The Science Pawdcast
by Jason and Kris Zackowski
The Science Pawdcast breaks down the latest science happening in the human world AND the pet world. Jason and Kris Zackowski break down a topical science news and pet science news every week with a dose of humour and heart. You'll also occasionally get a wonderful interview with a science expert about their area of knowledge, but ALSO some pet stories too! It's the perfect blend of education and fun!
Episodes
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Season 8 Episode 18: Back to the Future Cells and Is the Dog to Blame for Bad Sleep?
Send us Fan Mail We kick things off with a very Canadian check-in on a sudden snowpocalypse in Alberta, plus a crash course in something we never expected to learn so fast: what it’s like when newly adopted female dogs go into heat. Real life is messy, cold, and occasionally chaotic, which is...
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Season 8 Episode 17: Ultrasound CRISPR and Senior Dog Accidents
Send us Fan Mail You can edit genes with CRISPR, but can you control it like a switch, turning it on only in one small part of the brain, at one exact moment, without surgery? We dig into a fascinating proof of concept study where researchers combine a photo activated CRISPR system with...
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Season 8 Episode 16: Annoying People Are Cutting Your Life Short and Cats Yell at Men
Send us Fan Mail Someone in your life has a special talent for raising your blood pressure in under 10 seconds. The uncomfortable question we chase today is whether those “hasslers” just ruin your mood or whether they might be linked to measurable changes in your body over time. We break down a...
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Season 8 Episode 15: Kids vs Tech, Dogs vs Emotions, and Dr. Jen Golbeck author of Think like a Dog
Send us Fan Mail A pet medicine mishap kicks things off as we relive “Pilgate,” the moment Brik knocked arthritis meds off the counter and Bernoulli and Beaker ate a truly scary number of pills. Once everyone is safe, we shift to a bigger question that hits home for parents and teachers: are we...
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Season 8 Episode 14: Blame Canada(?) and Tarantula Emotional Support Animals
Send us Fan Mail Smoke turns the sky orange and suddenly everyone wants a simple villain. We get why that’s tempting, but we care more about what the evidence says about Canadian wildfires, boreal forest fire behavior, and the real drivers behind those brutal smoke days that drift into the U.S....
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Season 8 Episode 13: Canadian Dangers, Cute Snakes, and Kathy Pobloskie About the Science of Lost Dogs
Send us Fan Mail The animal that causes the most aggressive wildlife incidents in Canada is probably not the one you’re picturing. We break down a Frontiers in Conservation Science study that tracks thousands of encounters and lands on a surprising culprit: elk, especially around campgrounds. We...
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Season 8 Episode 12: NASA gets a boost from Swift and Pets vs Serious Mental Health Issues
Send us Fan Mail A space telescope is quietly slipping toward Earth, and the rescue plan sounds like science fiction: send up an autonomous robotic spacecraft, match speed in low Earth orbit, grab the aging observatory, and gently push it higher before it burns up. We walk through the attempted...
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Season 8 Episode 11: Brix, the ICU, FIP, and a Spooky Cat Fungus
Send us Fan Mail A kitten can look “a little off” on Sunday and be fighting for his life by Monday morning, and that reality changes how you read the science headlines. We breakdown Brix’s terrifying ICU stay, what we learned from the veterinary team, and why we’re still watching his recovery…
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Season 8 Episode 10: Screw Worms, Selfish Cats, and Dr. Laci Brock on Space Art!
Send us Fan Mail A parasite that lays eggs in wounds and eats living tissue sounds like something from a horror movie, but it is real and it is making headlines right now. We break down the New World screw worm outbreak in Texas, what it does to animals, and why ranchers and veterinarians treat…
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Season 8 Episode 9: Winged Flight, Rile up The Dog, and Melly the Science Geek!
Send us Fan Mail Your brain is way more flexible than your body. We start with a wild virtual reality study that asks a simple sci-fi question: could humans learn to fly if we had wings? After a week of VR training with motion tracking, participants don’t just get better at flying through rings…
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Season 8 Episode 8: Hantavirus High Seas, Pets for Stress, and Comedian Matt Koff the Catman
Send us Fan Mail A cruise ship, a rare virus, and a big question: when you hear “hantavirus outbreak,” what’s the real risk and what’s just scary headlines? We start by unpacking the MV Hondius hantavirus story, why hantaviruses can be so dangerous, and how infections usually happen through…
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Season 8 Episode 7: Stiff Person Syndrome, Cat's Kidneys and Dr. Vikram Baliga on the Wonder of Plants!
Send us Fan Mail A rare autoimmune disorder can feel invisible until it steals someone’s movement, and stiff person syndrome is one of the starkest examples. We break down what’s happening in the nervous system when GABA-driven “calm down” signals get disrupted by autoantibodies, why symptoms can...
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Season 8 Episode 6: A.I. Issues, Tick Meds, and Dr. Mitchell on Volcanoes
Send us Fan Mail AI chatbots are everywhere now, and the real problem is not cheating or convenience. It is what happens to your brain when a tool offers a confident answer before you have wrestled with the evidence. We break down a fascinating study on generative AI and critical thinking that…
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Season 8 Episode 5: Medical Cannabis Falls Short and Dog Diabetes
Send us Fan Mail The most convincing health claims are the ones that feel personal, and few topics are as personal as medical cannabis for mental health. We take on a huge Lancet meta-analysis that pulled together 54 trials and thousands of participants to ask a simple question: does medical...
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Season 8 Episode 4: Teen Sleep, Mushing Dogs, and Dr. Alex Dainis on Tasting Every Single Amino Acid
Send us Fan Mail Seventy thousand digits of pi is impressive, but the number that stuck with us is much scarier: about one in four high school students now reports sleeping five hours or less. We dig into the latest teen sleep deprivation data, what it means for learning, mental health, and...
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Season 8 Episode 3: Project Hail Mary Science and Swedish Cat Laws
Send us Fan Mail Think space is fast? Try outrunning time. We kick off with a clear-eyed breakdown of Project Hail Mary’s core science. Using the Parker Solar Probe as our real-world speed limit, we map the math of interstellar distances to compare to the ability for Ryan Gosling to get to Tau…
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Season 8 Episode 2: Punch the Monkey and Bad News About Flat Faced Dogs
Send us Fan Mail A baby macaque clutching an orange plush shouldn’t teach us this much about biology, but Punch does. His quiet hold on a stuffed orangutan opens a door into attachment science, stress, and how primate societies enforce rules we often mistake for cruelty. We walk through why...
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Season 8 Episode 1: Baby Rhythm, Senior's Pet Challenges, and Dr. Raven Baxter on Science Communication
Send us Fan Mail A newborn brain can feel the pulse before it knows the tune—and that single insight opens a door into how early our minds start to organize the world. We kick off the new season by exploring two studies that hit close to home: one revealing that infants build visual categories…
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Episode 36 Season 7: Seahorse Dads, Dogs vs Horses, and Smarter Health with Dr. Shazma Mithani
Send us Fan Mail A father that gives birth, a horse that says “no,” and an ER doctor who wants to keep you out of the hospital—this episode brings science and everyday choices into sharp focus. We start with a mind-bending dive into seahorses, where males carry the pregnancy and build a...
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Episode 35 Season 7: Coffee, Cats, And The Science Between
Send us Fan Mail Coffee may nudge biology, but only within limits. We dig into new research suggesting that three to four cups a day align with longer telomeres for people with severe mental illness, then challenge the hype with the caveats that matter: observational design, smoking as a...
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Episode 34 Season 7: Brain Wash, Golden Genes, and The Chief Bubble Dude to chat BUBBLES!
Send us Fan Mail When the brain gets knocked, it fights back—at least for a while. We open with new research that uses ALPS MRI to watch the glymphatic “waste rivers” of the brain as they surge after repeated head impacts and then falter when the system is pushed too far. That real-time look at...
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Episode 33 Season 7: Cancer Clues, Dog Socialization, and Interview with Author Melanie Kaplan on Lab Dogs
Send us Fan Mail A vaccine built for a virus might be whispering a powerful message to cancer care. We dig into a new Nature paper suggesting that mRNA COVID shots could enhance the effectiveness of checkpoint inhibitor immunotherapy—especially in non‑small cell lung cancer and melanoma—by acting...
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Episode 32 Season 7: Pumpkins That Clean The Earth and Pets That Heal The Heart
Send us Fan Mail Ever wonder how a pumpkin could help clean a toxic field—and why your dog might boost your mood as much as a wedding ring? We unpack both, starting with fresh research from Kobe University that reveals how a small amino acid tag on major latex-like proteins pushes pollutants into...
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Episode 31 Season 7: Polar Bears Leftovers, And Dog Judgments
Send us Fan Mail A top predator that “wastes” food and ends up feeding an entire ecosystem? That paradox sits at the heart of our latest exploration into polar bear behavior and the hidden scaffolding of the Arctic food web. We unpack new research estimating that each polar bear leaves roughly…
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Episode 30 Season 7: How A Solar Eclipse Changed Bird Behaviour And What Kids Get Wrong About Dogs
Send us Fan Mail The sky went dark at midday, the temperature dipped, and a continent held its breath. We chased the total solar eclipse to Texas and came back with more than a memory—fresh science on how birds react when day vanishes and returns a few minutes later. Leveraging a blend of…
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Episode 29 Season 7: Baby Brains, Play Wild Dogs, and Vet Chat with Dr. Nancy Kay
Send us Fan Mail A newborn with higher pTau217 than an adult with Alzheimer’s—what would that mean for how we detect, define, and treat dementia? We dive into a startling new finding that reframes tau phosphorylation as a dynamic, reversible process rather than a one-way street. From the costs…
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Episode 28 Season 7: Bone, Printed While You Wait and The Giving Mood
Send us Fan Mail Imagine fixing a fracture with a steady hand and a smart pen. We open the lab door on a handheld “bone printer” that lays down bio‑ink directly at the injury site, promising faster healing, fewer imaging steps, and the chance to customize strength and shape in minutes. If you’ve...
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Episode 27 Season 7: Huntington's Disease Hope and Smart Dogs
Send us Fan Mail After a two-week hiatus dealing with shipping challenges and postal strikes, Jason and Chris return with exciting scientific breakthroughs and heartwarming pet insights. Their absence was filled with stuffy reshipping adventures and a memorable Comic-Con appearance with their...
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Episode 26 Season 7: The Cold-COVID Connection and Chonky Dogs
Send us Fan Mail Fascinating new research reveals how catching a common cold may provide surprising protection against COVID-19, reducing infection risk by 50% and viral load by tenfold. We explore the science behind this finding and why children might experience milder COVID symptoms thanks to...
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Episode 25 Season 7: Meat Eater Wins, Cat Dementia, and Cydian Kauffman on Water Quality
Send us Fan Mail The Science Podcast explores surprising research that challenges conventional wisdom about dietary protein and cancer mortality while also examining how cats with dementia could unlock mysteries of human Alzheimer's disease. Water expert Cydian Kauffman reveals shocking truths...
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Episode 24 Season 7: Ant Apartments and Facility Dogs
Send us Fan Mail We explore fascinating examples of mutualism in nature and therapeutic relationships between humans and animals through two distinct scientific studies. • Squamillaria plants in Fiji function as apartment buildings for up to five different ant species • These plants have internal...
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Episode 23 Season 7: Megaquake Tsunamis and Hungry Hungry Dog Breeds
Send us Fan Mail On this episode we look at the tsunamis that weren't from the Russian megaquake, and which dog breeds are super super hungry all the time. • Earthquake occurred in the Kural Kamchatka subduction zone where the Pacific plate slides under the Okhotsk plate at 75mm per year •...
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Pet Chat July 26th: Saving Wildlife - Inside a Small Sanctuary's Mission
Send us Fan Mail Pet Chat today has a special guest: Wildlife rehabilitator Janie Girardin who shares her experiences caring for orphaned and injured animals at Spicy Paws Wildlife Sanctuary, explaining the delicate process of rehabilitation and eventual release back to nature. • Specializes in...
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Episode 22 Season 7: 10,000 steps, Same Sex Clusters, and Dogs Watching T.V.
Send us Fan Mail In this episode we explore scientific findings about optimal daily step counts, genetic predispositions for having children of the same sex, and how dogs perceive and interact with television. • Research shows 7,000 steps per day is the health "sweet spot," not the commonly cited...
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Pet Chat July 20th: The Art of Johnny Heim Bringing Pet Stories to Life
Send us Fan Mail Johnny Heim, pet artist extraordinaire, shares his journey from childhood drawings of Snoopy to creating art that has raised thousands of dollars for animal rescues worldwide. • Started drawing as a child in Winnipeg, perfecting his Snoopy technique during long winters • Won a...
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Episode 21 Season 7: The Environmental Price of A.I. and Touching Pets
Send us Fan Mail We dive into the environmental impact of AI technologies and explore the science behind how pet touch affects human well-being. • Generative AI consumes significant energy with a ChatGPT query using approximately 10 times more energy than a Google search • By 2028, data centers...
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Episode 20 Season 7: Exoplanet Pics, Plastic to Painkillers, and Dogs Detecting Pregnancy
Send us Fan Mail We explore groundbreaking science developments from space discovery to environmental innovation and canine intuition. The James Webb Space Telescope has directly imaged an exoplanet for the first time, marking a pivotal moment in our quest to understand distant worlds. • JWST...
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Pet Chat Recording June 28th
Send us Fan Mail Jason an Kris share updates on their dogs Bunsen, Beaker, and Bernoulli, as well as cat Ginger, covering health updates, socialization progress, and hilarious escape stories. • Bunsen has recovered better than expected from his health issues but remains on-leash for safety •…
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Pet Chat Recording From June 22
Send us Fan Mail We celebrate a milestone of 200,000 Instagram followers, reflecting on how their platform has grown from a "ghost town" into a thriving community where cute dogs help deliver science education. • The hosts share updates about their dogs, including Bunsen's recovery progress •…
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Episode 19 Season 7: Cooling Paints, Anger Management, and Dr. Lori Palen with Data Soap Box
Send us Fan Mail Innovations in science are making daily life better through passive cooling paint and insights into pet interactions. In the Science News section we explore technologies that could transform how we maintain comfortable living spaces and manage our emotions at work. • Cement-based...
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Episode 18 Season 7: Big Splash, Pain Meds, and Crappy Dogs
Send us Fan Mail We explore the physics behind making the biggest splash in pool jumping and examine a promising new non-opioid painkiller that could revolutionize pain management without addiction risks. Our investigation into canine health reveals which dog breeds are most prone to…
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Episode 17 Season 7: Bye Bye Earth, Singing to Babies, and Crafty Cockatoos
Send us Fan Mail The cosmic dance of our solar system is more precarious than we realize, with rogue stars potentially disrupting Earth's orbit and sending us hurling into space—though the probability is a reassuring 0.2% over 5 billion years. Recent research reveals singing to babies…
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Episode 16 Season 7: Giant Sloths, Swimming Robots, and Science Whiz Liz on Measles!
Send us Fan Mail We dive into the fascinating world of extinct giant sloths, explore how dogs are inspiring better swimming robots, and discuss the alarming resurgence of measles with immunologist Dr. Elisabeth Marnick. • Ancient sloths evolved wide body size diversity based primarily on their...
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Episode 15 Season 7: Fungal Apocalypse, Dinosaur Digs, and The Orange Cat Gene!
Send us Fan Mail We explore the science behind HBO's "The Last of Us," investigating whether a fungal apocalypse could happen in real life and if a vaccine for fungal infections is possible. The Royal Tyrrell Museum's new "Breakthroughs" exhibit showcases five groundbreaking fossil discoveries…
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Episode 14 Season 7: Chilly Dips, Flatfaced Pets, and Extending Dog Lifespan with Celine Halioua
Send us Fan Mail We explore the cutting-edge science of extending dog lifespan through innovative drug development with Loyal founder and CEO Celine Halioua, who shares the company's groundbreaking approach to canine longevity and health. In Science News: • Cold water immersion after exercise…
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Episode 13 Season 7: The Science of Fluoride, Fancy Cats, and guest Dr. Katie Burnette
Send us Fan Mail On this show we explore the contentious debate around fluoride in municipal water, the science behind pedigree cat adoptions, and innovative approaches to teaching science to non-science majors. • Examination of the fluoride controversy using Calgary, Alberta as a case study •...
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Episode 12 Season 7: Autism Rates, Dire Wolves, and Puppy Training
Send us Fan Mail This week we look to deunk myths about rising autism rates and explain the genetic and environmental factors at play, while exploring the resurrection of dire wolves through genetic engineering and how puppy cognition predicts adult dog behavior. • CDC data shows autism diagnoses...
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Episode 11 Season 7: Alien Life, Sleep Deprivation, and Public Health with guest Sabina Vorah-Miller
Send us Fan Mail In this episode we explore potential signs of alien life on exoplanet K2-18b and discuss how pets impact our sleep quality, while special guest Dr. Sabina Vorah-Miller provides expert insights on vaccine misinformation and avian flu safety. • Bunsen's recovery from a UTI and...
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Episode 10 Season 7: Lightning Trees, Space Miso, and Fostering Cats
Send us Fan Mail On this week's episode we dive deep into nature's most shocking survival strategy exploring how the Alamendro tree has evolved to harness lightning strikes as a competitive advantage. We also examine the fascinating results of fermenting miso in space and discuss the challenges…
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Episode 9 Season 7: Shingles, Dog Context, and The Immune System with Dr. Mohseni
Send us Fan Mail On this week's show we dive into the hidden connections between shingles vaccines and decreased dementia risk, while exploring how humans often misinterpret their pets' emotions based on environmental context rather than actual animal behavior. Our guest, Dr. Yasmin Mohseni blows...
About this show
The Science Pawdcast breaks down the latest science happening in the human world AND the pet world. Jason and Kris Zackowski break down a topical science news and pet science news every week with a dose of humour and heart.
You'll also occasionally get a wonderful interview with a science expert about their area of knowledge, but ALSO some pet stories too!
It's the perfect blend of education and fun!
Hosted by
Jason and Kris Zackowski