meta_pixel
Tapesearch Logo
Log in
Ologies with Alie Ward

Lampyridology (FIREFLIES) aka Sparklebuttology Updated Encore with Sara Lewis

Ologies with Alie Ward

Alie Ward

Comedy, Science, Society & Culture

4.923.8K Ratings

🗓️ 2 July 2025

⏱️ 68 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Let’s light up your life and butt. World-renowned firefly expert Dr. Sara Lewis of Tufts University gives us some updates to her 2021 episode, sharing her love of a bug that many think is merely mythological. Learn how these tiny animals illuminate the night, the dos and don’ts of firefly observation, how to take good firefly photos, femme fatales, pink glowworms, secret languages, artificial lights, what’s up with their population numbers, why Western states can chill out with their lightning bug envy, and how you can ensure the world stays aglow with these beloved bugs. Also: nuptial gifts, both human and lampyridological.

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0

Oh, hey, it's that key under the mat that somehow nobody finds and uses to steal all of your

0:06.2

stuff, Allie Ward. In this episode, it first aired in 2021, but it's summer and there has been a lot of

0:12.5

discourse on fireflies lately. And this week, July 5th and 6th, Mark's World Firefly Day. So I reached out to

0:20.5

this guest because I wanted to

0:21.5

re-earn this with some updates. And she said, I feel like we've accomplished a ton of firefly

0:26.9

conservation in the past four years. And so we've cited some of the new studies and research and

0:32.2

ways to volunteer with this creature because let's roll the episode. We have fireflies for you, or do we have

0:38.7

lightning bugs? We're going to get into it. So these glowing friends, they're neither flies nor

0:43.7

true bugs, rather beetles in the family lampiradi. But as you will soon learn, this episode's

0:50.7

name comes at an expert's behest. So she is a professor of biology at Tufts University in Boston.

0:56.5

She did a TED talk on these beloved little critters. She's the author of the information-packed and entertaining book, Silent Sparks, The Wondrous World of Fireflies.

1:07.1

You may know her on Twitter under the handle Silent Sparks. And I was introduced to her through

1:11.2

Eric Eaton, who was our WASP champion a few episodes back. And I jumped at the chance to talk to her,

1:18.0

crammed it in the schedule a day or two before my wedding earlier this month. And we will get to

1:22.2

know her work. And just a sec, but super quick. Thank you to everyone at patreon.com slash ologies

1:26.9

for making this show

1:27.7

possible for the four years we've been around and for submitting great questions every week.

1:32.8

Thank you to everyone keeping Ologies up in the charts by leaving us reviews. And each week,

1:37.1

I read a just left one, and it's 2025 now. So thank you to SVGD Makes, who wrote, I love

1:43.4

Ologies. It's one of the few podcasts I share with people time and time again.

1:47.7

The only downside, you get smarter and start to question every source of fictional entertainment.

1:52.6

SBGD makes, we're here to load up your brains.

...

Please login to see the full transcript.

Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from Alie Ward, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.

Generated transcripts are the property of Alie Ward and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.

Copyright © Tapesearch 2025.