UnDisciplined

Dec 12 2024 284 ep. 25 mins 54

UnDisciplined Podcast artwork

Each week, UnDisciplined takes a fun, fascinating and accessible dive into the lives of researchers and explorers working across a wide variety of scientific fields.

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UnDisciplined: We probably can’t prevent forest fires. So what can we do instead?

Dec 12 2024 25 mins

In hindsight, it’s clear that a century of suppressing wildfires probably hasn’t made us safer in the U.S. West. But knowing what doesn’t work isn’t the same as knowing what does. So what do we do?

UnDisciplined: How are climate communicators getting their information about climate?

Dec 06 2024 25 mins

There are two pretty simple questions that Allison Agsten wanted to have answered as she assumed the directorship of the Center for Climate Journalism and Communication at the University of Southern California: First, how do climate communicators get their information about climate? And then, what do they think the biggest challenges are when it comes to communicating about climate

UnDisciplined: Is climate change impacting our health?

Nov 07 2024 25 mins

The most obvious health risk in a warming world is heat — heat stress which can cause heat stroke, which can cause dehydration, which can cause kidney failure, and so on. But that’s not where the intersections between climate change and public health begin or end. And Heidi Honegger Rogers believes that we all need to better understand what’s happening and what is to come.

UnDisciplined: What are the water solutions we’re not thinking of?

Oct 31 2024 25 mins

For nearly five years, water attorney Emily Lewis has been hosting a podcast on water issues with a special focus on solutions for the water-stressed US West. That podcast, called The Ripple Effect, has given her a view of something lawyers don't usually see — people working together to solve big problems.

UnDisciplined: Is atmospheric water harvesting scalable?

Oct 24 2024 25 mins

Almost every model of future climate suggests that Western North America will grow substantially drier as global surface temperatures continue to get hotter. And that likely means less water, at least through traditional means. But Anjali Mulchandani thinks we might have some other options.

UnDisciplined: Are our internal biases impacting the upcoming election?

Oct 17 2024 25 mins

Political analysts were concerned about the Bradley Effect in 2008 in regards to Obama—and Anu Gupta says now’s the time to think about how this may impact Kamala Harris.

UnDisciplined: How does mutualism drive ecologies under climate change?

Oct 10 2024 25 mins

For a very long time it was assumed that competition and predation drove evolution and ecologies. And it’s true that antagonism plays a role. But so does mutualism — species benefiting one another without cost or consequence. And biologist Jenn Rudgers says that we should keep that in mind as we face a world that is being stressed by climate change.

UnDisciplined: How does carbon behave at different elevations and in different biomes?

Oct 03 2024 25 mins

Marcy Litvak says it’s vital that we try to sort out how carbon behaves in different areas of the world, and research efforts like the New Mexico Elevation Gradient Project are helping do just that.

UnDisciplined: What do medical blind spots mean for our health?

Sep 26 2024 25 mins

When strong beliefs, sometimes century-long beliefs, are disputed, people tend to double down. And this is true for many people–from cult members, to respected researchers. And Dr. Marty Makary suggests that it’s notably present in medicine, and in the way we tend to groupthink.

UnDisciplined: Does hair matter?

Sep 19 2024 25 mins

In his new book, Combing Through the White House, Theodore Pappas suggests that the hair of American leaders has long conveyed important political and symbolic messages, and has affected the way in which the public perceives them.