Smart Tea Podcast

Check out episode 49 of the Smart Tea Podcast for Ludwig Boltzmann’s life story podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/s...

Smart Tea Podcast | Vivien Thomas Happy Black History month! In this episode, Aarati tells the unlikely story of a carpenter turned lab technician. Vivien Thomas created a blood shunt for the hearts of blue babies without ever having ...

NEW EPISODE! In honor of Black History Month and with Valentine's day near, Vivien Thomas's story is the perfect intersection. He was a Black carpenter who became indispensable to one of the top surgeons in the nation in the 1930s-50s. Listen to the story here: www.smartteapodcast.com/vivien-thomas

Happy birthday to Guy Callendar, who figured out human activity was causing Earth’s climate to change by gathering and analyzing data at home(Episode 9), and Wilson Bentley, the snowflake man, whose beautiful photographs showed us a world of ice crystals (episode 24)!

The first scientific paper highlighting the observed rise in global temperatures was in 1938.

By me!

And I also linked the observed warming to the rise in CO2 levels in the atmosphere, building on the earlier theoretical work.

We have known all this for soooo long.

My linocut of Russian chemist Dmitri Mendeleev from shoulders up in a gradient of bright mint green at the bottom through navy to darkest blue-black at the top. He wears a suit with bow tie and a heavy bushy beard. The shape of the modern periodic table is carved into his chest as blank squares, and the elements he knew are indicated by their symbols. Those he included but not quite in the right place (because contemporary observations were still inconclusive) are indicated in pink). The blank squares were as-of-yet not discovered or isolated elements.

Happy birthday to Russian #chemist Dmitri Mendeleev (1834 – 1907) who published the periodic table. 🧪🐡 #histsci Born in Siberia, the youngest child of a large family, his father was a school principal until he lost his sight & job. His mother then restarted her family’s abandoned glass factory 🧵

Layers of Brilliance - Episode Two: The 'House of Magic' In 1918 a young Katharine Burr Blodgett joins future Nobel Prize winner Irving Langmuir at The General Electric Company’s industrial research laboratory in Schenectady, N.Y. It’s the start of her bril...

In this week’s episode, it’s 1918 and a young Katharine Burr Blodgett joins future Nobel Prize winner Irving Langmuir at The General Electric Company’s industrial research laboratory in Schenectady, N.Y. It’s the start of her brilliant career.

Smart Tea Podcast | Andrew Robertson Ants may not be very big, but we have a lot to learn from these tiny creatures! Andrew Robertson, a PhD candidate at Georgia Tech and winner of Galactic Polymath Education Studio's 2025 #MySciJourney ...

NEW EPISODE! We sit down with Andrew Robertson (@andrew-antdude.bsky.social) winner of the #myscijourney competition hosted by @galacticpolymath.com. Dive into the remarkable world of ants and learn how complicated these tiny creatures are! Listen now www.smartteapodcast.com/andrew-rober...

Smart Tea Podcast | Dr. Dmitri Mendeleev It's episode 50! Aarati tells the story of the temperamental Russian chemist who figured out a way to organize all the known (and unknown) elements into a table that ordered them by increasing atomic ...

It's episode 50! Aarati tells the story of the temperamental Russian chemist who figured out a way to organize all the known (and unknown) elements into a table that ordered them by increasing atomic weight and grouped them into categories. www.smartteapodcast.com/dmitri-mende...

Smart Tea Podcast | Dr. Ludwig Boltzmann Why do certain things never happen in reverse? A shattered glass does not spontaneously reform, a spray of perfume doesn't concentrate back into it's bottle... but why not? In the Part III of our Dece...

NEW EPISODE! Sneaking in one more before the end of the year and wrapping up our series on #thermodynamics physicists. Dive into the fascinating and tragic life of Ludwig Boltzmann, the man who redefined entropy! #sciencepodcast #phsyics www.smartteapodcast.com/ludwig-boltz...

Smart Tea Podcast | Dr. Rudolf Clausius Part II of our December Thermodynamics Extravaganza! Aarati tells the story of the German scientist who formally stated that 1) energy is conserved and 2) entropy is always increasing.

NEW EPISODE! Our December Thermodynamics Extravaganza continues with the story of Dr. Rudolf Clausius, the physicist who defined the first 2 laws of thermodynamics: 1) energy is conserved and 2) entropy is always increasing. Listen to his story, now streaming! www.smartteapodcast.com/rudolf-claus...

Smart Tea Podcast | Sadi Carnot Born to one of the most influential families during the French Revolution, Sadi Carnot kickstarted another revolution in physics. His perfect (although theoretical) steam engine transformed the way we...

NEW EPISODE! Sadi Carnot was a young French scientist who designed the most perfect )albeit theoretical) stem engine. He is known as the Father of Thermodynamics! Check out his full life story here www.smartteapodcast.com/sadi-carnot

Smart Tea Podcast | Dr. Virginia Apgar After birth, a quick check to make sure the newborn is beathing and acting normally can be the difference between life and death.  Aarati tells the life story of Dr. Virginia Apgar, an obstetric anest...

New episode! This week we are discussing Dr. Virginia Apgar, the obstetric anesthesiologist who came up with a way to assess the health of newborns. The number of lives she has touched is incalculable! Listen on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube or here! www.smartteapodcast.com/virginia-apgar

Happy birthday to Hedy Lamarr! Check out her story on episode 8 of the Smart Tea podcast! www.smartteapodcast.com/hedy-lamarr

Episode 21 of the Smart Tea podcast covers the life and science of Wilhelm Rontgen! Now streaming wherever you get your podcasts www.smartteapodcast.com/wilhelm-ront...

NEW EPISODE! With holiday travels approaching, this week's podcast episode is about Charles Goodyear, the inventor of vulcanized rubber. His life was SO difficult but his invention literally changed the world. Episode 45 now streaming! #goodyear #podcast #stem www.smartteapodcast.com/charles-good...

Check out episode 4 for Dr. Patricia Bath’s life story! www.smartteapodcast.com/patricia-bath

Smart Tea Podcast | Dr. Donald Griffin Bat echolocation opened up a whole new world of questions regarding animal behavior. Aarati tells the story of the scientist who first put forward the idea that many animals were self-aware, could str...

Happy Bat Appreciation week! And let's not forget Dr. Donald Griffin, the ultimate bat enthusiast who figured out how bats use echolocation to navigate. Listen to his full story, now streaming wherever you get your podcasts www.smartteapodcast.com/donald-griffin

Smart Tea Podcast | Dr. Donald Griffin Bat echolocation opened up a whole new world of questions regarding animal behavior. Aarati tells the story of the scientist who first put forward the idea that many animals were self-aware, could str...

NEW EPISODE! In the spirit of Halloween, this week on the Smart Tea podcast we peek into the life of Dr. Donald Griffin, the animal behaviorist who coined the term "echolocation" for how bats are able to use sound to navigate. www.smartteapodcast.com/donald-griffin

Happy birthday to Alfred Nobel! His life was fascinating, from his invention of dynamite to founding the Nobel Prizes! Listen to his full life story in the very first episode of the podcast! podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/s...

Her work on tamoxifen transformed breast cancer treatment, yet Dr. Dora Richardson’s name faded from history. / Su trabajo transformó el tratamiento del cáncer de mama, pero el nombre de la Dra. Dora Richardson casi se perdió.
lostwomenofscience-v2.webflow.io/spanish-podc...

Smart Tea Podcast | William Buckland Hyenas and dinosaurs and bears, oh my! Arpita tells the story of the eccentric clergyman who wrote the first account of a dinosaur fossil and laid the foundations of geology and paleontology.

Happy National Fossil day! It’s the perfect day to check out episode 2 of the podcast about the life of the eccentric scientist, William Buckland, who discovered the first dinosaur fossil. www.smartteapodcast.com/william-buck...

Smart Tea Podcast | Dr. Alfred Binet Is intelligence something you are born with or is it a skill you can improve? Aarati tells the story of the self-taught psychologist who came up with the original IQ test to help people across the ent...

NEW EPISODE! This week we are diving into the life of Dr. Alfred Binet, one of the psychologists who developed the very first IQ test. Listen now wherever you get your podcasts! www.smartteapodcast.com/alfred-binet

Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine 2025 The Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine 2025 was awarded to Mary E. Brunkow, Fred Ramsdell and Shimon Sakaguchi “for their discoveries concerning peripheral immune tolerance.”

The Nobel Prize in Physiology and Medicine has been awarded to Mary Brunkow, Fred Ramsdell and Shimon Sakaguchi, who discovered that regulatory T cells help the immune system determine which cells are invaders that need to be eliminated and which cells are our own!
www.nobelprize.org/prizes/medic...

Smart Tea Podcast | Dr. James Lind An orange a day keeps the scurvy away! Aarati tells the story of the 18th century naval physician who set up the very first clinical trial to figure out what treatments for scurvy actually held (sea)w...

Happy birthday to James Lind, the naval doctor who figured out that eating citrus fruit could cure scurvy! Listen to his full story in episode 39 of the Smart Tea podcast. Now streaming wherever you get your podcasts! #onthisday www.smartteapodcast.com/james-lind

Photo of Ira Flatow and Jane Goodall taken in 2024 during her 90th birthday celebration."

Photo of Ira Flatow and Jane Goodall taken in 2020.

"I do know that when talking to people who perhaps think very differently, the only chance you have of getting them to think in a different way is to touch the heart." — Dr. Jane Goodall (1934-2025)

Thanks, Jane, for touching our hearts.

Smart Tea Podcast | Dr. Mario Molina At the turn of the century, the world came together to ban chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) after scientists found evidence that they were destroying the Earth's protective ozone layer. Aarati tells the sto...

NEW EPISODE! 🌍 It's #NYCW2025 and we wanted to add the hope and optimism this week by coving the story of Dr. Mario Molina. He, along with Drs. Sherwood Rowland and Paul Crutzen, won the Nobel Prize for discovering that CFCs were depleting the ozone layer. www.smartteapodcast.com/mario-molina

Smart Tea Podcast | Roxie Laybourne Any pilot will tell you, bird strikes are unfortunately a common occurrence. But thanks to Roxie's work, the skies are less dangerous for airplanes and our flying feathered friends. Aarati tells her s...

Happy birthday to Roxie Laybourne, the first forensic ornithologist! Her work in aviation saved countless lives (bird and human alike). Listen to her full story in episode 31 of the podcast! www.smartteapodcast.com/roxie-laybou... #onthisday #womeninscience

Smart Tea Podcast | Dr. Eugenie Clark Dive into the extraordinary life of the marine biologist who transformed our understanding of the ocean and the animals that live in it. Aarati tells the story of Dr. Eugenia Clark's lifelong obsessio...

NEW EPISODE ALERT! Join us as we take a deep dive into the life of Dr. Eugenie Clark, a.k.a. The Shark Lady! 🦈 #sciencepodcast www.smartteapodcast.com/eugenie-clark

Smart Tea Podcast | Dr. Thomas Brock Can you handle the heat? Aarati tells the story of the nature-loving scientist whose discovery of Thermus aquaticus, a microbe living in the hot waters of Yellowstone Park, helped make PCR one of the ...

NEW EPISODE! Dr. Thomas Brock was fascinated by organisms that survive in extreme conditions. He and his student Hudson Freeze discovered Thermus Aquaticus, a microbe that could survive in near boiling water... and it ended up revolutionizing biotech. Listen now! www.smartteapodcast.com/thomas-brock

We discussed him on our podcast and we’re also surprised to learn the Richter scale isn’t really what seismologists use anymore!