Show Notes
Histories, mysteries, memories and families: it’s time to clamber up our ancestral trees. Author and genealogist Stephen Hanks -- who teaches genealogy classes in Portland, Oregon and has contributed to PBS genealogy documentaries -- sits down to chat in this encore episode about what ignited a passion for learning about his own history. Also: how to find your family through census records, county archives, death certificates and more, plus which DNA tests he’s taken, our most recent common ancestor, and how America can try to heal from its past. Also: capes, detectives and hairy fanny packs.
More from Ologies with Alie Ward
Whisks and witches. Bristles and Shakers. Potions and prisons. From making brooms to jumping them, teacher, author, broomsquire, and Broomologist Cate O'Connell Richards gives us the overlooked history of how that broom got in your garage. So light a candle and tuck in for fibers, harvests, how-tos, angel wings, hawktails, besoms, labor laws, Broomcorn Johnnies, utopic communes, wedding traditions, oral histories, care tips and how everything is more interesting with context. Even brooms. Content warning as requested by the guest: when we talk about history, especially witches, there may be mentions of violence, death or sexuality.
Punted seals. Sunken yachts. Beach ambushes. And salmon hats? What’s even happening with killer whales? Are they sadists, or just hungry hungry hippos turned marine mammals? The Natural History Museum of LA County’s marine mammal expert Dr. Jorge Vélez-Juarbe joins the show to chat about peachy babies, how their language is like a trucker radio, tiny whiskers, the formal wear, what’s with the nubbin teeth, if you should go whale watching, pod sizes, Indigenous folklore, captivity struggles, whales that meow, fatty melons and so much more. Also: baby whiskers. Spooktober continues, with these aquatic killers.
Thrills. Chills. Hiding behind your hands. It’s officially SPOOKTOBER month with a huge, fascinating (and I promise, mellow) episode on why humans watch horror, and what’s happening in your brain. Not only do we have the author of “Horror on the Brain: the Neuroscience Behind Science Fiction,” neuroscientist Dr. Austin Lim, but this also features CUTS from other episodes to FLESH it all out. Enjoy the political sociology of zombies vs. vampires, feminist body horror, horror as anti-war art, liminal spaces, the best blood in the business, goosebumps and Goosebumps, evolutionary mismatches, why clowns unsettle you, and if horror is having its moment. (Note: it is.)
Basement card games. Fireside reminiscing. Being forced to learn a dance. Does acting like a cornball matter? Will bits save your life? Yes. I got myself to the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill to talk with research psychologists Dr. Sara Algoe and Dr. Laura Kurtz, who also run the research collective, The Love Consortium. They’re the team behind studies proving that laughing does predict and enhance lasting social support and lead to longer, better lives. We chat sneaky studies, in person vs. remote hangouts, which came first: the giggle or the oxytocin, which “novel and arousing” activities strengthen relationships, the immersive bonding of a slumber party with people you trust, words vs. actions, laughter amid conflict, and how connecting with old friends can keep you out of the hospital unless you decide to try amateur rodeo night at the fair.
Gems of lightning and shadows. Rainbow fossils. Underground tunnel homes. Mysterious sedimentary origins. Aboriginal dreamtime stories. Armored snails. Questionable song lyrics. It’s opals, folks. And world expert geophysicist and University of Sydney professor Dr. Patrice Rey is here to talk about why he left France to explore the geological mysteries of the Outback. Should you get an opal engagement ring? Can they get wet? What’s the difference between an Australian and Ethiopian opal? What was one doing in a Kenyan cave 3000 years ago? What’s a Kyoto Opal vs. opalite? And why was your great grandma named Opal?