Listen To Science Friday’s New Arts Podcast, ‘Universe Of Art’
2:13 minutes
Listen to Universe of Art on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, Stitcher, TuneIn or your favorite podcasting app. You can read the transcript for the trailer here.
How do we use art to process the world around us in ways that science can’t? How are illustrators using their skills to help us understand nature’s most unusual creatures?
On Universe of Art, a new podcast from Science Friday, hosted by SciFri producer and art nerd D. Peterschmidt, we bring you some of our favorite arts stories from the show, some new ones too, and conversations with the producers who made those segments. We’ll hear from astronomers who integrate space into their artwork, drag performers who bring science into their acts, and many others.
Join us for conversations with artists who use science to bring their creations to the next level.
Segment Guests
D Peterschmidt
D Peterschmidt is a producer, host of the podcast Universe of Art, and composes music for Science Friday’s podcasts. Their D&D character is a clumsy bard named Chip Chap Chopman.
Segment Transcript
JOHN DANKOSKY: And now I want to tell you about a new podcast from Science Friday that we think you’re going to love, especially if you’re a fan of some of our SciArts stories. It’s called Universe of Art, and I’m here with its host Science Friday producer D Peterschmidt. Hey, D.
D PETERSCHMIDT: Hey, John.
JOHN DANKOSKY: So tell me about this podcast.
D PETERSCHMIDT: Yeah. So some of my favorite Science Friday stories are the ones where art intersects with science in some way. I’m a musician, so I’m a little biased here. But we wanted to make a podcast just for those stories. And we’re really interested in focusing on artists who use science to level up their creations, and also scientists who use art to reinterpret their discoveries in a new medium.
And the whole show is really emphasizing that we may think of art and science as these two totally separate things that have nothing to do with each other. But the longer I’ve worked here and worked on these kinds of stories, I’ve realized that these things are just so intertwined and influence each other and our reality in really concrete ways.
JOHN DANKOSKY: Yeah, I love this idea. Maybe we can hear a clip of the show.
D PETERSCHMIDT: Yeah. I’d love to play this bit from our episode about a group of illustrators and scientists who made comics about invertebrate butts.
[LAUGHTER]
JOHN DANKOSKY: Yeah, I remember this one. Let’s listen.
D PETERSCHMIDT: It turns out Maureen isn’t the only one fascinated with invertebrate butts on Twitter.
MAUREEN BERG: I thought, oh, my goodness. I have to do a comic about an animal with a zillion different butts.
D PETERSCHMIDT: She started a small document with some of her favorite butt facts, threw it into the chat, and the other members started adding to it.
MAUREEN BERG: I think at one point I said, oh, no, we’ve opened Pandora’s butt.
[LAUGHTER]
Because there were so many different pieces of information flying in this chat.
JOHN DANKOSKY: It’s worth listening to just for “Pandora’s butt” alone, D.
[LAUGHTER]
D PETERSCHMIDT: I agree. There are so many other quotes that have stuck in my mind from that segment. So basically, if you listen to Science Friday and you really connect with our art stories, I think you’re really going to like the show.
And we’ll actually be dropping the first episode in the Science Friday podcast feed tomorrow, on Saturday. But if any of this sounds appealing to you, check us out. Subscribe to Universe of Art wherever you listen to your podcasts. We have a couple episodes already waiting for you there. And you can learn more about it at sciencefriday.com/art.
JOHN DANKOSKY: Yeah, Thanks so much, D. Congratulations on this podcast. I’m really excited to hear more.
D PETERSCHMIDT: Yeah. Thanks so much, John.
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Meet the Producer
About John Dankosky
John Dankosky works with the radio team to create our weekly show, and is helping to build our State of Science Reporting Network. He’s also been a long-time guest host on Science Friday. He and his wife have three cats, thousands of bees, and a yoga studio in the sleepy Northwest hills of Connecticut.