Communicating the impacts and achievements of science to people beyond academia can be challenging. Researchers predominantly discuss their findings in academic journals that the general public doesn’t read, but one way to get the word out about scientific undertakings and their successes is through entertainment media like podcasts.
When Alisha Wainwright finished her undergraduate degree in botany, she didn’t have becoming a podcast host in mind. Yet after a winding path through the wine industry and acting in Hollywood, she found a place as the host of When Science Finds a Way, a podcast produced by the charitable foundation, the Wellcome Trust, that highlights inspiring science stories.
How did your science degree lead to becoming a podcast host?
After I finished my bachelor’s degree, I thought I would do a PhD. I did a postbaccalaureate project with the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute and after that a summer internship at the University of Colorado Boulder. Along the way, I realized that I really didn’t have the passion for a PhD, so I worked at a wine producer for one season and then went to work at a restaurant while studying to be a sommelier.
Alisha Wainwright hosts When Science Finds a Way, a science podcast produced by the Wellcome Trust. She talks to researchers, patients, and other individuals directly involved in a science topic to share the inspiring stories with people curious about science.
Kat Webber
I had always loved the arts, so I decided to take some acting classes. I started doing commercials and eventually, with all the confidence one has in their early twenties, moved to Los Angeles and began acting full-time. At some point, someone on the Wellcome Trust team saw me in a film and then also saw I had a background in science and reached out to me through my university email from a paper I published.
I accepted the offer to join the podcast because I had always been curious and enjoyed science, so even though I decided that a PhD wasn’t for me, this seemed like a way that I could learn about groundbreaking science from all over the world. The Wellcome Trust really values bringing in a variety of people with expertise from every part of the globe, which aligned with my own values of having individuals tell their own stories.
So, it was really this combination of all of these different elements that eventually led to me working with the Wellcome Trust on this project. It goes to show that no path is straight, and that’s okay.
How does your background in science and acting help you be a podcast host?
Alisha Wainwright reviews the scripts for the podcast’s episodes to include clarifying information and commentary to help non-expert audiences follow the science being discussed.
Kat Webber
Having a foot in acting and public speaking and then science helps me bring together both of those parts for the show. Before the interview, I help at the scripting stage, where I approach how to structure the conversation from the audience perspective, and then I lead that discussion in the interview. I also think about how to introduce or clarify topics for someone who is science-curious but not necessarily an expert. My goal is to take these really complex topics and pull out the key parts people need to know to understand them without losing the essence of the science itself.
What have been some of your favorite episodes that you’ve worked on for the newest season?
We did an episode on tuberculosis and drug resistance, and I had no idea that it was one of the number one killers of people around the world today. I spoke to an individual who actually survived contracting drug-resistant tuberculosis and recounted the challenges in getting these medications in areas where this disease is endemic. That’s something I like about this podcast: We always speak to someone who has that firsthand experience. I also really enjoyed our episode about a Japanese doctor who found a treatment for postpartum hemorrhaging—which I also learned is a leading cause of death—because we were able to put a spotlight on this scientist’s achievements that were overlooked because she was a woman. And then I thought that our episode on fungal infections and how doctors are trying to improve their treatment was fun because we made a pop culture connection with the video game The Last of Us.
How is science communication important, and how does this podcast address it?
I am really surprised by how controversial science has become, and I think that we need stories from real people with the real information to combat the misinformation that is out there. But most people are not reading the medical journals that scientists publish their work in, so we are a bridge between researchers and science-curious people. One of the things we try to do with this podcast is tell these human-centered stories in science from a place of hope and looking toward the future. We’re really taking these topics and putting them into a real-world context.
This interview has been edited for length and clarity.
