Bonus: How does weed killer not kill grass? (and other questions)
Hey. I'm Melissa.
Jam:I'm Jam.
Melissa:And I'm a chemist.
Jam:And I'm not.
Melissa:And welcome to chemistry for your life.
Jam:The podcast helps you understand the chemistry of your everyday life. The bonus edition.
Melissa:Yeah. I was trying to decide if I was gonna chime in. Yeah.
Jam:I also feel like that lot that thing goes last time, I kinda forgot. Right? Yes. One time recently, and you picked it up. So I was trying to what I thought you were thinking was that I was gonna forget to do it.
Melissa:Yes. I was trying to To snag it. Get in there. Okay. Before we get into our q and r portion of today's episode
Jam:Okay.
Melissa:I wanna do a disclaimer about our sugar episode.
Jam:Okay.
Melissa:So a few people wrote in with some concerns that maybe if you didn't listen to the whole episode, that you might Walk away with a misunderstanding about sugar.
Jam:Mhmm.
Melissa:And, someone else had a few other concerns. And so I just want to Before we get into the meat of today's episode, I wanna just put a little disclaimer out because we never want to give people the wrong impression or miscommunicate science. It's our aim. My goal in life, really, is always about communicating the most accurate information that I can. And so I just really wanna say a few things about this that episode, about the sugar episode before we get into it.
Melissa:So first, please, please, please always listen to the whole episode before you're making judgment calls that impact your everyday life. Because if you listen to maybe the first half of the episode, you could walk away with just the message that sugar isn't bad when really that's not the full message of the episode. And also, second, we primarily in this episode, we're Aiming to cover the difference between high fructose corn syrup and table sugar. The other bonus facts that I gave We're not intended to cover the full depths of how the human body processes sugar. There is so much to cover there.
Melissa:There's so much to talk about with insulin and metabolic processes, I don't even really feel qualified to discuss that. So what I was sharing was what I learned from a reputable source that I found interesting, But we are not medical professionals, and we do not want you to take this advice over the advice of your health care especially for those with some kind of diabetes or insulin resistance. And then 3, when I stated that sugar wasn't bad for you, I really was talking about glucose, which gives power energy to our cells. And you can get glucose, which is classified as a sugar, According to science, from a number of sources that aren't table sugar. So that doesn't mean you need to go out and eat table sugar or high fructose corn syrup.
Melissa:Please don't use what I said as a license to eat all the sugar you want because that's dangerous. Consult with your medical professional and Know that you can get glucose from fruits. I think even from veggies, there are a number of sources you can get glucose from that is not table sugar. And, 4th, thank you guys so much for reaching out to us and sharing that you had concerns about this episode, specifically, Lan, Howard, and Sam. We want to give accurate information.
Melissa:And if you ever find anything in this episode or any episode to be inaccurate, write into us, and we will correct this information as soon as we can confirm what you're saying with peer reviewed journal articles because we are doing the best we can with the information we have, And we need y'all's help to stay accurate on top of things. So I just wanted to share that with you guys, and I hope that clears some things up. And if you have any questions, please feel free to reach out.
Jam:That's really helpful. Yes. And thank you guys for writing in and and, telling us your concerns and whatnot like Melissa already said. But thanks for clearing that up, Melissa. Because for me too, that's helpful to have that distinction Yes.
Jam:As just a layperson, and whatnot. So I appreciate that too. But thanks for doing that.
Melissa:Yeah. No problem. And I'm really thankful to have people writing in and pointing these things out because, you know, we're Making so many episodes and there's so much content, and I can think, oh, this will be a great way to set up this episode where we talk about these unexpected things about sugar, and then at the end, talk about the things that aren't great about it.
Jam:Right. Right.
Melissa:But I can see how, if you don't have a chance to finish that episode, how that could have come across poorly.
Jam:Right. And the idea of talking about something in a vacuum. Like, just talking about the difference between table sugar and half of this corn syrup.
Melissa:Right.
Jam:But We all deal with sugar every day. Right. And so it's kinda tough to put aside our daily how we interact with sugar and just think about the differences as an interesting topic.
Melissa:Yes.
Jam:And not be like, oh, yeah. But don't take this as, like, here. Now change everything about what you do in your real life about sugar. Yes. You know?
Melissa:Yeah. Yeah. So I thought that that was really, really helpful feedback. And, of course, you know, maybe one day I can learn a little bit more about insulin and those metabolic processes, and we can talk more about it. But for now, that wasn't the goal.
Melissa:Yeah.
Jam:Right. Right. Well, awesome. Are you ready to get into the questions for this episode?
Melissa:I am ready.
Jam:Okay. Excellent. So the first question is from Megan m, and she asks, how does weed killer work? Meaning, How does it not hurt your other plants? I guess, like, maybe you're talking about grass and
Melissa:Yes. That's what I think. So I didn't actually find a solid answer for this about grass. There was one thing that just Google said, basically, that grass has a different type of enzyme, so some weed doesn't target it as it would weeds, but a more interesting answer I found I almost read an episode on this, but I decided against it. Uh-huh.
Melissa:So I normally don't do research for these Q and R's, but this was so interesting.
Jam:Yeah.
Melissa:So, apparently, some weed killers like Roundup kill everything. Uh-huh. So the manufacturers have engineered plants that are immune to this weed killer. Uh-huh. So you can kill anything except the seeds that you've planted that are going to be resistant to weed killer.
Jam:Got it. So it has to be that perfect combo, though. It's gotta be the right Grass that was or whatever it was that was engineered to not be?
Melissa:Yes. Okay. I saw that mostly on food crops is what it seemed like.
Jam:Okay. Okay. Gotcha.
Melissa:Isn't that interesting? Yeah. So cool.
Jam:And this is not, like, hard science, but I just know from experience that some fertilizers are weed killer or whatever.
Melissa:Right.
Jam:They work by also having The nutrients that your grass specifically wants?
Melissa:Oh, yeah.
Jam:And so it's sort of like not always just, like, trying to destroy one thing, but it's like, let's feed this other thing.
Melissa:And let it take
Jam:Yeah. Because I remember being confused at one point, and, one of the a guy I talked to was trying to help me figure out which fertilizer to get Kind of said, oh, it's not all trying to kill stuff. It's also just trying to make one thing be really strong and fortified and Interesting. Get what it needs. So I don't know when is when what thing is what, but I think some of the time, that's the case.
Jam:It's
Melissa:like Right.
Jam:Not just trying to kill something, but also feed something.
Melissa:Yeah. That makes sense.
Jam:I don't know.
Melissa:That's a great question. Thanks, Megan.
Jam:Yeah. Absolutely. This next question is from Brian m, He asked, how is water capable of rinsing most things clean?
Melissa:Okay. So, Brian, we actually did. He also asked about soap and how soap works, and we have 2 episodes on that.
Jam:Mhmm. Mhmm.
Melissa:So definitely go check those out. But in this case, Water, I think, works, but to rinse most things clean because most things have some amount of polarity to them. Mhmm. So what that means is if you have Jam actually answered this question on our 1 100th episode quiz.
Jam:Oh, yeah. That's right.
Melissa:If you have a bond, normally, what that means is 2 atoms are evenly sharing electrons. But sometimes 1 atom has a stronger ability to pull electron towards itself, and it makes sort of a partial positive on one side and a partial negative on the other. Mhmm. Sort of like when you have a magnet. And, you know, if a magnet comes against another thing that's like it.
Melissa:They'll stick together. Mhmm. Molecules are similar. If you have a polar molecule, it can go and interact with another polar molecule very easily, and it will. Then water, polar, finds another polar molecule, Boom.
Melissa:Washes it away. Mhmm. Now it doesn't work on oil because oil is nonpolar.
Jam:Yeah.
Melissa:So it doesn't have any positive or negative for the it ever negative for the water to latch onto. It's just all neutral. So it sort of repels water, and that's why you see oil sitting on top of water. Mhmm. Now if you really wanna know about how soap works, you gotta go check out episode 1 of the podcast, and then we also did an episode on how Soap kills COVID nineteen.
Jam:Mhmm.
Melissa:That was a fun question. Thanks, Brian.
Jam:And those are some cool episodes. So
Melissa:Those are some cool episodes.
Jam:Some of my faves.
Melissa:Gosh. They're so long ago.
Jam:Yeah. Seriously.
Melissa:Because we're about to be we just had our 2 year anniversary of doing this podcast. Cass. Mhmm. Wow. That's crazy.
Jam:Yeah. It kinda flew by, and we didn't really realize it. But yep.
Melissa:Yeah. Because August is when we started.
Jam:Mhmm.
Melissa:Wow. That's amazing.
Jam:This next question is from Clarissa, and she asks, do you have any tips for High school seniors going into university intending to major in chemistry.
Melissa:Well, I don't think we have any tips for chemistry specifically. I guess things that helped me out Was trying to get into a research lab early that I had the opportunity to learn a lot. Mhmm. But general advice for succeeding in university is make friends.
Jam:Mhmm.
Melissa:I think that that networking is a huge part of getting a job. Even just, like, having friends to point you in the right direction or to look over your resume Mhmm. And getting enough sleep didn't get enough sleep in college, did you, Cam?
Jam:Not at all. Nope.
Melissa:And I regret it.
Jam:Yeah. Me too.
Melissa:I think I could have been more successful In my classes if I had slept more.
Jam:I sacrificed sleep instead of, like, other things that Right. May make more sense to sacrifice, like, You know, TV and whatever else.
Melissa:Yes. Yeah. Watched a lot of TV instead of doing homework.
Jam:Yeah.
Melissa:And then also study well. So not always just Copying your notes, but doing practice problems, making sure you understand what the professor said. If you study Little by little, you actually research shows that a little bit of studying every day is going to imprint something in your mind Better because you're repeatedly interrupting the forgetting process. And, also, then you're gonna be more prepared when your test comes.
Jam:Yeah. Yeah.
Melissa:So those are some of my big advice for succeeding oh, and talking to your professors a lot. Do you have any advice for succeeding in university?
Jam:I feel like we've touched on this before, but then maybe my answer then was better. But, I think getting good at time management is, like, One of the biggest thing and it's hard for it's harder for some people. I would just say, like, some of us are already good at it, and some of us are not.
Melissa:I'm not.
Jam:But I think it makes a huge difference just getting good at using a calendar and blocking enough time for rest, but also blocking off time to really study and do you're saying Yes. On a regular basis instead of just waiting and cramming later?
Melissa:Yeah.
Jam:And putting in time for, Yeah. All kinds of things. I think just managing your time well goes a long way. Mhmm. Definitely making good friends and figuring out good ways to meet People and and stuff even if it's not specific to your classes, say, like a social group or something like that that you could get involved in.
Melissa:Yeah. A great example of that is Jim and I met in a college ministry. It was for our church group. Yeah. And that's how we became friends.
Melissa:And Even though that was not about networking, then later, we are able to connect and create this podcast.
Jam:Yeah.
Melissa:So if we had just spend all of our university time worrying only about school and not making friends Yeah. Then we wouldn't have this podcast right now. So that's a big thing is doing other stuff besides don't just hone in on only class all the time.
Jam:Yeah. Yeah. A 100%. And some of the classes I enjoyed the most and even maybe did did the best in are ones where I was able to get with some classmates and have a study group or something like that. Didn't feel like I was kind of just going it alone in those classes.
Jam:Yeah. And I found that most of the time, people also want to do that. So Yes. You might be in a class. You go in, and you don't know anybody depending on what, like, size of university you go to and stuff.
Jam:You know, you're kind of thinking, okay. Nobody probably wants to study with me. I would Almost guarantee you're wrong. Yeah.
Melissa:I think I used to, on the 1st day of class, just sit in the front row because that's where the engaged didn't sat and ask, does anyone wanna start a study group? Yeah. Yeah.
Jam:And then think about it. You could be kinda like a study group like in this show community, which is pretty cool. They weren't really a good example of good Students, but they became friends.
Melissa:That's true. Mhmm. And class is a lot better to go to when you have friends. And then if you don't feel good and you have to skip, Yep. They can help cover for you.
Jam:Definitely. Definitely.
Melissa:I think those are my big pieces of advice. I'm trying to think, as a high school senior, Enjoy your senior year.
Jam:Oh, yeah.
Melissa:Enjoy the summer between senior year and high school. Take a break. Do fun stuff. Yeah. And Yeah.
Melissa:I don't think there's a lot to do on the preparing end other than applying to schools and getting in. I also recommend going to a school where you'll have the least amount of student loans.
Jam:Mhmm. Oh, yeah. True. True.
Melissa:That made my life a lot better. Later on, even though I got into quote, unquote more prestigious schools
Jam:Mhmm.
Melissa:That I didn't go to Yeah. Not having debt, Oh. Yeah. Has helped me out in the long run.
Jam:Totally. Totally. Yeah. I forgot that I forgot to come out the high school senior Going into university, part of it. But Yeah.
Jam:Yeah. I also feel like don't be scared. Like Yeah. I remember feeling like the way that college was talked about When I was in high school, it was kinda scary, and it made it feel like it was going to be completely different and that Nothing could really prepare me for it and stuff. I don't think that's helpful.
Jam:I mean, it's certainly different, but I think most of the differences are good.
Melissa:Yeah.
Jam:Some of them are harder. But In general, it's not this really scary other world that's gonna chew you up and spit you out. It's not.
Melissa:No. It's fun.
Jam:Yeah. It's a lot of fun.
Melissa:I may laid the foundations for started a lot of the relationships. I've turned out to be lifelong relationships in college.
Jam:Yeah. Yep.
Melissa:I mean, lifelong. I guess I'm only 30, but Yeah.
Jam:Yeah.
Melissa:They don't seem to be stopping anytime soon. Yeah. Right. So Yeah. Good question.
Melissa:Thanks for asking, Clarissa.
Jam:The next question is from Sam. If you were an element from the periodic table, Which would you be and why?
Melissa:I had a little bit of time to think about this beforehand. And I my instinct is to say carbon just because that's the star of the show in my world. You know?
Jam:Right.
Melissa:And I wanna be the star of the show. But, actually, I was thinking about it, and I think I might More accurately be oxygen.
Jam:Okay.
Melissa:Because oxygen can sometimes do things that aren't great.
Jam:Mhmm.
Melissa:Sometimes forms radicals. It can just Get a little crazy.
Jam:Uh-huh.
Melissa:It can be a little negative at times.
Jam:Uh-huh.
Melissa:But it's also always trying its best. It contributes to life saving medicine. It's the air that we breathe. Mhmm. You know?
Melissa:It it's just it's multifaceted, like, me as a human being.
Jam:Nice. Good answer.
Melissa:So that's what I that's what I went with. Also helps keeps our plants alive. I love plants. So
Jam:Yeah. Very good answer. It's kind of unfair you had more time to think about it.
Melissa:Yeah. And I know a lot more about the elements on the periodic table than we have. I do. So
Jam:I I actually feel like it's possibly got some Slightly different version of this question before, but I can't remember exactly what I said. I think the obvious choice for me, I guess, would be arsenic. What? I'm just kidding.
Melissa:Because you're caustic, and you ruin people's lives.
Jam:I was
Melissa:just kidding.
Jam:I was like, what's one of those ones that's, like, clearly the worst choice you could possibly think?
Melissa:I don't think arsenic is actually caustic. That was, that was incorrect.
Jam:That was like, or whatever? Like, the ones that are just named after their discovery.
Melissa:They're not They're not discovered yet? Yeah. Because people aren't ready for you?
Jam:I I think I remember my if I was to guess, Some of you guys might actually know my answer from a previous time better than than I do. But if I know myself, I think I would have said zinc, And I think I would have said because I remember having to do, like, a report on it at one point. We were Mhmm. All given an element that to do something about. And I remember just kinda having an affinity for it because I feel like I know knew more about it, but I don't Yeah.
Jam:I didn't actually remember most of that info. Yeah. I just know how, like, when you associate yourself with something
Melissa:Yes.
Jam:That kind of link stays even if there's no real reason for it to?
Melissa:Yeah.
Jam:And so I sorta like zinc.
Melissa:That's a good one. I'll try to find something I can do about zinc For a future episode for you and Jam.
Jam:Yes. And maybe you oh, how about this? Not I'm not gonna put you on the spot. You don't have to do it right now. But maybe between now and the next q and r or the next that thing.
Jam:You could see if you can reverse engineer a reason that zinc is like me. Because I don't know zinc well enough to know any reason why I could say, oh, I'm like zinc. But I just picked it because
Melissa:I honestly think you're probably would be one of the more extreme elements. Zinc is just a transition metal. It's kinda chill. I you have a lot you have too many opinions. Like, Probably your wife or my husband would actually be zinc.
Jam:Oh, okay. Okay.
Melissa:And I think you and I are more on the outer wings of the periodic table.
Jam:Okay. Fair enough.
Melissa:Sorry. I'll take it.
Jam:What about iron? Iron's cool.
Melissa:It's still, I think, a transition metal, so it's just kinda chilling.
Jam:Man. Okay.
Melissa:But it does you know, it rests, so that's kinda cool.
Jam:I feel like I have a lot of opinions, but when it comes to real Let's think about this. When there's a real effect out in the world, I'm really not a big I'm not rocking boats in massive ways.
Melissa:That's true.
Jam:So it's kind of like in terms of just talking and stuff like that. But when it comes to, like, actual impact on the world, I'm not messing stuff up in massive ways that I'm aware of at least. So if there's an element like that that sort of seems opinionated, but when it comes to its actual effect is Not super harmful or something? That's me.
Melissa:Alright. I'll look into it.
Jam:Something like that.
Melissa:I'll check it out. K. The next question is actually also for you, And it's from a real life friend and friend of the show, Tori M.
Jam:Yes.
Melissa:And she wants to know, which I think we've covered this before, but why did Jam changed his name. Or why does Jam go by Jam?
Jam:So Tori, is a good friend of mine. I've known her Since I think the 1st time I met her was in 6th grade. We played saxophone together, and we competed a lot for 1st chair in band. So
Melissa:So Nice.
Jam:Yeah. Our our friendship started off right off the bat with competition and then slowly became less and less competitive, which is It's good. It was probably good for our friendship. But, Tori, that's a great question. I didn't really change my name, I guess, is the best way to answer it off the bat.
Melissa:Right. Yeah.
Jam:Jam is my initials, which I think you know, and I think other people, some some of our listeners probably know by now. But, Really, the story goes that that's my initials, Joshua Andrew. Miguel is what it stands for. And whenever I was In school, the kind of putting those together into JAM Robinson happened because of my film projects that I was doing.
Melissa:Yes.
Jam:And Joshua Robinson is way too common of a name. If you don't believe me, just go Google it. You'll find lots of other ones that are not me. So I started putting that on my projects and, on my resume and whatnot. And initially, No pun intended.
Jam:It would really just it's a way of being my initials. And then it it later, I was, like, oh, actually, isn't is you could say it Instead of, like, J. R. R. Tolkien, you can actually say jam.
Jam:You don't have to just say j a m Robinson. Yep. So that's it. And when I when you say J. M.
Jam:Robinson, it does sound like I'm just putting a professional name out there. But if you say J. M. Robinson, it sounds Like, it's a different name, I guess. Yeah.
Jam:But the biggest reason also that it even stuck around is because, I like it more than the name Josh, but tons of people call me Josh.
Melissa:Mhmm.
Jam:So it's not really changed, but professionally, in lots of instances where someone's interacting with me is Strictly professional from the get go. They know me as Jam or j I m Robinson from the very beginning. So
Melissa:Just to confirm this story, I typed in Joshua Robinson, and there's a bunch of people who are not Jam. And then I typed in Jam Robinson, and his professional website was the first thing that appeared.
Jam:Yeah. Being easy to discover is is a huge benefit. And I freelanced for a while too, which you guys know about, and so I still do some of that, and it's very, very nice to be easy to find
Melissa:Yep.
Jam:And be the only one. So that is why jam is a thing. And people call me that if they're brave enough, out in the real world here in little Denton, Texas. And some people call me Josh, people call Joshua. People Call me, hey, you.
Jam:You know?
Melissa:I think I go back and forth pretty fluidly between depending on our setting, I will switch. Mhmm.
Jam:Yeah. I think from the beginning, we put it on this too because most of my stuff out there that I have my name on at the project is under the name Jam. So it was like to me, it was like, an easy choice.
Melissa:No brainer.
Jam:Yeah. Good question, Tori, and sorry to trip you up. The one of the best answers I can give you is also you don't have to call me anything different, Tori.
Melissa:You're good.
Jam:You're grandfathered in, dude. Don't worry.
Melissa:In. Okay. Mia s asked, what is your favorite chemistry fact?
Jam:Okay. It's like you you've gotta go first. You know the Ollie chemistry facts?
Melissa:I do. It's really similar to Melanie's question about your favorite chemical phenomenon.
Jam:Oh, okay.
Melissa:Yeah. Let's put these 2 together.
Jam:Okay.
Melissa:Okay. So listen. I think my favorite chemistry fact is probably, You know, the atoms are here because of the sun, which is crazy. There's, like, fission happening in the sun and the big bang put a bunch of energy out and Combine a bunch of atoms to make new atoms, and that's really cool and crazy. Uh-huh.
Melissa:I love so much about chemistry. The periodic Table is amazing. Mhmm. Just the way it's arranged. If you eat too much silver, you turn blue.
Melissa:That's really cool.
Jam:Yeah. That's crazy.
Melissa:So but I think my probably my favorite chemistry fact is that everything is chemicals. Like, everything is At its base, made up of atoms. Yeah. And not all chemicals are bad. We are chemical soup in a way.
Melissa:Mhmm. And so I think that's probably my favorite or the one that I want to spew most Often is not all chemicals are bad. Not all chemicals are bad.
Jam:Yeah. Yeah.
Melissa:That's my favorite chemistry fact. My favorite chemical phenomenon is probably the formation of crystalline substances. Uh-huh. Because they're beautiful, They make snow. They make chocolate.
Melissa:They make diamonds. It's just they make beautiful things.
Jam:Yeah. Yeah.
Melissa:And it's such different applications. Yeah. So what about you?
Jam:So I don't know if I have 2 answers because these are similar.
Melissa:That is similar.
Jam:Most of my chemistry knowledge In at least especially the past, the most in-depth is from this podcast. Yep. So one of the Episodes of a podcast that I shout out to people and recommend all the time is the one about Why Onions Make You Cry.
Melissa:Oh my gosh. Such a good one.
Jam:I love that one, and I recommend it all the time. And I've listened to it multiple times when I for kinda forget some of the details Yeah. Which is kinda weird because then I'm listening to myself, which I don't love. But Either way, that is one of my favorites. So if you haven't listened to the episode, I would definitely recommend go checking it out.
Melissa:Yes.
Jam:Also, I love the one about caffeine. I knew some of that before we went in, but there's just I just yeah. It was really cool. So That those are 2 really interesting chemistry things that I think about a lot since we've talked about them on the podcast.
Melissa:Yeah. Those are 2 good ones.
Jam:Yeah. I think one of my favorite phenomenons is how if you learn chemistry good enough, you could turn anything into gold. That's one of the things that was so cool about becoming most of his friends.
Melissa:Not real.
Jam:J k, that's alchemy, which was, like, One of the things that
Melissa:how chemistry started. Yeah.
Jam:Which is kinda cool. I remember learning about that in one of my chemistry classes that it was like, Yeah. 1st, people were trying to do stuff that you can't really do, but then they ended up figuring out cool stuff that Yeah. You can do.
Melissa:One of my least favorite chemistry facts is probably that Recycling isn't really it doesn't happen to the extent that we think it does. That plastic series literally changed my life forever.
Jam:Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. True that.
Melissa:Good questions, Mia and Melanie.
Jam:Yes. Thanks, you guys. Okay. This next one is from Renee, And she asks, how does someone make money from podcast, and are y'all making money yet?
Melissa:Oh, Renee.
Jam:Sorry, Renee.
Melissa:We're not making money yet. Do you wanna answer this 1, champ?
Jam:Yes. So we are not making money yet, But I'll answer that 2nd part first. We're not making money yet. We are thank you to our Those guys later?
Melissa:Yes.
Jam:We are pretty well covering the costs of what it what it costs to even have this podcast going.
Melissa:Yes. I feel like people don't know that podcast costs money.
Jam:Mhmm.
Melissa:You have to pay a host website to Put it out there.
Jam:Yes. Yeah. There's different hosting platforms. They diff cost different things with different benefits to them all. There are some free ones, but they have a lot of downsides.
Jam:And so We have one that covers all the bandwidth of all you guys listening in all kinds of countries all over the world on all kinds of different apps. To that just that was really worth it to make sure that
Melissa:that was okay.
Jam:And so we cover those costs somewhat well now for the most part, or at least we have lately. But how someone makes money from podcasts in a general sense, usually, it'd be advertisers. That's the most common thing, And we have actually gotten some support from advertisers as well in the past, and that's, I think, the the biggest way people People do these days. The other way would just be if they were part of a, say, podcasting network that was sort of underwriting the entire production of the show and paying the people who are working on it and whatnot. And if it was if it was getting that podcast company or whatever it is, production company, enough attention that it's worth it to them to pay for it.
Jam:And so it wouldn't really be about selling other products on the podcast, but maybe getting, That company some good recognition and attention, or it's part of, like, a a there's some exclusive podcasts now that are only on certain apps that you have to get on or pay for or whatever. So there's there's a 1000000000 ways.
Melissa:Lots of monies that you could make money from podcasting, but we We pretty much have only made money from our co fi and from our merch and a little bit from advertising.
Jam:Mhmm.
Melissa:That has covered our costs, but we, Jim and I aren't paid for the time that we put into this. Yeah. This is a purely labor of love.
Jam:Yes. So I guess when you say when I say recovering the cost, recovering the cost of things we currently have to pay for, but we Have not yet reached a point at all where we're covering the cost of Melissa and I our time. So eventually with that, what could be cool to to happen, we'd love for that to be the case. But, We also love doing this either way and love that you guys love to listen to it, so it's still worth it.
Melissa:It is so worth it. It's really fun to hear from you guys And to know how excited people are about chemistry, it's really such such a dream.
Jam:It Yeah.
Melissa:I say that all the time, but this is really my dream. Yeah. So
Jam:Here's another good question from Renee that I really like. She asks, what's one thing that each of you have accomplished from your bucket list?
Melissa:So starting this podcast was one for me.
Jam:Nice.
Melissa:I had always wanted to start a podcast, especially about chemistry, so this is one. And I traveled to Europe with my mom, so that was pretty cool. I don't really have a bucket list.
Jam:Yeah. I don't have a formal one either, but I I feel like She's using it in a way that people kind of mentally have one sort of.
Melissa:Yes.
Jam:But same. I don't I don't have a formal bucket list, but those are good ones that you've done already.
Melissa:Yeah. They're pretty I'm I feel pretty lucky.
Jam:My One of my big things that was on sort of both me and my wife and our bucket list together was to go to New Zealand.
Melissa:Oh, yeah?
Jam:Which has happened since this podcast started. Some of you guys already know about that. But we really wanted to go before we had a kid, which we did just in time sort of. Yeah. We went to New Zealand just, like, 2 months before COVID hit, and so it's kinda perfect timing.
Jam:But that was a huge one for us. We got to go there, be there for 3 weeks, camper van around both islands of both of the main islands in New Zealand. And that was so great. That was awesome. So, I don't know what else would be on my sort of Informal bucket list, but that's one that I've definitely done.
Jam:So
Melissa:I wondered if that was gonna be the one you're gonna share. Does having a kid, was that on your bucket list?
Jam:I guess what's funny is that, like, it makes total sense for that to be on a bucket list. But I feel like a lot of times we put these kind of, like, spectacular Yeah. Go here, do this thing. But, certainly, if I had to make a real legitimate Formal list of things I wanted to do before I died. Having a kid would absolutely be 1.
Melissa:Yeah. I wondered about technically, I don't know if getting married was on my bucket list, but if I was gonna get married, having a really fun wedding was on my bucket list. Yeah. Yeah. You know, I accomplished that too.
Jam:Yeah. Yeah.
Melissa:Surely, getting my PhD is on my informal bucket list, And I feel that I've made a lot of progress towards that
Jam:Yeah.
Melissa:Particular situation.
Jam:Yep.
Melissa:Well, I think that's everything we have. Thanks to our Cofy supporters for helping, literally, my dream come true, for helping us cross this thing off of our bucket list That I get to teach chemistry to so many people around the world is incredible. And, actually, one of our co vice supporters, Julianne, wrote a really nice message. She said that Her coworker told her about our podcast. She started listening to it on a 12 hour drive, and now she loves it, and she's teaching other people what she learns from the show.
Jam:Nice.
Melissa:And that made me so happy to hear because I just want people to love chemistry and be excited about it. And now Julianne is turning around teaching other people science.
Jam:That's awesome.
Melissa:So that's very exciting. So thanks, Julianne, for supporting us.
Jam:And also thank you to our other CoFi supporters, Jacob t, Hunter r, Christina g, Chelsea b, and Steven b. Those guys give some amount Every month to help cover the cost of our podcast, that's super helpful. We don't have to worry about the next time we're gonna get an advertiser as much or when someone's gonna randomly come give Honor CoFi or the next time we're doing merch or whatever. Those are still things that we'll do, but it's it's been so helpful to have you guys have a consistent Yes. Amount of support.
Jam:And if you wanna join that team of people that we shout out every month and help do some kind of fun things that we have planned for the future, You can join our Ko fi support team and go give some amount, any amount every month on our Ko fi atko dashfi.com/ Kim for your life. We'd love to have you.
Melissa:Yeah. Absolutely. And thank you guys so much to those who are already giving or who give one one offs. We just really It's such a relief to know that our renewal's coming up, and we already can pay the down payment for this year to keep our podcast afloat, and it's because of you guys.
Jam:Yes. Absolutely.
Melissa:This episode of Chemistry For Your Life was created by Melissa Collini and Jame Robinson, and we'd like to give a special thanks to e Robinson who reviewed this episode.
