Orange teeth! Vanilla butts! Architecture with twigs! Olde-timey joke books? Field naturalist, conservationist, wildlife tracker and “beaver believer” Rob Rich works with the National Wildlife Federation’s coordination of the Montana Beaver Working Group and answers all of our Castorological questions about: baby beavers, tooth tools, lodges, dams, the sound of water, the slap of a tail, who eats beaver and why, beavers in peril, in folklore, in smut books, in your neighborhood and in your dreams forever. Also: yes we discuss slang.

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A donation went to Tracker Certification North America

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Smologies (short, classroom-safe) episodes

Other episodes you may enjoy: Hydrochoerology (CAPYBARAS), Bisonology (BUFFALO), Road Ecology (ROAD KILL), Sciuridology (SQUIRRELS), Oreamnology (MOUNTAIN GOATS ARE NOT GOATS), Lutrinology (OTTERS), Procyonology (RACCOONS), Opossumology (O/POSSUMS), Mammalogy (MAMMALS), Scatology (POOP), Gynecology (NETHER HEALTH), Sexology (SEX), Dasyurology (TASMANIAN DEVILS)

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Become a patron of Ologies for as little as a buck a month

OlogiesMerch.com has hats, shirts, hoodies, totes!

Follow Ologies on Instagram and Bluesky

Follow Alie Ward on Instagram and TikTok

Editing by Mercedes Maitland of Maitland Audio Productions and Jake Chaffee

Managing Director: Susan Hale

Scheduling Producer: Noel Dilworth

Transcripts by Aveline Malek

Website by Kelly R. Dwyer

Theme song by Nick Thorburn

Remembering names! Preventing dementia! Photographic memories! Weed! Goldfish! It’s the thrilling conclusion of Mnemonology with Dr. Michael Yassa, the Director of UC Irvine’s Center for the Neurobiology of Learning and Memory. We talk long vs. short term memories, how smells can pack a wallop of emotions, prosopagnosia (“facial blindness”), the fog of new parenthood, Alzheimer's and other causes of dementia, and tips to keep your brain in tip-top shape. Let’s make some mems.

Listen to Part 1 here

Follow Dr. Yassa on Google Scholar and X

Visit the Yassa Translational Neuroscience Laboratory at UCI website

A donation went to UC Irvine Center for the Neurobiology of Learning and Memory’s graduate student and postdoctoral Junior Scholar Fund

More episode sources and links

Smologies (short, classroom-safe) episodes

Other episodes you may enjoy: Attention-Deficit Neuropsychology (ADHD), Molecular Neurobiology (BRAIN CHEMICALS), Eudemonology (HAPPINESS), Traumatology (PTSD), Sports & Performance Psychology (ANXIETY & CONFIDENCE), Phonology (LINGUISTICS), Neuropathology (CONCUSSIONS), Quantum Ontology (WHAT IS REAL?), Surgical Angiology (VEINS & ARTERIES), Disability Sociology (DISABILITY PRIDE MONTH), Dolorology (PAIN)

Sponsors of Ologies

Transcripts and bleeped episodes

Become a patron of Ologies for as little as a buck a month

OlogiesMerch.com has hats, shirts, hoodies, totes!

Follow Ologies on Instagram and Bluesky

Follow Alie Ward on Instagram and TikTok

Editing by Mercedes Maitland of Maitland Audio Productions and Jake Chaffee

Managing Director: Susan Hale

Scheduling Producer: Noel Dilworth

Transcripts by Aveline Malek

Website by Kelly R. Dwyer

Theme song by Nick Thorburn

How are memories made? Where are they stored? Where do they go? What was I just talking about? Neurobiologist, professor, researcher, and Director of UC Irvine’s Center for the Neurobiology of Learning and Memory, Dr. Michael Yassa, joins us for a two-parter deep diving into our memories. Get to know the cells that run your life while he also busts flim-flam, and talks about movie myths, aging and memory loss, childbirth amnesia, what happens when you cram for a test, hormones and memory, that thing where you can’t remember a word, how to let go of the past, and more. Next week, we’ll follow up with your Patreon questions about Alzeihmer’s, remembering people’s names, neurodivergence, dementia, collective misremembering, and so much more. Commit it to memory.

Follow Dr. Yassa on Google Scholar and X

Visit the Yassa Translational Neuroscience Laboratory at UCI website

A donation went to UC Irvine Center for the Neurobiology of Learning and Memory’s graduate student and postdoctoral fund

More episode sources and links

Smologies (short, classroom-safe) episodes

Other episodes you may enjoy: Attention-Deficit Neuropsychology (ADHD), Molecular Neurobiology (BRAIN CHEMICALS), Eudemonology (HAPPINESS), Traumatology (PTSD), Sports & Performance Psychology (ANXIETY & CONFIDENCE), Phonology (LINGUISTICS), Neuropathology (CONCUSSIONS)

Sponsors of Ologies

Transcripts and bleeped episodes

Become a patron of Ologies for as little as a buck a month

OlogiesMerch.com has hats, shirts, hoodies, totes!

Follow Ologies on Instagram and Bluesky

Follow Alie Ward on Instagram and TikTok

Editing by Mercedes Maitland of Maitland Audio Productions and Jake Chaffee

Managing Director: Susan Hale

Scheduling Producer: Noel Dilworth

Transcripts by Aveline Malek

Website by Kelly R. Dwyer

Theme song by Nick Thorburn