukrainian-born refugee, she survived Chernobyl radiation and persecution. She immigrated to the United States at the age of 12 with her family and later, inspired by the X-Men, developed Superhero Therapy to help patients with anxiety, depression, and PTSD. Her book, “Superhero Therapy” released on December 1, 2016 in the U.K. and on August 1, 2017 in the U.S.

This story originally aired on The Story Collider's podcast on Sept. 29, 2017, in an episode titled "Migration." Find the transcript and other information here: https://www.storycollider.org/stories/2017/9/29/migration-stories-about-science-and-immigration

Janina Scarlet: My Superhero Origin Story

While working as a schoolteacher, Jeff Braden gets a phone call out of the blue from a renowned chimpanzee expert.

Jeff Braden is dean of the College of Humanities and Social Sciences and professor of Psychology at NC State University. Prior to becoming dean, he was a professor and director of school psychology programs at NC State, University of Wisconsin—Madison, San Jose State University and the University of Florida. He is a Fellow of the American Psychological Association, a member of the National Association of School Psychologists, and an elected member of the Society for the Study of School Psychology. He has presented more than 300 papers at state, national, and international meetings and published more than 175 articles, books, book chapters, and other products on assessment, school psychology, intelligence, and deafness. He recently completed a grant to evaluate adaptive courseware from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.

This story originally aired on The Story Collider's podcast on Aug. 25, 2017, in an episode titled "Exploration." Find the transcript and other information here: https://www.storycollider.org/stories/2017/8/25/exploration-stories-about-facing-new-challenges

Jeff Braden: Raising Chimpanzees Like Children

Whether we wear a lab coat or haven't seen a test tube since grade school, science is shaping all of our lives. And that means we all have science stories to tell. Every year, we host dozens of live shows all over the country, featuring all kinds of storytellers - researchers, doctors, and engineers of course, but also patients, poets, comedians, cops, and more. Some of our stories are heartbreaking, others are hilarious, but they're all true and all very personal. Welcome to The Story Collider!