About Dr. Faherty:
This episode is brought to you from Caveat in NYC, featuring Dr. Jackie Faherty, an astronomer at the American Museum of Natural History. Dr. Faherty is an expert on brown dwarfs, stars that are unable to sustain the fusion of hydrogen as a result of their low mass.

After receiving her BS from Notre Dame and her PhD from Stony Brook University, Dr. Faherty received both the National Science Foundation International Research Fellowship and the NASA Hubble Fellowship. Dr. Faherty’s work falls under the umbrella of “exoplanet characterization studies” but focuses mainly on investigating the physical characteristics of brown dwarfs. Dr. Faherty and her team have worked to collect data on the nearest brown dwarfs (within 20 parsecs) as well as any brown dwarves outside that range exhibiting any unique characteristics.

Why it Matters:
Learning more about our solar system and the ones beyond it is vital to understanding our own planet, and how we got to be where we are. Not only is Dr. Faherty an accomplished scientist, she is also a passionate advocate for engaging students and communities in order to instill the values of curiosity and discovery.

To learn more about Dr. Faherty’s work:
Website: http://www.jackiefaherty.com/scientific-research/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/jfaherty?lang=en

Further Reading:
Analyzing the properties of brown dwarfs versus exoplanets:
http://adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/2016ApJS..225...10F
Exploring the relationship between kinematics, age, and color through analysis of velocity: http://adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/2009AJ....137....1F
Examining the relationship between extreme cold temperatures and luminosity in brown dwarfs:
http://adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/2014ApJ...796...39T

This episode is brought to you with the help of National Geographic and Bentzen Ball, featuring Dr. Danielle N. Lee, a biologist and expert on small rodents.

Dr. Lee is a National Geographic Emerging Explorer, and a professor of mammalogy and ecology at Southern Illinois University. Dr. Lee focuses her research on comparing the behavior of urban and rural rodents, and is learning more about the impact of ecology on mating behavior, personality, and other aspects of rodents’ lifestyles. Within that, Danielle is prioritizing female biology, which is has often been under-researched in the animal kingdom. She is also studying African giant pouched rats to learn more about their natural history and their potential to sniff out landmines in Tanzania.

Why it matters:

According to Dr. Lee, rodents and humans have had intertwined lifestyles throughout most of human history. And for the entirety of that relationship, humans have never been able to successfully manage rodents. Understanding the relationship between humans and rodents will, according to Danielle, “give us a lot of answers to understanding ourselves, like our own habits.”

Further reading:

A National Geographic interview with Dr. Lee on her work as an urban scientist

https://voices.nationalgeographic.org/2017/06/01/national-geographic-emerging-explorer-danielle-lee-finding-natural-wonders-hidden-in-the-city/

Follow Danielle:

Her blog, The Urban Scientist: https://blogs.scientificamerican.com/urban-scientist/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/dnlee5?lang=en

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/dnlee5/

This week’s episode is coming to you from Caveat Theater in NYC, featuring Shara Bailey, a paleoanthropologist. Dr. Bailey studies dental morphology and morphometrics in order to learn more about the origin and evolution of modern humans.

Dr. Bailey received her BA, MA, and PhD from Arizona State University. She is currently a professor at NYU and an Associated Scientist at the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology in Leipzig, Germany. Through her work, Dr. Bailey has studied a large collection of both human and ape dental specimens from many points in history. Currently, Dr. Bailey is studying the “evolution of childhood” through a comparative study of different species’ baby teeth at various points in human evolution.

Why it matters:

Ancient teeth are able to reveal new information about the lives of early humans, including diet, age, and overall health. Dr. Bailey uses these teeth to learn more about the evolution of humans, including their taxonomy and migration patterns. With this information, scientists can discover how early humans evolved to where we are now.

More about Dr. Jackie Faherty

More about Dr. Danielle Lee

More about ancient teeth and Dr. Shara Bailey