This is Science with Jess Phoenix.
Photo: Belle & Epic Photography/Graphic: Anthony Eyring

This is Science with Jess Phoenix

Ignorance is the disease, and curiosity is the cure!

Ignorance is the disease, and curiosity is the cure!

Welcome to This Is Science with Jess Phoenix, a Union of Concerned Scientists production. In this podcast, Jess brings her experience as a volcanologist and science communicator to the mic through science storytelling and conversations with dynamic scientific explorers, change-makers, and innovators.

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Meet our host

Jess Phoenix is a volcanologist, extreme explorer, and science ambassador at the Union of Concerned Scientists (UCS). Her expertise is in volcanic hazards and environmental conversation.

Her work has taken her to six continents, where she has organized and led over 25 scientific research expeditions. She has been chased by narco-traffickers in Mexico, dodged armed thieves in remote Peru, raced horses across Mongolia, worked on the world’s largest volcano in Hawaii, piloted the Jason2 submersible on an undersea volcano, and rappelled into the 3rd largest sinkhole on Earth.

Jess is a Fellow in The Explorers Club and the Royal Geographical Society, as well as a frequent contributor for CNN and the BBC. Prior to creating This Is Science with Jess Phoenix at UCS, she created and hosted the podcast Catastrophe! and is the author of “Ms. Adventure: My Wild Explorations in Science, Lava, and Life” from Timber Press. She holds degrees in history (B.A. Smith College), geology (M.S. California State University Los Angeles), and nonfiction writing (M.F.A. Goucher College).

She lives in Los Angeles with her husband Carlos, teenager Kaz, and a small army of rescue animals.

Episodes

Podcasts

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Podcast
This is Science with Jess Phoenix Episode 34: Mosses and Matriculation

Mosses and Matriculation

Jess talks with California State University, Los Angeles Biology Department Chair Dr. Kirsten Fisher about desert mosses, climate change, and the changing state of science in higher education.
Podcast
This is Science with Jess Phoenix Episode 33: A Democracy, If You Can Keep It

A Democracy, If You Can Keep It

A new report using voting precinct-level data uncovers key information about who is actually voting in our elections, and who our current democratic process is leaving behind.
Podcast
This is Science with Jess Phoenix Episode 31: Getting (Lead) Down to Earth

Getting Lead Down To Earth

Jess visits the Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County to unearth efforts by Dr. Aaron Celestian and his team to use a groundbreaking new mineral-based method to clean up lead contamination in L.A. backyards.
Podcast
This is Science with Jess Phoenix Episode 30: The Science of Violence

The Science of Violence

Jess talks with Dr. Garen Wintemute, Director of the Violence Prevention Research Program at the University of California - Davis, about the science of political violence and what we can do to stop it.