Welcome to Lightning Strikes Twice

Welcome to Lightning Strikes Twice, the podcast where we bring back guests from Lightning Talks to discuss all the fun facts, cool stories and unanswered audience questions they missed during their initial five-minute talk. Lightning Talks host Nora Nickum chats with podcast hosts Cari Garand and Amy Olsen about the show and what to expect next. 

Transcript

SPEAKER_03 0:00

Hello everyone and welcome to Lightning Strikes Twice. I'm Nora Nickham, the host of the Seattle Aquarium's Lightning Talks. My pronouns are she, her, and I'm the senior director of conservation programs here at the aquarium. And with me today are Carrie and Amy.

SPEAKER_01 0:16

Hi, everybody. My name is Carrie Garand. I use she, her pronouns, and I'm the interpretation training coordinator as well as a diver here at the Seattle Aquarium.

SPEAKER_02 0:25

Hello, everyone. I'm Amy Olson. My pronouns are she, her, and I'm one of the aquarium's research scientists.

SPEAKER_03 0:32

Thank you both, Carrie and Amy, for being here today. Hey, Amy, quick question to start us off. What is Lightning Strikes Twice? Well, it's this show, obviously.

SPEAKER_02 0:44

But actually, it's a new podcast that we're launching where we'll get to dive deeper into the topics that our guests discussed in the Lightning Talks broadcasts.

SPEAKER_03 0:54

Awesome. And Carrie, a quick refresher for everyone.

SPEAKER_01 0:57

What is Lightning Talks? You bet. So Lightning Talks is a public program here at the Seattle Crayon we've hosted for a few years now. It originally started out as an in-person event, but we've been moving to a mostly digital broadcast. Each Lightning Talk is centered around a specific topic. So things like ocean tech, deep sea creatures, or salmon. We invite four to five guests usually, and each speaker has just five minutes to wow our audience with a presentation of that topic. And at the end, the presenters answer questions from the audience and they also get a chance to ask one another questions.

SPEAKER_03 1:36

So how is this podcast going to differ from that broadcast?

SPEAKER_02 1:40

Well, in our normal lightning talks, speakers can't go over the five-minute time limit.

SPEAKER_03 1:44

Oh, yes. I have seen some of them get the dreaded lightning strike when they do go over that time limit.

SPEAKER_02 1:50

Yes, exactly. So this podcast will give the speakers a chance to cover any additional fun facts or cool stories that they didn't have time for in their five-minute talk. And we'll actually get to answer some of the audience questions that also did not make it into the initial Lightning Talks broadcast. So Carrie and I will co-host this first season. And sometimes it'll be both of us with the guest, and sometimes just one of us.

SPEAKER_01 2:14

We're really hoping that this show can be another place for people to enjoy discussing science, just like we do during Lightning Talks or perhaps a visit here at the Seattle Aquarium. We like to think of Lightning Talks as being for the science curious. So don't worry, if you are someone who's newer to science, you don't have a ton of formal training or education in sciences, that doesn't matter. This podcast and lightning talks are for everyone. Just bring your curiosity.

SPEAKER_03 2:42

Thank you, Carrie. Well, since you are one of our co-hosts for this podcast series, I would love for our listeners to get a chance to get to know you a little better and how you got involved in science interpretation. And for fun, since this is Lightning Strikes Twice, we're going to put you on the stopwatch, just like we do with our Lightning Talk speakers. Yes.

SPEAKER_01 3:07

Okay, this is happening. This is really hard, Nora. I usually get to talk to people for at least like 10 to 15 minutes. So this is quite the uh challenge.

SPEAKER_03 3:16

Well, I think you're up for the challenge. I am. I'm ready. You got this, Carrie. Thank you. I'm going to raise the stakes even more. So our lightning talk speakers get five minutes. You are going to get one minute. This is extra quick lightning bolt style.

SPEAKER_01 3:33

I think this is really overwhelming. I am seriously nervous about doing this, but I'll see. I'm a quick talker though, so uh we're gonna see what we can do. All right. I'm gonna give you a countdown here. On your mark.

unknown 3:47

Yes.

SPEAKER_01 3:48

Get set. Go. All right. How did I get involved in science interpretation? As I was growing up, I naturally sort of started my affinity with the marine world. I grew up in Oregon and was lucky enough to visit the Oregon coast on many occasions and was always encouraged to roll around in the dirt and play in the sand. And you take that initial love and fast forward into high school and college where I had some amazing teachers and mentors that really helped me along my journey and saw something in me that I didn't necessarily uh even know was there. And that was fostering a connection with people and being able to share my passion, which I do here every day at the Seattle Aquarium. And it's one of the best parts of my job that I get to nerd out with people about marine science. And sometimes I even get to do that from underwater, which I did not realize was a job that somebody could have. And that just feels like the icing on the cake to me. And I absolutely love being able to connect people with the marine animals that call the sailor.

SPEAKER_03 4:57

You were so close. You were so close. What does it mean that you do some of your job underwater?

SPEAKER_01 5:10

Yes. I still feel like somebody needs to pinch me sometimes because as a diver here at the Seattle Aquarium, I do a lot, but I am an interpretive diver. So we get to connect with people from underwater. We have a really cool system and technology that we use so that we can talk to people from underwater. I can hear people from underwater. And we get to, I get to be in the space that we're, that we're sharing about. And that feels really unique and special and hopefully inspiring to other folks that maybe that might be something that they want to do. Because yeah, who knew that like underwater interpretation was a job? I just, I really had no clue.

SPEAKER_03 5:49

So thank you, Seattle Aquarium. Yes. And I hope our listeners, next time they're in Seattle, will come by the Seattle Aquarium and hear one of the dive shows and maybe see you there underwater.

SPEAKER_01 5:59

Blowing bubbles with a fish and underwater high fives are my specialty. So please ask for diver carry anytime. But mind you, we have an amazing group of fantastic divers that are in our habitats on a regular basis. And although Amy isn't normally in those habitats, I have gotten to blow bubbles underwater with Amy from time to time.

SPEAKER_03 6:20

All right. Wow. How did that happen?

SPEAKER_01 6:25

Well, I'll let Amy tell you about how she got started in some science interpretation and maybe parts of her job that I have been able to help Amy on some research dives studying our rockfish populations here in the Salish Sea.

SPEAKER_03 6:40

Awesome. All right, Amy, it's your turn. So I would love to hear what got you interested in science and what is one of the things you get to study today in your Seattle aquarium job. And like Carrie, you will have one minute. Are you ready? You can do it. Yes, I'm ready. Okay, we'll see if you get the lightning bolt too. On your mark. Get set. Go.

SPEAKER_02 7:04

So I was one of those kids that had so many questions about the natural world. I asked my parents, why is the sky blue? Why does the ocean have waves? Why does my tummy feel like this? You know, all of these questions that they didn't always have an answer to. But my dad, who is, you know, one of my inspirations, just had so much patience for me. If he didn't know the answer, he would try to find it out for me. But one of the other more hands-on things is that he had a big telescope in our home growing up in Hawaii. And on clear nights, he would bring it out and show my sister and I the stars. And you know, he taught us how to make natural observations of the world. And this really inspired my love of science and exploring answers to questions and really encouraged my love of learning, which is why I have three degrees now. And one of the things that I get to study today, one of my favorite things are the Washington sea otters. And we get to hike out and spy on them, see where they are and what they're eating to know how their population is doing.

SPEAKER_00 8:11

Lightning strikes twice on the lightning strikes twice, podcast. It was meant to be. I feel like I'm in such good company. I'm not the only one.

SPEAKER_03 8:21

High five. Well, Amy, so you look through the scopes, and what do you see? What are some interesting things you've spotted when you're looking at those sea otters?

SPEAKER_02 8:33

Ooh, I think one of my favorite things that I've seen the sea otters eating was a giant Pacific octopus. This octopus was almost the size of the whole body length of the otter itself, and it brought it up to the surface, which is where they eat their food. And you just see this big octopus splayed out on its belly, and you can you, I'm anthropomorphizing, but I think the otter was stoked. And some of the weirdest things that we've seen otters eat are tube worms. If you don't know what a tube worm is, Google it or come to the Seattle aquarium. But it's almost like an underwater feather duster. And I don't know why the otters would eat that, but we've seen them doing that a couple times. So maybe they just need it as a palate cleanser.

SPEAKER_03 9:19

Yeah, it doesn't seem like that would be very filling compared to a giant octopus in particular.

SPEAKER_02 9:24

Exactly. Yeah, and I don't know how they taste. It's not something that I would ever eat. So I don't know.

SPEAKER_03 9:31

Well, I am super excited for this podcast and for all the wonderfully nerdy and exciting science it will feature. And you two, Carrie and Amy, are going to be awesome hosts.

SPEAKER_01 9:41

Thanks, Nora. Thank you, Nora. Thank you all so much for listening and joining us today. Please keep an ear out for our next episode. Until then, stay curious.