What do the blood in your blood vessels, the waves on a beach, and bubbles from a bubble bath have in common? They’re all fluids, interacting with other fluids in complex ways that can be modeled by computers! Join expert Alex Barrett and guests Cole Barker and Christina Niavi to learn more about the important…
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Bad Science: the Bogus Case for More Cops
In this bonus episode of In Plain English, I talk with defense lawyer Alec Karakatsanis about the paper “The Injustice of Under-policing in America,” by Christopher Lewis and Adaner Usmani. We cover the undisclosed assumptions, missing statistics, and cynical worldview behind this piece of propaganda masked as a scientific paper. You can read Alec’s response…
Episode 4: Where Did Earth’s Water Come From?
In the fourth episode of In Plain English, we discuss the potential cosmic origins of Earth’s oceans. Expert Will Saunders and guests India Bland and Nick Wolslegel delve into the paper “How much water was delivered from the asteroid belt to the Earth after its formation?” by Rebecca Martin and Mario Livio, exploring whether asteroids…
Episode 3: Are Humans Rational?
Join our expert Alexa Ruel and our guests Kelly-Anne Moffa and Mo Carr to discuss the paper “Interplay of Approximate Planning Strategies” by Quentin Huys, et. al. During our discussion, we touch on whether the human brain works like a computer, why people avoid large negative outcomes even when they could lead to even larger…
Episode 2: Everyone is Mistaken About Cancer
In Episode 2 of In Plain English, presenter Gloria Marino and guests Teodora Stoica and Jacob Walker discuss the paper “Tumor Microenvironment Components: Allies of Cancer Progression” by Pablo Igor Ribeiro Franco et. al. They discuss the ways in which cancer cells can modify their environment to grow, multiply, and spread; the importance of individualized…
Episode 1: Opioids, Marijuana, and Pain Relief
In the first ever episode of In Plain English, presenter Jamie Moffa and guests Brendan Ziebarth and Alex Marshall discuss the paper “Impact of co-administration of oxycodone and smoked cannabis on analgesia and abuse liability” by Ziva Cooper, et. al. They go over the promising possibility of using cannabis to lower the dose of oxycodone…