Sciographies Podcast and Radio Show

In the last Sciographies episode of the year, Dalhousie University pharmacology student Gracious Kasheke tackles hosting duties to interview David Barclay for a change.

When Dr. Barclay isn’t moonlighting as the host of Sciographies, he’s an associate professor in Dal’s Department of Oceanography and a Canada Research Chair in Ocean Technology Systems (Tier II).

In this episode, we interview Dr. Sophia Stone, a molecular biologist and professor in the Department of Biology. Thanks to mentorship from strong female influences and unwavering commitment throughout her life, Dr. Stone built a career in science that can help society answer critical questions about the future of food security. Her research explores the fundamental principles that explain how plants respond to their environments and cope with changes.

In this episode, we interview Dr. Tess Cyrus, an economist and associate professor with Dalhousie’s Department of Economics. Dr. Cyrus grew up in sunny California, just a stone’s throw away from Disneyland. Today, her research focuses on understanding the forces that bring people together. She studies international trade and bilateral trade flows with an emphasis on how culture plays a role in these processes.

In this episode, we interview Dr. Mark Stradiotto, a chemist and professor with Dalhousie’s Department of Chemistry. He has also won teaching awards and is the most recent recipient of Dal’s Arthur B. McDonald Chair of research Excellence. Today the Stradiotto Research Group at Dalhousie specializes in the study and design of ligands — these are ions or molecules that bind to metals, allowing the metals to react in ways that otherwise wouldn’t be possible.

In this episode, we interview Dr. Tim Bardouille. He’s a medical physicist and assistant professor with Dalhousie’s Department of Physics and Atmospheric Sciences.

Today his research in Dal’s Biosignal Lab explores how to capture and analyze imaging data on the brain signals associated with disorders of the motor system, with a goal of creating technology that helps improve patient outcomes.

In October 2020, Sciographies host David Barclay teamed up with the Open Dialogue Live series to interview Dalhousie alum Kathryn Sullivan (PhD’78, LLD’85) on Facebook Live. Dr. Sullivan is a former NASA astronaut and was the first American woman to complete a spacewalk in 1984. She made history again earlier this year when she became the first woman to travel down to Challenger Deep, the deepest known point of the ocean.

In this episode we interview Dr. Hal Whitehead in his backyard, which overlooks the ocean in Herring Cove, Nova Scotia. Dr. Whitehead is a marine biologist, a professor in the Department of Biology, and author of several books. Now Dr. Whitehead uses his own sailboat to track sperm whales and northern bottlenose whales at sea for weeks at a time. A handful of graduate students join him to collect visual, acoustic, and biological data on how the whales behave and communicate with each other.

In this episode, we interview Dr. Natalie Rosen, a sex therapist, sexual health researcher, and associate professor of psychology. She tells us about growing up in Ottawa, being inspired by Dr. Sue Johanson’s sex education broadcast programs, her path through university and grad school, and more. Dr. Rosen also tells us about her knowledge mobilization initiative PostBabyHankyPanky.com, which boils down her research findings into short, informative videos that aim to help new parents talk about common sexual concerns that arise for new parents.