Everyone has a personal connection to science.

Maybe you were reaching for a Nobel Prize with your high school science fair project until an unforeseeable error caused it to go down in flames. Or, perhaps you’ve been a researcher on an expedition thousands of miles from home, surrounded by people who don’t understand what you’re doing there. Or, you’ve listened to your doctor diagnose you with a condition that you’ve never heard of before. Whatever your science story is, we want to hear about it.

In 2017, St. Louis Public Radio partnered up with The Story Collider, a podcast that produces shows where personal stories about science are told live on stage. The Story Collider was founded by two physicists in 2010 and regularly puts on shows in New York City, Boston, Atlanta and various other cities around the world.

The Story Collider in St. Louis is produced by Peter Michalski and Sam Lyons.

Thursday, June 5, 2025

Story Collider St. Louis - June 5th

7:00 p.m. at the Saint Louis Science Center, 5050 Oakland Ave., St. Louis, MO 63110

This show is all about the ways we're conditioned to make choices. Have you ever let expectations shape your career? Assumed you couldn't do something - only to prove yourself wrong? Science strives for objectivity, but human nature isn't always so simple.

Storytellers:

• Sarah England spent years in the lab, dedicated to researching and reducing adverse birth outcomes. Suddenly she finds herself approaching the issue from a legislative perspective as a research fellow for Hillary Clinton.
• Kasey Fowler-Finn is fascinated by insect acoustics, and what they mean for mating and the environment. Nobody expected she would be able to recreate cicada rhythms in her lab, but that tune will change by the end of her story.
• Adam Rembert was always a self-described impatient kid, eager for results right away. Hear his journey to reconcile that part of his nature, with the long-term focus required of a career in conservation.
• Seanna Leath grew up in a religious upbringing, packed with expectations for who she was and what her life would be. Hear how she broke free and set her own conditions.

Thursday, November 7, 2024

Story Collider St. Louis - Experiments

St. Louis Story Collider is hosted by two former English students; but even Sam Lyons and Peter Michalski understand that to learn something new, sometimes you must go beyond the pages. When we put ourselves out there, we open ourselves to great successes, and sometimes greater trials. Either way, we come through these experiences forever changed.

Wednesday, June 26, 2024

Story Collider St. Louis - Astronomy

Join The Story Collider at STLPR for four stories about finding yourself in nature, whether that’s harnessing generational traditions for the good of the community, learning how we can coexist and cooperate with our environment, or embracing new challenges to learn how to be an advocate for others.

Storytellers

• Jane Sueme is a member of The St. Louis Beekeepers. Her story is about making the jump from hesitant beekeeper to mutual partner in the environment, and calls back to her childhood obstacles in horseback riding.
• Chris Geden works with River City Outdoors and is going to share about his first canoe trip on the Mississippi (required for his work in exposing youth of color to outdoor opportunities in STL) and his journey from terrified participant to avid paddler.
• Katie Houck comes from generations of gardeners who were diligent about eating what they grew, and giving away what they could. But it wasn’t until she relocated to New Orleans shortly before Hurricane Katrina that she fully understood the importance of utilizing your resources. She now leads Urban Harvest STL.
• Elizabeth Simons has travelled all over the region to get an up-close and personal look at our interconnected rivers, streams, forests, reconstructed prairies, and wetland habitats as well as the people, plants, and animals who call these places home. She has worked for Great Rivers Greenway for over a decade to help build a regional network of greenways that provides every St. Louisan with an opportunity to enjoy living more of our lives outside.

News Articles for The Story Collider