Here is the marketing pitch from Taboo Science: “Taboo Science is a podcast that answers the questions you’re not allowed to ask. It’s hosted by Ashley Hamer, a science writer and podcaster. Every episode dives into a different societal taboo to understand the science that makes it tick, the reasons we don’t talk about it, and the impact that has on society at large. Why don’t we eat people? Why are my swear words different from my parents’? And what makes porn, porn? It’s science class if science class had one of those anonymous question boxes. It’s Taboo Science.”
I have recommended the show before for two reasons. First, Ashley Hamer is the host, and she’s up there in the pantheon of excellent podcast hosts for narrative and interview shows. Second, because the show lives up to its name, it does investigate taboo subjects. In season four, the taboo was sexual kinks. Season five just began in early October, and the taboo topic this season is Trans 101. Please put on your thinking caps because I’ve already learned a lot in the first two episodes.
Host Ashley Hamer is a writer, podcaster, and science communicator in Chicago. She is the creator of Taboo Science and the former host and content lead of the science podcast Curiosity Daily.
She has interviewed the likes of Sean Carroll, Carl Zimmer, and Alan Alda, written and hosted several widely viewed science videos, appeared on several leading science podcasts, and spoken on stages everywhere from C2E2 and New York Comic Con to the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas and meetings of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) in Washington, D.C. and Seattle, Washington.
Ashley hails from the redwoods of Northern California and is also a professional saxophonist, a Boston-qualified marathon runner, a new mom, and a cat person.(Editor’s Note: It is highly irritating that Ms. Hamer can play the saxophone, run marathons, parent a newborn, and take care of a cat. By contrast, I just learned Turkey in the Straw on an acoustic guitar.)
Hamer, flying solo on Taboo Science, is in complete control of the hosting cockpit. She’s funny, intelligent, and a strong interviewer with a flair for the dramatic.
Hamer has interviewed the likes of Sean Carroll, Carl Zimmer, and Alan Alda, written and hosted several widely viewed science videos, appeared on several leading science podcasts, and spoken on stages everywhere from C2E2 and New York Comic Con to the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas and meetings of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) in Washington, D.C. and Seattle, Washington.
The podcast began in September 2020, and it didn’t pull any punches in its first several episodes. Topics included pornography, profanity, cannibalism, penises, and vaginas. I can just sense the uptight people who are organizing bans.
Some of my favorite episodes include the March 25, 2021, one on Marriage with Stephanie Coontz. For those who crow about traditional marriage, you should listen to Coontz talk about the history of marriage as a business transaction instead of a bond created from love.
An episode about Asexuality was a learning experience and fascinating and, of course, I can never pass up an episode on poop with Bryon Nelson. Here, Hamer breaks out internet-sourced euphemisms for poop while Nelson explains how, for centuries, people used “night soil” (poop) for fertilizer.
If you, as a listener, are into your science being serious stuff with people with PhDs speaking in solemn tones, Taboo Science is not for you.
But if you enjoy a beaker full of fun with your science lesson, and don’t mind your poop being referred to as “butt nuggets,” then Taboo Science is for you.
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