WEBVTT - From the Lab to the People: Why the Way We Talk About Science Matters - Lab 106 0:00:03.680 --> 0:00:10.080 I'm t T and I'm Zakiah, and this is Dope Labs. 0:00:11.360 --> 0:00:14.600 Welcome to Dope Labs, a weekly podcast that mixes hardcore 0:00:14.680 --> 0:00:17.639 science with pop culture and a healthy dose of friendship. 0:00:22.400 --> 0:00:24.800 Me and as a Kia met back in what was 0:00:24.840 --> 0:00:26.040 that twenty e ten. 0:00:27.200 --> 0:00:30.760 To go about the outfits we were wearing, well, I 0:00:30.880 --> 0:00:34.280 was wearing dressed like business with bright pink lipstick. 0:00:34.520 --> 0:00:37.639 I had a lot of eyeshadow on from my eyebrow 0:00:37.760 --> 0:00:40.440 to my lash line, so it had to have been 0:00:40.479 --> 0:00:41.519 the twenty tens. 0:00:41.640 --> 0:00:43.440 I think you had. 0:00:43.280 --> 0:00:49.040 Great bangs, Thank you friend. The rest of it was 0:00:49.159 --> 0:00:52.519 not right. It was just fine. When I think about 0:00:52.680 --> 0:00:57.520 like us being in grad school and having a good time, 0:00:57.520 --> 0:01:00.000 but also being like, hey, we need to have some balance, 0:01:00.240 --> 0:01:03.720 you know, pushing each other said and remember I would 0:01:03.760 --> 0:01:05.520 set those crazy deadlines, and I was like, I have 0:01:05.560 --> 0:01:08.680 to sprint to get this done in the next three weeks. 0:01:08.680 --> 0:01:11.160 I'm going to get this many mutants into the chromosome. 0:01:11.240 --> 0:01:13.399 I was moving there. I was trying to do a 0:01:13.400 --> 0:01:17.319 lot of recombineering, doing a lot of genetic manipulation to 0:01:17.480 --> 0:01:18.240 your bacteria. 0:01:18.360 --> 0:01:20.560 These are a lot of words exactly how you're feeling 0:01:20.600 --> 0:01:22.360 right now. That exactly how I felt when she was 0:01:22.360 --> 0:01:25.320 explained it to me. Yes, girl, my friend is very, 0:01:25.440 --> 0:01:28.200 very smart. But if somebody would have told me, oh, 0:01:28.240 --> 0:01:30.360 you know, you and Zakia are going to have a 0:01:30.400 --> 0:01:35.400 podcast together in a few years, I would have believed them, honestly, 0:01:35.480 --> 0:01:39.520 because we we had been saying it. We had been 0:01:39.800 --> 0:01:43.360 since true, Like there is evidence on the Internet of 0:01:43.360 --> 0:01:44.399 where we were like, oh, we should do. 0:01:44.400 --> 0:01:46.480 A podcast together, we should do a podcast together. 0:01:46.520 --> 0:01:49.000 But you know, lots of people at that time were 0:01:49.000 --> 0:01:51.920 saying they wanted to do a podcast. We just actually 0:01:51.920 --> 0:01:53.520 did it, which is wild. 0:01:53.200 --> 0:01:53.400 You know. 0:01:54.160 --> 0:01:56.640 And I think what makes it so wild is just 0:01:56.680 --> 0:02:01.080 how rewarding. It's been challenging and reporting, and I think 0:02:01.160 --> 0:02:03.520 that makes the reward so much sweeter. You know. 0:02:04.480 --> 0:02:08.400 I really appreciate everybody that has been riding with us. 0:02:08.480 --> 0:02:12.280 I can remember February fourteenth, twenty nineteen, our first episode 0:02:12.400 --> 0:02:15.480 and people were responding and finding us on social media 0:02:15.560 --> 0:02:20.320 and saying they liked the episode. Great price memory. Emory, 0:02:20.760 --> 0:02:21.040 I go. 0:02:21.200 --> 0:02:25.400 By everybody's Instagram name. Yes, everybody, Yes, I know you 0:02:25.400 --> 0:02:29.040 by your handle exactly. The Emory is my cousin in 0:02:29.080 --> 0:02:33.040 my head. Honestly. The key key sessions we have in 0:02:33.120 --> 0:02:36.359 DMS is just it's top tier. 0:02:37.480 --> 0:02:40.239 Kiki, well, we actually got to meet her in person. 0:02:40.440 --> 0:02:44.400 Oh Kiki, my ye, Yes, we did meet her in person. 0:02:44.560 --> 0:02:47.000 And it's crazy because when you say Kiky, I was 0:02:47.040 --> 0:02:50.760 like our friend Kiki, it's hard to remember that we 0:02:50.800 --> 0:02:53.880 did not know these people before the show, right, Cat Purcell, 0:02:54.200 --> 0:02:59.600 Cat Percell absolutely absolutely running to our episodes on her 0:02:59.680 --> 0:03:02.560 daily runs. Yeah, but even the new folks, the new 0:03:02.600 --> 0:03:04.640 folks that have been showing up and saying, hey, I 0:03:04.720 --> 0:03:07.520 just found your podcast, we really appreciate y'all as well, 0:03:08.000 --> 0:03:11.000 and so welcome, come on, get in here with us. 0:03:11.000 --> 0:03:13.920 We're gonna snuggle up real tight and close. But in 0:03:14.000 --> 0:03:16.399 this week's lab, we're gonna be talking about what we 0:03:16.440 --> 0:03:19.000 do here at DOPE last with just science communication, and 0:03:19.040 --> 0:03:22.480 we're gonna be talking to some of our favorite science communicators. 0:03:22.880 --> 0:03:26.679 We have Raven the Science Maven, doctor Raven Baxter. She's 0:03:26.720 --> 0:03:30.680 a molecular biologist and a science educator. We also have 0:03:30.760 --> 0:03:34.200 Lindsay Edo who is a PhD student in neuroscience at 0:03:34.240 --> 0:03:37.840 the University of Pennsylvania researching pain. And then we have 0:03:38.080 --> 0:03:42.400 doctor Andre Isaacs, who is a chemistry professor at College 0:03:42.400 --> 0:03:45.840 of the Holy Cross, and if you are on TikTok 0:03:46.520 --> 0:03:48.640 you've seen doctor Isaacs. 0:03:49.920 --> 0:03:53.440 You've seen them, you absolutely have. He is one of 0:03:53.440 --> 0:03:57.840 my faves. I can't wait to share these folks stories 0:03:57.960 --> 0:04:01.240 because you know, I think people come to science and 0:04:01.320 --> 0:04:04.920 stem broadly through many different avenues, right. 0:04:05.400 --> 0:04:05.600 You know. 0:04:05.760 --> 0:04:08.240 I love t t when you share the story of 0:04:08.320 --> 0:04:11.560 your grandfather being an engineer. That was the first time 0:04:11.560 --> 0:04:14.080 I'd ever heard of engineering was when my I'd asked 0:04:14.120 --> 0:04:16.279 my mother, you know what my grandparents did, and she 0:04:16.320 --> 0:04:18.680 talked about my grandfather and said that he was an engineer. 0:04:18.680 --> 0:04:21.719 And I was like, well, then I shall be an engineer. 0:04:22.360 --> 0:04:24.800 Crowned yourself. That's right, yourself, that's right. 0:04:24.920 --> 0:04:28.600 I was like, let me tell you, Frederick Akufu, you 0:04:28.640 --> 0:04:31.400 did that. You did that, And so he blazed the 0:04:31.440 --> 0:04:33.520 trail and I just walked behind him. 0:04:33.640 --> 0:04:34.279 Very grateful. 0:04:34.920 --> 0:04:37.200 I love your stories about how you got involved in 0:04:37.240 --> 0:04:39.839 step because it's all over the place. 0:04:41.000 --> 0:04:43.600 He started it. You started wanting to be a nurse 0:04:43.839 --> 0:04:46.880 and then realized, yes, hey girl, you don't have the 0:04:46.880 --> 0:04:51.400 stomach for that. Okay, you don't. You said it was 0:04:51.720 --> 0:04:54.479 passing out. I was like, oh no, baby, I don't 0:04:54.480 --> 0:04:57.400 think I'm in the wrong place, and I went all 0:04:57.440 --> 0:04:59.480 the way to being a certified nursing assistant. I was 0:04:59.520 --> 0:05:03.040 a CNA, and so then I was like, I can't 0:05:03.040 --> 0:05:04.640 go to school for this. I switched to be in 0:05:04.640 --> 0:05:08.799 a biology major. But even before that program, summer exposure 0:05:08.880 --> 0:05:12.000 programs at North Carolina A and T. That was really 0:05:12.120 --> 0:05:15.000 my route into science broadly. That's why I was even 0:05:15.000 --> 0:05:17.560 in the nursing area. There was a woman, her name 0:05:17.600 --> 0:05:19.720 was Miss Manley. She ran a Saturday program that was 0:05:19.760 --> 0:05:22.000 called GAMSEK at North Carolina A and T. It was 0:05:22.000 --> 0:05:24.760 a Greensboro area math and science enrichment camp. And I 0:05:24.760 --> 0:05:27.200 went on Saturdays, but my mom was going back to school. 0:05:27.920 --> 0:05:30.680 I would go to that. We were doing SAT pre SAT, 0:05:30.800 --> 0:05:32.560 we were doing programs, We're doing stuff I wasn't even 0:05:32.640 --> 0:05:35.479 learning yet. And I was getting such exposure to so 0:05:35.520 --> 0:05:38.039 many different things. And in high school I went on 0:05:38.080 --> 0:05:40.200 and did I was doing civil engineering over at A 0:05:40.279 --> 0:05:44.360 and T, which is wild because you're the engineer exactly. 0:05:44.520 --> 0:05:47.000 I didn't know my friend was an engineer too, but 0:05:47.080 --> 0:05:49.719 I'm not surprised. She's very, very smart. She could do anything. 0:05:49.800 --> 0:05:52.159 But you know, what your story reminds me of is 0:05:52.200 --> 0:05:55.400 what doctor Isaac's andre. What he was saying was his 0:05:55.600 --> 0:06:00.440 first introduction into stem was also a similar experience where 0:06:00.880 --> 0:06:04.320 he got involved because someone else was teaching him chemistry 0:06:04.680 --> 0:06:05.760 and it happened to be his uncle. 0:06:06.440 --> 0:06:08.280 It started for me in high school. 0:06:08.680 --> 0:06:10.880 I will be the first to say I wanted to 0:06:10.920 --> 0:06:13.960 love chemistry so bad, but chemistry didn't love me. When 0:06:14.000 --> 0:06:17.919 I was in high school, I really struggled with specifically stoycheometry. 0:06:18.040 --> 0:06:19.880 And I. 0:06:21.400 --> 0:06:24.800 Know, I know, I'm like balancing equations, that's easy, but 0:06:25.160 --> 0:06:27.520 I really struggled, you know, as a high schooler. And 0:06:27.600 --> 0:06:31.000 it was my uncle, who back when I lived in Jamaica, 0:06:31.040 --> 0:06:32.960 by the way, I grew up in Kingston, Jamaica, who 0:06:33.440 --> 0:06:36.320 had this evening school that he taught adults who were 0:06:36.320 --> 0:06:39.200 going back to school for to get like high school degrees. 0:06:39.279 --> 0:06:42.160 So he said, come to my evening school. I'll help 0:06:42.200 --> 0:06:44.520 you with whatever you need. So I went and an 0:06:44.600 --> 0:06:48.919 hour later I was a master at stoycheometry. So I think, really, 0:06:48.960 --> 0:06:52.120 for me, what that showed there's no subject is impossible. 0:06:52.160 --> 0:06:55.000 You just need to write instruction or instructor. 0:06:55.680 --> 0:06:57.920 And someone who can explain it in a way that's 0:06:57.960 --> 0:07:01.520 accessible to you. And in that moment, I recognized that 0:07:01.600 --> 0:07:02.640 I could conquer. 0:07:02.320 --> 0:07:05.800 Anything, even chemistry, and so I really just took to it. 0:07:06.080 --> 0:07:10.360 Went to college, started doing research, was killing all my classes. 0:07:10.440 --> 0:07:12.480 My professors are like, dude, you need to do a PhD. 0:07:12.560 --> 0:07:16.320 Are too good at this, and I just kept going. 0:07:16.360 --> 0:07:18.040 And I think a lot of it really came back to, 0:07:18.680 --> 0:07:22.480 you know, that initial experience of seeing a hurdle that 0:07:22.520 --> 0:07:24.680 I didn't think I could cross and having someone just 0:07:24.760 --> 0:07:27.400 break it down for me in ways that were accessible 0:07:27.400 --> 0:07:29.360 to me, and then I was able to do it. 0:07:29.400 --> 0:07:33.320 And so for me, that's definitely key to my own pedagogy. 0:07:33.400 --> 0:07:34.880 When I see a student who was struggling, I'm like, 0:07:34.880 --> 0:07:37.080 I just need to find a way to make that 0:07:37.120 --> 0:07:39.920 student understand this sort of make it connect in a 0:07:39.960 --> 0:07:42.040 way that works for them. And I think that's one 0:07:42.040 --> 0:07:43.720 of the things many of us as educators need to 0:07:43.760 --> 0:07:44.360 really think about. 0:07:44.600 --> 0:07:47.320 I think this was one of the guiding principles for 0:07:47.400 --> 0:07:50.200 me when I was teaching. I was like, how can 0:07:50.240 --> 0:07:53.920 I make this connectment how you're already thinking, what you're 0:07:53.960 --> 0:07:54.840 already thinking about. 0:07:54.920 --> 0:07:59.480 When my friend was a professor, Okay, y'all didn't know 0:07:59.520 --> 0:08:02.120 the key when she was in her professor era, she 0:08:02.960 --> 0:08:07.000 was that girl. Okay, when I tell you I went 0:08:07.040 --> 0:08:09.040 to one of her classes, I'm not. 0:08:09.040 --> 0:08:10.760 Good at biology. You already know that. 0:08:10.960 --> 0:08:16.080 Okay, my friend holds my hand through every biology episode. 0:08:16.200 --> 0:08:19.200 I came out of that class like I think I 0:08:19.280 --> 0:08:22.520 might be able to be a geneticist. She makes it 0:08:22.880 --> 0:08:28.400 so accessible, she roots it and stuff that you're already 0:08:28.800 --> 0:08:31.520 thinking about talking about singing. 0:08:32.200 --> 0:08:34.400 And it was just so so good. 0:08:34.440 --> 0:08:39.439 And so you were teaching biology to non non majors, 0:08:39.520 --> 0:08:42.360 and so these are folks who don't have the background 0:08:42.880 --> 0:08:45.720 and they're trying to get their credits. But let me 0:08:45.760 --> 0:08:49.280 tell you something, those students are forever changed. 0:08:49.640 --> 0:08:52.920 I think that's one of the things I really loved. 0:08:53.200 --> 0:08:54.920 I saw a lot of non majors switch to be 0:08:54.920 --> 0:08:56.840 a major. Some of them ended up in my research lab. 0:08:57.120 --> 0:09:00.560 One of them is a science teacher right now, Kelly 0:09:00.720 --> 0:09:04.719 oh DiGeronimo. But it's so cool to see, you know 0:09:04.960 --> 0:09:07.640 how these kind of experiences. I had those experiences in 0:09:07.679 --> 0:09:09.719 my life. I had a biology teacher. I used to 0:09:09.760 --> 0:09:11.480 you know, I went into biology because I had a 0:09:11.520 --> 0:09:13.200 biology teacher that was like flowing what you know, and 0:09:13.240 --> 0:09:18.280 I said, this is hard, I'll do this. And I 0:09:18.320 --> 0:09:19.920 was like I don't know anything. I don't have anything 0:09:19.960 --> 0:09:20.520 to flow into. 0:09:20.679 --> 0:09:23.480 Hey, come on, I mean it's crazy how one minute 0:09:23.520 --> 0:09:25.520 you're just living your life and then you get an 0:09:25.600 --> 0:09:29.160 idea and that idea turns into something bigger that you 0:09:29.520 --> 0:09:30.240 probably could. 0:09:30.040 --> 0:09:30.959 Have never imagined. 0:09:31.040 --> 0:09:35.680 And Lindsey, Raven, and Andre had similar experiences to us, 0:09:35.760 --> 0:09:38.520 where it's like, how do we get here? We are 0:09:39.360 --> 0:09:42.920 doing this podcast, doing something that we really love. Raven, 0:09:43.160 --> 0:09:45.000 who you're gonna hear from first, she's a little bit 0:09:45.000 --> 0:09:48.360 of an og and so she uses music as a 0:09:48.440 --> 0:09:49.880 means to connect with folks. 0:09:50.240 --> 0:09:52.040 I remember first discovering Raven. 0:09:52.240 --> 0:09:56.040 Hey, it was a lot of feelings, a lot of fun. 0:09:56.000 --> 0:09:57.120 As far as I go. 0:09:57.559 --> 0:10:01.240 You know, music historically has and a means to share 0:10:01.800 --> 0:10:06.319 messages and at the same time, music is a language 0:10:06.960 --> 0:10:10.960 that unites us all and when it comes to blending 0:10:11.040 --> 0:10:13.840 science and music, it really was a no brainer for me. 0:10:14.840 --> 0:10:18.040 And so my first music video was called Big Old Geeks, 0:10:18.200 --> 0:10:25.400 and it is a rap video that like displays norms 0:10:25.400 --> 0:10:28.440 that you see in hip hop culture, you know, especially 0:10:28.840 --> 0:10:33.920 like contemporary hip hop culture. We're looking at fast cars, 0:10:34.120 --> 0:10:39.080 hot ladies, and bars, and that's what I was giving. 0:10:39.360 --> 0:10:42.680 And so it featured me. I was like the main character, 0:10:42.800 --> 0:10:46.320 but I also cast in my friends as dancers and 0:10:46.440 --> 0:10:49.640 just actresses in the background, and they were all black 0:10:49.679 --> 0:10:54.600 women of various shape, sizes, and colors. And the lyrics 0:10:54.760 --> 0:10:58.080 I was delivering were very technical, some big old geeks, 0:10:58.080 --> 0:11:01.080 but the tennis place was on my ytic sciences talking. 0:11:01.160 --> 0:11:03.040 I kind of like I'm doing both. I'm Biana nothing 0:11:03.120 --> 0:11:05.600 you buck periodic. I can like an enzigme and we're 0:11:05.640 --> 0:11:08.599 cutting it up. Proteens in the job and we're running. 0:11:08.360 --> 0:11:11.160 Them up the message like, the science is still the 0:11:11.160 --> 0:11:13.160 same no matter what I look like or act like. 0:11:13.600 --> 0:11:16.800 That video was the first video I put out, and 0:11:17.440 --> 0:11:19.400 I kind of took a chance. You know, as a 0:11:19.440 --> 0:11:22.600 black woman in science, you don't really get a lot 0:11:22.600 --> 0:11:26.680 of liberty right as far as self expression goes, and 0:11:26.720 --> 0:11:28.040 so I really took a gamble. 0:11:28.160 --> 0:11:30.079 I'm just like, I know in my. 0:11:30.160 --> 0:11:32.280 Heart that there are other people that need to see this, 0:11:32.400 --> 0:11:34.120 and so I'm just going to put this out there. 0:11:34.320 --> 0:11:38.720 And that's where my journey started. And I did release 0:11:39.160 --> 0:11:42.079 other music and music videos after that, but that's. 0:11:41.920 --> 0:11:42.680 Where it all began. 0:11:43.280 --> 0:11:46.600 Lindsey and Andre they both use their downtime during the 0:11:46.640 --> 0:11:50.840 pandemic to start creating science communication on their social media. 0:11:50.920 --> 0:11:51.480 It's funny. 0:11:51.520 --> 0:11:54.800 I started on TikTok twenty twenty one. 0:11:55.679 --> 0:11:57.440 And I don't know, it was just one of those 0:11:57.559 --> 0:12:01.560 like during the COVID, developing a technok things, you. 0:12:01.600 --> 0:12:03.600 Know, I had to do a lot of people. 0:12:05.000 --> 0:12:08.720 So I started watching all these data life videos and 0:12:08.760 --> 0:12:10.600 I figured, oh, let me try one, because I figured 0:12:10.640 --> 0:12:13.040 not many people know what the day in life of like. 0:12:12.960 --> 0:12:15.320 A neuroscientist is, or even a PhD student. 0:12:15.880 --> 0:12:18.400 So I tried one out and then it randomly got 0:12:18.400 --> 0:12:19.240 a lot of traction. 0:12:20.000 --> 0:12:23.240 So I was just like, oh, okay, I'll keep it going. 0:12:24.120 --> 0:12:26.520 And then over time people would ask questions about my 0:12:26.559 --> 0:12:29.640 science and my experiments, and that led me to like, 0:12:29.679 --> 0:12:30.559 you know, respond to. 0:12:30.520 --> 0:12:32.200 Them, think of other things to talk about. 0:12:31.960 --> 0:12:35.920 And eventually building this pretty big picon platform. 0:12:36.480 --> 0:12:40.520 Like many of us, the pandemic changed a lot of things. 0:12:41.000 --> 0:12:43.040 And I'll be honest, I had Instagram. 0:12:43.120 --> 0:12:46.240 I didn't have TikTok at an Instagram. I had a Twitter. 0:12:46.320 --> 0:12:50.400 I probably had a combined eleven hundred followers on all plastics. 0:12:51.400 --> 0:12:52.480 I just didn't really. 0:12:52.280 --> 0:12:55.600 Pulse like that, right, But the pandemic came and you know, 0:12:55.760 --> 0:12:58.600 the college was like, hey, faculty, you have a week 0:12:58.640 --> 0:13:01.520 to transition your courses to line learning. Go use this 0:13:01.559 --> 0:13:03.360 thing called zoom. We've never heard of it, but we 0:13:03.440 --> 0:13:07.319 hear it's good. So there I am a zoom and 0:13:07.440 --> 0:13:10.520 I went extroverts. So, you know, once you were teaching online, 0:13:10.559 --> 0:13:15.160 I got extremely bored and you know, I needed to 0:13:15.160 --> 0:13:17.200 get out. I needed to socialize. You know, my friends 0:13:17.200 --> 0:13:19.200 are sending me videos and they're like, oh, here's this video. 0:13:19.200 --> 0:13:20.719 I'm like, I don't have this app called TikTok. What 0:13:20.760 --> 0:13:22.959 am I supposed to do with this? And so I 0:13:23.000 --> 0:13:25.199 downloaded it and let me tell you, the rabbit hole 0:13:25.480 --> 0:13:28.160 was there. But what was really awesome for me was 0:13:28.200 --> 0:13:30.960 as a kid growing up in Jamaica, we have an 0:13:30.960 --> 0:13:34.360 affinity for dancing, right, and you all might be familiar 0:13:34.400 --> 0:13:36.400 with how it comes about. You know, some DJ creates 0:13:36.400 --> 0:13:40.120 a riddim and then the artists sing a song on it, 0:13:40.160 --> 0:13:43.520 and then someone creates a dance and pretty soon everyone 0:13:43.559 --> 0:13:45.720 in the island is doing the Willy Bones soor or whatever. 0:13:47.280 --> 0:13:50.200 And so for me, you know, you go to a 0:13:50.200 --> 0:13:52.320 party in Jamaica as a kid, everyone knew the dance 0:13:52.360 --> 0:13:53.800 moves and then I go on TikTok. 0:13:53.440 --> 0:13:54.240 And it's the same thing. 0:13:54.760 --> 0:13:54.960 Yes. 0:13:55.440 --> 0:13:58.920 So I was like immediately drawn back to my past 0:13:58.960 --> 0:14:00.960 as a kid growing up in jam and seeing the 0:14:01.000 --> 0:14:04.080 community that's built her own dance, shared experience of dance 0:14:04.120 --> 0:14:06.120 and the knowledge of the moves and all that stuff, 0:14:06.120 --> 0:14:06.439 and so. 0:14:06.960 --> 0:14:07.920 I was drawn into it. 0:14:07.960 --> 0:14:10.400 So I started making videos at home by myself, learning 0:14:10.480 --> 0:14:11.760 choreography to the Renegade. 0:14:11.760 --> 0:14:14.840 That one was hard. I didn't finish that one. And 0:14:15.120 --> 0:14:15.640 you know, one of. 0:14:15.640 --> 0:14:18.559 My students saw a video I posted on our for 0:14:18.640 --> 0:14:20.920 you page, and when we went back to campus, when 0:14:20.920 --> 0:14:23.040 we were allowed to go back to campus in person, 0:14:23.640 --> 0:14:25.240 she's like, Hey, we need to collaborate. 0:14:25.400 --> 0:14:27.720 You can dance. I didn't know you could dance. I'm like, 0:14:27.760 --> 0:14:28.840 I didn't know you could dance. 0:14:30.080 --> 0:14:35.760 And what that created was really this community of scientists 0:14:35.840 --> 0:14:41.120 who have interests outside of science, including dance, music, theater. 0:14:41.800 --> 0:14:44.600 And we built a little community in the lab and 0:14:44.640 --> 0:14:47.840 in my classes in the chemistry department, you know, where 0:14:47.880 --> 0:14:51.920 we all like learned dances and choreography and showed that 0:14:51.920 --> 0:14:53.800 as a scientist you can be multi facetating. 0:14:53.880 --> 0:14:56.240 You didn't have to just be the stereotypical. 0:14:56.760 --> 0:14:59.000 Hey, I'm in a basement in a white lab quote 0:14:59.000 --> 0:15:01.440 with no personality, no emotion, no skills. 0:15:01.480 --> 0:15:18.400 You know, dancing and science is not my ministry. It 0:15:18.520 --> 0:15:20.520 is also not mine. 0:15:20.720 --> 0:15:24.840 Okay, y'all don't need to see that, but doctor Isaac's 0:15:24.960 --> 0:15:28.240 I'm telling you, if you don't follow him on TikTok, 0:15:28.360 --> 0:15:30.640 get to it. You gotta get to it because he's 0:15:30.680 --> 0:15:32.119 got the moves, he's. 0:15:32.120 --> 0:15:36.760 Funny, smart, it's perfect. We me and my friends. You know, 0:15:36.840 --> 0:15:40.920 we are more of calckulers and science. That's true. That's true. 0:15:41.200 --> 0:15:41.760 That's true. 0:15:42.040 --> 0:15:45.120 And showing up as ourselves has been really really important 0:15:45.120 --> 0:15:47.560 to us. I don't know if we've told this story 0:15:48.200 --> 0:15:51.640 on the show, but Zaki, tell these folks about what 0:15:51.800 --> 0:15:54.240 happened after our first episode. We got a lot of love, 0:15:54.840 --> 0:15:57.040 but we did get a lot of a lot of love, 0:15:57.080 --> 0:15:59.400 but we got a little bit of hate. 0:15:59.840 --> 0:16:02.400 I know people say just ignore those things, but I 0:16:02.440 --> 0:16:05.000 also think those things are indicator when you get hate. 0:16:05.240 --> 0:16:08.000 That kind of hate is an indicator of where people 0:16:08.080 --> 0:16:10.680 have closed minds or where change needs to happen. When 0:16:10.720 --> 0:16:13.400 we first started Dope Labs, people like you said, I 0:16:13.400 --> 0:16:15.160 showed us a lot of love, but we diget an 0:16:15.200 --> 0:16:17.960 email and I will never forget this. The guy was like, 0:16:18.840 --> 0:16:22.320 you're using language like this, You're not sounding professional. Does 0:16:22.440 --> 0:16:24.600 it makes you less credible when you talk like this? 0:16:24.720 --> 0:16:28.960 I said, baby, this country grammar. You're gonna get it God, 0:16:29.160 --> 0:16:34.520 turning to Nelly. Yes, I'm going now, damn Dawn, baby Okay, 0:16:34.640 --> 0:16:37.000 I turned to Nelly in here all right? And so 0:16:37.120 --> 0:16:41.120 I think you know that also challenges what people think 0:16:41.280 --> 0:16:43.880 a scientist sounds like. And so showing up like this 0:16:44.400 --> 0:16:47.400 tells you exactly, But I am a scientist. So this 0:16:47.520 --> 0:16:50.400 is now what a scientist sounds like. I remember when 0:16:50.440 --> 0:16:52.800 you graduated. I'm not gonna point any fingers and name 0:16:52.840 --> 0:16:55.640 any names, but somebody said, a scientist doesn't dress like this. 0:16:56.000 --> 0:17:00.720 Oh yes, I always got a lot of well you, 0:17:00.760 --> 0:17:04.199 and I say a lot people have commented on the 0:17:04.240 --> 0:17:06.439 way that I dress and the way that I you know, 0:17:06.520 --> 0:17:10.159 the way that I do things for what feels like forever, 0:17:10.240 --> 0:17:12.120 because they just don't feel like it falls in line 0:17:12.160 --> 0:17:14.359 with what they feel like someone who's accomplished in this 0:17:14.400 --> 0:17:15.080 field looks like. 0:17:15.359 --> 0:17:18.960 And I'm like, well, here, I am right here, I 0:17:19.000 --> 0:17:22.400 am existing outside of what you imaginally look at that 0:17:22.680 --> 0:17:24.200 open your mind, open your mind. 0:17:24.440 --> 0:17:27.760 It really isn't that much of a stretch. It's just closed, 0:17:27.800 --> 0:17:30.239 it's just makeup, it's just hair like. 0:17:32.200 --> 0:17:34.720 These are just the accessories. But the brain is where 0:17:34.720 --> 0:17:38.199 it's at. No, that's that's the gym. Okay. 0:17:38.480 --> 0:17:42.760 Well, we hear similar stories from Raven and Andre too 0:17:42.800 --> 0:17:46.560 about how they had some negative reactions to them before 0:17:46.600 --> 0:17:49.720 they even started their science communication and during I. 0:17:49.640 --> 0:17:54.119 Had an incident at one of my former places of 0:17:54.160 --> 0:17:58.840 employment where I had a coworker tell me that she 0:17:58.880 --> 0:18:01.639 didn't believe that I worked there, and it was my 0:18:01.720 --> 0:18:05.600 first day and she threatened to call the police on 0:18:05.720 --> 0:18:08.520 me because I was in the faculty mail room. 0:18:09.160 --> 0:18:11.840 And I left that. 0:18:12.440 --> 0:18:18.360 Incident really feeling just charged with this mission to disrupt 0:18:18.880 --> 0:18:21.320 the notion of what a scientist looks like, and I 0:18:21.359 --> 0:18:24.360 wanted to do it in such an extreme way that 0:18:25.200 --> 0:18:27.680 just made the message very clear. 0:18:28.119 --> 0:18:29.320 I do get some pushback, you know. 0:18:29.320 --> 0:18:31.320 There are some folks who think that what I'm doing 0:18:31.400 --> 0:18:35.320 is not productive, and what they measure success on right, 0:18:35.400 --> 0:18:38.639 is really the number of publications you have instead of 0:18:38.720 --> 0:18:41.080 really the number of folks that you've brought into the field. 0:18:41.600 --> 0:18:45.119 And so for me, I don't mind the negative criticism, 0:18:45.280 --> 0:18:48.960 you know, because what I know for a fact that 0:18:49.040 --> 0:18:52.600 the work that I do has had a positive impact 0:18:52.600 --> 0:18:54.840 on young folks who emailed me. 0:18:55.040 --> 0:18:56.880 I've get like hundreds of emails. 0:18:56.600 --> 0:18:59.280 From high school kids, college kids, even professors were like, 0:18:59.400 --> 0:19:03.240 I didn't think a Korean commisary was for me until 0:19:03.280 --> 0:19:05.520 I saw your videos. So those are the people who 0:19:05.560 --> 0:19:08.680 I'm dotting for, and so the hitters can hit. I'm 0:19:08.720 --> 0:19:10.600 trying to bring new folks into the game. 0:19:10.960 --> 0:19:15.800 And with all of this, you know, with all of this, well, 0:19:15.880 --> 0:19:17.920 let me not say all of this, because honestly, we're 0:19:17.960 --> 0:19:20.520 all getting a lot of really positive feedback. But with 0:19:20.600 --> 0:19:23.400 the negative feedback, you know that those kind of thing. 0:19:23.680 --> 0:19:26.640 But we still continue to turn our microphones on because 0:19:26.680 --> 0:19:30.600 this space needs us, It needs more voices. 0:19:30.880 --> 0:19:34.199 Absolutely, we have such a long way to go. Where 0:19:34.280 --> 0:19:35.879 are my colleagues? 0:19:36.080 --> 0:19:41.160 You and I are both degreed scientists, experts. There are 0:19:42.040 --> 0:19:45.920 so many of us out there, but yet so many 0:19:45.920 --> 0:19:48.720 of us don't have platforms to stand on to demonstrate 0:19:48.720 --> 0:19:54.159 that expertise, to bring people into scientific conversations in a 0:19:54.240 --> 0:19:55.200 constructive way. 0:19:55.920 --> 0:20:00.000 And it's just annoying that. 0:20:00.040 --> 0:20:03.200 That Bill Kny, the science guy, is still the archetype 0:20:03.280 --> 0:20:07.639 of science communication in twenty twenty five. There are just 0:20:07.720 --> 0:20:12.080 so many opportunities for not only like current scientists, but 0:20:12.200 --> 0:20:16.680 aspiring science communicators to fill in that space. 0:20:16.359 --> 0:20:20.480 And carry us forward. So where are we right now? 0:20:20.840 --> 0:20:25.320 People are panicking, I think, especially now with the government, 0:20:25.600 --> 0:20:29.720 you know, US government administrations cuts to science and clear 0:20:29.840 --> 0:20:35.240 actions against the scientific community at large. We're really facing 0:20:35.320 --> 0:20:37.879 a text on science and people are panicking because they 0:20:37.920 --> 0:20:41.360 didn't I don't think that many of us could gauge 0:20:41.720 --> 0:20:46.800 how severe this would be, and now everyone's trying to 0:20:46.800 --> 0:20:49.320