"There is so much knowledge walking around here on campus," says Lieneke van Dijk, one of the podcast's creators. "There are plenty of answers to questions we - and many with us - have. So Van Dijk and fellow science editor Wies Bakker set out to find scientific explanations for a variety of topics.
In ten mini-lectures, the scientists discuss topics that are vaguely known, but of which we often do not know exactly how they are put together. Bakker: “PTSD is one of those concepts that I thought I knew: a psychological disorder resulting from trauma. But if you then talk to a researcher, it turns out there are all sorts of things behind it that you didn't know about." Anthropologist Tine Molendijk explains in the podcast how PTSD occurs, what you recognize it by, and why not every unpleasant experience leads to trauma or PTSD.
Ten minutes
In the first episode, communications scholar Serena Daalmans talks about the importance of representation in the media. "People subconsciously take a cue from who they see on TV," says Van Dijk, creator of the episode. "If as a girl, for example, you only see male presidents on TV, it won't easily occur to you that a woman could very well become president, too. Serena Daalmans explains what good representation means and what it does to you if you are not well represented in the media."
The second episode is about dialect. Linguist Marc van Oostendorp explains what the difference is between dialect and an accent and why Frisian is a language, but, for example, 'Limburgs' and 'Nedersaksisch' are not. "I do have colleagues with a soft g who regularly shout 'houdoe'," says Bakker. "They speak with an accent, but you could also call it dialect. It depends, according to Marc van Oostendorp, on what you're looking at."
With topics from all corners of science, the makers hope to appeal to a wide listening audience. The episodes of up to ten minutes are suitable for listening between business, on the road or during chores around the house. "The podcast is not called Radboud Science Snacks for nothing," says Van Dijk. "It really is a snack, but without guilt: this is one that will make you wiser."
The first two episodes of the second season of Radboud Science Snacks (on representation and dialect) will be available via Spotify and most podcast apps starting Jan. 16. A new episode will follow every two weeks.
