Speaker 1: Hi guys, and welcome to this week's episode of a
Speaker 1: Let's Be Real podcast. As always, my name is Emmy Jay,
Speaker 1: and I hope your day is going well and I
Speaker 1: hope this podcast makes your day even better. This week's
Speaker 1: episode is with Emily CALENDRELLI. Now, if you don't know
Speaker 1: who she is, boy, are you about to. She's an
Speaker 1: Emmy nominated science host. She's a Netflix show called Emily's
Speaker 1: Wonder Lab. She's worked with Bill Nives Science Guy. She's
Speaker 1: a former m I two grad. She's an author. She
Speaker 1: does everything we talked about a lot in this episode,
Speaker 1: and I hope you guys enjoyed before this episode starts.
Speaker 1: As always, don't forget to subscribe, leave a comment. And
Speaker 1: if you haven't showed this episode with Somebody Loves Personal Emily,
Speaker 1: I am so excited you are on my show. This
Speaker 1: is so exciting. I'm so excited. This is like I
Speaker 1: Heart Radio. Are you kidding me? This is awesome? It
Speaker 1: doesn't feel real, sill and we're already in the second season.
Speaker 1: Oh my gosh, there's a lot to talk about. For
Speaker 1: those who don't know you are a Emmy nominated a
Speaker 1: science host. I'm going to say m I t grad
Speaker 1: and you have a new Netflix show called Emily's Wonder Lab,
Speaker 1: which is so exciting and how awesome is it that,
Speaker 1: like you're on Netflix, Like literally dream come true? Hands down.
Speaker 1: I'm a senior in high school and I've been really
Speaker 1: into science, particularly this year for the first time. UM,
Speaker 1: And I know you talk a lot about STEM literacy,
Speaker 1: So for those who don't know what it is, can
Speaker 1: you explain it? And then can you tell me how
Speaker 1: I can become more STEM literate on a day to
Speaker 1: day basis? Yeah, I mean when I see stem literacy,
Speaker 1: I really just mean people being more comfortable learning about science,
Speaker 1: because science is so it seems so intimidating. Like I know,
Speaker 1: when I was in high school, I thought science was
Speaker 1: like just for the quote unquote smart people, and I
Speaker 1: did not consider myself one of the smart people, and
Speaker 1: so I was like, oh, science is way too intimidating
Speaker 1: for me. Um. But I have since learned that science
Speaker 1: is fascinating and fun to learn about and it's absolutely everywhere,
Speaker 1: and so for me, I just want to make science
Speaker 1: more accessible for everyone. You don't have to be majoring
Speaker 1: in science to enjoy science. You don't have to have
Speaker 1: like a PhD to learn this stuff. I just want
Speaker 1: to try to make it more fun and accessible for everyone,
Speaker 1: and that's something we have in common. Actually, I'm really
Speaker 1: passionate about the education system, and I think there are
Speaker 1: so many flaws with it, especially the way we approach them.
Speaker 1: So what is one of the things that you think
Speaker 1: that should change across all schools that would make them
Speaker 1: more interesting and an approach where people would be excited
Speaker 1: to learn about And it's like, oh, science class, Yes,
Speaker 1: I think that we should be using more than just textbooks.
Speaker 1: Like most of my schooling was all just like memorize
Speaker 1: everything in this textbook, and that's what sciences. I hate
Speaker 1: textbooks so much, like we all learned so differently, and
Speaker 1: for me, textbooks were just not the way that I
Speaker 1: enjoyed learning. I like to learn learning from videos or
Speaker 1: from experiments, things that I could get my hands dirty with.
Speaker 1: That type of stuff is way more interactive and fun.
Speaker 1: I think teachers should be using more YouTube videos and
Speaker 1: their classrooms. These people on YouTube who are just so
Speaker 1: creative and smart and funny and goofy, and they incorporate
Speaker 1: science and really unique ways that I've never seen before.
Speaker 1: We just need to be allowing students who learned differently
Speaker 1: to be able to discover all of these different ways
Speaker 1: that science can be taught. And science is really all
Speaker 1: around us. I actually took physics this summer, so fascinating.
Speaker 1: I was I love to paint, so I was gonna
Speaker 1: pick out paints for me and my brother, and then
Speaker 1: I thought, wait, I could save money by just using
Speaker 1: the primary colors because that's how light reflects. And I
Speaker 1: had a whole lesson on it and it just worked
Speaker 1: out perfect. That's Jesus. I mean, that's just like understanding
Speaker 1: how the things that we experience every day, how they work.
Speaker 1: Like the fact that white light contains all of the
Speaker 1: colors that when I first learned that, that blew my mind.
Speaker 1: That is such a You would think that all of
Speaker 1: the light colors mixed together would look like black light,
Speaker 1: but that's just that it creates white. That so cool,
Speaker 1: I know. And I also I saw your d I
Speaker 1: y video on how to make ice cream, and I
Speaker 1: remember doing it at camp when I was like eight
Speaker 1: years old, and it just it did not turn out right.
Speaker 1: I think we missed the salt, which was actually the
Speaker 1: main component to it. But now I really want to
Speaker 1: try it. Oh, it's so easy. That's one of my
Speaker 1: favorite ones to do because I think it's so fascinating
Speaker 1: that when you add salt to ice that you can
Speaker 1: actually lower the temperature of ice, like you can get
Speaker 1: it down to seven degrees fahrenheit, just something really really
Speaker 1: really cold. And that's the way that you can make
Speaker 1: ice cream in five minutes. You just super cool it.
Speaker 1: We learned something new every day. That's so fascinating about it.
Speaker 1: So what is your favorite d I Y project not
Speaker 1: just you've done, but seemed done that you're like, oh
Speaker 1: my god, it was just like a blow your mind
Speaker 1: type moment. Oh yeah, I mean one that I like
Speaker 1: doing all the time is the egg and a bottle
Speaker 1: experiment where you get a bottle it's like a milk jug,
Speaker 1: and then you light a piece of newspaper on fire
Speaker 1: and so it involves fire, which is always and kind
Speaker 1: of scary, and you throw that flaming newspaper in the
Speaker 1: bottle and then you put a boiled egg on top
Speaker 1: of the glass bottle and when that happens, basically you're
Speaker 1: forcing a lot of the air out of the bottle.
Speaker 1: And then once the fire goes out that air that's
Speaker 1: left inside condenses and you're creating kind of like a vacuum,
Speaker 1: and that egg gets pushed in by the atmospheric pressure.
Speaker 1: And so it's just a way to suck an egg
Speaker 1: into a bottle. And it looks like magic, but it's science.
Speaker 1: It's so cool. That's crazy. And I think science is
Speaker 1: so important, especially STEM, and unfortunately STEM is just such
Speaker 1: especially women in STEM. It's so underrepresented. And my cousin
Speaker 1: actually works at SpaceX UM and he is one of
Speaker 1: the engineers for the rocket chips and he has always
Speaker 1: told me the importance of having women in STEM. And
Speaker 1: so I actually asked him to ask a question for
Speaker 1: something because I thought it might put a fun spin
Speaker 1: on it, and he said, let me find it here.
Speaker 1: For many who are unaware of the challenges faced by
Speaker 1: women and STEM and in the workplace in general, what
Speaker 1: are some of the best ways they can raise awareness
Speaker 1: for and champion gender equality in an appropriate professional way. Yes,
Speaker 1: oh my gosh, that's such a cool question. And also
Speaker 1: the fact that he works at SpaceX that's like the
Speaker 1: coolest company ever. So he's the coolest. I should I
Speaker 1: should connect you guys. He's that's pretty amazing. I mean Honestly,
Speaker 1: I think one of the things that I see the
Speaker 1: most that uh, maybe men in the world of engineering
Speaker 1: or stem um fail to do is when you do
Speaker 1: these projects when you're in college. Oftentimes one part of
Speaker 1: the project is you have to go and do outreach
Speaker 1: in the community and you have to try to inspire
Speaker 1: the next generation of scientists and engineers. And what I
Speaker 1: often see is those people going to the places that
Speaker 1: they experienced when they were a kid, like Boy Scouts,
Speaker 1: which is great. We should absolutely be going to the
Speaker 1: Boy Scouts to encourage them to become scientists and engineers.
Speaker 1: But if you're only going to the boy Scouts and
Speaker 1: you're not going to the Girl Scouts, who do you
Speaker 1: think the next generation of scientists and engineers are going
Speaker 1: to be? Right? So, I think that if we can
Speaker 1: just be a bit more thoughtful and who we recruit,
Speaker 1: and also trying to find more representation in these fields,
Speaker 1: Like obviously a girl going to talk to the Girl
Speaker 1: Scouts is probably going to be more powerful. That doesn't
Speaker 1: mean guys shouldn't do that, they should absolutely do that,
Speaker 1: but um, trying to find representation in these fields is
Speaker 1: really important because there's just something about seeing someone that
Speaker 1: looks like you talking about science and technology. That makes
Speaker 1: that that whole field feel so much more relatable exactly,
Speaker 1: And this is a loaded question, but what is your
Speaker 1: favorite thing about science? I mean, I think my favorite
Speaker 1: thing about science is like it allows you to peek
Speaker 1: behind the curtain of nature. Science is the language of nature,
Speaker 1: and just being able to understand how certain things work
Speaker 1: is fun. Like a while back, there were there were
Speaker 1: some a few viral things like the is this dress? Uh?
Speaker 1: What was it? Like? Blue? Or gold? Or gold? Or
Speaker 1: I saw blue and black? What did you see? I
Speaker 1: would see it one way and then I would like
Speaker 1: go like do something and come back to my computer,
Speaker 1: and then I would see it being blue and black
Speaker 1: like I would why is that? So it's the way
Speaker 1: that our brain processes images and the color in those images.
Speaker 1: It's something called color constancy. And so what our brain
Speaker 1: is trying to do when we see that picture is
Speaker 1: we're trying to figure out what the lighting scenario is.
Speaker 1: And so basically it's just what our brain is doing backflips,
Speaker 1: trying to figure out what type of picture we're looking at.
Speaker 1: You've also done some other work with Netflix. You have
Speaker 1: worked with the Iconic Bill and I design. I feel
Speaker 1: like it would be so awful if I didn't mention,
Speaker 1: if we didn't talk about it. What was that experience
Speaker 1: like with working with such an icon and what was
Speaker 1: your favorite favorite experiment you did with that show? Is
Speaker 1: a corresponse. Oh my gosh. So Bill is someone that, obviously,
Speaker 1: like many other people I grew up with in my classroom,
Speaker 1: my teacher would roll in a TV and we would
Speaker 1: play these like videos of Bill and I the science
Speaker 1: guy and all of my classroom. So this was someone
Speaker 1: I knew about my entire life. And then here I
Speaker 1: am a full grown adult and now Bill and I
Speaker 1: gets to be my boss. Like I that's the coolest
Speaker 1: thing ever. That was such a dream come true for me.
Speaker 1: Um and he was exactly as I imagined, like perfectly
Speaker 1: nerdy and entertaining and just like very very smart and
Speaker 1: passionate about science. We would be in um writing rooms
Speaker 1: for the Netflix show and they'd be brainstorming what they
Speaker 1: wanted to include in an episode, and then Bill would
Speaker 1: have like an experiment in his pocket and he would
Speaker 1: be like, Oh, I have something related to what we're
Speaker 1: talking about. Check out this experiment, and he would just
Speaker 1: do an experiment for everybody in the room, and then
Speaker 1: our executive producer would have to be like, all right, Bill,
Speaker 1: we have to move on, like we can't keep doing science.
Speaker 1: And it was like only the cameras were right now
Speaker 1: that that would have been good. Behind the scene, it
Speaker 1: really would and it was just like exactly what you
Speaker 1: would expect. And I think my favorite experience with that
Speaker 1: is that because it was an international show, because of
Speaker 1: course it's on Netflix, I got to travel to some
Speaker 1: very cool places. So I did a lot of my
Speaker 1: correspondent gigs in India, and so I flew to India
Speaker 1: to talk about how they solved um the polio crisis
Speaker 1: with vaccines, and how a company there where most people
Speaker 1: were like the age of seven, we're working to become
Speaker 1: the first private company to land on the moon. Um.
Speaker 1: And just being able to go to India and see
Speaker 1: all of that science there was really really cool. That's crazy,
Speaker 1: And I think also science is so important now more
Speaker 1: than ever, and with what's going on in the world,
Speaker 1: it like very much determines what's going to happen in
Speaker 1: our future. I saw you do a Ted talk Um
Speaker 1: when you talked a lot about climate change, and you
Speaker 1: talked about the importance of listening with it. So, for
Speaker 1: someone who not necessarily doesn't believe it, but it's skeptical,
Speaker 1: what do you think or just wants to talk to someone,
Speaker 1: what is the right to approach a conversation in a
Speaker 1: respectful way instead of just being like, no, you're wrong.
Speaker 1: This is such a good question. I love you for
Speaker 1: asking this because I think this is one of the
Speaker 1: things that a lot of people who are passionate about
Speaker 1: trying to solve this problem of climate change get wrong.
Speaker 1: Is that we see people who don't agree with the
Speaker 1: science of climate change, and we just automatically say you're
Speaker 1: dumb or you're stupid or whatever. And that's just not
Speaker 1: a good way to change somebody's mind. Um. I personally,
Speaker 1: I'm from West Virginia, and so being from coal country,
Speaker 1: there's a lot of people that I love and I
Speaker 1: respect who don't accept the science of climate change. And
Speaker 1: so I've had to go through my life talking to
Speaker 1: people that I love and admire and figure out where
Speaker 1: that comes from. So I think the first thing to
Speaker 1: do is to listen, where is that science denial coming from.
Speaker 1: Is it because they actually don't agree with the science,
Speaker 1: It's not usually that. Sometimes it's like in coal country US,
Speaker 1: fighting climate change means that we, uh, we're like passing
Speaker 1: these environmental policies and they don't see those environmentally friendly
Speaker 1: policies to be very friendly to them. But like we
Speaker 1: have to first understand where they're coming from, be empathetic
Speaker 1: to that, and then go from there, because we're not
Speaker 1: going to get anywhere if we're just like calling people ignorant.
Speaker 1: So for those who don't know, can you explain climate change? Yeah?
Speaker 1: I mean climate change is just this greenhouse effect that
Speaker 1: we see everywhere, not just our planet. Like the idea
Speaker 1: of the greenhouse effect or climate change is not unique
Speaker 1: to Earth. We are just making it worse with a
Speaker 1: lot of the greenhouse gases that we are emitting with
Speaker 1: cars and planes and fossil fuels and all of this
Speaker 1: stuff that's adding these gases to the atmosphere where the
Speaker 1: Sun brings us energy. We love the sun. The only
Speaker 1: reason we have life here is because of the Sun,
Speaker 1: and a lot of that energy comes to the Earth,
Speaker 1: warms up the Earth and bounces right back out of
Speaker 1: the Earth and goes into space. Some of that energy
Speaker 1: is kept here, not all of it bounces out some
Speaker 1: of that energy is kept here by the blanket of
Speaker 1: our atmosphere, that blanket that's created by greenhouse gases, or
Speaker 1: we're creating a bigger blanket that's holding more of that
Speaker 1: energy in. It's a very fragile system, right, because our
Speaker 1: atmosphere is so thin. You don't realize how thin our
Speaker 1: atmosphere is until you go into space. I mean, it
Speaker 1: looks paper thin if you go into space. If you
Speaker 1: look at images of our Earth from space, it's just
Speaker 1: this like light blue line. And from here on Earth,
Speaker 1: when you look up at the sky, it looks so big.
Speaker 1: You couldn't imagine that humans would be able to change
Speaker 1: our atmosphere all that much. But when you see it
Speaker 1: from space, you're like, oh, our Earth looks very very fragile.
Speaker 1: That's crazy. Yeah, So how do we make our environment
Speaker 1: and the earth not political? Oh gosh, that's that is
Speaker 1: the million dollar question. It's so crazy that it's become
Speaker 1: so politicized. It's so politicize. But like, I think the
Speaker 1: challenges that science will always be a little bit political,
Speaker 1: right because with climate change, if you want to fight it,
Speaker 1: what you're really doing is you're going against big fossil
Speaker 1: fuel companies and big fossil fuel companies pay for campaigns, uh,
Speaker 1: for certain types of politicians, right, And so when you
Speaker 1: go against those fossil fuel companies, what you're really doing
Speaker 1: is you're going against certain types of politicians. And so
Speaker 1: one good thing would be to get the money out
Speaker 1: of politics and maybe not allow big fossil fuel companies
Speaker 1: to give money to politicians. That would certainly help um.
Speaker 1: But no, I don't know how you solve that problem.
Speaker 1: I think that you try to get people to care
Speaker 1: about science and not the ideology behind it. We have
Speaker 1: to take a quick break, but when we come back,
Speaker 1: I want to hear about the craziest experiment you've ever
Speaker 1: done anywhere in the world. We'll be right back and
Speaker 1: we're back. So you've traveled the world, what's the cree
Speaker 1: the experiment you've ever done? And you're like, how is
Speaker 1: this my life? Oh my gosh. So for my I
Speaker 1: have another show on Fox on Saturday mornings called Exploration
Speaker 1: Outer Space, And for that show, I mostly just cover
Speaker 1: like all things related to space. And last year I
Speaker 1: got to go to Russia to train like a cosmonaut,
Speaker 1: which is Russia's version of astronaut. I got to train
Speaker 1: like a cosmonaut at the UH it's like their version
Speaker 1: of NASA, the Eurygagaron Cosmonaut Training Center. Eury Gagarin is
Speaker 1: the first human to ever go into space, and he
Speaker 1: was Russian. And so anyways, I go to the Euriga
Speaker 1: Garon Cosmonaut Training Center in Star City, Russia, and I
Speaker 1: get to ride in something called a human centrifuge, which
Speaker 1: is essentially like an amusement park ride that spends really
Speaker 1: really really really fast so that you get to experience
Speaker 1: the g forces of a launch, the gravitational forces of
Speaker 1: a launch. And so I got in this thing. It's fun,
Speaker 1: really really really really fast, and I experience, Um, I
Speaker 1: think I got up to four G. I think for
Speaker 1: like basically it felt like four of me times you're
Speaker 1: gravitational way, that's exactly right. Yeah, it was like four
Speaker 1: of me sitting on top of my chest is what
Speaker 1: it felt like. It was crazy. It was so much
Speaker 1: It was so so much fun, and I was like,
Speaker 1: this is what it feels like to launch in the space.
Speaker 1: And I am currently feeling this. This is so cool
Speaker 1: because I've always been so curious about that. What do
Speaker 1: you ever want to go to space? So I would.
Speaker 1: I think that I would want the ride to space
Speaker 1: to be super super safe. I don't know that I'm
Speaker 1: willing to risk my life to go into space. But
Speaker 1: like I've gone skydiving, Like if it were as safe
Speaker 1: as skydiving, I would do it. Okay, I would absolutely
Speaker 1: skydiving compared is skydiving just like nothing's like is that
Speaker 1: like going on a walk compared to like everything you've done?
Speaker 1: Would you say no? No? Skydiving was terrifying, I thought,
Speaker 1: I thought sky having Oh yeah, I did not enjoy skydiving.
Speaker 1: I don't want to go again. Where did you? Oh gosh,
Speaker 1: I've gotten Um. I went once in Ohio and then
Speaker 1: I want I went once like in San Jose. Have
Speaker 1: you ever done the I Fly? Yeah, I've done that.
Speaker 1: Um was it realistic? Apparently? The I Fly? They say
Speaker 1: when you're doing it feels like when you're jumping out
Speaker 1: of a plane, You're like when you're sky diving. It
Speaker 1: definitely feels very similar. And I think that's probably why
Speaker 1: I didn't like it. Was because you have that all
Speaker 1: that air rushing in your face, and it for me
Speaker 1: it was hard to breathe, Like I don't Yeah, I
Speaker 1: don't enjoy that. Like, what if you get a nosebleed?
Speaker 1: That was my main concern, would just go everywhere? What
Speaker 1: would the gravity like, how would gravity affect that? I think, yeah,
Speaker 1: that would be interesting because it's like a one On
Speaker 1: one hand, the gravity is trying to pull your nosebleed down,
Speaker 1: but on the other hand, you have this wind coming
Speaker 1: at your face throwing it up. I think that. I
Speaker 1: think that's your next that's my next experiment. What would
Speaker 1: you do if you had a nose bleed and you're
Speaker 1: free falling towards the ground. I I would be too
Speaker 1: scared to do it, but I'm all for I'll copyright, Yeah,
Speaker 1: I'll I'll tag you. So then the other thing you
Speaker 1: did that I want to try. The vomit. Oh my gosh,
Speaker 1: the best thing in my life. Please explain it to
Speaker 1: the people who aren't aware. And how do I get
Speaker 1: on a vomit? Absolutely? Okay? So the vomit comment is
Speaker 1: a plane that flies like an eight thousand foot roller
Speaker 1: coaster in the sky. It just goes up and down
Speaker 1: and up and down and up and down, and you
Speaker 1: do that for like an hour and a half. And
Speaker 1: it does that because if you've ever ridden a roller
Speaker 1: coaster and when you go over a hump and the
Speaker 1: roller coaster, or if you're in a car and you
Speaker 1: go over a bump and your butt lifts off your
Speaker 1: seat and you get some air time for like a second.
Speaker 1: It's like that, but for about twenty five seconds. So
Speaker 1: you get airtime for twenty five seconds, but to you,
Speaker 1: you just feel like you're flying you like like you
Speaker 1: don't feel like you have any gravity acting upon you
Speaker 1: at all, like you're just free floating. And then of
Speaker 1: course you have to like a roller coaster, it goes
Speaker 1: down and you have to go back up, and you
Speaker 1: feel like really really heavy for seconds, so you feel
Speaker 1: waitless and heavy and weightless. And how do you mean
Speaker 1: by heavy? Like, what do you mean by like twice
Speaker 1: your weight? You feel twice your weight. It's like you
Speaker 1: get to gees. So I'm trying to imagine that it's
Speaker 1: but I feel like I have to experience it to
Speaker 1: really understand. It would be like if you were sitting
Speaker 1: on top of you, Like if you were laying down
Speaker 1: on the ground and another version of you laid right
Speaker 1: on top of you. It just feels like slightly uncomfortable,
Speaker 1: not that bad, but just slightly uncomfortable. I know a
Speaker 1: lot of people have gotten sick doing it. Did you
Speaker 1: get sick? I did? Yeah. For the my first flight,
Speaker 1: I helped give the vomit comment its name, um, which
Speaker 1: is not the worth of it? Oh my gosh. Yeah,
Speaker 1: it was so worth it, because they tell you when
Speaker 1: you do this, your body has never experienced this. Take
Speaker 1: it slow. But of course when I start to feel this,
Speaker 1: I'm doing backflips. My head is on the ceiling, my
Speaker 1: feet aren't like you have kids like so much fun.
Speaker 1: And so yeah, I I threw up. And you have
Speaker 1: to be very careful when you do that because when
Speaker 1: you're weightless and you barf, where does that throw up go?
Speaker 1: It goes, It goes everywhere. So they event that and
Speaker 1: when you get on the plane, you bring the most
Speaker 1: important tool that you will bring on that plane, and
Speaker 1: it is a barf bag. The most important thing that
Speaker 1: you will bring on that plane is a barf bag,
Speaker 1: so that when you throw up, you can put it somewhere.
Speaker 1: And then so how do I go on this? So
Speaker 1: one the way that I did it, and this is
Speaker 1: the way that I would recommend, is that if you
Speaker 1: study science and engineering, you can join a microgravity research
Speaker 1: team in college, and you can design an experiment with
Speaker 1: your friends and apply to NASA to fly on the
Speaker 1: vomit commet and if you get accepted, you can fly
Speaker 1: on it for free, like for free. If you don't
Speaker 1: want to do that, you can pay to fly on it.
Speaker 1: And I think right now, it's like six thousand dollars
Speaker 1: of seats, So wow, little little pricey, that's just like
Speaker 1: just a little bit does we all have in our
Speaker 1: wat always? So another I want to go back to
Speaker 1: talking about women in STEM because as I know, that's
Speaker 1: something you're really passionate about and something I'm really passionate about.
Speaker 1: And I was wondering what is the most impactful way
Speaker 1: to encourage and normalize women something because I feel like
Speaker 1: a lot of the time it's considered like you're not
Speaker 1: as strong as you do, like we're not as smart.
Speaker 1: So how do you think we can normalize that? Yeah,
Speaker 1: And I think one of the things that at least
Speaker 1: I personally try to do is I showcase the creative
Speaker 1: side of science and also like the philanthropic side, the
Speaker 1: side where you can actually make the world a better place.
Speaker 1: Studies have shown that for little girls and minorities as well.
Speaker 1: If you talk about how science can allow you to
Speaker 1: help the world and make it a better place, that
Speaker 1: speaks louder to younger girls and minorities. And so that's
Speaker 1: something that I always try to do, is be like, hey,
Speaker 1: I love being creative, I love writing, I love filming,
Speaker 1: I love doing all of these creative things. Art was
Speaker 1: one of my favorite classes in high school and everything,
Speaker 1: and so I showcase the fact that I can combine
Speaker 1: both of those things and create something really unique in
Speaker 1: this world of stem um. Also, I think that especially
Speaker 1: in the world of space, like space exploration and space
Speaker 1: based technologies help make the world so much better um
Speaker 1: by looking at how our planet is changing. We've talked
Speaker 1: to a lot about climate change. The reason why we
Speaker 1: know our climate is changing is because we have satellites
Speaker 1: looking back down on our Earth seeing how it changes
Speaker 1: every single day, and when we have forest fires or
Speaker 1: when we have earthquakes or hurricanes like, we can see
Speaker 1: where all of that movement is going, and so we
Speaker 1: can bring help to the right people at the right time.
Speaker 1: Crazy science, man, It's an actual thing, that's right. So
Speaker 1: for those who say we actually had a debate on
Speaker 1: this in history class list year, we were doing um about,
Speaker 1: you know, the first man who lent on the Moon,
Speaker 1: whether it's worth it because of the money that it costs.
Speaker 1: So for people that say, why I spend so much
Speaker 1: money going to space when we have enough problems down
Speaker 1: here on Earth, what is your response? I would say
Speaker 1: that all of the money that we're spending up in
Speaker 1: space is to benefit the people down here on Earth.
Speaker 1: And usually when people are complaining about that, they're only
Speaker 1: talking about human space exploration, like bringing a human to
Speaker 1: the Moon, And that portion of NASA's budget is so
Speaker 1: small compared to all the other stuff they do, which
Speaker 1: is like figuring out how our planet works, looking at
Speaker 1: climate change, making airplanes safer and cleaner and less noisy,
Speaker 1: all of the stuff is just takes up way more
Speaker 1: of NASA's budget than the human side of it. But
Speaker 1: the human side of it I think is important too,
Speaker 1: because that's what makes us human, is that we want
Speaker 1: to be the ones to look over that mountain, to
Speaker 1: cross that sea, to see over that hill top. We
Speaker 1: want to be the ones to explore that is inherently human.
Speaker 1: Do you think there's gonna be a time where we
Speaker 1: colonize on another planet. I do think that eventually will
Speaker 1: bring permanent settlements to another planet for sure. I think
Speaker 1: that's one of the surefire ways to ensure human survival.
Speaker 1: I mean, the famous thing that people always say is
Speaker 1: that the dinosaurs didn't have a space program. Right, if
Speaker 1: the dinosaurs put that on a shirt, put that on
Speaker 1: a shirt, that the dinosaurs were able to bring other
Speaker 1: dinosaurs and create a permanent settlement on Mars, we would
Speaker 1: still have dinosaurs today, maybe probably right at least it
Speaker 1: would have given them a better chance of surviving. And
Speaker 1: so that's it's like a way to copy and paste
Speaker 1: are humans to another planet and just help ensure our survival.
Speaker 1: I also want to get more in STEM. How do
Speaker 1: I go about that? Well, Well, for you specifically, I
Speaker 1: think you should major in a science. Uh, I would
Speaker 1: personally say you should measure and aerospace engineering. I think
Speaker 1: that would be perfect. That's my recommendation for you. I
Speaker 1: can always get my cousin's help on that. Yes, you
Speaker 1: could see you already have an inn in the industry,
Speaker 1: So I think that aerospace engineering is the right path
Speaker 1: for you. Um, but for anyone, even if you don't
Speaker 1: want to major in science or engineering, I think just
Speaker 1: like following people on TikTok who are doing science, it's
Speaker 1: are following people on YouTube who are doing science. You
Speaker 1: can be a lifelong learner and just constantly be learning
Speaker 1: about things even if your job is totally something different
Speaker 1: that doesn't matter. Science is inherently interesting for everyone and
Speaker 1: it's out there for you to learn. We have to
Speaker 1: take one more quick break, but when we come back,
Speaker 1: I love your thoughts on what types of programs we
Speaker 1: can have in schools to make them more accessible, especially
Speaker 1: to young women and minorities. We'll be right back and
Speaker 1: we're back. What program do you think we could implement
Speaker 1: in schools to make them more prominent, especially for minorities
Speaker 1: and women. Yeah, well, there's already a lot of really
Speaker 1: great programs that do this, like Black Girls Code or
Speaker 1: Girls who Code, um these coding with Coding with Classy. Yes,
Speaker 1: Like all of these are such great programs that focus
Speaker 1: on bringing more representation to the people who aren't already
Speaker 1: in these fields. And I think bringing those types of
Speaker 1: organizations to your schools is such a good way to
Speaker 1: do that exactly. And I think my generation is pretty cool,
Speaker 1: So I feel like our generation is just going to
Speaker 1: make such an impact, especially with what's going on in
Speaker 1: science and space. Um in your lifetime, what's one thing
Speaker 1: you hope to see. The major thing is obviously climate change,
Speaker 1: and I think climate fixing this issue of climate change
Speaker 1: will be incredibly impactful all over the world. The other,
Speaker 1: like technology thing that I think would be really exciting
Speaker 1: is to bring internet to the world because right now,
Speaker 1: only half of the world has access to the internet,
Speaker 1: which always blows my mind. That it blows my mind. Right,
Speaker 1: only half of the world has access to the internet.
Speaker 1: The Worldwide Web is not actually worldwide. It's a lie.
Speaker 1: You need to fix that. It's a lie. We need
Speaker 1: to fix that. So there are companies like SpaceX. Actually
Speaker 1: SpaceX has a project called Starlink where they're trying to
Speaker 1: launch thousands of satellites into space, creating the largest satellite
Speaker 1: constellation that's ever surrounded our planet. And they're doing that
Speaker 1: to attempt to bring Internet to the rest of the world.
Speaker 1: That's crazy, right, That would be so so in poor countries,
Speaker 1: they would still be able to have access to healthcare
Speaker 1: and internet like they would never would have before. Exactly,
Speaker 1: so places like you said, if they don't have access
Speaker 1: to hospitals, they can get remote healthcare. If they don't
Speaker 1: have access to good schools, you can bring them education online.
Speaker 1: People can build businesses and build economies and all these
Speaker 1: things that require the Internet. Wow. Yeah, I usually don't
Speaker 1: think about how I usually think of coding when I
Speaker 1: think of the Internet, I don't think a science. But
Speaker 1: then you realize satellites. What would we do without satellite?
Speaker 1: Oh my gosh, yeah, what would What would we do
Speaker 1: without the Internet. That the Internet like democratize is knowledge.
Speaker 1: Any question that you have today you can look online
Speaker 1: and find an answer. Of course, the flip side of
Speaker 1: that make sure they're reliable, exactly. Like the flip side
Speaker 1: of that is that now there's so much information online
Speaker 1: that it's kind of hard to sparse, like what's real
Speaker 1: and what's fake. So there are challenges. It comes with challenges.
Speaker 1: Everything does, Yeah, exactly. So with that, I've always been
Speaker 1: curious because I've heard mixed thoughts from teachers. What are
Speaker 1: your thoughts on Wikipedia? Oh? I love Wikipedia. I think
Speaker 1: it's one of the best resources out there. I think
Speaker 1: that you should always find another citation in addition to Wikipedia.
Speaker 1: You probably shouldn't just cite Wikipedia. But in terms of
Speaker 1: becoming familiar at a very high level on a topic.
Speaker 1: I think Wikipedia does an amazing job, but when you're
Speaker 1: using it in a paper, you should always find a
Speaker 1: different resource. I think because anybody can go and change
Speaker 1: a Wikipedia article and you just want to. That's where
Speaker 1: it gets That's where it gets dangerous. So I always
Speaker 1: find another citation. But first learning from Wikipedia, that's great.
Speaker 1: It's easy access to things. Um. And then I know
Speaker 1: you're you're also doing these chapter books for people ages
Speaker 1: six to ten. UM. I wish I had these books
Speaker 1: when I was at age. I feel like they would
Speaker 1: have been so helpful. So it is the most recent
Speaker 1: one that's come out, and are there more to come?
Speaker 1: Oh my gosh, so thank you. The Ada Lay series
Speaker 1: is just something near and dear to my heart. So
Speaker 1: it's about this girl Aida who loves science and technology
Speaker 1: and goes on adventures to solve mysteries with tech and
Speaker 1: gadgets that she built herself. A friend said that it
Speaker 1: was like a nerdy version of Nancy Drew, which I love.
Speaker 1: I think that's a really I loved Nancy me too,
Speaker 1: and I just think that's like the cutest analogy. And
Speaker 1: so one of the recent books that we created we
Speaker 1: actually sent to space last year. You said the character
Speaker 1: to space, or you said the book to the like
Speaker 1: the physical book. We put on a rocket and launched
Speaker 1: it to the International Space Station. Didn't make the did Yep?
Speaker 1: It got there safely, nothing bad happened. It got there
Speaker 1: and it was through this program called the story Time
Speaker 1: from Space program. And so this program brings student like
Speaker 1: kids books to the International Space Station and then astronauts
Speaker 1: will do a read aloud while they're floating in space
Speaker 1: and you can see like the Earth in the background,
Speaker 1: and it's just the coolest thing. So my book went
Speaker 1: to space and an astronaut read it on the space station. Emily,
Speaker 1: why isn't that your Instagram? I know, that's like one
Speaker 1: of the coolest things that's ever happened to me. You
Speaker 1: need to make that you you need to say went
Speaker 1: on the book went to space. I think you should
Speaker 1: add that in that That will change that right now?
Speaker 1: Please do For this season, I really wanted to make
Speaker 1: it a priority to make sure that we give back
Speaker 1: as a community. Okay, and every week I like to
Speaker 1: highlight a certain nonprofit or charity. Is there any organization
Speaker 1: that you work with that you want to highlight. I
Speaker 1: think that is so wonderful. Uh, this is a great
Speaker 1: program to do that. So my that I one like
Speaker 1: organization that I love to support and I'm a mentor for.
Speaker 1: This organization is called the Brooke Owens Fellowship, and the
Speaker 1: brook Owens Fellowship it's a namesake of this individual, this
Speaker 1: woman who passed away, who was just an icon in
Speaker 1: the space industry, and the fellowship itself is helping to
Speaker 1: promote women in uh non binary individuals in the aerospace industry.
Speaker 1: So it's basically a paid internship and mentorship and just
Speaker 1: this like community of people to help support them throughout
Speaker 1: their career and launch their career in the aerospace industry.
Speaker 1: And so the brook Owens Fellowship, that's the one that
Speaker 1: I I'm a big fan of. And my last question
Speaker 1: for you is, you know, you have your very successful
Speaker 1: at what you do. You're great at breaking down very
Speaker 1: complex topics into simple terms. So when you write more books,
Speaker 1: have more TV shows, win some Emmy's, what would you
Speaker 1: want your legacy to be and how would you want
Speaker 1: to be remembered. I hope that when I am old
Speaker 1: and wrinkly, there are a just a gaggle of women
Speaker 1: who ended up becoming scientists and engineers and pointed to
Speaker 1: something that I may be created and said that was
Speaker 1: the reason that I first became interested in this, and
Speaker 1: I think that's going to happen. Um, thank you so
Speaker 1: much for coming on my podcast. I am so happy
Speaker 1: that we got to talk, and I feel like I
Speaker 1: learned a lot, not just about the world around me,
Speaker 1: but what I can do to make an impact. So
Speaker 1: thank you, thank you for having me. I honestly had
Speaker 1: such a great time recording this episode because I feel
Speaker 1: like I learned so much about space. I hope you
Speaker 1: did too. You guys, what if we all went to
Speaker 1: space together? That would be awesome. If you haven't already,
Speaker 1: don't forget to subscribe, I'll say it again, and also
Speaker 1: follow me on Instagram. Edit Sammy J S I T
Speaker 1: S S A, M M Y j A y E.
Speaker 1: As always, thank you guys so much for listening, and
Speaker 1: I'll see you guys next week. Bye.