When you taste the subtle flavor of a perfectly brewed cup of coffee, or smell the funk of an aged blue cheese – you don’t just experience those flavors with your taste buds and nose, you experience them with your brain! Neuroscience PhD Jess K

Sensing Episode 2: Squish Goes the Robot!

Dec 9th, 2019 17m 26s

Can robots ever learn to feel? Our ability to perform delicate tasks, like giving a gentle hug or picking a piece of fruit, is something that robots can't yet mimic.Ryan Truby, an alum of the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences and the Harvard

Sensing Episode 1: It's All within Reach

Dec 2nd, 2019 16m 35s

From the moment you open your eyes in the morning, your sense of sight helps you navigate and interact with the world. But how do our brains understand what our eyes are telling us? And how do we know what's surrounding us, where we can move, a

Monsters Episode 3: King Kong vs. Gravity (Re-Release)

Oct 28th, 2019 19m 26s

Why isn’t King Kong scaling the Empire State Building right now? Should we worry about Godzilla rising from the depths of the Pacific Ocean? Shane Campbell-Staton, co-host of the podcast The Biology of Superheroes and Harvard PhD ’15 in Organis

Monsters Episode 2: Parasites (Re-Release)

Oct 21st, 2019 18m 40s

Some monsters live inside us. PhD candidate in Biological Sciences in Public Health Maddy McFarland studies Trypanosoma cruzi, a parasite that transforms its shape to sneak inside our cells and makes us sick. The scariest part: Our cells can’t

Monsters Episode 1: Mermaids (Re-Release)

Oct 14th, 2019 16m 44s

Mermaids: They’re cute, innocent, and great singers, right? Think again! PhD candidate in Celtic Languages and Literatures Greg Darwin explains why you wouldn’t want to meet a mermaid in a dark aquatic alley. He also talks about selkie tales –

Food Episode 4: Your Body Isn't Broken

May 9th, 2019 16m 26s

Can nutrition education solve the obesity epidemic? Hannah Cory asked that question over and over while working as a dietician in a public school system. Now, as a PhD candidate in Population Health Sciences, Hannah’s research seeks to uncover

Food Episode 3: Go with Your Gut

May 2nd, 2019 18m 15s

What does it mean to have a "healthy gut?" Is it worth drinking kombucha or taking probiotics? What about that gut-brain connection? PhD candidates Cary Allen-Blevins and Vayu Maini Rekdal explore how "good" bacteria help us to break down our f

Food Episode 2: Veritalk Goes Vegan

Apr 25th, 2019 18m 40s

In the last few years, the popularity of "plant-based diets" has exploded. Celebrities from Tom Brady to Beyoncé promote eating less meat. Even Burger King introduced a meatless burger. Nina Gheihman, a PhD candidate in sociology, tells us how

Food Episode 1: Turmeric Lattes and Tikka Masala

Apr 18th, 2019 16m 41s

After moving to the US from Mauritius, PhD candidate in Romance Languages and Literatures Nikhita Obeegadoo felt homesick. Her experience eating a bowl of dal (spiced lentils) in the US led her to ask questions about food and diaspora, cultural

4.3 Who Owns the Night?

Feb 7th, 2019 20m 18s

When developers try to revitalize the nightlife in Johannesburg, not everyone is invited to the party. PhD candidate Chrystel Oloukoi explores the ways that race, gender, and class shape the nightlife culture in Johannesburg and Lagos. The last

4.2 Pothole Politics

Jan 31st, 2019 17m 32s

Potholes are an everyday annoyance for commuters, but they're a really complex problem for cities to solve. Many cities, including Boston, have 311 apps that allow citizens to report potholes in their own neighborhoods. But Elijah de la Campa i

4.1 Hello, you’ve reached. . . Manila?

Jan 24th, 2019 17m 53s

One jetlagged night in Manila leads PhD candidate Justin Stern into the world of business process outsourcing. The first episode in Veritalk's series on the Secret Life of Cities.Full TranscriptThe Veritalk Team:Host/Producer: Anna Fisher-Pi

Monsters Episode 3: King Kong vs. Gravity

1 Nov 1st, 2018 18m 46s

Monsters Episode 2: Parasites

Oct 25th, 2018 17m 58s

Monsters Episode 1: Mermaids

Oct 18th, 2018 15m 31s

Displacement Episode 3: The Estranged

Jul 20th, 2018 17m 50s

PhD graduate in Sociology Monica Bell’s interviews with poor youth of color in Baltimore led her to formulate the idea of “legal estrangement.” While the press focuses on a “trust gap” between black youth and the police, Monica believes that th

Displacement Episode 2: The Shipwreck

Jul 13th, 2018 14m 54s

During World War II, many Greek people had to flee their homes and seek safety in the Middle East. Today, Syrian refugees flee violence in the Middle East, and wind up on the shores of Greece. Argyro Nicolaou, a PhD student in Comparative Liter

Displacement Episode 1: The Rohingya

Jul 6th, 2018 17m 12s

Almost no outsiders have visited the internally displaced persons camps in Burma where over 140,000 Rohingya Muslims are forced to live. Cresa Pugh, a PhD student in sociology, was able to visit last year. She saw a community in turmoil – but m

Plumage Episode 3: Puttin' on the Ritz

Feb 23rd, 2018 22m 40s

In our last episode about plumage, Chloe Chapin, PhD student in American Studies, explores how humans have used fashion to express gender and status -- and how present-day fashion can bend the "rules" we've come to know.Full TranscriptThe Ver

Plumage Episode 2: The Wild Blue Yonder

Feb 16th, 2018 18m 13s

What if you wanted to recreate the iridescent blue-green of a peacock feather in a lab? It turns out that scientists are still trying to figure out how to replicate some of nature's most impressive plumage.Full TranscriptThe Veritalk Team:Ho

Plumage Episode 1: Love is a Battlefield

Feb 9th, 2018 16m 8s

Harvard PhD student Dakota McCoy, who studies Organismic and Evolutionary Biology, asks why birds of paradise evolved to have brightly colored feathers. Then she asks an even bigger question: Why did some of these brightly colored birds also de