We all like to think that we can handle just about anything. But what about those moments that catch us off guard? A travel ban that interrupts a homecoming. A mysterious illness that pulls you to black holes. A sudden shortage of helium. Hear amazing stories from five folks trying to keep things under control.
Hosted by Shane Hanlon and Maryam Zaringhalam.
Kelly Kryc is the Principal of her consulting company, Kryc Strategic Solutions LLC and an adjunct professor at Georgetown University. She has worked on issues as varied as the U.S. Helium reserve, South Pacific fisheries, international cross-border energy connectivity, and freshwater sustainability in the United States. Prior to working in the public sector, she spent a decade working for the non-profit sector advancing science priorities in the United States and abroad. She holds a Ph.D. in Earth Science from Boston University, a Master of Science in Oceanography from the Graduate School of Oceanography at the University of Rhode Island, and a Bachelor of Arts with a double major in Geology and as an Independent Scholar of Marine Science from Middlebury College.
Robinson Meyer is a New Jerseyan in exile based in Washington, D.C. During the day, he is a reporter at The Atlantic, where he covers climate change and technology. He has written about waterfalls in Antarctica; the difficult of representing the internet in opera; and ancient falcon nests made of concreted poop, among other topics.
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 underrepresented minorities in STEM. She's a postdoc at the National Institutes of Health to study the brain regions that are critical for helping us regulate our emotions, learn about rewards, and make flexible, adaptive choices. Though focused when it comes to academic matters, Maia has always had a “breadth-over-depth” philosophy with hobbies and has so far taken up playing the guitar, playing the ukulele, radio DJ-ing, baking, mixology, palmistry, watercoloring, knitting, crocheting, ice-skating, ultimate frisbee, improv, acting, and screenwriting. Follow her on Twitter @neuro_sigh
Jesse Shanahan is a science writer and astrophysicist, currently serving as a Coordinating Committee member in the Working Group on Accessibility and Disability that she co-founded for the American Astronomical Society. Her writing can be found in Science, Astronomy Magazine, and Forbes amongst others. In addition to organizing STEM outreach in local elementary schools, she works on behalf of disabled scientists to facilitate accessibility and accommodations in STEM. Outside of her research on supermassive black holes, she spends her days wrangling a very high energy Border Collie named Hubble and playing way too many video games. Follow her @enceladosaurus.
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_.