Best of the Lady Science Podcast 2020
There won’t be a new episode of the Lady Science podcast this month. And while I regret the circumstances that led to that decision, I don’t want to apologize for not putting out a new episode. I don’t want to apologize—and I don’t want you to want me to apologize—for not putting out a new episode as we cascade into the worst winter in living memory on a boiling tide of death and misery. So I won’t. We simply couldn’t make it happen this month, just like we couldn’t prevent our loved ones from getting sick, our lives from being overturned, our careers and hopes for the future from being put on indefinite hold.
Here are the 5 most important episodes of the podcast from 2020, and why I think you should listen to them. It means so much to me and the team that you’re still reading and listening, and we are so grateful for your support. Be sure to also check out our 2020 Editor’s Picks for a great selection of reading material from this year.
Bonus: Talking Science Journalism in the Midst of Covid-19 with Wendy Zukerman
This is the first—and one of the very, very few—pieces of content we published this year on Covid. And frankly, I hope it stays that way. We aren’t science journalists, and as this episode shows, especially in times of pandemic where both the news and science is evolving minute to minute, we owe a lot to the people who do that job well, with good humor and empathy. Listen to the delightful Wendy Zukerman talk about the challenges of reporting on the pandemic, and the indignity and accidental hilarity of being a woman in science journalism. Also: be sure to check out her show Science Vs.
No! They weren’t just “roommates”!
Keen listeners will know that I become completely undone at any mention of romance in any context. Usually, the other hosts assign me to read whatever devastating longing letter of heartbreak they can find, but not this episode! This one is about women doctors making lives and careers together in ways that both leveraged and defied the sexual and social norms of their time. And don’t worry: I did in fact get really weepy about a certain charm bracelet.
Bonus: Talking the history of deafness ‘cures’ with jaipreet Virdi
Dr. Virdi is one of my favorite guests we’ve ever had on the show. Her research, which focuses on deafness ‘cures’ and the social and cultural history of deafness and disability in the United States, is some of the sharpest history of science I’ve read in years. Virdi shows how science and technology construct disability itself, which is vital to a fuller understanding of the way these forces are deeply intertwined in our social and cultural life. There is nothing they do not touch, from your inner ear to the nature of family. Be sure to pick up Dr. Virdi’s excellent book Hearing Happiness: Deafness Cures in History.
Women Refugee Scientists of World War II
I wasn’t around for this recording. I was with my family, caring for my grandma, half-glued to the news as the election to end all elections went down around me. The hosts, with our own KJ Shepherd filling in, recorded this a couple of hours after Pennsylvania was called, and it has the energy you would expect. This episode features research Leila has been working on about refugee scientists who struggled against the United States’ shameful immigration quotas to escape Nazi Germany, and it’s heavy. But it’s also incredibly important, and unfortunately topical. Listen to learn about some of the less well known costs of this country’s inexcusably racist policy making, and how communities of marginalized scientists mobilized to protect themselves in the face of staggering indifference from the US.
Leila and I broke the story for this special role-playing game one night over beers, extremely high on our own cleverness and immersed in all that’s fun and thrilling about being historians. Recorded before the pandemic, this episode and all the prep we did for it are my touchstone in moments of despair, a reminder of why we do what we do, how much we love it, and an admonition to not take too seriously the things that don’t warrant it. We are joined by Jessica Lynn Parsons (The Dungeon Run) and Alexis Pedrick (Distillations Podcast). Plus: the episode features a special guest appearance by Stephen McGann (Call the Midwife).
