Bonus: 1,000,000 Downloads! - YouTube Live Replay
Hi y'all. For this month's bonus episode, we're actually gonna do something a little different. A lot of you know that because we hit a a 1000000 downloads, which is amazing, and thank you all so much, we did a interactive YouTube live with our listeners. And we thought for those of you who weren't able to see it or to attend, we wanted to release it as an episode. So that's our bonus episode for this week or this month, I mean, and, you can also go check out the video on our YouTube page.
Jam:That's right. So You'll hear us reference things that are about the YouTube live. In a lot of ways, it's very similar to us doing our q and r episodes because we
Melissa:Mhmm.
Jam:Answered different questions that were a being asked and that kind of stuff, some of them were sent ahead of time. We also talk about things happening in the chat and whatnot, but we wanted to make sure that if you missed it a And you really wanted to to join in and and enjoy the fun and celebrate about the $1,000,000 thing that you got a chance to hear and or watch the, a This YouTube Live thing.
Melissa:Yeah. And if you asked a question and it didn't get answered, don't worry. I've got a lot of questions already written down for our July bonus episodes. So if you don't hear it right now, don't worry. We'll circle back around to it.
Jam:So without further ado, here is the replay of our, YouTube live q and r sort of thing, and hope you enjoy it.
Melissa:A thanks for coming, and happy listening.
Jam:Hello, everyone. Can you guys hear us okay?
Melissa:Hi.
Jam:Those of you who are here bright and early, maybe comment where you are from ish, Your geographic location or something like that?
Melissa:New York, Jacksonville, Florida.
Jam:Nice.
Melissa:We had someone comment Chelsea from Lansing. She's a patron.
Jam:Oh, yes.
Melissa:We had someone comment that they were from Oman, I think, on the YouTube, comments. That was really exciting.
Jam:That's awesome.
Melissa:I used to, before my mom passed away, she would always want updates on how like, where in the world people are listening to us from and how exciting it was for people all over the world.
Jam:That's awesome. We got a, a howdy from Texas And Grand Rapids, Michigan. Awesome. Our friend, Tabby. What's up, Tabby?
Melissa:She's one of the only people in the world who consistently calls me doctor, doctor Killine. A She's like, yeah. Went to school for that. You deserve it.
Jam:Fiji Islands and then now chilling in Missouri.
Melissa:A Oh, that's cool. I think I messaged with her on Instagram earlier. How many countries do we have listeners at this point? Oh my gosh. So many let me pull it up real quick.
Jam:Oh, yeah. Seriously.
Melissa:If transistor shows exactly the number
Jam:I think if you do a quick little, a download of the
Melissa:spreadsheet Okay.
Jam:I'll pull that up. Yeah. Well, one
Melissa:thing that we kind of were thinking for the structure of today is we're gonna start with some icebreakers, and then we have some common questions and some listener questions about the show itself. A And then, we'll open it up for questions from the people watching. But if y'all don't have questions, that's okay. 2, we have lots of the icebreakers and stuff that people have already sent in. So Right.
Melissa:Okay. I'm working on downloading this. A Right now we're at 1,059,000 downloads, which is crazy. And we've got our world map. So I kind of wanna show this to them.
Melissa:I don't know if you'll be able to see it. Oh, yeah. You can. A So this is our little heat map here. Jam, do you wanna hold that closer?
Jam:Yep.
Melissa:So this is a heat map and the countries that are darker blue, we have more listeners, and the countries that are lighter blue, we have less. So you can see we have most of the countries in the world we have listeners from, which is wild.
Jam:Yeah. Originally, there was like so there there were just white with no blue to them at all, no tint at all. We have no listeners there. When we we first started, it was like, you know, a few countries that had some blue and then tons of white. And over time, we've gotten obviously, some countries have a lot and then a lot of countries where there's, like, maybe 5, 10, 15, something like that.
Jam:So there's more countries with blue and only a handful that are just white with no tint at all.
Melissa:Yeah. A Very exciting. Last time I checked, I think it was over a100. So that's very cool. And then we even have a breakdown.
Melissa:So we have the most a Listeners in the United States, that's, 58%. But within the United States, California is repping the hardest. There's, eight a They're about 13% from California and then Texas next. So nice California. Thanks.
Melissa:We love you. A That's part of why we did it at 8, our time, so that y'all could get off work and come see us in in a timely fashion in your time.
Jam:Yes. Absolutely. A Oh, I got a specific hi from Tabby. Thank you, Tabby. I have no, you know, prefix or suffix, but that is okay.
Jam:Just a hello from you is all I need.
Melissa:Radio, television and film bachelor jam. Yeah. Oh, someone just asked, how do you stand having a MacBook? A My work computer's MacBook is driving me crazy. Listen.
Melissa:Once you get indoctrinated not a sponsor. Okay? But once you get indoctrinated to the Apple system, it's like, I have my notes on my phone, on my computer, on anything I need all the time, and my text messages come to my computer. A Everything's so integrated. It just feels so good.
Melissa:So yeah. I'm I'm in the Apple family and so is Jam, actually, also. See? UNT trumpet. So seamless.
Melissa:Okay. Let's see. So we've got 24 people watching. That's so exciting.
Jam:Less distracted. We can just do a quick little
Melissa:product placement, baby. Nice. Nice. Nice. Okay.
Melissa:Well, let's get started. It's 805. So let's get started with some of our, a our questions that were written in. So we're gonna start with some icebreakers. We're gonna answer them, but we want you to answer them also in the chat because, a You know, I'm a teacher, and I believe in active learning.
Melissa:And part of why we did this whole YouTube live event is so that we could get to know some more of our listeners and talk to y'all. So, you're gonna have to answer as well.
Jam:And you probably heard heard this too, but and what I do is to thank you guys for the a that we Melissa mentioned this earlier, our number of downloads, we exceeded 1,000,000 downloads quite recently, and so The big reason this idea came up was to thank y'all and just get to interact with you guys more. So, and, also, I think I'm pretty sure we can review the chat afterwards. So even if we miss some of y'all's answers as well, we'll be able to read them afterwards. So we'd love for y'all to answer. The first one the first icebreaker is, do you have a controversial a Food combo.
Jam:This question came from Brie m, one of our patrons.
Melissa:Listen. I don't I think I'm kind of boring. I mean, I think I have some, a Maybe my siblings are in the chat. Maybe they know what my controversial food combos are. But I feel like I do oh, oh, I just thought of 1.
Melissa:Okay. I just thought of 1. Okay. I don't really do this anymore, but I used to go to Sonic in the And for the I don't know. Is Sonic nationwide?
Melissa:It's definitely not worldwide, I don't think, but it's basically a fast food chain that's really known for its drinks. Like, it has a whole happy hour thing. A Yep. And I used to go to Sonic and get Doctor Pepper, but I would add, like, a shot of chocolate into it. Woah.
Melissa:A And it was so good. Because Doctor Pepper already has a lot of flavors. So and then when I made floats, like, you know, everybody made root beer floats or whatever, I did Doctor Pepper floats with chocolate ice screen.
Jam:Yeah.
Melissa:Okay. So, before you answer JAM, somebody asked wait. What's the question? What was
Jam:the question? Sorry. The question was, do you have a a Controversial food combo from Brie m, one of our patrons. Okay. I don't know if I have one either.
Jam:A I'll just say this because this is coming to mind. I don't hate this anymore either, but this is one of the the snacks I had as a kid a that my brothers and my parents like to remind me that I ate and requested to eat all the time as a kid. It was just a whatever you call it, a hot dong or, a A weenie or whatever different, you know, words people use to describe that when they're a kid. A hot dog with a craft single slice of American cheese wrapped around it, a Microwaved for, like, I don't know, maybe, like, 10 seconds or something like that. Just very short and just called it a weenie and cheese.
Jam:And when I was, like, a 3, that was my jam. That was, like, the thing I asked for all the time. My parents were smart enough not to give it to me all the time. They tried to make sure I had a nutritious, variety of foods, but I remember loving that weird little combo as a kid, and I have not had it since.
Melissa:I will also say that, a Who's I gonna say? I totally lost it. Oh, well. Okay. There are some responses here in the chat.
Melissa:1 person said, a Pickled red onion and peanut butter sandwiches, which is wild. And this is from Morgan who is probably our number 1 YouTube commenter, she's very prolific in YouTube comments and has given some really good ones. But wow, that combo. Pickled red onion even. Not even just plain red onion.
Jam:Oh, that's probably better. I mean, plain red onion would be a lot I don't know. At least, I think I would rather have the pickled red onion. But
Melissa:a And then, you and t trumpet said pineapple on pizza. I think this is Tim said Parmesan on popcorn and ketchup on eggs. Ketchup on eggs is, like, a little achy.
Jam:I've done it.
Melissa:Oh, I remember what I was gonna say. I have a distinct memory when I a little kid, this is kind of embarrassing. So the YouTube live is getting me. I have a distinct memory when I was a kid of thinking that the margarine tub was a whipped the cream
Jam:tub
Melissa:and, like, taking a whole spoonful of it and then my mom being like, what? Who took spoonfuls of butter out of this tub
Jam:Oh, no.
Melissa:And it was me. So gross. Okay. Renee said I like pretzels dipped in orange juice.
Jam:Okay. Interesting.
Melissa:That's a weird one.
Jam:Yeah.
Melissa:Chelsea pizza rolls dipped in ketchup.
Jam:Interesting. A Ketchup is one of those I feel like that will it begets many
Melissa:interesting combos. Kit Kats dipped in chamomile tea.
Jam:A Woah.
Melissa:That's from The Cretaceous gamer. Also, I really liked, Tim pointed out that was your jam jam. I didn't realize you'd said that. An accidental line Oops. Oh, on scrambled or diner style eggs is what the ketchup is good.
Melissa:And then, oh, butter sugar cinnamon sandwiches, yes, we call that, cinnamon toast, but without the crunch.
Jam:Yes. Yeah.
Melissa:Nice. Okay. What's the next one you have for us?
Jam:Okay. We're just going down the list?
Melissa:Yeah.
Jam:K. If you could create your own mundane magical spell, What would it do? How long would it last and why? This is from our friend, Tim, who's one of our patrons. So I'll say it one more time while you're thinking.
Jam:If you could create your own mundane magical spell, what would it do, how long would it last, and why?
Melissa:Okay. So I think I had a little bit of time to think about this, and it was when I was driving over to your house. And, an For those of you who don't know, there's a heat dome over Texas, and it is really, really hot this week. A And, I was thinking, wouldn't it be nice if you could, be comfortable no matter what the temperature was? Like, year temperature was exactly right Mhmm.
Melissa:No matter what the ambient temperature was.
Jam:That is pretty great, and it's just simple enough that it I feel like it a A mundane applies.
Melissa:Yeah.
Jam:It's not too awesome Yeah. But it would be so nice.
Melissa:Yeah. The other thing I thought is, like, my My clothes always fitting. That would be nice. Environmentally friendly. You don't have to, like, shop so you waste less time, waste less money.
Jam:Yes. Yes.
Melissa:A you buy high quality pieces and you don't ever get too big or too small for them.
Jam:Yeah. I have tried many times, and I'm sure people have kinda noticed this, to have a very simple set of clothes, almost like a uniform, what'd be really cool is a mundane spell would be just not needing to shower.
Melissa:That's what my sister said too. She said, oh, oh, no. That was later. She said InstaShower. Instant shower.
Melissa:Yeah. Okay. I'd kind of thought of that, but then, like, the shower is relaxing nice. Maybe just only when you wanna have a shower. Right.
Jam:If if it could be a basically, maybe you could say it like this. A I I can I just don't get dirty? You know? And then your clothes aren't getting dirty. You could literally wear the same clothes all the time.
Melissa:You're just impervious.
Jam:That'd be awesome.
Melissa:The Yeah. That would be awesome. Okay. Chelsea said teleportation, and it lasts all day every day, but I feel like that's not mundane enough, Chelsea. I'm gonna call that answer out.
Melissa:I feel like that's too cool of a power, like, that would be a big magic spell. You gotta get, like, a kind of low key one.
Jam:That's what's hard about this question. It's like mundane. It's a mill Okay. What would be nice but not too cool?
Melissa:Tim said I would make a spell that produces a three d illusionary image of whatever I'm trying to draw or to scrap, it would last up to 5 minutes, and I would choose that to better convey ideas to people. That would
Jam:be nice. That is cool.
Melissa:It's like you're trying to describe what a molecule looks like, and then it just shows up.
Jam:Yeah.
Melissa:And then there it is
Jam:on your hand. Here we go. Chelsea said, okay. How about this? Maybe I never have to go to the bathroom.
Jam:That's pretty cool.
Melissa:That would be pretty cool.
Jam:Definitely a very mundane sort of day to day situation.
Melissa:But That would be. Yeah. Yeah. About the Road trips
Jam:could go on forever?
Melissa:Oh, road trips. A There's so many streets. The most annoying. Yep. Working from home, going to the bathroom doesn't matter.
Jam:Yeah. When you're public When
Melissa:you're public.
Jam:Airplane, stuff like that. Yeah.
Melissa:Yeah. It's like you never have to go to the bathroom when you're in public. That would be nice. And then you know? Because what else would happen to your waist?
Jam:Yeah. Sleep instantly because it can be hard on a bad night. That would be really nice. You could be like, snap your fingers, fall asleep.
Melissa:Emily went back and answered the last question and said hot dogs with mayo and potato chips.
Jam:Okay. It's not as weird as some, I could do it. But
Melissa:I don't know. Mayo on a hotdog? I have
Jam:no I know people who do it.
Melissa:A I had
Jam:a friend who dipped his French fries in mayo. That was a little bit too much for me.
Melissa:I do remember making fun of someone, like, lightly a for dipping their fries and mustard when I was a kid, but then when I was trying really hard not to eat sugar because it messed with my, like, blood sugar stuff, a I found that dipping fries and mustard actually wasn't as bad as I thought.
Jam:Nice.
Melissa:And that's usually doesn't have sugar.
Jam:Consider yourself redeemed, whoever that friend was.
Melissa:In the LOL, Chelsea said, does anyone else feel like we're around royalty with the Coleenie family? There's 2 of them. Actually, there's 3 of them in this chat, but one of them is hiding under a different name. Oh, if you eat too much food to automatically feel less full, that would be a good one.
Jam:That would be. Wow.
Melissa:Yeah.
Jam:I love that.
Melissa:Let's see. Sleep instantly because it can be hard on a bad night. Oh, yeah. Yeah. Mason really can't always go to sleep very easily.
Melissa:Mason struggles with that for sure.
Jam:Yeah.
Melissa:I feel bad for him, but I can usually go, right to sleep.
Jam:Yeah.
Melissa:Morgan said, a Yes. It's an honor to be around the doctors, Coleenie. That's hilarious. Okay. Oh, Tobias also wants our heat based spell to where you're comfortable.
Melissa:Yeah. It can get kinda grumpy when it's hot outside
Jam:for sure. It'll be so sneaky because no one around you would know that you are the right a temperature.
Melissa:Mhmm.
Jam:And they would just be like, are you not hot? And, like, oh, it's not I'm a little warm. You should, like, kind of, like, play it cool. You know? Yeah.
Jam:But if they'd be like sweating, you'd be totally fine, a be shivering and you wouldn't be. That'd be
Melissa:so awesome. Yeah. Yeah. That would be and I love but I do love getting a little cold. A But maybe if I was comfortable all the time, then I wouldn't care about that.
Jam:Yeah.
Melissa:Okay. Are you ready for the next one? The Chelsea I think was this one from Chelsea?
Jam:Yes. This is Chelsea.
Melissa:Answer to the last question goes with this question.
Jam:Okay. Oh, yeah. It does, doesn't it? Do you wad or fold your toilet paper? A This is from Chelsea.
Jam:And if you're someone you don't have to answer this in the chat if you don't want to. This is one of those that gets into some territory for, like, I want to talk about that. So a We will, but you don't have
Melissa:to worry. And that's the power of being a patron. All three of those questions are from our patrons. We put prioritize our questions and, You know, ask a question that we prioritize and you can get us to talk about stuff that we absolutely would not talk about normally. Yep.
Melissa:So you got us. I fold because I feel like there's less likely to get mess on you. I don't really understand how people wad and don't get stuff all over their hands, and that's my biggest fear.
Jam:I have done both. A And I think the the way that I decide this is that if the role is looking kind of on the Lighter side, like, it's starting to be closer to running out Mhmm. Then I'm more aware of trying to conserve. So then I'm picky about how many squares, and then I usually fold because I thought it can be more efficient that way.
Melissa:Yeah. Me
Jam:too. Like a full brand new role and I'm just kind of a in a hurry, I'm just probably not gonna do that. I'm not gonna care about as how much I use quite as much, and I'd probably just gonna want it because it's faster.
Melissa:A I have a good story about this question, which is, one of our roommate one of Jam's roommates, who is now my neighbor and our friend, caught someone not flushing in their house. So there's, like, 4 people that lived in the house and then in a big group chat with a bunch of so we had business friends. Uh-huh. She was like, who wads it and who folds their toilet paper? And got all these responses.
Melissa:And then she was like, I caught the person in my house a Who did that? I don't remember if they wadded or folded who wadded and or folded their toilet paper and didn't flush. And now I've trapped them with this question because they were the only one who answered in this specific way
Jam:That is so funny. Was that when she lived with us or before that?
Melissa:Yeah. When she lived with you. It was in that guest bathroom, but that toilet didn't flush very well. So I think that's actually what the
Jam:That happened multiple times. In fact, even sometimes where we have, like, some sort of function Mhmm. There, people would go and be, like, who didn't flush? And I'd be like, chill because that that a Toilet was, like, really deceiving because you had to hold it down way longer than you'd think because it was super old. A Yeah.
Jam:It was never a
Melissa:good trick.
Jam:Yeah. It was never yes. That was very smart. That was very good detective work.
Melissa:Yeah. That is good detective work. Okay. Back into the chat. Let's see.
Melissa:Oh, the cretaceous gamer said fold.
Jam:A Yep.
Melissa:Tim said I do both. Can someone who wads just, like, tell me how they don't get stuff on their hand and also a How they, keep it from, like, totally clogging the toilet every time. That's what I wanna know. Okay. Maureen went back and answered the last question a And said the their mundane grocery power would be to beat any rush at a business, grocery store, restaurant, and I a Love that.
Melissa:It feels so good when you get in there, and then right after your rush comes, you're like, nice. I timed this so well. Yeah.
Jam:That'd be awesome.
Melissa:A So that's a
Jam:good one. Yeah. Yeah. That would be man, it'd be so cool to be able to avoid that forever. Just like never being in the rush.
Melissa:A Madison said if you're Italian and I'm Italian, is it likely we have a common ancestor? And to that, I say I'm not a genealogist. A So I don't know. Maybe somewhere.
Jam:I mean, think I mean, far enough back. Right? Surely.
Melissa:Truly. Yeah. And, also, Chelsea said more surface area when you watch, so covers more of your hand, but I'm not sure that that's true.
Jam:I think it it is when I do when I wad, I feel like The way that I do it, there's actually more toilet paper between my hand.
Melissa:Oh, it's a thickness.
Jam:It's a thickness thing. A So I it feels safe.
Melissa:So that shows you 2 times bringing up going to the bathroom in 1 YouTube live, and I support it. I'm fine with talking about these things. My brother makes front of me for it a lot, but I think we need to be comfortable with bodily functions.
Jam:So I mean, it's normal. We know we're all doing it. Okay? We're all doing it.
Melissa:We're all doing it. This is a side of a you don't see, though, on the podcast usually. So that was a tricksy question that pulled that up. Good job. This is a weird conversation.
Melissa:That's okay. So we're gonna switch a to talking actually now about questions about the show that people have asked.
Jam:So if you were, like, not here for the Code of Pepper Talk, we're moving on, so don't worry.
Melissa:Yeah. So we're moving on. Oh, yeah. I do love a good bidet. That is a big that is a big thing.
Melissa:Okay. So, moving on to questions about the an oh, look. There are more people who have just hopped on. That's exciting.
Jam:Awesome. Welcome, friends. We are we just did some icebreaker questions, and now we're about to move on to questions a note the show that you
Melissa:guys have submitted to us. Yes. Definitely. Also, Tabby did point out that
Jam:even Beyonce poops. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. A So that means we all shares at least 1 thing in common with her.
Jam:Mhmm. That might be where for most of us, the similarities end, but at least we all have that. You know? Okay. This first question about the show that we get frequently from many people is is what's the workflow of the podcast?
Jam:We're not gonna, like, a Do a deep, deep dive, but just the sort of general process of the workflow of the podcast from beginning to end of an episode.
Melissa:A So I found I have to be pretty excited about an episode and, and also there has to be good resources. So if you've asked a question and I said I wanted to, a oh, look. Someone a medicinal chemistry student from Ireland. That's exciting.
Jam:Oh, awesome. Welcome.
Melissa:So a I found that I have to be really excited about a topic, and then there has to be good resources. So if you've asked a question, it's probably not that I'm not excited about it, a But there might not be good resources for it. So a really good example is one of our patrons asked, about dry erase markers, a and I looked into it because I was like, that's such a good question. And all I could find were patents and someone online who I a Couldn't tell their credentials on a YouTube channel who was explaining what he found from the patents, and I didn't feel that that was a good enough like, it wasn't founded enough in evidence that I felt really comfortable making a show about that. And we did, last fall, have, like, a a chemistry off the cuff series where I got to do some more of those, where I'm like, oh, I'm not 100% sure, but here's what I think.
Melissa:And we might do some of those again, but that's where it starts, is I a Think about lots of different topics. I read through the questions y'all ask. I think about questions I've thought of since the last time we recorded and get excited about something and then research search it. And sometimes I get excited, research, get bummed out. Get excited, research, get bummed out, and go back and forth for a while.
Melissa:And then, a Then there's, like, a 100 tabs open. I have so many tabs open at this stage every time. And then I finally pick, this is definitely the one I wanna do, and then I narrow it down to just those tabs just that research, and then I expand the research and then put together I try to put together an episode that has, like, the answer's an interesting question and that there is, like, a solid chemistry lesson in it, or if there's not a chemistry lesson, like, with the, I don't think it's aired yet, but the mosquito one that's coming out soon? Yeah.
Jam:That'll be this Thursday.
Melissa:That one, there's not like a chemistry lesson, but there were big ideas that I wanted to pull out of the episode. And then, I read through it and make sure it tells a good story and that it makes sense, and I try to, like, expand on my notes wherever I can. And somebody asked how long that takes me. That can take if it's a if it's a relatively easy topic, like, oh, a All they had to say was it's intermolecular forces, and then I understand it, and then I can put it together. That could maybe once I've picked a topic, take 2 hours or less.
Melissa:If it takes a long time to find a topic and it's a hard topic to condense, it can take, I would say probably 4 to 6. That's rare when it's 6. Usually, that happens when I have to really, really dig. So a And then then I come here to this couch and we record, and Jam really doesn't hear the episode idea until we start recording. And then, then Jam takes it.
Melissa:And I think it's gotten a little bit easier since Jam started to take over.
Jam:Yeah. I think it will I think it'll a to get easier. We obviously only added the YouTube element of things somewhat recently. So that changed up all of our stuff, in some good ways and some a Not bad, but new ways or whatever. But we record right here.
Jam:I don't know the episode until, Melissa we start recording. A And then I take the audio and video and sync them all up, sync our different channels up. And I do mostly editing now in our in a video editor instead of an audio editor and then a Do some color grading and and you've probably noticed if you looked at our YouTube, we have also different camera angles now where there's an angle that's closer up on most angles closer up on me. And there's some different the Tools we're using to to be able to pull that off and make the color look a little bit better, in this room that doesn't have professional lighting, just has regular lights in it and stuff. But So it
Melissa:probably looks worse now than it normally does. Yeah.
Jam:I do some stuff like that and then export both for video and for audio and then a Get those prepped in the podcast side and the YouTube side and get them scheduled and all that stuff at the show notes, a And then it it arrives at y'all's various podcast app or YouTube app.
Melissa:Now what time of day would you say you normally finish? I have a guess because I usually get those texts the next morning.
Jam:Late Wednesday night, and it comes out Thursday morning. So I'm I'm a I'm working on it, and then you guys get it pretty quickly after that.
Melissa:Late Wednesday night, like, into Thursday morning maybe
Jam:sometimes. Usually, things finish after midnight. But
Melissa:a Before I got married, I was also a night owl, but, one of the stipulations of my marriage was I had to start going to bed at a reasonable hour. And so usually we'd both be up, like, having conversations at 2 AM, but not anymore. Yeah. I do speaking of 2 AM, our, medicinal chemistry student from Ireland, Rose, is awake at 2:22 AM right now. It's probably 2:26 AM now.
Jam:Yeah. That's awesome. A I love this.
Melissa:Shout out.
Jam:Rose is committed. Yes. Rose is iconic.
Melissa:That's Yeah. For sure. Rose is like, I'm just a night owl. That's awesome.
Jam:I am too, Rose.
Melissa:A And then Morgan also said a 127 tabs open between my 3 browser windows on the laptop.
Jam:Yeah. Intropic asked, a What video editor do I use? I'm a big fan of Adobe Premiere. I've just used it forever. I've used other ones as well, and I like them a lot.
Jam:So I'm not like a I'm not saying it's the best ever. It's just the one I'm the most comfortable with. I've also used, we use Descript or oh, that's awesome. Hi, Bree. We've used Descript as well, which is both the audio and video thing, and that's what helps with our transcriptions.
Jam:And, we use a Adobe Audition for the actual recording and initial kind of filtering and swipe that for the audio to make it sound a little bit sweeter. So
Melissa:a JD asked, did you try the snappy clippy tools to sync your audio? And I'm gonna be honest, JD. He said he told me about that, and, I don't remember. And I also am not very good at at technology things, so it probably went right out of my brain.
Jam:Snappy Clippy Tools. One downside is that a The sample rate of our audio recording and our video recording is different enough to where I actually have to adjust by just a tiny percentage, the speed of the video Oh,
Melissa:you said it's a popper you click with your hand.
Jam:Oh, no. I see what you're saying. No. I just clap.
Melissa:A Yeah. We just clap. Morgan, that is JD on a boat. JD, are you on a boat right now? Just wondering.
Melissa:That's my brother-in-law. Okay.
Jam:While we're waiting for JD's answer about if he's on a boat, should we go to the next one?
Melissa:Yes. But also look our patrons in the, comments are talking to each other, which is really fun. Yeah. Okay. So I I do wanna shout out.
Melissa:Somebody asked me how many hours I a bed. Can you see who asked that? And then
Jam:Oh, yeah.
Melissa:Somebody also asked you how many hours you spend.
Jam:Yes. So Latila, who we a Saw earlier she spoke. She's from the Fiji Islands, asked how many cool. Hours of research on average go into an episode.
Melissa:Yeah. So I think for me, that's anywhere from 2 to 6 hours. It at first, when we first started, it was probably like 8 to 10, but I just honestly don't have enough time, and I've also learned what things our listeners are excited about and and where I can focus my research instead of a I used to need every single tiny question answered, but it just really wasn't sustainable, especially once I was getting near graduation. So a I learned, like, oh, these questions are really important to answer. These other questions are questions I have as a chemist, but That probably Jam and other listeners won't have.
Melissa:And if those ever do come up, then I will just a Say in the moment. I don't know. I don't have time to research that if we have anyone who specializes in that field or maybe I should know that, but I don't. A And it's made life a lot easier and made it a lot more reasonable.
Jam:Yeah.
Melissa:So that's the research. And then recording usually probably takes a Well, we get in, set up, talk business and stuff, so that's probably another 2 ish hours usually. Yeah. Basically, I dedicate a workday. I plan to spend 1, like, equivalent of a workday to chemistry for your life.
Jam:And our recording time used to take a lot longer because the way we do a lot of, like, stops and starts and stuff like that and then edit all that stuff out. And sometimes we have these episodes the At the raw recording, it would be, like, an hour and a half or two. I feel it'd be a lot of, like we'd get on tangents or it'd be like, oh, you know, let me go check that and
Melissa:Yeah. A Just
Jam:stuff like that, and it would be, like, half of we should be most of the night hanging out and stuff, and he'd be like, alright. Cut all that out in the edit. That took forever, but we changed that.
Melissa:Yeah. I think it's made life a lot easier to do. And it feels more conversational. I like that. It feels less like a class and more like we're hanging out talking.
Melissa:And then some was it Miriam? Yes. That's Miriam ShoutOut as one of my Chemed friends.
Jam:Miriam asked, as a follow-up, how much time does Jam put into editing the episode? I
Melissa:don't know the answer to this.
Jam:I'm not sure if I do either. I think sometimes it can be, Oh, I don't know. I used to have a better grasp on this whenever before we changed this to Furr YouTube, but I think there's some weeks where it doesn't take me a I could probably do it in about 2 hours if I really needed to. But there's been sometimes where we have an just an annoying problem comes up, a And I have to find ways to fix it. And with our new stuff with the with YouTube, it's a It sometimes happens and it doesn't.
Jam:Like, one time, the video stopped recording part with your episode. We had, like, 5 minutes left. A So then I had to stitch those together, which is not that hard, but I wanted it to all flow well. And it's really annoying because we like having all one take. So That was frustrating, and I couldn't quite get the, like, a perfect cut.
Jam:You know? That's not what I wanted to do. But, anyway, a That's my best guess right now. I'll have a better sense the longer we do the YouTube thing.
Melissa:In the comments, someone said, oh my gosh, the JD on the boat. And he said, no. He's at the house and then he said, JD at the house, which I thought was a really good joke.
Jam:That's great. Oh, Steven Boyles is here. He just said, hey, y'all. A What's up, Steven?
Melissa:We were worried Steven, maybe was gone. We thought he was a goner. We reached out to him a few times and didn't hear back, and we're like, a Steven, where are you? And then he popped back up and we're very relieved. Yeah.
Melissa:Okay. So let's see. A Oh, just so quickly, I'm gonna pause and ask questions since, you know, we've got a good mix of questions in here and on there. Somebody asked, in the oh, I'm a chemist, and, Jam, what are you? That was it looks like, I think Tyla or
Jam:Tyla asked that. Yeah. So
Melissa:I Or Tia, maybe?
Jam:A I mean, the most the best answer is that I'm not. Yeah. I'm not a chemist. But as far as the potential of the podcast, I'm an audio and video a person. That's what I studied and worked in that space for a while.
Jam:I don't work in that, like, run a regular basis anymore other than the podcast. So
Melissa:a His degree is radio, television, and film, which is very convenient for me because my degree is so not in any of that.
Jam:Let's just say that for the most part, I think chemistry for life has almost a monopoly on my
Melissa:a Radio and television and film related stuff now. Nice. And that's why we get such good sound with, like, actually relatively low quality mics. So, you know, like, a I just I I have consistently been blown away how Jam has things on hand and has the ability and capacity to make things look and sound really, really good.
Jam:We're shooshing it over here, but we're trying to we're doing our best.
Melissa:Yeah. These we've had these same mics the whole time, and they were mics that Jam already had when we started the podcast. So that's on our wish list is getting nice new mics. A Morgan also asked what journals do I commonly pull from in my research? That's a great question, Morgan.
Melissa:Some of my favorite places to find resources is in the American Chemical Society has a reactions channel where they they do something similar where they make chemistry more accessible. I sometimes will watch those and use those, but I usually combine that with peer reviewed journals. Sometimes it's topic specific, but a Usually, I'll do American Chemical Society and chemistry education research and practice, and then chemistry education research and practice, some kind, a Oh, no. It's is it? It's the Royal Society of Chemistry.
Melissa:Chemistry education research and practice is the one that I, would submit my journal to within that. And then they have a Royal Society of Chemistry has a podcast called Chemistry World They Stopped Making, a But it's 5 minute, and it's more in-depth. It's geared to people who, have a background in chemistry, but that will kind of go in-depth on different molecules, and that can a sometimes be a really good resource. So those are probably my top 4 things that I pull from, Royal Society of Chemistry, American Chemical Society, and then, a those 2. And I'll also do extension.
Melissa:Shout out to Renee who, does extension work, but that's sort of the field of a Taking science and making it accessible to people, especially in agriculture and climate science. And sometimes if I have a question that I can't get an good a Get good answers for. Like, there was a hard time getting good answers for popcorn. I will type in that thing an an extension. And then I can usually find a reputable source that's an extension branch of a university that gives me good resources.
Melissa:So that was a really good question, Morgan. Okay. And what are your favorite and least favorite parts of your respective roles with the podcast? A I love making the podcast. I think the only time the only thing I don't like is I wish it Sometimes I wish it was my whole job.
Melissa:I like teaching and I like research too, but we just have these like, we would love to collaborate with people, but it is so hard to coordinate our schedules. And We would love to be more making content on social media for, like, shorts and things for people to tell more people about chemistry. A So if we just had more time, I think that would help. And then sometimes I can't think of a good idea that I'm excited about.
Jam:Mhmm.
Melissa:And then it's like, I I just basically keep looking until I can think of a good idea because I can't really write an episode unless I'm excited about the topic. Yeah. A which y'all see. That's why I say I'm excited for this episode every time.
Jam:And I actually totally get that. I I would I don't think I would be able to do it a If I was in most of the shoes, I would not be able to do it if I wasn't excited about it. So that makes complete sense to me. We got a lot of good questions, but sometimes, you know, being able to a enough resources or just get really jazzed about it. I feel like that makes total sense.
Melissa:And just a quick, a Thank you to your nice comment from, I don't know if it's Tila or Tyla or Tia even if it's in Spanish. A But that's really kind. She says we do good work of making chemistry simple for everyone, so that's nice. And also for, a For Intropic saying, Hi, Key. I recommend your podcast to anyone who'll listen.
Melissa:Thanks. Tell chemistry to even more people. Also, this thing I've started doing is really annoying. That's Tabby's fault. She started me on that.
Melissa:Okay.
Jam:Alright. That's funny. A we share thing about wait. What what was the question? Least favorite thing
Melissa:about our roles? Your respective roles. Yeah. What's your least favorite thing? Did they say least and most favorite or just least?
Melissa:I think it was least favorite. I lost the comment.
Jam:I think, there's some things that are just impossible to speed up. Like exporting video, a You can get a faster computer, but other than that, it just takes time and stuff like that. Or you export it and you realize you forgot to do something or forgot to change something, a Or you say your Internet points wrong or something like that, and just I was just moving too fast, and then I have to do it all over again. Yeah. I like my a Roll as well.
Jam:I mean, it's plays to my strengths and things I love doing. I don't get tired of doing video and audio stuff. So very fun. I think What I re I like when we have to do something new and wanna have time to do it. So, like, us figuring out the YouTube stuff, it took a lot of extra time a And changed up our stuff, but it was fun because it was new.
Melissa:Mhmm.
Jam:And that's always fun if I have the time. But if I don't, then it feels like Melissa and I are both trying to squeeze this stuff in around other things in our lives. A And so then it get that can be frustrating because you can be like, man, I wish I had more time, and we could polish this more, or we could tinker with stuff more, or think of more new ideas, or whatever. An There's some things we wanted to do to add more stuff on the website, stuff like that that we've thought about a lot or, like, social media stuff. A So, yeah, that would be cool if we could have more time.
Jam:It's kinda the only thing that gets frustrating.
Melissa:Jam Morgan wants to know if you remember the electromagnetic spectrum. I can never remember what the order it's in. I always have to look it up.
Jam:I don't know the full order either, but I do know that infrared is below visible light and then ultraviolet is above in the In terms of, like, the wavelengths getting long longer. Thing
Melissa:I can never remember.
Jam:Is oh, really?
Melissa:Yeah. I'm like, which one is it wavelengths? And there's, like, one's wavelengths and then there's the opposite. I can't remember right now. And one they're inverse really related.
Melissa:So it's like if you're talking in terms of wavelengths, it's opposite than the other thing, and so I always get confused.
Jam:Yeah.
Melissa:That's one weakness of mine that has probably come through frequency. Yep. That's the and Yep. That has come through on the podcast is, like, I don't just have a really steel trap memory. So a lot of times things will come up that I'm like, I should know that, but I just can't remember that.
Melissa:Okay. A So, well, we said around 840, we are gonna switch to focusing mostly on questions from the comments. We still have a lot of questions that people have sent in, And we'll probably answer those in an upcoming, q and r, like, for July's q and r maybe.
Jam:Yeah.
Melissa:But I'm gonna switch to answering the questions we get in the comments. And then if there's any lull, maybe we can switch back to those that you have, Jim.
Jam:Yeah. Okay. A
Melissa:Okay. So Rose asked if there's any tips on common pitfalls people encounter in academia or research in chemistry. Are there commonly undeveloped skills students can build on during undergrad? And then she said she loves our channel.
Jam:Aw.
Melissa:A okay. So I think this seems more directed at me.
Jam:Oh, yeah. 100%.
Melissa:You could probably answer skills for undergrad, but
Jam:a Right. Right.
Melissa:One thing I do wish people would do more of is practice their problem solving skills like a Thinking critically and drawing conclusions. So it's something I spend a lot of time with my students, like, in the lab, in, like, a TA situations when I was, in grad school and then even as a teacher is like, you know a lot more than you think you know. I would say that to my a before every test. You know more than you think you do. So I would want them to, like, pull on what you know to make an educated guess.
Melissa:A mess Sometimes they would call that BS ing. And I'm like, no. You're not BS ing. That's critical thinking. That's like using your knowledge to draw conclusions.
Melissa:So a I really, wish students would lean into that a little bit more and, like, really develop those. That's in more specific to the United States. A I had a friend who's from Eritrea and said they didn't have textbooks and they didn't have a lot of resources, so they had to use their critical thinking skills a a Whereas in the United States, we had so many more resources than they had that he's like, students here will get any resource they and study it. But I think we have access to so many resources that sometimes we don't do as many of the, like, problem solving skills. And then let's see.
Melissa:That's probably a big one. My biggest thing that I wish I had done differently in my undergrad experiences sleep more. I think sleep is so important. You're a better learner. You're a happier person.
Melissa:A You're nicer and, so, yeah, I wish I had slept more. And then for common pitfalls people encounter in academia or research, I think people often get stuck in thinking that what they originally thought they wanted to do is what they always have to do. So I didn't get a PhD in organic chemistry, which is what I had originally planned to do, and I'm so, so thankful that I didn't, and I think it would have been really easy to, like, slap a failure label on that and say, like, I failed at this. But I think, really, anytime we're moving closer towards the thing that we really are meant to be doing or that would bring us a lot more happiness, a That's a win. So it's okay if you set out to be a doctor and you don't end up doing that, or if you set out to do one type of research and you end up at another one, a Or if you decide that actually a master's is gonna get me the job I want and I wanna leave, that's a good thing.
Melissa:So, a Yeah. That's my thoughts on that. I think that's a quick answer to that question.
Jam:Yep. I'll just ditto the sleep thing because that was one of the problems I I definitely Really mess messed me up quite a few times. And just the problem solving skills also applies to, like, just being organized and scheduling and learning that kind of stuff and forcing yourself to do that a Early on. Scheduling time for rest. I think one one of our q and r's we talked about this a little bit, but, like, carving out time for a Things that are good for you and that that replenish you, but then you also need to be good at the other stuff too and not just, a Like, I would wait till last minute and cram, and this is not good.
Jam:So schedule time for studying along the way and then also schedule time for rest.
Melissa:Yeah. That's a I would say time management is what that is. And there are studies that show that if you have, like, a part time job in college, you're actually more likely to succeed in your classes than if you don't, a note Which might be because you have to manage your time better. It might be I mean, it's correlation, not causation. Could be any number of things, but a I thought that was interesting.
Melissa:Okay. Let's see. Oh, Renee asked why do dog's feet sometimes smell like Fritos, and there a is an episode of the American Chemical Society reactions on YouTube where they talk about that. I think I researched it and felt like it wasn't interesting a Or like a long enough or interesting enough chemistry lesson to put on an episode. I did research
Jam:it. Interesting.
Melissa:And Morgan also smells the Frito smell, so that's a. Okay. Let's see. For me, do I have a favorite chemistry experiment? A Like a demo experiment, the one where you can make fire different colors.
Melissa:Oh, that one's so cool. I think I saw that, and it was the moment that I was like, oh, chemistry is amazing.
Jam:Mhmm.
Melissa:And then also, miss Mullis, my high school chemistry teacher, had us hold bubbles that had like water that had been bubbled through with a I guess it was propane or butane. I don't know. And she lit it on fire, and that was really cool. Wow.
Jam:And I
Melissa:had to wait a week because my nails were painted the 1st and was really sad. So that was a really, really cool one. Chelsea b asked if I could do a podcast on another topic, what would it be? I'll let you answer that question or if we could. Oh.
Jam:I'll
Melissa:let you answer that question first.
Jam:Okay. I mean, a If we could do it on anything?
Melissa:Anything. Any other topic.
Jam:I mean, coffee is kinda like my go to. I could talk about it all day. I could look up new theories or research about it and talk about it. I if I could probably pretty easily a Devote myself to a coffee podcast and and have plenty of fun. What about you?
Melissa:I a Want to do this is kind of a silly answer, but I wanna do a podcast. And I'm trying to find someone to do it with me, but I don't have the technical a that Jam has, so his wife would be optimal because we could rope him into that. I wanna do a podcast where I just get to talk about the things that I'm excited about in terms of like products or habits or whatever. Because as excited as I get about chemistry, there's a whole podcast about me getting excited about chemistry, but there's like You know, when I get my cast iron working really well and I find a new way to season it or when I like a I found these Scoy scrubber pads. It's like a washcloth coated in a resin, and it's supposed to be compostable.
Melissa:And I'm like, this is amazing. I'm so excited about these. I I don't know if it's compostable yet because I don't have a compost pile, but I cannot wait. And it feels so much better than using paper towels, you know, things like that that help me reduce waste or a That I think are good habits that I wish I'd known about sooner. I would love a podcast about that, but I don't actually know how to start it.
Melissa:I'm gonna also do reading Reddit stories. That's like my that's my junk food of podcast that I listen to, and I I'm like, I could make this.
Jam:One nice thing is that we have we've sort of accomplished of a Just a portion of what you would want to do when we share our fun thing in the week. Sometimes that is what we share. It's like you are, like, I got this new thing or I started, I worked on my cast iron or whatever. So at least we get to do, like, a little 5 minute version of that.
Melissa:Yeah.
Jam:But it's not all podcasts. So That
Melissa:is part of why we included that. Yeah. A And so that we could get to it feels like y'all get to know us, and this is why we wanted to get to know you Yeah. Which, Audrey asked what's something in our life that we're excited about right now, a We're kind of nearing the end. I wanna, read so many more questions.
Melissa:But I do wanna say Audrey also said, not a question, but whenever you guys answer, one of my questions on the podcast, I Feel Like I'm Famous, and Morgan said, their partner calls his mom each time, Which I think is so cute and wholesome. Okay. So let me see. And anyone's that we don't get to answer will probably answer during the upcoming q and r in July.
Jam:Yep.
Melissa:So something you're excited about in your life right now, I might answer right away.
Jam:You have your okay. Please go first. I don't know. Mine.
Melissa:A our bed is dying. We have slept on the same bed since that that since in the Since we got married that my husband got in high school and it started we put a mattress topper in that help, but it's caving in the middle. Now my bag hurts a Every morning when I wake up, and it got to the point where I couldn't actually sleep through the night anymore because I was in so much pain. And I switched to the couch, which was better, but is not great, a Honestly, when you're in your thirties to sleep on a couch. So, and we we ordered a new bed.
Melissa:We thought I wasn't gonna get here till next week, but a Right before I came here, I got a phone call, and it's gonna be here tomorrow.
Jam:Nice. So
Melissa:I'm really excited about the new mattress. It's my 1st time ever buying a new mattress. I'm so excited. I feel like that's such a grown up purchase. Yeah.
Melissa:So
Jam:That is. That's cool, though.
Melissa:A about you? What are you excited about right now?
Jam:Oh, man, dude. I don't know. I don't know if I have one. I really don't.
Melissa:Before we did YouTube, Jim did this every week. When he got to it, it was exciting thing, and he'd have to and think about it for moments Mhmm. Like 5 or 10 minutes every time.
Jam:I'll just say this. So, you know, you guys have heard us talk about that. A Melissa's husband, Mason, and I do coffee roast. We roast coffee together. We have a coffee roasting company, and we've a working on it, improving our setup and all that kind of stuff, and we're pretty close to accomplishing 2 things.
Jam:One of them is just having the roaster on its own circuit on the breaker box and stuff, And we just got 2 new coffees in. So those are small exciting things that, I'm pumped about a that aren't, like, huge massive life things or aren't gonna give me a better night sleep necessarily like yours. But if I had something like that, if I had something I recently ordered that was coming in, that would definitely be what I'd pick.
Melissa:A Yeah. I think your roasting is really exciting.
Jam:I I do too.
Melissa:When I left to come over here today, normally, I record during the day. And so when I came over in the evening, Mason was like, in the it's like you're going to roast today.
Jam:Yeah. Lisa and I always roast, every other Thursday evening after the kids are asleep. So it's like he gets here at, like, 8:30, a And we we roast, into the night.
Melissa:Okay. This is a good thought from Morgan in the comments on the, advice for college students. I wish I had made a More of an effort to ask questions in lecture and go to my professors' office hours. I never wanna see dumb seem dumb or bother them. That's really good advice.
Melissa:A As an as a professor, I, like, beg my students to come to office hours with their I think it's really intimidating. And also I changed it from office hours to a Student drop in hours because I think office hours made it seem some of the students thought maybe it was like this is where the professor is getting work done, but, no, we set it aside for the students. And if you talk to your professor and get to know them, it's less scary when you have a question, and also you can get a rec letter
Jam:Yeah.
Melissa:If you wanna go to grad med school or anything like that.
Jam:Yeah. Yeah. That's a great that's that's really good.
Melissa:Mhmm.
Jam:I did not do that.
Melissa:Tim asked if you're forced to do a podcast a on another topic, what would you not want it to be? Jam first then Melissa.
Jam:Sports. Anything sports.
Melissa:Oh, yeah. That you would hate that. The first thing that came to my mind was physics.
Jam:Oh, interesting. Another science.
Melissa:I don't like physics. Yeah. A Oh, why does bread get tough in the microwave? That was, Liam's question. And I think it's because the microwave specifically excites those water molecules.
Melissa:A right. So I think the water molecules evaporate, and it gets dried out the same reason everything else is. That's just my guess though. Just chemistry off the cuff for you. That seems
Jam:like a good guess.
Melissa:Let's see. Oh my gosh. Worst experiment I had. I don't know if someone asked the worst experiment, but when we had to boil hydrochloric acid without a fume hood, that's a terrible idea. Safety first.
Melissa:Okay.
Jam:Oh, no.
Melissa:Let's see. Oh, Audrey wants me to make a podcast about things I'm excited about. I made 5 major life changes based on recommendations you made. That's so nice. I will say my person in real life for that is Jam's swipe.
Melissa:Anytime she's like, have you heard of blah blah? I'm like, oh, get ready. I'm about to have a new favorite thing. So that's why I want her to do it. Okay.
Melissa:Let's see.
Jam:Both Mason and then my wife, Emily, they're very, like, a They do not wanna be on mic. They don't wanna they it's just so funny. They're so similar. And then Melissa and I were both like, let's talk. We wanna talk.
Jam:People listen to us, please. In the
Melissa:I know. Isn't it so there's very they're very similar. We're like, oh, we're the we're on the same plane in our respective marriages, and they're on the same plane. I always said I wanted to, a You know, marry a female version of his wife or a male version of his wife, and that's what I got. So Yeah.
Melissa:Very exciting. Let's see. Why isn't water flammable? It's just hydrogen a message and because it's a new thing. I don't know.
Melissa:That's my best answer right now. It's kind of an abstract question. A okay. Any other oh, wavelength on frequency on sunsets. We did talk about the sun, But I didn't talk about sunset.
Melissa:That's a good idea. I think we in the episode about why is the sky blue, we might have mentioned why the sky changes colors as the sun is setting.
Jam:I think we did. Yeah.
Melissa:What are some things you guys have coming up that you're looking forward to? Oh, that's kinda similar to the last a missed question. I'm really excited about that bed. That's pretty much the main thing.
Jam:Yeah.
Melissa:I am maybe going on a camping trip with my husband, and I haven't really urban camping maybe just one time before, so I'm kind of scared of that, actually.
Jam:We've talked about trying to do some sort of a Hangout weekend sort of thing with the, sometime later in the summer, that would be cool.
Melissa:That would be cool.
Jam:Looking forward to that if we can pull it off.
Melissa:Okay. Melissa, did you take physical chemistry? If yes, did you hate it since you're so adverse to physics? Yeah. Well, the The first I took them out of order for people who know.
Melissa:Physical chemistry 1 is all about heat and thermodynamics. Like, engineers take that classes, thermodynamics usually is what it's called. Physical chemistry 2 is about, like, the microscopic level at the atomic level and how, is it light? You can sandwich a duck away from this. That can act like a particle or like a wave?
Melissa:Yes.
Jam:I believe that's true based on a not having taken it.
Melissa:And we had to do the math to, to prove why that was true. And it was probably one of the hardest I've ever taken it was at 8 AM, but the teacher is one of the best teachers I've ever had. And I spent Hours. I took off a whole week. I waited tables to pay for my way through school.
Melissa:I gave away shifts for a week so I could a outside that man's office and ask him questions before the final. I mean, I tried so hard. I've never worked so hard in my life for a b. That was one of the a I was so proud of that grade, but, most other times that I took physical chemistry, I did hate it, and I did have to take it. A But I did it was really satisfying in that one class, but I, like, barely remember any of it.
Melissa:I saved my notebook because I was so proud.
Jam:A Did you ever have to take literal chemistry?
Melissa:I get it because physical versus literal.
Jam:Yeah. A I was thinking, like, what if there was literal? Like, what would it even be?
Melissa:It took me a second because I was reading these comments to realize that you had made a joke.
Jam:When I took lit literal chemistry one,
Melissa:I but
Jam:it'd be like maybe it'd be like literary or something like that. We're like, oh, we're reading the diaries of chemists.
Melissa:Oh, yeah. A Literalistic chemistry.
Jam:Yeah. Literalistic.
Melissa:Let's see. Are there any other questions? I think we're about to sort of wrap up. A So, we've got about 5 more minutes. So we can maybe get a few more questions from the chat, or we can take some from over there.
Melissa:A Madison said, do you think plant protein is more efficient than that from animal meat on a molecular level? I have no idea. A There are some biochemists in this chat right now who might be able to answer that question for you, but it's not me.
Jam:One thing we could do this is just an option. You can a Say yes or no. One of the questions that we have on the list from people is how did the podcast come to be. We could a Do that as an ending thing so people wanna know that, or we could we could do a few more questions from the chat instead, whatever we wanna do.
Melissa:Let's Let's quickly answer how the podcast came to be because we do get that question a lot. So the podcast came to be because I had a really nice teacher, an adviser who, she's helping me through my chemistry education research, and I had talked about making a a chemistry podcast for so long because I was like, this has to be real. It has to be real. Somebody has to do this. Like, if I can be interested in 99% Invisible, which is a about architecture and engineering and design, then I can help people like chemistry because a They just haven't been exposed to it in the right way just like I hadn't been exposed to design in the right way.
Melissa:So I just had this idea, like, there is a way Mhmm. There is a way we could have, a You know, we there's a way we could make chemistry more accessible. And a lot of people don't like chemistry because I don't think it's taught super well in schools in terms of, like, capturing that curiosity that we kind of most of us naturally have. A And I think yeah. That was my biggest thing.
Melissa:I was like, it's just presented in the wrong way. And I think a lot of chemistry teachers maybe people sometimes have bad experiences with that.
Jam:A mill Yep.
Melissa:So I was like, I believe in this. And she finally told me, you've talked about this for too long. You have to make a podcast by the end of the summer. So I got, like, this a Bad mic from the school, and I was just gonna figure it out and have people on as guests where I explain to a different person every time. And then I asked Jam if he wanted to help me because I knew he had a different in the was in radio, television, and film just as, like, a one time guest, and he said, wait.
Melissa:What if I be your cohost. Is that how you remember it?
Jam:I remember first us doing a couple of things back and forth technically. Like, I remember you early on saying something about the mic you had and all this kind of stuff. And I asked him a question about that. And then I also remember asking, like, do you have a hosting platform thing kinda figured out. Do you know some of the back end stuff about podcasting?
Jam:Amber, you quickly being like, listen. No. Listen. A I just have a lot of feelings strong feelings about how chemistry should be talked about.
Melissa:Mhmm.
Jam:I don't know that other stuff. Mm-mm. Didn't you save a screenshot somewhere of that conversation?
Melissa:I think I might have. Yeah. But it'd be hard to find right now.
Jam:It'd be hard too hard to find. So I remember us talking about that stuff at first. And because you had also or friends in real life before this stuff happened, there were many times that Melissa would talk about this an idea and the ways she wanna talk about chemistry. So I was already kinda like the vision was already cast for me a bit. Mhmm.
Jam:But as we were texting back and forth, I remember I was at work in Plano, when I used a work down there texting about this instead of working.
Melissa:I was in my office at work also texting about it, but it counted as working because my boss told me to do it.
Jam:Mine didn't count as working, but I was salaried, so whatever. A And I remember we were texting and forth, and the more we're talking about, the more pumped I was about it. And then at some point, I was like I was like, dude, I would totally help you with this, and, also, I could be the person that you teach every time. But then I'm helping on the audio side. Initially, it seemed so practical to me because I was like, If what if Melissa records this thing on her own and whoever she has with her isn't audio person either?
Jam:And the stuff they send me, what if it's, like, not usable, a mill like that. Something goes wrong. And then I'm trying to help her
Melissa:Yeah.
Jam:But I wasn't there for it. And so I was like, I'd rather be there and make sure it gets recorded well. And then also if I'm there anyway,
Melissa:a Why don't
Jam:I be the person that learns chemistry? Because I don't know it.
Melissa:And what I like to say is that Jam lowered the activation energy. Like, he is the catalyst to make the podcast a Because the big barrier was the technology side. I was I really am pretty intimidated by technology. So, yeah, it definitely, I think it's something that the quality of the podcast I think a There's a lot of focus on how I teach things and how people are thankful for that. But I don't think you could bear to listen to it if Jam hadn't come in and taken over the technology side and made it just, like, crystal clear, beautiful audio and made the intro song and made the graphics and and Had all the tools already to do all of that.
Melissa:So, yeah, he's my he's my catalyst for making chemistry for your life happen. So
Jam:a Also, it's fun for me too. And, obviously, we've talked about other inspirations we have. Like, we both had similar podcasts that we loved. Mhmm. And, you know, a lot of those, like, 99% Invisible or Radiolab have this really rich, a like audio engineering to it.
Melissa:Mhmm.
Jam:And that's not we have not been able to do that, but our our big deal was, like, keeping it simple, accomplishing it, making it understandable, a All that kind of stuff, it'd be cool to incorporate some of that stuff someday, but that we were just trying to get it off the ground and Find a way to do it consistently and stuff. So Yeah.
Melissa:Tyler mentioned that their high school chemistry teacher was so good that they decided to do it for life. Me too. Yeah. Like, in the I think teachers can have such a big impact, and that's part of why I went into chemistry education research is I feel like there's so much power in helping other people learn how to do chemistry and how to make it exciting and accessible. So, Yeah.
Melissa:I think that was really good. A any future chemistry at home experiments. Okay. We loved doing those, but, again, it's the time.
Jam:Yeah.
Melissa:A So we had to pull it. For those of you who don't know, early on, we would have Jam do a chemistry experiment at home, and then we would interview him about how that experiment went. And those videos are still on our YouTube channel, the actual chemistry for your life YouTube channel. Yep. So yeah.
Jam:One thing to help with that was that was during the pandemic, and so It was a little bit easier to add that in. It was at least, like, I think a couple months after we started doing that. But it it kinda worked for that. And also, At the time, our release schedule was also more frequent. And then for as Melissa's PhD ramped up, we had to dial that some of the stuff back, and I was getting busier as well.
Jam:So we have another kid now over here and stuff like that. So that's it'd be a little hard to pull off, but it'd be so fun if we could. Some
Melissa:of them.
Jam:We'd love to.
Melissa:A SC Phillips said, I became a chemistry because my high school teacher was amazing. See? High school chemistry teachers, we have at least 1 high school chemistry teacher in here right now. A but high school chemistry teachers make such a difference, and chemistry educators as a whole, I think, make a really big difference in the next generation of chemists. And the next generation of chemists are gonna make a really big difference in quality of life and how we deal with plastics and even developing technology.
Melissa:So I think high school chemistry teachers are like a linchpin in society, honestly.
Jam:Yeah.
Melissa:And I think it's harder and harder to wanna do that job Because teachers aren't treated super well, but I don't wanna do that job. I would have a really hard time. I'm happy making the podcast as a resource for those teachers, but, Yeah. It's really hard. Yeah.
Melissa:Oh, that was a question I did wanna ask. Maybe we could just wrap it up with this. So a Chelsea said, doctor r Colini, I think about the thermal expansion episode or thermal expansion at least once a month, thanks to you. A mill So I wanna ask you, Jam, and all of our people in the chat here, is there a chemistry concept, like an episode that you think about regularly since listening to it on the podcast.
Jam:Wow. That's a great question. There's all there's actually quite a few.
Melissa:Yeah. I've heard you talk about some just randomly when we're with other people too.
Jam:Yeah. But there's some 2 I've told you about that have come up in conversation where I'll I I won't be the one to necessarily bring them up, but someone will say, I wonder why blah blah blah. And I'm like, oh, actually, I could tell. You know? Yeah.
Jam:I think I mean, We referenced earlier cast iron comes up all the time because I'm using cast iron pans every day now, you know.
Melissa:Jam is so good. He there's a video of him scrambling and egg and it coming off like glass.
Jam:I've meant we should just post that. Dang it.
Melissa:We should. We need to post it on YouTube. It's a good one.
Jam:Yeah. It's kind of incredible. Cast iron, the coffee ones we've done, microwaves. Oh, for a while when I was baking muffins on a regular basis, I was thinking a baking powder, baking soda a lot. Yeah.
Jam:Super helpful. And that one also includes Maillard stuff.
Melissa:Oh, yeah. Maillard. I don't think about that less often, but I do broil my cheese almost every day for lunch, I make the same lentil pasta with with the same pasta sauce and mozzarella that I broil.
Jam:Oh, and we made pasta recently, and they thought about the salt and the boiling water included properties and all that stuff.
Melissa:Nice. A Okay. Let's see. Some of our listeners said, throwing it back to day 1, Audrey said, so the first episode comes to mind all the time. That I cannot even I'm afraid to listen to that episode because I'm like, we I was so scared.
Melissa:We didn't know how to do podcasts. I can't even imagine what that episode is in the So I'm so glad that you that you like it and get stuff out of it. Mayard Browning a lot from, his husband referencing it a lot, in the And Teflon. I think about Teflon a lot.
Jam:Yes.
Melissa:And plastic, I think about both of those a lot as a chemist. Like, I feel that we maybe let people down a little bit, like use our powers for evil and not for good. Mhmm. And that I want chemists to now switch that and use our powers for good and not evil and figure a way to right those wrongs.
Jam:That's good.
Melissa:Living close to the beach, I explained specific heat. Oh, yes. Why are in the water, different temperatures at the beach. So that was also part of how the podcast came to be is anyone who would listen, I would be like, did you know why this happened? So a So I remember telling people that at the beach a lot.
Melissa:The smoke detector was so simple, and I loved it because it's a good conversation starter. Oh, yeah. A I sometimes know when I see the light flashing and I'm laying in bed. Mhmm.
Jam:I
Melissa:think about that one.
Jam:Yeah.
Melissa:That's great. I've learned a lot from this podcast. There are some episodes I already knew, but a A lot of things now, I'm taking chemistry that I know and applying it in a way that I didn't know that was the chemistry behind that thing.
Jam:Yeah.
Melissa:A We recently recorded one about rubber, and I was like, woah. I had no idea.
Jam:Yeah.
Melissa:Renee also said the ADHD, the soap a and the ADHD episode is when she thinks about a lot. A lot of people wrote in about that, about how much it helped them a Realized that they it was okay to take medicine, that they already had ADHD too and to, like, inspire them to get tested to that school. Oh, the dry cleaning episode. Yes. I work part time at a dry cleaners while I'm at college.
Melissa:A Steven, I didn't know that. We've met him in on our Zoom for our patrons. I think about the sunscreen one a lot. Yeah. I use sunscreen a lot a lot more now than I used to in skincare in general.
Jam:Steven, in our next coffee hour, if you're able to come, I'd wanna hear way more about the dry cleaning
Melissa:a middle
Jam:You get the you're on the inside. You know? You could tell us about
Melissa:all that. And you can tell us if we did a good job explaining the process from that side of it. A Yeah. Madison said my favorite episode to explain to people is why the sky appears blue. I've it's been a long time since I a Since we did that one, so I actually feel like I need to go back and listen so I could explain it again.
Melissa:Yes. The mosquitoes Mhmm. That mosquitoes bite a Your partner more than you, but also that that that even happens. Like, that's a real thing and now we kind of know some of why. I a I got a mosquito bite today, and I was like, wow.
Melissa:That's the first time that's happened in a long time.
Jam:And we've got more some new stuff coming out about that in the episode coming out Thursday. So
Melissa:speaking of thermal expansion oh, we talked about the difference between Pyrex and Pyrex. Yes. Mhmm. There's 2 different Pyrexes, one that's not sensitive to extreme temperature changes, the one that are. And we use in lab a lot of people don't know this, but the glassware we use in the lab is a Pyrex because you can take it from a really cold like, you can take it from a hot oil bath and immediately plunge it into an ice bath for some reactions to work.
Melissa:Okay. Somebody asked, have you heard about the new research about sucralose? Yes. And my brother actually sent that to me. That was the first way I saw it.
Melissa:A And I was like, oh, I need to read more about this before I feel comfortable doing an episode about it, but a few people have messaged it to me. A Okay. Great. Well, this is a good way to wrap it up because Steven said he'd be at the next coffee hour, and we're 10 minutes over. So, thank you all for coming so much.
Melissa:We no do also do coffee hours. They're pretty different than this. They're on Zoom meetings, and we, like, talk to our listeners who are there a little bit more for our top tier of patrons. A But since this went so well, this is definitely something I think that we're gonna do again in the future. And we really just want to thank you all so much for getting us to a 1000000 downloads, I Yeah.
Melissa:I'm gonna get emotional because we're just thinking about how the podcast started. And a It it is really mind blowing that a 1000000 times someone has thought, I wanna learn about this chemistry thing
Jam:Yeah.
Melissa:And downloaded it or streamed it, and so yeah. Thank you all so much. I a I can't believe I'm crying, but you really are making my science communications dream come true, and every single one of you who's here and who listens is part of the reason why that's true. So thank you all so much.
Jam:While we have you before you leave, if you hadn't already subscribed to our YouTube channel, why not a Go do that real quick. Quick little button over at the atchem for your life channel. We wanna keep growing an audience over there and and be able to a mill To give you guys video content over there as well as the podcast continuing audio. So it would be we'd be remiss not to ask you to do that while you're already here.
Melissa:Well, thank you all so much. These are really sweet comments that are rolling in. So, this was such a fun night. Thank you all so much.
Jam:Yes. Thank you all for coming.
Melissa:And, you'll get a fresh episode this week what is this? The mosquito one? Mhmm. New
Jam:new new mosquito stuff.
Melissa:New mosquito research. A well, thank you all so much. Okay, Jim. Do you know how to end it? Oh, there it is.
Melissa:See you guys. Bye.
Jam:Yay chemistry.
Melissa:Yay chemistry.
