Ever wonder what captures the curiosity of the people behind your favorite science museum? Our staff are constantly exploring interesting topics that spark new ideas and deepen our passion for our work. This can come from all over — podcasts, TV shows, articles, books, and other pieces of media. Whether you’re looking for your next great science listen or want to dive into the same articles inspiring our exhibit designers and educators, consider this your insider’s guide to what’s currently fascinating the minds at the Science Museum of Minnesota.
- Dakota Rowsey, Biology Collections Manager: “I’ve been reading Becoming Kin: An Indigenous Call to Unforgetting the Past and Reimagining Our Future by Patty Krawec. Krawec writes for a broad audience about considering how humans exist with each other and the environment. Through her exposition on the differences between settler-colonial and Indigenous perspectives of being, she calls us to reexamine our relationships and responsibilities to each other and to nature.”
- Dakota Rowsey, Biology Collections Manager: “I’ve been listening to “Me and You” (feat. Vancouver Sleep Clinic) by Forester: the electronic dance duo describes their music as “inspired by Earth’s beautiful outdoor spaces,” which I feel in every track. Their music brings me joy whether I’m in the lab preparing specimens or analyzing small mammal research data!”
- Layna Darling, Marketing and Content Coordinator: “I’m reading Wild Dark Shore by Charlotte McConaghy: transport yourself to fictional Shearwater, a tiny island not far from Antarctica and home to the world’s largest seed bank. Shearwater was once full of researchers, but with sea levels rising, its final inhabitants are rushing to preserve its precious cargo. Every page of this breathtaking novel, I gained a newfound understanding of and appreciation for the living things that surround me and the tiny seedlings from which they grew.”
- Allison Leveritt, Omnitheater and Immersive Media Manager: “I recently listened to this podcast from Radiolab about Galaxy Quenching (the shutting down on star formation within a galaxy), and I found it really relevant and heartbreaking.”
- Allison Leveritt, Omnitheater and Immersive Media Manager: “I would highly recommend Light in the Darkness by Heino Falcke and Joerg Roemer, which is about the team that put together the data that gave us the first picture of a black hole.” You can read another review here.
- Teri Vogt, Corporate Partnerships Manager: “I’ve been reading the 2025 Impact of Education Cuts, which has been very helpful for us in understanding the financial impact of federal cuts on schools, and allows us to support schools by trying to fill holes in their programming left by those cuts.”
- Laurie Fink, William Wells Chair of Science and Sr. Director of Center of Collections and Research: “While there is a lot that I’m tracking in my own time related to work, by far the thing that is most informative, relevant and important is the Your Local Epidemiologist Substack. Dr. Katelyn Jetelina is an amazing science communicator and each week she (and now a team of people) shares really important public health information. I’m very concerned where we are going as a country, ignoring evidence-based healthcare and public health information. This newsletter is a trusted source of information that keeps me informed.”
- Alex Hastings, Fitzpatrick Chair of Paleontology: Ologies Podcast! It’s a deep dive into a different niche science every time. Always a good listen! I’m also reading Eager: The Surprising, Secret Life of Beavers and Why They Matter by Ben Goldfarb. It’s been great getting to know even more about the living descendants of our State Fossil!”
- Catherine Early, Barbara Brown Chair of Ornithology: “A book I always recommend is The Feather Thief by Kirk Wallace Johnson. It is the gripping and true investigation of a heist executed at a natural history museum in pursuit of rare objects for an obscure hobby, and it’s the stuff of nightmares for professionals who steward our shared natural heritage in collections! It’s excellent both as a hard-copy book or audiobook.”
- Alison Rempel Brown, President and CEO: “I thought of this podcast from Hidden Brain, The Price of Revenge. In this episode, host Shankar Vedantam and researcher James Kimmel Jr. explore how the desire for revenge functions like an addiction, activating the brain’s reward centers much like drugs do. Stories — from Kimmel’s own experiences with bullying to Michael Stokes’ transformation after committing murder — show how powerful and destructive this impulse can be, both personally and societally. The episode also offers hope, highlighting Kimmel’s ‘mock trial’ therapy and the neuroscience of forgiveness as ways to break cycles of retaliation and foster healing.”
- Alison Rempel Brown, President and CEO: “Our World in Data has an eye-opening piece on global inequality. The gap between rich and poor countries is staggering — but so is the potential for impact. Even someone earning $45,000 a year in a high-income country is among the world’s richest 5%, and has real power to support people living in poverty. A thoughtful, data-driven reminder that small choices can add up to big change.”
- Emma Filar, Senior Director of Communications: “I’ve been obsessed with all the details surrounding Iris van Herpen’s most recent couture collection, Sympoiesis. The opening look was literally alive – made of over 100 million bio-luminescent algae. Other looks were made of a man-made protein fiber, which could be a breakthrough to help combat the effects of fast-fashion.”
- Catherine Early, Barbara Brown Chair of Ornithology: “In the true crime vein, two episodes of the podcast Criminal have direct ties to ornithology collections. “The Feather Lady” profiles Roxie Laybourne, a scientist who pioneered the field of forensic ornithology and thus developed a new research use for bird specimens in museum collections. I especially enjoyed the audio clips of Ms. Laybourne talking about her work. “Trouble in Flamingo” introduced me to a new part of the history of conservation legislation that protected migratory bird populations in the US in response to habitat destruction and massive overhunting for a fashion trend.”
