244. Mary-Frances O’Connor with Dr. Anthony Back: Grief and the Body
Town Hall Seattle Science Series
Release Date: 03/28/2025
269. David R. Montgomery: How to Heal Our Soil
Town Hall Seattle Science Series
A century of conventional farming has left our planet with sick soil, accelerating the interlinked crises of food security, biodiversity loss, water pollution, and climate change. In his new book, ReGen: A New Future for Farming, Food, and Health, David R. Montgomery lays out a practical and productive vision for recovering soil health and safeguarding the future of food. The answer: soil-building regenerative farming. In exploring this much-needed turning point for agriculture, Montgomery marshals more than a decade of research, interviewing innovative farmers and seeing firsthand how...
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268. Perrin Roosevelt Ireland: Poking the Squid
Town Hall Seattle Science Series
In the illustrated guide, Poking the Squid, Perrin Roosevelt Ireland illustrates the splendid diversity of nature’s eroticism. Chock full of delightful watercolor comics featuring pregnant seahorse dads, spider oral sex, and the four-headed echidna penis, Ireland takes us on a wild biodiversity ride through queerness, infidelity, consent, divorce, sex change, and even sexual cannibalism in the animal world. Ireland interviews researchers probing the leading edge of animal reproductive biology and, with the help of her cats Ursula and Pudge, brings readers along as she learns the...
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267. Lynda Mapes: America’s Arctic: Too Precious to Lose
Town Hall Seattle Science Series
The northernmost stretches of Alaska host an environmental wonder that very few people will connect with in their lives — millions of acres of largely undisturbed public land along the Arctic Circle. This region contains pristine tundra landscapes, unrestricted rivers shaped only by nature, and unique wildlife like polar bears, the only caribou herds in the United States, and more aquatic birds than can be found in any other Arctic wetland. And while the features and roles of these lands may be foreign to many even within the United States, science writer Lynda Mapes is committed to the...
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266. David Epstein with Katy Sewall: Inside the Box: How Constraints Make Us Better
Town Hall Seattle Science Series
Limits are the key to stimulating creativity, innovation, and collaboration. In a world that gives us seemingly infinite choices and prizes freedom above all else, we have an unprecedented number of options regarding what to do, who to be, and how to spend our time. All that choice is wonderful, but it is also overwhelming. The irony is that total freedom can be paralyzing, and unlimited resources don’t necessarily lead to the biggest breakthroughs. In fact, overvaluing complete freedom can be disastrous for everything from starting a company to harnessing creativity to finding personal...
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265. Psychedelic Salon: Psychedelics & Grief With Dr. Sunil Aggarwal, Laura Sullivan Cassidy, and April Pride
Town Hall Seattle Science Series
Grief is one of the most universal yet isolating experiences we endure—and psychedelics may offer a path through it. This Salon explores how substances like psilocybin, MDMA, and 5-MeO-DMT are being used to support those navigating loss, whether from death, identity shifts, or life transitions. This session sheds light on how altered states can help us reconnect to love, soften the sharp edges of sorrow, and reorient to a life forever changed. Attendees will gain insight into the science and integration practices that support emotional processing and meaning-making in the context of grief....
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264. Steve Brusatte with David B. Williams: A New History of Birds: From Their Dinosaur Origins to the Present
Town Hall Seattle Science Series
Try to imagine a world without birds. It’s quite a challenge, given that we share the planet with tens of billions of birds spanning an astonishing 14,000 species. Birds find homes nearly everywhere that people do – and many places we do not – and their prowess and plumage have captivated human imagination throughout the ages. But impressive aerial feats and collective choirs of song aside, part of our fascination with birds is rooted in the awe of something so delicate and strange. How did such seemingly fragile creatures made of hollow bones and downy feathers break the mold of...
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263. Psychedelic Salon: Psychedelics & Disordered Eating With Dr. Amanda Downey and April Pride
Town Hall Seattle Science Series
A conversation about the emerging potential of psychedelics, particularly psilocybin, in addressing eating disorders—a psychiatric area marked by persistent treatment challenges. This Salon dives into groundbreaking research showing how psychedelics disrupt entrenched thought patterns, ease cognitive rigidity, and foster self-compassion and emotional reconnection. April Pride and invited experts will discuss the limitations of current treatments and how psychedelic therapies could offer new hope. Attendees will leave with a deeper understanding of how psychedelic-assisted therapy might...
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262. Suzanne Simard with Lynda Mapes: When the Forest Breathes
Town Hall Seattle Science Series
Forest ecologist Suzanne Simard has long been fascinated by the sharing of natural knowledge. From the interconnected root systems she studied in her book Finding the Mother Tree to her ongoing work as an educator, Simard has learned to see the importance of cooperative efforts to share resources and knowledge. Joined in conversation by Seattle-based nature journalist Lynda Mapes, Simard expands these connections into a considerate exploration of the elaborate cycles of forest ecosystems, the challenges they currently face, and the intergenerational value they can provide through...
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261. Cate Osborn: Wildly Unprepared
Town Hall Seattle Science Series
Comedian, historian, and bestselling author Cate Osborn brings a special program derived from her live touring show, Wildly Unprepared. This evening features a curated portion of the performance, exploring the strange and surprising history of magic, spectacle, and belief, along with storytelling and conversation about curiosity, culture, and the stories we inherit. While this program draws from the larger theatrical show, it is designed as a standalone event created especially for Town Hall audiences. The show will be followed by a Q&A with Cate. About the Book Just shy of her thirtieth...
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260. ReWilding Seattle Gardens With Dave Hunter, Jessi Bloom, Bill Thorness, Kim M. Camara, and Swil Kanim
Town Hall Seattle Science Series
Local beekeepers, gardeners, and native plant experts join in a conversation about turning your own backyard into a native ecosystem oasis. Learn about the benefits of mason bees, the importance of best-gardening practices to protect Puget Sound salmon, and how you can make a difference in keeping our city climate change resilient. Featuring Dave Hunter, author of Mason Bee Revolution: How the Hardest Working Bee Can Save the World One Backyard at a Time, along with panelists Jessi Bloom, Bill Thorness, Kim M. Camara, and Swil Kanim, this event hopes to empower everyone to...
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Despite grief being one of the most universal of human experiences, there is still much that we do not know about it. Can we die of a broken heart? What happens in our bodies as we grieve; how do our coping behaviors affect our physical health, immunity, and even cognition? While we may be more familiar with psychological and emotional ramifications of loss and sorrow, we often overlook its impact on our physical bodies.
In The Grieving Body: How the Stress of Loss Can Be an Opportunity for Healing, the follow-up to its successful predecessor The Grieving Brain (2022), grief expert, neuroscientist, and psychologist Dr. Mary-Frances O’Connor focuses on how the painful ordeal of grief impacts the body.
O’Connor shares scientific research, charts, and graphs coupled with personal stories, revealing new insights on grief’s physiological impact and helping illuminate the toll that loss takes on our cardiovascular, endocrine, and immune systems and the larger implications for our long-term well-being. The Grieving Body is for anyone who has experienced loss and who may want to learn more about what they are going through and how to support them.
Mary-Frances O’Connor, PhD, is a professor of psychology at the University of Arizona, where she directs the Grief, Loss and Social Stress (GLASS) Lab, investigating the effects of grief on the brain and the body. Her book The Grieving Brain was included on Oprah’s list of Best Books to Comfort a Grieving Friend. O’Connor holds a PhD in clinical psychology from the University of Arizona and completed a post-doctoral fellowship in psychoneuroimmunology at the UCLA Semel Institute for Neuroscience and Human Behavior.
Dr. Anthony Back, Professor of Medicine at the University of Washington, is a pioneer in patient-oncologist communication and co-founder of the nonprofit VitalTalk. Educated at Stanford and Harvard, with training at UW and Fred Hutchinson Cancer Center, his research spans physician-assisted dying, communication pedagogy, and psilocybin therapy for healthcare providers and patients with cancer-related anxiety. He is also an ordained Zen priest in Roshi Joan Halifax’s lineage.
