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Today is Monday, September 15th, 2025, and I'm the host of the show, Dr. Kara, Santa Maria.

This week's episode is episode 568. We're in our 11th year. And the way I keep

this show going, as you know, is by relying on the support of individuals just like you.

Talk Nerdy is free to download. We do not charge for you to listen to the show, but we do still have to

make our payments. I've got to pay my editor. I've got to pay my assistant slash producer. I've got to

make sure that my time is compensated. And also things like web hosting. Like it's not free to just

post a podcast on the internet. So how do we do that? Well, we use the PBS NPR model that we all

know and love. If you are in a position where you can support the show on an episodic basis,

you're then offsetting that cost so that, you know, folks who can't afford to support the show don't have to,

and they can still listen for free.

So if you're interested in learning more, all you've got to do is visit patreon.com slash talk nerdy.

This week's top patrons include Anu Baravage, Chuck Blell, Daniel Lang, David J.E. Smith,

Joseph Lemore, Mary Neva, Brian Holden, David Compton,

Gabriel F. Harmiro, Joe Wilkinson, Pascuali Jolati, and Ulrika Hagman. Thank you all so much.

All right. So what have we got for you today? Oh, it's a good one. I had the opportunity once again to chat with my favorite living science writer.

I say that later on the show.

But it's true.

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