Critical Wit Podcast

In the second of this two-episode interview, Sophie Bushwick talks with Peggy Nelson, a new media artist who’s currently using Twitter to tell the amazing survival story of Antarctic explorer Ernest Shackleton. In the previous episode, Nelson provided a detailed overview of Shackleton’s perilous 1914 expedition.  In this episode, Nelson describes how Twitter can be used as a […]

Peggy Nelson is a new media artist who’s currently using Twitter to tell the incredible survival story of Antarctic explorer Ernest Shackleton.  In the first of this two-episode interview, Sophie Bushwick talks with Nelson, who recounts Ernest Shackleton’s incredible 1914 expedition and why she ultimately decided to tell his tale on Twitter.  You can find out more about Peggy […]

Zachary Moore is a molecular biologist and host of the Evolution 101 podcast.  The 38-episode podcast consists of short episodes that are designed to provide a simple explanation of the independent lines of evidence that support the theory of evolution.  In this episode, we talk about some of the molecular evidence that supports the conclusion that species evolved from common ancestors.  […]

Dr. Rosie Redfield is a microbiologist at the University of British Columbia and science writer for the Field of Science blog network.  In this episode, guest host Sophie Bushwick talks with Dr. Redfield about her work on whether bacteria have sex, the possibility of arsenic-based life forms, and the importance of blogging and open science.  […]

In this episode, I give you more interview excerpts from off of the cutting room floor, such as when I asked Mark Stevenson about nanotechnology, as well as how it felt interviewing the great minds in science (epsd 32), why the articles about imagination and creativity are amongst Maria Konnikova’s favorites in her Lessons From […]

Dr. Barbara Oakley is an associate professor of Engineering at Oakland University.  She’s the author of “Evil Genes: Why Rome Fell, Hitler Rose, Enron Failed and My Sister Stole My Mother’s Boyfriend.”  In this episode, we discuss this book, and find out what scientific research has to say regarding the extent at which human behavior, […]

Aaron is the young host of Aaron’s World, a popular podcast about ancient animals from an ancient time.  Aaron plays himself as a time-traveling explorer who visits eras in which dinosaurs, pterosaurs, and other extinct animals roamed the world.  And he shares with the listeners interesting information about them, all the while getting himself into […]

Maria Konnikova is a writer, doctoral candidate, and blogger at Scientific American.  She has recently finished a series called “Lessons of Sherlock Holmes” – a chronicle that explores how examples from the fictional detective stories can help provide insight into not only how humans think, but also, how we should think.  You can subscribe to Maria’s SciAm blog, called ‘Literally Psyched’, and bookmark […]

Emma Marris is a freelance science writer and author of Rambunctious Garden: Saving Nature in a Post-Wild World.  In this episode, Emma talks about her book, describing how the perspective in which humans have had about the importance of wilderness to be pure and pristine is an outdated notion.  It disregards the impact in which […]

Dr. Edwin (Ted) Bergin is professor of Astronomy at the University of Michigan, who researches the “molecular trail of our origins.” In this episode we talk about what science has theorized regarding the way in which Earth obtained its water.

Bill Castanier from MittenLit.com returns to Critical Wit to give us some suggestions on books to pick up as either gift ideas or to read during the holidays.  We start with three books about Ernest Hemingway; “The Paris Wife” by Paula McClain; “Hemingway’s Boat: Everything He Loved In Life & Lost 1934-1961” by Paul Hendrickson; […]

Jill Adams returns to Critical Wit to talk about her experience attending the National Science Writers Convention, and it’s complementary sessions with the Council for the Advancement of Science Writing.  She also describes her IGNITE speech on how cell biology helped her to become a better science writer.  And then we discuss a couple of […]

Jill Twiss is a theater actress and stand-up comedian who according to her website is “creating world peace through stand-up comedy.”  In this episode we talk a bit about her work as both a performer in theater and comedy.  You can find her website at jilltwiss.blogspot.com, where there are videos of some of her performances.  […]

Mark Stevenson is the author of An Optimist’s Tour of the Future: One Curious Man Sets Out to Answer “What’s Next?”, a funny, informative story about the technologies and innovations that’s driving humanity.  Mark interviews the brightest minds researching things, such as transhumanism, artificial intelligence, nanotechnology, carbon capture, and more.  This book is ideal for science enthusiasts who want to be pragmatically optimistic […]

Emily Willingham is a biologist, science writer, and author of The Complete Idiot’s Guide to College Biology.  She is also the blogger at ‘The Biology Files.’  In this episode we talk about a short book that Emily wrote called When Worlds Collide: The Troubled History of Bears and People in Texas, which is available as […]

In the second of this special two-part episode, I provide some more audio clips of interviews from the previous ten episodes.  Clips like whether “transgenic” is the same as “genetically engineered”, the similarities between Alfred Wegner and Charles Darwin, and comparing the United States to the rest of the world as it relates to capital punishment.  And also, […]

In this special two-part episode, I provide some audio clips from interviews that were not included in their respective episodes due to time constraints.  But I saved them because I thought they were informative and interesting.  Clips like “rules of thumb” when buying a car, is Alfred Wegner a good example of a “one man […]

Holly Moeller is a graduate student of Ecology and Evolution at Stanford University and author of the Seeing Green blog.  In this episode, we talk about sustainable fisheries.  And we also talk about an aquatic organism that Holly has studied, which has a very interesting adaptation. If you enjoy this podcast, please consider ‘liking’ the Critical Wit page […]

Chris McDonald is a professor of music studies, with a phD in ethnomusicology.  He is also the author of Rush, Rock Music, and the Middle Class: Dreaming in Middletown, a book that explores the music and lyric themes in the music of Rush, the progressive rock band from Canada.  We talk about these things, as […]

Kristin Rose is a graduate student at Harvard, and blogger at Try Nerdy, a website that discusses interesting and cool science, and unabashedly promotes nerdiness.  In this episode we talk about synesthesia, a neurological condition that causes one sensory experience to create another sensory experience, such as seeing colors when hearing a specific sounds.  I very much recommend bookmarking her […]