Rita Levi-Montalcini worked with homemade tools in her bedroom laboratory when she and her family were forced into hiding during World War II. The findings from her bedroom lab were the beginning of her Nobel-winning research and life obsession.

Music in this episode:
Illway by Blue Dot Sessions
Pineapple by Podington Bear
New England is Interesting by BOPD
Poppyseed by Podington Bear
Sunset Part 2 by Podington Bear
Wonder Cycle by Chris Zabriskie
Uneasy by Blue Dot Sessions
Cylinder Two by Chris Zabriskie
Books by Jahzzar
Danse Morialta by Kevin MacLeod
Autumn Fields by Lee Rosevere
Golden by Little Glass Men
Silver Felt (Instrumental) by Loch Lomond

Maria Sibylla Merian painted caterpillars with their corresponding cocoons and butterflies on a host plant. While most of Maria's peers in the 17th century admired her for her artistry, now her work is considered one of the earliest examples of ecology.

Image courtesy of Smithsonian Libraries.

Music in this episode:

The Everlasting Itch For Things Remote by Gillicuddy
Violins and Tea (Instrumental) by Loch Lomond
Skirting Boards by Bleak House
Alchemical by Blue Dot Sessions
Tweedlebugs by Podington Bear
Betrayal, Lies and Disaster by The Losers
A Garden And A Library by Gillicuddy
Eight by Marcel Pequel
2 Spring_Summer by Dustin Wong
Is That You Or Are You You? by Chris Zabriskie
A Simple Shroud by Blue Dot Sessions
Idea by Kai Engel
Chromium Blush by Blue Dot Sessions

Imagine you're a PhD student, just getting started. And you realize you can't hear anything out of one ear, and THEN you learn that's because there's a tumor wrapped around the nerve starting at your inner ear and heading into the brain.

That's what happened to Brittany Bushnell. She was studying neuroscience...and then she became the class example for abnormal visual reflexes.

Music in this episode:
Modulation of the Spirit by Little Glass Men
Barometer by Bleak House
The Temperature of the Air on the Bow of the Kaleetan by Chris Zabriskie
Because You Hold Me Tight by Alex Fitch
The Terrarium by Blue Dot Sessions
February by Kai Engel
Chinese Blues by Moore and Gardner from 1916 George Gershwin piano roll
Tipsy Xylo by Podington Bear
Trundle by Podington Bear
All Eventualities by Gillicuddy
Pens From Spain (Instrumental) by Loch Lomond

Zora Neale Hurston collected folklore and stories from communities throughout the rural south. Her stories were some of the first that represented black people with pride, and not with a feeling of distance or exoticism.

*for links to Zora Neale Hurston's recordings with the Federal Writers' Project, check babesofscience.com

Music in this episode:
Tilly Lend Me Your Pigeon performed by Zora Neale Hurston
Mule On The Mount performed by Zora Neale Hurston
F.I.B by Ben McElroy
Eola by Alex Fitch
Coloured Lead Crayons by Bleak House
Cylinder Six by Chris Zabriskie
Papageno Drunk by Ergo Phizmiz
Isolated by Kevin MacLeod
Dream Blaze by Little Glass Men
Betrayal, Lies and Disaster by The Losers
Mama Don’t Want No Peas No Rice performed by Zora Neale Hurston
The First by Scott Gratton

Margaret Sanger opened the first birth control clinic in the U.S. one hundred years ago this week. The clinic only lasted ten days, but Margaret was just getting started.

Music in this episode:
Surly Bonds by Blue Dot Sessions
Idea by Kai Engel
Bliss by Podington Bear
City Limits by Blue Dot Sessions
I Am Running With Temporary Success From A Monstrous Vacuum In Pursuit by Chris Zabriskie
Grey Sunday by Lee Rosevere
Tipsy Xylo by Podington Bear
One by Marcel Pequel
Screaming Silence by Natus
Set The Dogs (Instrumental) by YEYEY
Is That You or Are You You? By Chris Zabriskie
you better take your eyes by The Rebel

 

Ada Lovelace defined modern computing and wrote the first computer program...for an imaginary machine. Because the computer as a usable, physical object wouldn't exist for almost another century. Music in this episode: Heliotrope, Blue Dot Sessions An Opus in Bb, Blue Dot Sessions First Fist, Rho Marble Chase, Blue Dot Sessions Books, Jahzzar The Third, Scott Gratton Wonder Cycle, Chris Zabriskie Candlepower, Chris Zabriskie Danse Morialta, Kevin MacLeod The Fourth, Scott Gratton

Barbara McClintock suggested that genes jump from chromosome to chromosome, so people called her crazy. Decades later, they figured out that she was absolutely right. Music in this episode: A Way to Get By, Scott Gratton piano lesson, The Rebel Golden, Little Glass Men Little Strings, The Losers Divider, Chris Zabriskie Modulation of the Spirit, Little Glass Men Spontaneous Existence, Little Glass Men Pieces of the Present, Scott Gratton

Mary Anning found the some of the first evidence of giant dinosaur-like lizards. And actual dinosaurs. And also vampires. Music in this episode: Because You Hold Me Tight, Alex Fitch Dash and Slope, Blue Dot Sessions Vibe Drive, Podington Bear Dark Water, Podington Bear Slider, Blue Dot Sessions Bliss, Podington Bear Day Into Night, Rho

After being denied entry to medical school and just barely squeezing into a PhD program, Rosalyn Sussman Yalow developed a tool that could measure hormones in the bloodstream using nuclear medicine. Music in this episode: Showers, Podington Bear Beeth, Blue Dot Sessions K-Eyes, Rho Leadin, Blue Dot Sessions Grey Sunday, Lee Rosevere Ash Gray, Pictures of the Floating World Idea, Kai Engel Widow's Plea For Her Son, The Joy Drops Skyline Horizon, Rho

Once upon a time, everything from timing to the temperature at conception could get blamed for the sex of a baby. Even the baby's mom. Nettie Stevens first suggested that there's no blame to be had; a people's sex is all in their chromosomes. Music in this episode: Along the Hwy, Alex Fitch Winter Theme, Blue Dot Sessions Bouncing, Blue Dot Sessions CGI Snake, Chris Zabriskie John the Whale, Ben McElroy Highway Acrylic, Bleak House Stance Gives You Balance, Hogan Grip

IN THIS EPISODE Poncie talks about Alice Ball, who found one of the first treatments for leprosy. After Alice Ball's method was used, some of the first patients from leper colonies are released from isolation, and can return to their families. Music in this episode by Bleak House, Blue Dot Sessions, Ben McElroy, Podington Bear, and Dustin Wong.

IN THIS EPISODE Poncie talks about Florence Nightingale, who changed nursing from a field where ladies would hunt for husbands to one where women prevented the spread of disease. Music in this episode by Podington Bear, Blue Dot Sessions, Albin Andersson, and Ben McElroy.