Ologies with Alie Ward - Episode 0

Episode Date: September 4, 2017

Comedy podcaster and science correspondent Alie Ward asks smart people dumb questions to learn about their professional obsessions.Music: Nick ThorburnProduction: Jason Scardamalia, Dustin Marshall, Steven Ray MorrisFollow @ologies on Instagram and TwitterSupport the show on Patreon

This is so exciting, I'm sweating! And every single day something happens that makes it worth it. Hey, welcome to episode zero of Allergies with Ali Ward. I'm Ali Ward and my deal is I'm a CBS Science Correspondent for... Wow, I already screwed this up, you guys. Why do an episode zero? This is like a placeholder to be like, hey, this is what the thing's gonna be about, let's see who I am. So you can get a taste of it and then subscribe that way when the very first first episode drops, it's in your devices, in your ears. So I'm Ali Ward, I'm a CBS Science Correspondent, I'm also co-host of a podcast called Slumber Party and I've been obsessed with allergies more than a decade

and I remember like over 10 years ago, I was on the internet and I came across this list of allergies and you know, when you see something that's so exciting, you're like, you feel like you're gonna throw up a little bit, that happened to me. I got so excited to read all of these weird allergies that I never knew existed. Like, Nidology is a study of bird's nests and Kellology is a study of beauty. Elatronology is a study of writing on toilet walls. I mean, there's Nassology, study of taxidermy, mycotoxicology, toxic fungus. There's so many different allergies, which means there's so many differentologists and it's like, who are these people who study clouds and clowns and bees and like, what is their deal? So as far as to now, podcasts are a great

way to corner someone and ask them way too personal questions about their life and they'll have to answer it because there's a microphone there. So that's what I'm doing with this podcast. I have meeting all of these really, really awesomeologists, some of them obscure, some of them less obscure, primatologists. My first job was dressing up like a lobster outside of the New England Aquarium and we always say around the chimp building of like, chimps win every day, the chimps win. Gemologists. Legitimately, bra crystals, I think are a thing for women. Bra crystals? Bra crystals. Is it not kosher to touch someone's crystal? Because I always feel like you're not supposed to touch their crystal. That's a great question. Paleontologists. Largest

land animals of all time. Oh my god. Well, you're right, actually, I did cut up a cadaver this morning. So it's like a frankensaur? It's like a frankensaur. Okay. Volcanologists. Volcanoes breathe. So, oh, that's creepy. Yeah, you have to keep that joy. And that's that's what I think is so important these days for scientists. You know, there's a very real possibility that we could die. Horrologist, you're gonna have to wait for that one to come out to find out what that is. And getting to know them as people and getting to know what they do on a day to day basis and what their best days in the job have been their worst days, why they do what they do, and really getting to know the people behind the science. Because I feel like so many quotes you hear from scientists are

like really official sounding PR statements in the middle of a big article about a topic. And I just wanted to sit down with the people and say, why are you doing this? What is it like? Why do you love it? What don't we know? Where have you peed in public for your work? Have you ever really fucked up? What did that feel like? What's been the best day? What do your parents think of your job? All of this stuff. So that is what allergies is. So we'll have a differentologist on every episode. I hope you enjoy. The first one is a pretty hot topic. It's about volcanoes. So I hope you like it. Thank you. Subscribe. You'll be on your way to listening to the first one. I hope you guys enjoy it. Thanks for listening. I'm nervous recording this.

Okay, here's more allergies. Pachydermatology. Cryptozoology. Gelatology. Entomology. Neurology. Meteorology. Fectology. Nephology. Seriology. Serial audio.