Sing For Science is a science and music podcast produced with Talkhouse where musicians talk to scientists about science as it connects to their most famous songs. Created and hosted by New York musician, Matt Whyte, the podcast’s goal is to increase science literacy for as many people as possible by reaching a variety of different musicians’ fan bases. Listeners come to the show through their love of music and leave with a new piece of knowledge. Science literacy and respect for expertise are perhaps more vital now than ever before. The show’s chief tenet is that a more science and scientific process literate society can only contribute towards greater support for more fair, evidence-based policy in government. Sing For Science is listener supported; please contribute today at singforscience.org.
LABS: Bethany Cosentino and Lisa Marchiano on Jungian Analysis
Best Coast lead singer and Jungian analysand, Bethany Cosentino and “This Jungian Life Podcast" host Lisa Marchiano do a deep dive on you guessed it…Jungian Analysis! We cover dream analysis, the unconscious, creativity, archetypes, personae and then some!
2/21/2024 • 1 hour, 10 minutes, 57 seconds
Spyro Gyra: Catching The Sun (Harmful Algal Blooms with Holly Waterfield)
Spyro Gyra co-founder Jeremy Wall talks about the height of the jazz fusion era, composing and about about the ins and outs of lake formation, spirogyra algae, harmful algal blooms or HABS and more with lake ecologist, Holly Waterfield. This episode was co-produced with the AJ Reid Science Discovery Center at SUNY Oneonta where it was taped in front of a live audience on December 6, 2023.
1/31/2024 • 42 minutes, 16 seconds
Sheila E: The Glamorous Life (Rhythm Neuroscience with Hugo Merchant)
Queen of Percussion and Prince collaborator Sheila E talks about her 1984 hit, working with Prince, salsa music and learning from her legendary father with University of Mexico Neuroscientist, Dr. Hugo Merchant. Hugo shares fascinating findings about how the mechanisms in the brain process rhythm and help us keep a beat.
1/10/2024 • 43 minutes, 22 seconds
Encore: MGMT: A Family of Trees (Forest Ecology with Suzanne Simard)
A FAMILY OF TREES: UNCOVERING NETWORKS IN OUR FORESTS' UNDERSTORY with Andrew VanWyngarden and Ben Goldwasser of MGMT and Dr. Suzanne Simard, forest ecology professor.
In this episode we discuss:
- how trees communicate with one another
- the folly of industrialized logging
- how trees help other trees
- Native American ancestral DNA in cedar
- where to buy mushrooms in Connecticut
12/20/2023 • 57 minutes, 2 seconds
Universe of Art | How Star Trek Incorporates Real-Life Science
Special BONUS episode featuring the Science Friday/Universe of Art Podcast! Sing For Science host Matt Whyte welcomes Universe of Art host, D. Peterschmidt to talk about their show, Universe of Art. Like Sing For Science, Universe of Art is a science and art podcast that showcases “artists who use science to bring their creations to the next level.” Following our brief chat D shares with us a very special Universe of Art episode entitled “How Star Trek Incorporates Real-Life Science”. For more information about the show please visit https://singforscience.org/episodes/universeofart.
11/9/2023 • 34 minutes, 48 seconds
Encore: Mac DeMarco: Chamber of Reflection (Acoustics with Russ Berger)
MAC DEMARCO: CHAMBER OF REFLECTION: UNDERSTANDING THE SCIENCE OF SOUND with
Mac DeMarco and Russ Berger, acoustician.
In this episode we discuss:
- what sound is
- how speakers work
- how sound affects the human body
- how the brain interprets sound in a space
- Astronautical elimination
10/18/2023 • 40 minutes, 8 seconds
Ice Nine Kills (Horror Movie Science with Dr. Sarah Rose Cavanagh)
Recorded live at the MIT Museum in Cambridge, MA on 9/18/23: Heavy Metal frontman and horror movie expert Spencer Charnas chats with psychologist Dr. Sarah Rose Cavanagh about his favorite horror movies, why we like to be scared, the difference between fictional and real violence, monster theory, recreational fear lab research and more.
9/27/2023 • 38 minutes, 7 seconds
Ice Nine Kills (Audience Q&A MIT Museum Taping)
Spencer and Sarah field questions aplenty from the sold out crowd at the MIT Museum on 9/18/23. Lots of territory covered including favorite on-screen monsters, what we fear most, scary music, and how to take a class with Sarah in Boston.
9/27/2023 • 21 minutes, 47 seconds
Eartheater: Mitosis (Cell Biology with Elizabeth Hénaff)
Multidisciplinary artist Eartheater talks with NYU computational biologist and artist, Dr. Elizabeth Hénaff about cell division, snails, horseshit, gut biome health, artist residencies and more at this very special live event!
This episode was recorded at DEMO2023, presented by NEW INC and the New Museum, June 2023
9/6/2023 • 35 minutes, 36 seconds
311: All Mixed Up (Building Utopia with Rutger Bregman)
311 lead singer and eternal optimist Nick Hexum talks about their breakout hit “All Mixed Up” with best-selling author and Dutch Historian, Rutger Bregman. Rutger’s books “Utopia For Realists” and Humankind” draw on scientific evidence that demonstrate our inherent capacity for good and the viability of ideas like Universal Basic Income, a 15 Hour Work Week, Open Borders and more.
8/16/2023 • 53 minutes, 8 seconds
Ted Hearne: Farming (Agriculture Science with Dr. Sarah Taber)
Pulitzer Nominated composer, Ted Hearne talks about his epic work “Farming”, a hybridized piece written for a 24 piece choir with text taken from William Penn correspondence, a Jeff Bezos speech, the Uber Eats Twitter feed and more. Dr. Sarah Taber joins us for a conversation about the impacts of settler colonialism on modern day agriculture, the romantic myth of the American family farm and more!
7/26/2023 • 45 minutes, 22 seconds
Ringo Starr: Send Love, Spread Peace (Meditation Science with Bob Roth)
Fab Four drummer and peace activist, Ringo Starr talks about going to see the Maharishi with John and George, his upbringing in violent Liverpool of the 1950s and being saved by music and then the gift of meditation. Bob Roth, renowned meditation teacher of 60 years and CEO of the David Lynch Foundation, talks to Matt and Ringo about the scientifically documented capacity of meditation to cultivate peace for the individual and the collective. This episode is being released on July 7th in celebration of Ringo’s 83rd birthday on which he invites anyone to say or think peace and love at noon, their local time.
7/7/2023 • 33 minutes, 23 seconds
Joan As Police Woman: The Magic (The Science of Transcendence with Maria Popova)
NYC Legend Joan As Police Woman (Joan Wasser) talks about her 2011 song “The Magic” with influential writer and science historian, Maria Popova (The Marginalian / Brain Pickings). We talk about measuring how music can transport us, the “magic” of making connections, pattern recognition, wonderment as a discipline, double dutch and so much more in this incredibly awe inspiring episode.
6/14/2023 • 47 minutes, 42 seconds
Dermot Kennedy: See Yourself in My Eyes (Science of Street Performance with Psychologist Dr. Robbie Ho)
Irish balladeer and arena headliner, Dermot Kennedy talks about his experience coming up as a busker in Dublin with Hong Kong psychologist, Dr. Robbie Ho whose research seeks to quantify the effect “busking” has on the audience’s perception of a public space.
5/24/2023 • 47 minutes, 49 seconds
Onuka (Ukraine): Vidlik (Radiobiology with Chernobyl researcher Olena Pareniuk)
Special Chernobyl anniversary episode with Nata Zhyzhchenko of the Ukrainian band, Onuka and Chernobyl radiobiologist, Olena Pareniuk. Both of today's guests joined us from Kyiv and have been in Ukraine since the start of the Russian invasion. We talk about what life is like during wartime for a professional musician and a scientist, the horsehair construction of a Ukrainian folk instrument that stinks of beer and cheese, studying radioactivity in the Chernobyl exclusion zone, Ukrainian resilience and so much more! This episode was co-produced by Inscience, a nonprofit organization that promotes science and evidence-based medicine in Ukraine.
4/26/2023 • 50 minutes, 21 seconds
Best of Season 2 (Part 1)
Join SFS host, Matt Whyte and SFS social media manager, Bailey Constas for a curated peak at some of Season Two's Best Moments! Featuring SIA with psychotherapist, Dr. Alexandra Katehakis, Lamb of God’s Randy Blythe with social psychologist, Dr. Tony Lemieux, Jose González with epidemiologist, Dr. Mike Osterholm, Blondie’s Debbie Harry and Chris Stein with climatologist, Dr. Michael Mann, and Majid Jordan with aquanaut, Fabien Cousteau.
3/29/2023 • 1 hour, 40 seconds
Best of Season 1 (Part 2)
Join SFS host, Matt Whyte and SFS social media manager, Bailey Constas for another trip down memory lane with some of Season One’s Best Moments! Featuring Living Colour and fascism expert, Dr. Ruth Ben-Ghiat, Aly & AJ and neuroscientist, Dr. Joseph LeDoux, Aluna and conflict resolution expert, Priya Parker and DMC with folklore expert, Dr. Jennifer Schacker.
2/22/2023 • 56 minutes, 20 seconds
Best of Season 1 (Part 1)
Join SFS host, Matt Whyte and SFS social media manager, Bailey Constas for a trip down memory lane with some of Season One’s Best Moments! Featuring MGMT & forest ecologist, Dr Suzanne Simard, Norah Jones and science journalist, Shawn Otto, Connie Britton and rivers expert, Paul Gallay, Renée Fleming and Parkinson’s expert Dr. Bin Hu, Mac Demarco and acoustician Russ Berger.
2/8/2023 • 59 minutes, 14 seconds
Ani DiFranco: The Atom (Quantum Physics with Melissa Franklin)
Today’s episode was hosted by the MIT Museum in Cambridge, Massachusetts and recorded in front of a live audience as part of an ongoing collaboration with Sing For Science. We discuss the Manhattan Project, the ethical implications of nuclear energy, climate change, quantum entanglement, quantum computing and more!
12/21/2022 • 30 minutes, 58 seconds
Richard Reed Parry & Susie Ibarra: Overtone Heartbeats (Cardiology with Sandeep Jauhar)
This episode was recorded live at Public Records in Brooklyn, NY as part of the Offair event series. Arcade Fire multi-instrumentalist Richard Reed Parry and percussionist/composer Susie Ibarra talk about their album “Heart and Breath” with cardiologist and bestselling author, Dr. Sandeep Jauhar. Their album is set entirely to the rhythm of their own heartbeats and breath cycles so we dive deep on what’s at work with Dr. Jauhar. We cover the relationship between heart and lungs, the development of open heart surgery and more!
12/14/2022 • 29 minutes, 45 seconds
Jonathan Davis (Korn): Dead Bodies Everywhere (Mortuary Science with Mary Roach)
WARNING: This episode contains content related to mortuary science that some listeners may find disturbing.
Korn frontman Jonathan Davis delves into his past as a mortician with popular science bestselling author, Mary Roach. Mary wrote the hit book Stiff: The Curious Lives of Human Cadavers and the two have no shortage of gory details to discuss. We talk about the biology of human corpse decomposition and preservation, embalming techniques (including but not limited to anal suturing), Elvis’s autopsy, and more!
11/30/2022 • 49 minutes, 29 seconds
Coming Soon: Sing for Science
"Sing for Science" trailer. Episodes released weekly starting October 14th.
