crisscrossing Science

40 Episodes
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By: Michael Crosser & Chad Tillberg

Welcome to crisscrossing Science, the podcast in which we answer the science questions that you never thought to ask. Every other week, co-hosts Michael Crosser and Chad Tillberg will share their love of natural science by discussing a topic that they find interesting.

Episode 225: Turtles, tortoises, and terrapins... Oh MY!!
04/28/2025

Chad and Mike discuss the ancestral plight of turtles and how strange a journey it was for sea creatures to come onto land, then return to the water, and (in the case of the tortoise) return back to land.


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Episode 224: Angular Momentum
04/15/2025

Mike and Chad discuss angular momentum and some of the seemingly counterintuitive predictions that come from it. Yet so many things in our daily lives rely on this concept.




Episode 223: Nobel Laureate Randy Schekman
03/31/2025

Chad and Mike invite Nobel Laureate Dr. Randy Schekman to discuss his research into yeast cells and the mechanisms that yeast (and human) cells use to direct traffic. Proteins that are created within the cell need to be pushed into the appropriate places and Schekman is one of the discoverers of those mechanisms.


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Episode 222: Packing and Shipping
03/18/2025

Chad and Mike are preparing for our next episode in which we talk to Nobel Laureate Randy Schekman. He won the award for learning the mechanisms for how proteins within the cells are moved to where they need to go. The process can be very complicated, so we are doing a pre-episode to help us understand more.


So be sure to listen to both this episode and the next one with our special guest.


Episode 221: Einstein's Greatest Blunder
03/03/2025

Mike and Chad celebrate Einstein's 146th birthday by discussing his Greatest Blunder.


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Episode 220: The Goss on Moss
02/18/2025

Chad tells Mike all about moss, and the entire ecosystem that lives in that tiny, fluffy, world.


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Episode 219: The Science of Milk
02/03/2025

Mike and Chad discuss milk. Why do mammals drink it? How do mammals produce it? What is pasteurization? Answers to these questions, and more, when you listen to crisscrossing Science!




Episode 218: Star Formation
01/22/2025

Mike and Chad invite astronomer Dr. Kathryn Devine to discuss the process of astronomy and how we can determine how stars form.


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Episode 217: PET Eating Bacteria
01/06/2025

Chad and Mike invite Dr. Jay Mellies to talk about his research into bacteria that are able to break down plastics into their constituent pieces.


To learn about plastics and more, subscribe to the podcast, wherever you listen to them.


Episode 216: Champagne Supernova
12/23/2024

Mike and Chad discuss the bright events called supernova and the chain of events that makes them happen.


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Episode 215: Plastic
12/09/2024

Mike and Chad discuss how plastic is created and why it is so ubiquitous in our modern world. We also consider why plastics are often not recycled and why it will be hard to stop making more.


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Episode 214: Wallace and Darwin
11/26/2024

Chad tells Mike about the co-discoverers of the mechanism of evolution by natural selection: Wallace and Darwin. What? You've only ever heard of Darwin? Listen and learn...


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Episode 213: Primates!
11/13/2024

Chad and Mike welcome Stephen Frost onto the podcast to discuss the evolutionary history of primates.


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Episode 212: The Solar Neutrino Problem
10/28/2024

Imagine studying one problem for forty years until finally the scientific community accepts your research. Mike and Chad discuss the work of Raymond Davis, Jr. who measured the number of neutrinos emitted by the sun. His numbers did not agree with theory and it took decades to prove that new physics was involved.


Episode 211: Original Antigenic Sin
10/14/2024

Chad and Mike delve into disease and vaccinations and consider the role of B cells. When are new B cells produced and when do older ones ramp up production of antibodies?


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Episode 210: Tesla & Edison's Current War
09/30/2024

Mike and Chad talk about the differences between AC and DC power. We then delve into the history of electrifying the world, when advocates for AC (Tesla, Westinghouse) beat out arguments for DC (Edison). It is a crazy story.


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Episode 209: Take Me Home-ing Pigeon
09/17/2024

How do Homing Pigeons find their way? It turns out researchers have done many experiments to confuse them! We also have a tie in to Game of Thrones, so be sure to tune in.


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Episode 208: It's STILL GOLD, I tell ya!
09/02/2024

We've been busy watching the Olympics, which got us thinking about GOLD!! So while we finish our efforts for Season 8, we are replaying this episode about where gold comes from.


Episode 207: Still Humming Along
08/20/2024

Mike and Chad are gearing up for Season 8 and have a lot of ideas for upcoming episodes. In the meantime, we were enjoying hummingbirds flying around and thought it would be fun to revisit an episode from 2021 about these little guys that migrate surprisingly far distances. Enjoy.




Episode 206: Still WaterLogged!
08/05/2024

Enjoy this encore episode in which our guest Janet Peterson discusses how much water we should be drinking.


Episode 205: The Crisspies II - Revenge of the Science!
07/22/2024

This is our second annual Crisspies award show, celebrating the Best Science in Science Fiction.


The awards this year go to the best depiction of the Science behind pandemics (too soon?). Which movie will win this year?


Episode 204: Stressed Bees
07/09/2024

Chad and Mike invite Adam Dolezal to discuss the plight of bees and how they are facing new struggles with parasites, pathogens, pesticides, and poor nutrition.


To learn more about all insects, subscribe to our podcast!



Episode 203: Replaying Sunspots
06/24/2024

You may have been wondering about the aurora that have been visible in the last few weeks. Mike tells Chad about sunspots and how these lead to the cool events in our atmosphere.


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Episode 202: Magnets, and how do they work?
06/10/2024

Mike and Chad take a tour through magnetism and explain how magnets are used in everyday life.


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Episode 201: Great Galls of Fire
05/28/2024

Chad and Mike talk about plant formations called Galls in which an external object (insect, bacteria, etc) cause the plant to make small circular scars on its leaves.


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Episode 200: The 0.2 K
05/13/2024

Chad and Mike are celebrating 200 episodes of crisscrossing Science! Join us as we look back on the past and remember our favorite episodes.


Episode 199: Bernoulli and Magnus Effects
04/29/2024

Mike and Chad answer a listener's question about why spin affects the flight of baseballs.


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Episode 198: Termites: How to eat food you can't actually digest
04/16/2024

Chad tells Mike all about termites, the Russian nesting dolls of the insect world. Termites can't actually digest wood all by themselves and so utilize trichonympha to help them digest. Meanwhile, trichonympha themselves utilize smaller bacteria to help them digest wood.


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Episode 197: Total Eclipse of 2024
04/02/2024

Mike and Chad answer all your questions about the total solar eclipse happening on April 8, 2024.


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Episode 196: The Malaria Vaccine
03/18/2024

Chad tells Mike about the new vaccine to prevent malaria. This has been decades in the making and Chad explains why this was such a difficult vaccine to create.


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Episode 195: Pulsars and Bursts...Oh My!!
03/04/2024

We often think of astronomical events as ephemeral; however, today we are talking about three evanescent events that are making astronomers very excited. Pulsars, gamma ray bursts, and fast radio bursts are all at the forefront of science. So listen and learn more.


Episode 194: Replay of Seventeen Year Itch
02/20/2024

This summer, two different broods of cicadas will be coming of the ground to breed. One brood only mates every 13 years, the other every 17 years. And both cycles happen to match in 2024. So, we are replaying an episode from the last time a large brood of cicadas came up.


Episode 193: Discovery of Viruses
01/30/2024

Chad tells Mike about how viruses were first discovered, explaining why, once and for all, tobacco is good for mankind.


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Episode 192: Keystone Species
01/15/2024

Chad tells Mike about Keystone Species, the idea that a single creature can have an outsized effect on an area's ecosystem.


Episode 191: Re-electile Dysfunction
01/02/2024

Happy New Year! Since 2024 will involve contentious elections in the United States, the mathematics of voting seems like a perfect topic to consider. Professor of Mathematics Chuck Lundon joined us in the studio to discuss this important topic.


Episode 190: Recharging Electric Vehicles
12/18/2023

As we recharge from a hectic semester, here is an encore presentation of our episode from last year about electric vehicles.


Episode 189: Gravity
12/05/2023

Mike and Chad dig deeper into a heavy topic: Gravity. We have touched on gravity in a few recent episodes and listeners have been falling for more information.


Episode 188: Another Tired Topic
11/20/2023

The weather is getting frightful, so it is a perfect time to discuss the tires on our cars. Mike and Chad discuss why we have to re-inflate them in cold weather and why it is safer to drive on properly inflated tires.


If you have topics that you would like us to consider, email us at crisscrossingsci@gmail.com


Episode 187: Re-Broadening our definition of Food
11/07/2023

With Thanksgiving almost upon us, Mike and Chad are replaying a favorite episode about food. It is time to be thankful for new and interesting dishes.


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Episode 186: Supermassive Black Holes
10/23/2023

Mike and Chad talk about black holes and how they seem to be necessary for the development of galaxies. Subscribe to the podcast today for more great topics.