Transformation: Stories about changing states
The Story Collider
Story Collider, Inc.
4.4 • 824 Ratings
🗓️ 14 April 2017
⏱️ 29 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Part 1: Geneticist Sebastian Alvarado reconnects with his love of comic books by attempting to shrink ants. Part 2: Inspired by his favorite novel, third-grade Danny Artese attempts to turn himself into a plant. Sebastian Gaston Alvarado went into science so he could make the X-men. During his Ph.D., he studied the molecular switches that regulate gene function. As a result, his work has shed light on chronic pain, size variation in ants, and metabolism in hibernating squirrels. He is also co-founder of Thwacke, a science consulting firm for the entertainment sector. As a consultant, he has rationalized the science behind Captain America's Super Soldier Serum and the reversible nature of the Incredible Hulk's transformations . Sebastian is currently an A.P. Giannini Fellow at Stanford University where he studies how social environment can shape the way genes change behavior in a fish. Danny Artese is a NY-based storyteller who has won multiple Moth StorySLAMs and performed at Q.E.D., UCB, The Magnet Theater, and Ripley's Believe It Or Not! While not a scientist by trade, one of the proudest moments of Danny's life was when his high school Biology teacher (Hi Mrs. Beamer!) told his 15-year-old self that he'd be a great gynecologist.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.
Transcript
Click on a timestamp to play from that location
| 0:00.0 | A science story, huh? |
| 0:04.0 | Is NYU a scientist the... |
| 0:06.0 | I felt... |
| 0:07.0 | I felt... |
| 0:08.0 | I was so... |
| 0:09.0 | And I just thought, well... |
| 0:10.0 | I figured it out. |
| 0:11.0 | It was that golden moment. |
| 0:13.0 | Because science was on my side. |
| 0:20.0 | Hi everyone, I'm Ben Lilly, and welcome to the Story Glider, where we bring you true personal stories about science. |
| 0:26.1 | This week, we're bringing you two stories about transformation, from a scientist's attempt to shrink ants to a kid's quest to turn himself into a plant. |
| 0:34.1 | Our first story this week is from Sebastian Gaston Alvarado, who was recorded in October 2016 at the Rikshostop in San Francisco, California for our show with the Bay Area Science Festival. |
| 0:48.0 | All right. So there are many noble ways to get into science. |
| 1:00.8 | There are a lot of people who find themselves wanting to cure a disease that affects a loved one. |
| 1:08.2 | There are some people who find themselves studying an animal that they've always looked at in their backyard, their entire life. |
| 1:11.8 | And of course, there are those of us who just have the aptitude to really do anything and just to jump into any field and do science. I don't think I've ever |
| 1:17.4 | fit into any one of those categories because the actual moment that I decided to do science, |
| 1:23.2 | I was probably six, seven years old. I had broken into my older brother's closet, |
| 1:30.6 | and I spent the afternoon reading his comic books, |
| 1:33.1 | the first 50 issues of Wolverine. |
| 1:35.9 | Yeah, it was pretty exciting. |
| 1:37.6 | It was really, really cool for a little kid |
... |
Please login to see the full transcript.
Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from Story Collider, Inc., and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.
Generated transcripts are the property of Story Collider, Inc. and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.
Copyright © Tapesearch 2026.