Had the opportunity to share the Medieval Codicology episode with one of my students who agrees it’s awesome. At a school event her mom excitedly revealed her snail fighting a knight tattoo that made me smile so hard. Ologies, creating connections one snail at time.

If you’re one to get nervous about going to a dinner party where you don’t know anyone, fear not. Listen to any episode of ologies and you won’t run out of fun and interesting new facts to bring up. Allie is funny, down to earth, and the best interviewer. There is something for everyone. Allie, if you’re ever in NC would love to host you to have the best dinner party ever.

I love this podcast! As a chronic multitasker (maybe it’s actually ADHD), listening to this podcast while I’m driving keeps me from trying to do other things. It’s not only saved my life in that regard, but the content has me engaged with the world around me and gives me endless cool things to talk about with anyone who will listen.

After years of people suggesting this pod, I finally gave it a listen. I'm now attempting to cure my fear of spiders, and have years of content to fill my days with! Awesome pod❤️🥳

Alie and the smart people she invites got me through so many runs. Now that I’m suffering from cannot-enjoy-running-unless-I’m-listening-to-Ologies syndrome. My favorite sections are still the animals. Loved learning about bear butt plugs or flying (descending) porcupines. The rate at which I catch up to older episodes simply cannot keep up with newer weekly episodes, which is a podcast listener’s dream. Love you and your work, Alie, and congrats on being on Jimmy Fallon!!

Couldn’t help but sing “I whip my bolas back and forth” to Willow Smith’s 2011 hit, “Whip my hair” when I heard about the Bolas Spider whipping its sticky globule around to hunt. Anyone want to do a remix?!

Ologies has saved me many a times from my boring desk job. As someone who is always hungry for more fun facts every episode having a passionate expert is perfect to keep you engaged. Best podcast out there o7

Explicit

So I work overnights, and was trying to find something so I could have background noise to fall asleep to, and I’ve realized I’m WAY more into sciences than I thought. I usually stay awake to finish the episodes. I’ve gone all the way back to the very first one and am listening to every one. Thank you so much Alie for giving my brain something to focus on while I’m trying to sleep.

I’ve meant to write this review for a while, but in honor of the new episode about spiders, it felt like the perfect time! I used to be the type of person that was so afraid of spiders I would cry if there was one near me, but this podcast makes every topic so interesting that I couldn’t resist listening to when the episode about jumping spiders when it came out a handful of years ago. It inspired such awe and empathy in me that I started doing my own unofficial exposure therapy to spiders. Now, as I write this, I’m lovingly watching my pet jumping spider chow down on a meal worm. Her name is Bianca, I love her with all my heart. I’ve learned to love not just the charming jumping spider, but all spiders, wasps, and a variety of other insects. Thank you, Ologies and Alie! I truly don’t think I’d have my beautiful girly pop if it weren’t for you!

10/10 bookmark and follow this podcast. Enrich your mind and be the fun fact person at parties/ work.

Just imagine a Detective, sitting at her makeup mirror, putting on mascara, getting smart about Shipwrecks! Thank you for giving me boundless knowledge about every single thing!

For Alie: Hi DadWard, Your show is wonderful. It’s my favorite podcast. I love how you have created the perfect showcase for smarty-pants enthusiasm. Thanks for sharing the laughs, curiosity, and genuinely making my world (and I assume a lot of other people’s worlds) a little brighter, funnier, and more knowledgeable every Wednesday. For the review readers: This show is wonderful. Go have fun and listen already!

Ologies is hands down the coolest podcast around. Every episode captivates my attention and inspires me to learn more. Alie has a gift for taking complex topics and making the easily digestible for everyone to understand.

The science nerd in me is constantly geeking out over this podcast. It’s one of my favorite listens and always so interesting / informative! Thank you Alie for being the coolest host and coming up with this pod 🖤

Ologies is the real life version of being on The Magic School Bus and Alie is like the real life version of Miss Frizzle - I never walk away without learning something cool about this weirdly beautiful (and beautifully weird) world from a teacher who is articulated, welcoming, unapologetically herself, always audibly smiling, endlessly compassionate, and if every person on Earth had her as their teacher, the world would objectively be a better place, especially for us neurospicy folks. Sending a giant “thank you” hug for making this podcast because I get the vibe that she’s a hug person <3

Never get enough of this show. I find myself completely lost in episodes that I thought I’d want to skip. I mean how can a show about trees or basket weaving be fascinating? But they are! Don’t know how you do it, but thank you!

Oh hey, it’s your whale watch guide who keeps recommending marine biology-themed episodes of her favorite podcast during the tour. I LOVE Ologies! I’ve been listening sporadically since 2020 and have listening obsessively since starting a very boring job several months ago. This podcast is probably the reason I’m still employed and is motivating me to finally go back for my master’s degree! Since you read to the end of the review I’m gonna share a secret: sometimes when I’m bored I imagine what it would be like to be interviewed for Ologies and how I would respond. I hope the topic is orcas. Thanks Alie Ward!

Hi Alie! I am graduating from my doctorate of pharmacy program today and wanted to take a moment of time to reflect on how meaningful your show has been to me! This show has been with me from the start of my career. I started listening 7 years ago in undergrad when I was a baby scientist in the lab and needed something to listen to while doing my cell culture. Over time, this show has shaped me into the scientist and pharmacist that I am today— I truly appreciate the curiosity and dedication you bring to every episode and hope to do the same in my field every day. Apologies for this review being 7 years late, but thank you for all that you do! Can’t wait to hear next week’s episode!

I am so happy that there’s an official spider episode for ologies! I have always loved spiders and I’ve been trying to win my family over with spiders, but we’ll get there eventually. I’m fascinated by how diverse what we consider spiders are! They live on six continents, and come in all shapes and sizes! Thank you for braving the unknown with areneology Alie Ward!

As a 38 yo this show actually sparks curiosity and wonder like I had as a child! Thank you for letting me feel that again!

I’ve been waiting years for a dedicated spider episode! I love the show and listen every week. Dadward and her dumb questions inspire me every week. I’m getting my master’s in Ecology and my hope is to specialize in arthropods. Spiders were my gateway arthropod and have a special place in my heart. Anyway, I just wanted to say thanks!

As a former gifted child who peaked in 5th grade being the only girl who won every science award…this show has re-awakened something in me. My love for science and constant asking of “why???” had been squished out of me almost entirely, but Alie has completely changed that. Her hilarious wit and natural genius, alongside these brilliant guests, is just the most perfectly palatable dish of discourse that I could ever dream of. Thank you, Alie, for simply existing and being a gift to the world. But also thank you for giving the world this truly incredible show. I literally burst into my husbands office today screeching “did you know pigeons produce MILK?!” and I am still riding that high, tbh. PS. I wish we could be best friends. Okay, that is all!

This is my go to podcast when I am feeling overwhelmed or emotionally isolated. It brings me a sense of comfort to be part of and intellectual conversation and learn about random things!

I really enjoy the podcast but I have a problem with the sentiment for Palestine. I find it disturbing that podcasters that I like such as you and Cara Santa Maria are so one sided in the conflict in the Middle East. What about the fact that the entire thing going on in Gaza is because terrorists slaughtered Israeli citizens. Terrorists from Hamas who were voted into office by Palestinians and who. Most Palestinians support. And of course these terrorist groups use their own people as human shields and launch missões from hospitals and orphanages so when their weapons are taken out they can play the victim because their innocent children were blown up. What is Israel supposed to do? They are being attacked and killed by terrorist groups. And have to protect themselves and fight for their lives.Do you expect them to just give up and not fight against those who are trying to kill them? There is a huge antisemitic undercurrent in liberal ideology and it is supported with lots of money from Arab groups that organize and back up pro Palestinian protests at places like Columbia. So you have an episode in genocide and mass atrocities? Palestine is NOT a genecide. Why don’t you do an episode on terrorism and radical Muslim ideology?

While on vacation in Slovenia two years ago, I begged my friend DK to cut my hair, and we decided to take a listen to this podcast my friend Sophie had recommended. It took DK an hour to cut my hair, which meant I quickly stopped really listening to the podcast, because I was too concerned about why my friend was only cutting a millimetre of hair at a time. Then I started binging Oologies a couple months ago and I realised that DK was just captivated by the podcast and wanted to extend the haircut an hour. If that’s not a 5-star review, I don’t know what is.

Was recommended by a friend when stuck in a perpetual doom spiral. Love that it breaks these bits of life and science down to digestible levels! The rapport Alie has with guests is great! If I had one criticism, the constant context interjections Alie makes in the middle of the conversation are really distracting and throw off the flow of the conversation. A few here and there are fine, but it feels like they happen every 5 minutes and I lose track of what the guest was in the middle of saying. Especially when it’s something like a siren in the background — unless it’s completely ruining the audio, not really necessary to throw in an interjection there. Just good for thought! Thanks for what you do.

You will always learn something new! Alie’s voice is so soothing, and she’s relatable, funny, and asks the guests great questions. The guests are very diverse, and every episode is so insightful. It’s a great, feel-good, intriguing podcast and I look forward to each episode!

I really like the content/subject material but I think more important in audio is the host. I think it’s a brilliant brainchild and clearly has a lot of effort put in but the amount of times the host makes thing about herself, appears to think she’s pretty cute and funny, is off-putting and detracts from the subject material.

Such an interesting podcast! So many different, interesting subjects and the host had a fantastic energy. By the end of the episodes you’ve learned so much 🙌🏻

This podcast helped me BECOME a podcast person after trying so many things. I’ve been able to cut my doomscrolling to almost nothing because Ologies always keeps me on the edge of my seat. Thank you thank you thank you for making this space possible

Don’t tell the HardFork team, but this is now my favorite podcast. I love it. I think I love Ali Ward too, but I’m 72 and spoken for and she’s married so it’s not going to work out. I’ll just keep listening to the show. Great engaging guests addressing a multiverse of fascinating topics enhanced by Alie’s research, sidebars, digressions, resources, humour, and obvious enthusiasm.

Love this podcast. Alie has a way of facilitating the experts expression of passion for their topic that makes every topic compelling. I have found my self fascinated by topics I would never have considered diving into. I am a health care professional and I find myself referring people to this podcast all the time. It’s informative but delivered in a digestible and entertaining way. Thank you Alie!

Holy cow, Alie Ward. You and this podcast are gifts to us listeners. We love your show and recently listened to the candy episode with Susan Benjamin. WOW! What an incredibly informative, funny, memorable episode! The climate fervorology episode?! Fantastically smart. We have appreciated you since Innovation Nation and we are thrilled to follow and learn with you here. Thank you for this delightfully educational pod, your witty smarts, and wonderful personality. 😊

Alie is my favorite podcast dad. Instead of just telling me to read the encyclopedia like my real dad did when I had a question as a child, Alie talks to all of the best experts in their field to teach me about everything from opossums to dreams to volcanoes to medieval snail memes. My favorite day is when we get a new Oologies episode, or even an encore, because all of the episodes are well worth multiple listens!! Keep up the good work Alie, you’re doing a fantastic job. 💖

I love this podcast. Thank you Alie for granting mere mortals with knowledge that I could not gain from reading the entirety of Wikipedia. I am eternally grateful.

I loved learning about hobbies and their effects on mental health, especially as a hobbyist with mental health issues. Can you do an episode about holisitic medicine?!

I wait for Wednesdays to get started with that week’s episode. Almost all topics are things I don’t know anything about, and by the end of the episode I either love those ologies or I know they’re not for me.

Allie, as a VERY young child I saw you on Brainchild and a couple years ago when I found this podcast I was hooked IMMEDIATELY. Not only because the host was none other than the amazing ✨Allie Ward✨, but also because I could tell how much heart and soul you put into this phenomenal podcast. Also I physically can’t write this review without bringing up the Urban Rodentology (I hope I spelled that right) episode. I can’t stop talking to my family about rats (which I can tell they are very tired of), and I recently went to New York and my main goal was to see at least one rat. Love Allie, love this podcast, love everything about this podcast, oh, and did I mention I love this podcast? P.S. never saw a rat in NYC😭😭😭

Your podcast is fascinating, more great facts and people than I can list. Two personal favorites - the show about Urban Rats and the one on Hippos. I wanted to recommend a book The Observologist by Giselle Clarkson it’s one of the winners of the John Burroughs Natural History Society’s Riverby awards. It’s supposed to be for kids but it’s for everyone 😸🐾

I have been listening to this podcast for years and it has brought so many fun facts and some weird ones too! Even if you might not think garbage or climate or any topic is interesting, Alie Ward is the person to get you interested! 🩷

A small thing that I notice and appreciate about this podcast is their use of gender neutral pronouns before the expert declares their own. Using “they” as a singular is something my little brain struggles with immensely and the small weekly reminder that “they” can be one person has helped me come a long way in using the right pronoun to refer to my non binary friends. I don’t talk to or about them often, so practice for me is minimal. It’s such a small, thoughtful thing that normalizes non binary language that is so helpful in an online world where being non binary is anything but normalized.

I’ve been listening to multiple episodes a week for the past two years. I finally finished them all. Am I sad? No! Now I get to go back and listen to all of them over again. Hopefully I can retain more of the amazing stuff I learned the first time. Thanks Alie! - Dr. Lisa B

Hi Alie! Had to use my husband’s account because I don’t have any Apple devices. I love your episodes!! I have ADHD but I’m always able to listen to the podcast the whole way through because it’s so interesting! It also tricks my brain because I feel like I’m being productive since I’m learning.

I never thought I’d be riveted by an hour-long deep dive into the science of garbage, but here we are. Ologies has officially made me the person who brings up obscure facts about fungus and jellyfish at parties (you’re welcome, everyone). Alie Ward is the delightfully nerdy, hilarious tour guide I didn’t know I needed through the wild world of “ologies” I had never once considered—and now can’t stop obsessing over. Her voice? Pure velvety serotonin. Like a warm mug of tea for your ears. I’ve fallen asleep to her whispering about volcanology more times than I care to admit, and it’s the only time in my life I’ve been excited to drift off mid-trash science lesson. (Yes, trash science. It’s a thing. And it’s amazing.) 10/10 would recommend to anyone who wants to feel smarter, laugh unexpectedly, and blissfully conk out to someone explaining the mating rituals of obscure insects.

Dearest Dad Ward, My real Dad died a week ago. Your episode about death and dying prepared me to be by his side the whole time. What you do really changes lives. It changed mine. Thank you so much for what you do. Science communication matters 🩷

Alie does an incredible job of bringing on the most incredible guests, asking all the questions I want to know and making me laugh when I am deeply uninterested in laughing. I know so many things now.

This podcast will expand your horizons, and help you indulge in your hyper-fixations (both known, and yet to be discovered). Alie brings genuine curiosity and excitement into every conversation; opening the door for the experts she interviews to dive deep into their field of study. Her willingness to be humble and curious creates space for all of us to ask smart people our stupid burning questions. It makes the world a better place. 10/10 would (and often do) recommend. Sorry it has taken me over 5 years to finally write a review!

I love Ologies- however I’m always sad when the ologist say their least favorite thing about the job- is basically my full time job! I’d love to hear a Research Bureaucracy-ology episode given all the current turmoil in the federally funded research world. Actually, I take it back. More episodes about bugs please! 💚

I’m a massive science nerd, I love statistics, I love numbers and I love anything that reminds me of the professor from Gilligans Island. Great show. I hope you won an award.