PODCAST
Featured Episodes
435 | Who’s That Mummy? Examining Animal Mummification in Ancient Egypt
In this episode hosts Carly Charron and Meghan Voll interview Maris Schneider, a master's student in bio-archaeology. Maris examines the mummified remains of animals like birds to understand the role they played in ancient Egypt and the afterlife. Tune in to learn about the rich culture of the Ancient Egyptians, and how animal mummies actually made up a very profitable ancient industry!
#BookCast 7 | The Book of Two Ways
For our seventh episode of #BookCast, we discuss “The Book of Two Ways” by Jodi Picoult—a story that explores whether we make our choices—or our choices make us. Our story begins with a plane-crash, where our main character, Dawn Edelstein is faced with the choice to return home to her life as a death-doula, or continue on to Egypt to complete her doctoral studies researching the coffin-texts and “Book of Two Ways”, a map of routes souls can take to the afterlife.
Join Riya Sidhu, Garth Casbourn, Scott Walters, resident Egyptologist: Maris Schneider, and Meghan Voll as we dive into the book’s main themes and quirks, such as it’s non-linear writing style, the duality of life and death, the nature of choices, and selfless versus selfish action. This podcast edit features a reveal of the next title in our ongoing series.
496 | A Bone by Any Other Name: Refining the Science of Anthropological Investigations Using CT Scans
Hosts Maris Schneider and Meghan Voll welcome Sarah Bidinosti to discuss her research on adapting traditional bone analysis methods for the digital age using CT scans. Sarah explains how techniques for estimating age, biological sex, and stature—commonly used in forensic and archaeological studies—must be refined when applied to digital scans. By creating a standardized methodology, she aims to improve accuracy and repeatability in osteobiography, the process of identifying unknown individuals based on skeletal characteristics.
Our conversation explores the advantages of CT scans, which allow researchers to study bones non-invasively, preserving remains in forensic cases and with cultural artifacts like mummies. Sarah highlights challenges in translating physical bone analysis to the digital realm, as scan parameters and software algorithms can alter bone appearances. Sarah’s work bridges archaeology, forensic science, and medical imaging, offering applications across cultures and time periods.
Hosted Episodes
#512 “Reaching, Grasping, and Research Abroad”
#507 “Teen Spirit: Growing Up in 1950s Windsor”
#504 “The Chicken Trials”
#501 “#InspiringMinds: Fit or Fixated? Unpacking Emerging Fitness Ideals and the Role of Disordered Eating”
#491 “Politics and Media Representation of Cow Violence”
#486 “Is That You? Hearing, Audio, Perception, and Voice Familiarity”
#484 “#InspiringMinds: At the Beginning of Phonation.”
#476 “Ashar’s Cosmic Storytelling Corner.”
#468 “Can AI Be Poetic? A Dialogue on AI Ethics and Instapoetry in the 21st Century.”
