Science: A Candle In The Dark

Science: A Candle In The Dark
Airdate: July 24 2026
Host: Drs. Ulrike Muller and Rory Telemeco
Guest: Dr. Chris Golston, Professor of Linguistics, California State University, Fresno

Topic: Most of us know little about the native languages of California, or of the Americas generally. How many are there? Are they all related? Are they dialects or actual languages? How long have they been around? Our guest will shed some light on these and other questions, focusing on three languages spoken in the Fresno and California Central Valley area: Miwok, Mono, and Yokuts.

Guest bio: Chris Golston is professor of Linguistics at California State University, Fresno, where he has taught since 1996. He cofounded the Program in Cognitive Science and regularly teaches courses in phonology, general linguistics, and cognitive science. He was a postdoc at Heinrich Heine Universität and a visiting professor at the University of Arizona, Stanford University, and UCLA. Chris received his BA (1983) from UC Berkeley in Philosophy and Classical Languages, his MA (1988) and PhD (1991) from UCLA in Linguistics. He specializes in phonology and its relation to other things, especially morphology and syntax. He works primarily on three dead Indo-European languages Ancient Greek, Hittite, and Latin,
and on two indigenous languages of the US, Crow and Yokuts. He’s was involved with language documentation and revitalization with Crow 2014-2016 and with with Yokuts from 2009 to the present.
His other two main interests are poetic meter, about which he’s writing a book with Tomas Riad of Stockholm University; and the study of animal cognition through the lens of human grammar. His book manuscript Animal Grammar, is currently searching for a publisher.

Our host radio station is KFCF 88.1FM

Science: A Candle In The Dark
Airdate: March 26 2026
Host: Drs. Ulrike Muller and Rory Telemeco
Guest: Dr. Alyssa Wilson

Topic: This interview explores the transformation of traditional forms of gambling into today’s modern technology-backed systems. The rise of digitalization (such as the internet and other tech-based design and integration of technology into daily life), helped shape new forms of augmented and extended reality, as well as new commercial markets like eCommerce. Gambling today is accessible 365 days a year, 24hrs a day, 7 days a week, without even leaving home; all that is needed is a computer or smart phone/device and an internet connection. This talk will highlight key features in today’s digital world that may increase risk for developing gambling related harms.

Guest bio: Alyssa N. Wilson, PhD., BCBA-D, ICGC-I is an Associate Professor of Psychology at Fresno State University. She received her Ph.D in Rehabilitation with emphasis in Behavior Analysis and Therapy from Southern Illinois University, Carbondale. She is a Board-Certified Behavior Analyst-Doctoral and a Level 1 Internationally Certified Gambling Counselor. She is the founding director of the Center for Behavioral Health and Addiction Services (CBHAS), a place dedicated to training undergraduate and graduate students on research and clinical services for behavioral addictions.

Our host radio station is KFCF 88.1FM

Science: A Candle In The Dark
Airdate: June 25 2026
Host: Drs. Ulrike Muller and Rory Telemeco
Guest: Arantes Armendariz 

Topic: Libraries are no strangers to censorship battles. As book challenges continue to rise, this talk explores why libraries repeatedly become cultural flashpoints, what these conflicts reveal about human psychology and perceived threat, and how librarians can navigate community anxieties while defending intellectual freedom and democratic access to information.

Guest bio: Arantes M. Armendariz is the science librarian at Fresno State. Drawing from his background in psychology, Arantes applies a social psychology perspective onto the topic of book bans. Arantes is interested in what motivates people to challenge a book and why this behavior has repeated historically and into the current day. Arantes earned a Master of Arts in Psychology from CSU, Fresno and a Master of Library and Information Science from San Jose State University. His research interests include group polarization, cognitive dissonance, personality, information & disinformation, book bans, and information literacy.

Our host radio station is KFCF 88.1FM

Airdate: 26 April 2026 for the May Cafe Scientifique event
Hosts: Dr. Ulrike Muller, Dr. Rory Telemeco
Guest: Art Evans, PhD, Chief Technology Officer at Armory Technologies

There are three common phases of matter, and this classification works great when you are dealing with ice, water, and steam. But what about glass, sand, traffic jams, and flocks of starlings, can you think of those as phases of matter? This interview explores the physics of materials that refuse to obey textbook categories and examines the collective phenomena that emerge when large numbers of things interact. 

Science: A Candle In The Dark
Battling Grassy Invaders

Airdate: 28 May 2026 for the June Cafe Scientifique event
Host: Dr. Ulrike Muller
Guest: Dr. Ranae Sullivan, Fresno City College

This is a conversation with Dr. Ranae Sullivan, instructor at Fresno City College about her PhD research on invasive grasses.

This episode was originally broadcast on 88.1 KCFC on August 25, 2017.  Join Dr. Ulrike Muller, Dr. Madhusudan Katti, Dr. Andrew Jones, and Dr. David Lent in a discussion on science as an international collaborative enterprise!  We will be releasing more episodes from our archives.  Enjoy

Science: A Candle In The Dark
Episode 20: 
Airdate: 4 April 2019
Hosts: Dr. Madhu Katti, Dr. Katie Mack

Guest: Dr. Thomas Elmqvist, Stockholm Resilience Centre, Stockholm University

Summary: On this episode, we discuss sustainability and resilience in places across the globe, natural and human systems, and the relationship between equity in society and sustainability. Follow @science_candle on twitter for more updates!

In this episode recorded just before the US government shutdown of 2018-19, hosts Dr. Katie Mack and Dr. Madhusudan Katti interview Dr. Rob Dunn, in a conversation that ranged from climate change to space exploration, from the biodiversity in rainforests to that living with us in in our homes, from microbes in our shower heads to those on the space station, and perhaps even on the Voyager spacecrafts! Hope you enjoy it, and Madhu's poor voice recovering from the cold is not too distracting. 

Let us know what you think on twitter or on our facebook page.

Science: A Candle In The Dark
Episode 18: The Beginning And End Of The Universe
Airdate: 22 November 2018
Hosts: Dr. Madhu Katti, Dr. Katie Mack

Summary: In our first exciting episode after the recent reboot, listen to Dr. Madhu Katti and new co-host Dr. Katie Mack discuss such events as the beginning of the universe, destruction of our solar system, and the end of the known cosmos. This is one podcast you will never forget!

Image courtesy of wikipedia.org

Science: A Candle In The Dark - Reboot!

Host: Dr. Madhusudan Katti

Airdate: 17 November 2018

Summary:

Dr. Madhusudan Katti gives an update about the ScienceCandle podcast, covering topics such as a new upload schedule, new co-host, and much more!