Taboo Science Creators & Guests

Ashley Hamer is a writer, podcaster, and the managing editor of Descript. She previously hosted the award-winning Curiosity Daily podcast from Discovery and her own personal show, Taboo Science. She’s also a former scriptwriter for the science YouTube channel SciShow. As a science communicator, Ashley has a passion for getting others excited about everything from physics and astronomy to psychology and exercise science to all the weird things plants can do. She has also served as a board member of Women Thinking Inc., a nonprofit devoted to promoting science to women and families. Ashley hails from the redwoods of Northern California and is also a professional saxophonist, a Boston-qualified marathon runner, and a cat person.

Agustín Fuentes is a primatologist and biological anthropologist at the University of Notre Dame. His work focuses largely on human and non-human primate interaction, pathogen transfer, communication, cooperation, and human social evolution.

Emily Ladau is an activist, writer, public speaker, and co-host The Accessible Stall Podcast.

Emily Willingham is a journalist and scientist.

Stephanie Coontz is a writer, historian, teacher, researcher, a faculty member at Evergreen State College, and author of the book, The Way We Never Were.

Dr. Randi Hutter Epstein is a medical writer, author and journalist. She is also a lecturer at Yale University, a writer-in-residence at the Yale School of Medicine, and an adjunct professor at Columbia University's Journalism School.Dr. Hutter Epstein's work has appeared in The New York Times, The Washington Post, The Daily Telegraph, The Guardian, Parents, and More. Her first book, "Get Me Out: A History of Childbirth from the Garden of Eden to the Sperm Bank," was published in 2010. Her second book, "Aroused: The History of Hormones and How They Control Just About Everything," was published in 2018.Previously, Dr. Hutter Epstein was a medical writer for the London bureau of The Associated Press and was the London bureau chief of Physicians' Weekly.

Sarah Costello is co-host of the podcast Sounds Fake But Okay.

Judi Ketteler is an author and storyteller. Ketteler began her career as a copywriter, and her work has appeared in Better Homes & Gardens, Good Housekeeping, The New York Times, Runner’s World, Self, and Women’s Health.Ketterler has written three non-fiction books. Her most recent is "Would I Lie To You? The Amazing Power of Being Honest in a World That Lies."

Riley Black is a paleontologist and author of the book The Last Days of the Dinosaurs.

Tina Horn is a writer, host, creator, and producer.

Rebecca M. Herzig is Professor of Gender and Sexuality Studies at Bates College, where she teaches courses on the history of science, technology, race, and gender.Herzig frequently contributes to popular media, and her first book, "Suffering for Science: Reason and Sacrifice in Modern America," was published in 2005. Her second book, "Plucked: A History of Hair Removal," was published in 2015.

Yoni Freedhoff is an obesity expert, associate professor of family medicine at the University of Ottawa, and founder & medical director of the Bariatric Medical Institute which provides non-surgical weight management.

Dr. BRANDY SCHILLACE (skil-AH-chay) PhD is a historian, novelist, and television show host. Formerly an editor for two journals, Brandy works as a freelance journalist as well as a writer of nonfiction and fiction. Brandy has written about death and dying, Cold War medicine, bioethics, and organ transplant and the history of accidents. Her most recent book, THE INTERMEDIARIES, tells the forgotten, daring history of trans activists, gender affirming surgeries, and the fight for LGBTQ rights in the shadow of the Third Reich. In fiction, Brandy is author of THE FRAMED WOMEN OF ARDEMORE HOUSE, and THE DEAD COME TO STAY, the first two novels in a mystery series featuring a neurodivergent protagonist.Brandy has bylines at WSJ, Scientific American, Globe and Mail, HuffPo, WIRED, and UNDARK. She is host of Wondrium’s Unsolved Mysteries of Medicine (2025) and the popular YouTube livestream, Peculiar Book Club, featuring bestselling authors of unusual nonfiction, from Lindsey Fitzharris and Mary Roach to Ed Yong and Deborah Blum. She has appeared on Travel Channel’s Mysteries at the Museum, NPR’s Here and Now, and most recently on the History Channel’s The Unbelievable with Dan Akroyd. Brandy gives regular keynotes and participates in other speaking events, and is a tireless advocate for social justice, disability and LGBTQ+ representation.

Kate Clancy is an American biological anthropologist who specialises in reproductive health. She is Associate Professor at the University of Illinois, in the Department of Anthropology. Her additional research and policy advocacy work focuses on sexual harassment in science and academia.

Jennie Dear is a writer.Dear began her career as a reporter for small-town newspapers in Tennessee, Kentucky, and New Zealand. She taught for ten years as an associate professor of English at Fort Lewis College.Dear's first book, co-written with Faron Scott, "The Responsible Journalist: An Introduction to News Reporting and Writing," was published in 2014. Her second book, "What Does it Feel Like to Die?" was published in 2019.Dear received her undergraduate degree in the history of ideas from Williams College, and her Ph.D. from the University of New Mexico.

Founder of ZAVANT enterprises; an international consulting firm.MOTTO: Change your mind; change your lifeMind Reader for hire.Mind. Magic. Meaning.Creator. Curator. Connector.

Erika Engelhaupt is a freelance science writer and editor.

Grisel is a behavioral neuroscientist with a particular interest in addiction. Her research attempts to identify psychological and genetic factors that lead some people to develop drug addictions while others in similar circumstances do not. Grisel’s work is inspired by her own personal experience with addiction, a struggle she chronicled in her book Never Enough, the Neuroscience and Experience of Addiction. The work, which appeared on the New York Times’ bestseller list for science books, established Grisel as a leading expert on the science of substance abuse. That reputation earned her an invitation to speak on addiction panels at the 2020 World Economic Forum.

Melanie Joy, PHD, EDM, is a psychologist, speaker, and organizational and relationship coach.Joy has written several books, but her best known is her first, "Why We Love Dogs, Eat Pigs, and Wear Cows: An Introduction to Carnism," which was published in 2010.Joy is the founding president Beyond Carnism, a foundation with the mission of fighting the belief system that allows people to eat animals.Previously, Joy was a lecturer at the University of Massachusetts, where she taught privilege and oppression, psychological trauma, addiction, domestic violence, feminist psychology, and animal rights.Joy received her B.A. in Foreign Languagesfrom Harvard Extension School, her M.Ed. in Teaching from Harvard University, and her Ph.D. in Social Psychology from Saybrook University.