Episode 11
Lefteris Statharas of Lefteris Asks Science
In episode 11 of Podcaster Stories, I sit down with Lefteris Statharas of the Lefteris Asks Science podcast.
Driven by both his passion for science, and his professional work as a mechanical engineer, Lefteris started his podcast as a way to bring scientists together to demystify their professions, and show how fun science can be.
With a natural curiosity and an easy-going manner, Lefteris has a simple goal – to see what drives people with passion, and to get more people interested in, and passionate about, science.
Topics up for discussion this week include:
- how the idea for the podcast came about after a chat with a peer
- which type of science drives his curiosity
- the episodes that have stood out
- why there seems to be such an anti-science stance in some countries, with the US probably being the worst culprit, as evidenced by Covid-19
- how social media has enabled more interest in science
- the cultural and scientific differences between Greece, where Lefteris originates from, and Singapore, where he currently lives and works
- who his all time hero is, and why
Settle back for an engaging conversation around science, the rabbit holes of Reddit and the internet, and more.
Connect with Lefteris:
Contact me: danny@podcasterstories.com
My equipment:
- Samson Q2U Mic
- Focusrite Scarlett Solo 3rd Gen Audio Interface
- TRITON AUDIO Fethead In-Line Microphone Preamp
- Denon DJ HP-1100 Over Ear Headphones
- RockJam MS050 Adjustable Mic Suspension Boom
- Dragonpad Pop Filter
Recommended resources:
This podcast uses the following third-party services for analysis:
Podtrac - https://analytics.podtrac.com/privacy-policy-gdrp
Transcript
You mean? Well, like you have a good spirit in
Speaker:a good idea or in your head that, Oh, I
Speaker:need to experience and understand the things for myself, which
Speaker:is great, which is fine. However, there are some things
Speaker:that you can not reinvent the wheel because then every
Speaker:a hundred years, somebody who will need to reinvent the
Speaker:wheel because he would not believe that they will exists.
Speaker:Hi, and welcome to Podcaster Stories each year we will
Speaker:have a conversation with podcasts, those across all mediums and
Speaker:share their story. What motivates them? Why do you start
Speaker:to do a show at the grocery store and more,
Speaker:but I also talk about their personal lives and some
Speaker:of the things that have happened that made them the
Speaker:person in the afternoon and know who is your host
Speaker:Danny Brown hi guys. And welcome to another episode of
Speaker:Podcaster Stories where we meet the people behind the voices
Speaker:of the shows. But listen to this week, we have
Speaker:Lefteris Statharas of Lefteris Asks Science podcast. And I'm going
Speaker:to hopefully, see, I got your name correctly. If not,
Speaker:I sincerely apologize.
Speaker:There's the Lefteris Asks Science PR podcast is a really
Speaker:cool podcast that gets a definite scientists site to talk
Speaker:about various, you know, the levels of expertise and different
Speaker:topics in different fields of Science. And it tries to,
Speaker:you know, make science, fun and educational while getting to
Speaker:know that people. So Sarah is a fax would appear
Speaker:on, on the shore and are handed over to you
Speaker:to maybe tell us a little bit more about yourself
Speaker:and your podcast.
Speaker:Hi, thanks for having me on the show. It's a
Speaker:real pleasure to be a guest. So yeah, I started
Speaker:the podcast in December of last year, where basically I
Speaker:wanted to meet the people behind the research because I
Speaker:did my PhD a and I've been in academia for
Speaker:about 10 years. So through academia, I've met so many
Speaker:people and I've seen so much of the technology and
Speaker:science. It seems to me that it was quite mature
Speaker:even in academia, but its not really applied outside for
Speaker:X, Y, Z reasons. Right? So I really want that.
Speaker:And every time I was speaking with people who are
Speaker:not an academia, they'll always have like that idea that
Speaker:the people in the universities are either stealing our money,
Speaker:which is, well, you get that.
Speaker:Some people think of that or that people are they're
Speaker:are very, very smart. And like, you can not touch
Speaker:them because there's this on a pedestal. And I just
Speaker:wanted to show people that this is what people do
Speaker:in academia is, is interesting. It is hard obviously, but
Speaker:what it is is that basically people taking the time
Speaker:basically, or if you're, if you're doing a pH D
Speaker:for four years, you're just looking at one thing. So
Speaker:even if it seems complex at the end, like the
Speaker:steps are quite simple that really every, everybody can do
Speaker:it. If you just like basically decide that you can
Speaker:want to invest the time in your life to get
Speaker:a PhD or to do research or anything.
Speaker:So that's how I started the podcast after I finished
Speaker:my PhD.
Speaker:Okay. So I, I don't know. I mean, in looking
Speaker:at your show I'm, as you mentioned, you started at
Speaker:all of this year and already, so it has been
Speaker:like a, a pretty good variety of scientists, you know,
Speaker:come on to talk with you. I mean, I noticed
Speaker:that there is one that is talking about the science
Speaker:of bubbles and its impact on materials, which I thought
Speaker:was really a really cool and there was another one,
Speaker:obviously I think there was a, there was one about
Speaker:the evolution of the language. And how do you know
Speaker:how that evolves over time? I mean, you mentioned that
Speaker:you'd done a PhD or you're finishing your PhD, sorry,
Speaker:or a finished PhD. Is there a particular science that
Speaker:you were drawn to either from your own, you know,
Speaker:studies or from the gas may be that you've spoken
Speaker:to back up to now as well?
Speaker:Well, I was trained in material science, so in mechanical
Speaker:engineering. So that's why I'm like naturally tend to go
Speaker:when like my day job is in mechanical engineering and
Speaker:material science. So that's what I enjoy doing. But when
Speaker:I started doing the podcast, I realized that I started
Speaker:speaking with people who had spent a lot of their
Speaker:time and effort and they got excited about linguistics or
Speaker:cavities like the bubbles. So if you don't tell me
Speaker:that, like everything can be quite interesting. Everything can be
Speaker:very interesting if you actually see it from their perspective.
Speaker:So every time I have somebody on, on the show,
Speaker:I'm trying to see why they get excited to talk
Speaker:about their work because sometimes it's not only, Oh, I
Speaker:get to talk about myself and my work, but at
Speaker:the same time it was like, uhhh, the work you're
Speaker:like, I chose to do this and spend for years
Speaker:or eight years or whatever. Ah, because this excites me.
Speaker:So I enjoy trying to find that that is why
Speaker:it gets exciting for them.
Speaker:All right. And I'm wondering if I know I'm, I
Speaker:mean, there was never a great it science at school
Speaker:or a loved one of the subjects that I was
Speaker:an academically great science. And, and sometimes I wonder if
Speaker:the, the word itself Science puts a lot of people
Speaker:off because it has this sort of a gray here
Speaker:and you know, the vision of your life. You talk
Speaker:about scientists and movies and books and they were always
Speaker:these guys in our white lab coats in a very
Speaker:steady at that time. You know? And I, and I
Speaker:wonder if it, is this something that, that were no
Speaker:starting to realize that, you know what I'm saying, this
Speaker:is pretty cool. It's pretty fun. I know my kids
Speaker:school is for example, are really emphasizing science and STEM,
Speaker:et cetera, or were to say a traditional math and
Speaker:English, which I think is awesome. So do you think
Speaker:were starting to see maybe a flip over the last
Speaker:thing that I don't know, five or 10 years or
Speaker:so, or maybe more between how science is viewed and
Speaker:accepted if you like.
Speaker:Yeah. I feel that the past couple of years later,
Speaker:and for culture, you see a lot of all, all,
Speaker:all the way in the movies and the TV series,
Speaker:you see scientists and their Utica moments, which is not
Speaker:the real aspect of Science really like it in the
Speaker:span of like a year that you are working on
Speaker:something, it will happen maybe once, if you were lucky,
Speaker:it was like, ah, that's the thing that I figured
Speaker:out. And that's what I always missing from work. Or
Speaker:even if you find that it's that Eureka moment for
Speaker:the scientist is so much like, Ahhh, I'm missing one
Speaker:parameter from my equation. That's why he didn't work. So
Speaker:its not like very flashy, but at the same time,
Speaker:I think like a, there has been a lot of
Speaker:effort from like a science communicators, like middle of grass
Speaker:Dyson, bill Nye, the science guy.
Speaker:So there are people who became more famous 'cause they
Speaker:were talking about science. So I guess that's why like
Speaker:slowly and I it's my optimistic side is saying is
Speaker:like, well hopefully people will start to see that. It's
Speaker:good to go in that way and try to have
Speaker:a discussion about scientific principles and try to have a
Speaker:discussion about a scientific discoveries and how you can use
Speaker:them in everyday life and how they can, they affect
Speaker:society. And it's a slow, hopefully like people slowly tend
Speaker:to go towards there and like bring the discussion over.
Speaker:All right. And, and I know, I mean here in
Speaker:Canada and we had a, a huge, not a, not
Speaker:so much on a Science point of view, but otherwise
Speaker:I correct myself there a couple of years, maybe four
Speaker:years back, Chris had fueled the, the first Canadian scientists,
Speaker:I'm sorry, the first Canadian astronaut to go into space.
Speaker:And it was doing some, you know, as a science
Speaker:experiment, something in there and he was live stream in
Speaker:the live, feed him back and it was a whole
Speaker:bunch of kids in schools would all get in, you
Speaker:know, there, there are like all the schools as we
Speaker:get in the class that together to watch the live
Speaker:stream. And that was huge here in Canada, I think
Speaker:to your point where people will know, pick it up
Speaker:and see it in a fun way and how the
Speaker:message and how the, the education of your life is
Speaker:being pulled across. I, I kinda think back to the
Speaker:world and meant for us on a diet Pepsi, a
Speaker:experiment, your drops for your four by fours and at
Speaker:the end of that talks about propulsion, which I think
Speaker:is awesome.
Speaker:We like to talk about it at school, you
Speaker:Know,
Speaker:With that, I think that was definitely a really good
Speaker:point. You make about how that message has been, you
Speaker:know, have shared now.
Speaker:Yeah. Social media has helped a lot of like the
Speaker:fact that you can actually see posts from the ISS
Speaker:and see like the, the astronaut's that have been in
Speaker:the space, Cher their own stories and social media and
Speaker:norm pictures. So that I feel that's helped a lot
Speaker:because I guess the new generation for the betterment, the
Speaker:new generation, like, I guess I'm part of it because
Speaker:I'm not that old, we grew up with the internet
Speaker:and there was no YouTube. There was, there was Twitter
Speaker:later. So we tend, we grew up with these avenues
Speaker:of communication. So you could, we could see a more
Speaker:and more Science being pushed out there.
Speaker:Yup. And, and I, it's interesting to watch, I mean,
Speaker:obviously, and we were speaking earlier on in the green
Speaker:room and we were talking about, you know, how life's
Speaker:a little bit different at the moment based on where
Speaker:we normally be. And I'm, I'm thinking one of the
Speaker:good things of anything good could come from the kind
Speaker:of a pandemic is that Science has come in and
Speaker:out to the four of, you know, we were looking
Speaker:to our scientists to, to help us in, to educate
Speaker:us, which previously, if that might have not been the
Speaker:case. And, and I wonder if this is also may
Speaker:be like a turning point where people were starting to
Speaker:wake up, Hey, we should believe more in science as
Speaker:opposed to, you know, the, the populous belief that scientists
Speaker:is just a, you know, cookie store is or whatever.
Speaker:And I don't know what your take on how that
Speaker:played out.
Speaker:Well, internet is a, is a weird rabbit hole that
Speaker:you could end up from, Oh, they can read seeing
Speaker:videos or reading about how the coronavirus effects people and
Speaker:how you should like treatment and or are they going
Speaker:to find the vaccine and things like that. And then
Speaker:You very fast. I don't know if it's my rabbit
Speaker:hole or anything, if you'd go to people are saying
Speaker:like, Oh, you should not wear a mask because mask
Speaker:gives you a carbon dioxide poisoning or a, and the
Speaker:earth is flat and global warming is not a thing.
Speaker:So that scares me a bit. So yeah.
Speaker:Yeah. You know, like the,
Speaker:How easy people tend to fall, fall into those rabbit
Speaker:holes and don't understand what a theory is and they
Speaker:don't understand how science scientists work and what a peer
Speaker:reviewed study is. So w w one of the, the
Speaker:thing that sparked me to actually start the podcast, because
Speaker:I had the, the idea of the podcast for a
Speaker:long time, but I'd read a news article, a popular
Speaker:news article about how the somebody's did some drug tests
Speaker:on mice about the Alzheimer's disease. And I was on
Speaker:Reddit and I read the article and then I read
Speaker:the comments on Reddit and the vast majority of the
Speaker:comments we're like, well, I saw this news article, like
Speaker:similar to your article last year, but the big pharma
Speaker:companies don't want you to have 'em the Alzheimer's disease,
Speaker:a dog, because that's how they make money or bubble
Speaker:luck.
Speaker:And I'm not a doctor, a medical doctor, I'm not
Speaker:a biologist, but I understand that they tried this some
Speaker:mice and there are like steps where you go from
Speaker:mice to humans and then you have to try it
Speaker:in humans and see if it works. And then you
Speaker:understand that if I understand that it actually, we lose
Speaker:more money. If we treat Alzheimer's Alzheimer's patients right now,
Speaker:it will be much more cheaper if we actually have
Speaker:a drug in like cure them from Alzheimer's, it's more
Speaker:expensive to do, to pay for their treatment for a
Speaker:very long period of time. So nobody wins by not
Speaker:having the cure for Alzheimer's. All right. So that's what
Speaker:I read this.
Speaker:And you're like, ah, I'd had a friend who was
Speaker:doing research in Alzheimer's and I get to talk to
Speaker:her a supervisor. And that's how I started doing the
Speaker:research, the, of the podcast rather. Sorry.
Speaker:Mm. And, and, and that's, I think that's a great
Speaker:point. I know, like I see some discussion on Facebook
Speaker:and I really ever had in a hair, I pull
Speaker:out because it was just, it was just that bad
Speaker:as it is, but it's a good point. I think
Speaker:a lot of it, the, the so much deflection in
Speaker:deliberate ignorance. And is that, like you said, it is
Speaker:scary and, and it's good to see that more people
Speaker:are pushing back and saying, you know what, I know
Speaker:we need to try and trust the scientific community and,
Speaker:you know, they're there or not in it for some
Speaker:big ego stroke or whatever, like some exactly are far
Speaker:more positive and whatever, but yeah, that's so cool. Now,
Speaker:obviously I'm like, you were, like we mentioned earlier on
Speaker:the podcast has got a, a wide variety of guests
Speaker:and it's a really cool to see, you know, what
Speaker:different topics or like pop up all of the people
Speaker:who have spoken with so far, either on the published
Speaker:episodes or any that you have on a back burner
Speaker:ready to be scheduled, et cetera.
Speaker:Is there any of that have kind of stood out
Speaker:for you in particular and, and, and if so, why
Speaker:that particular topic or show
Speaker:That's an interesting question. So I like to pick two
Speaker:episodes that there was one that I had Angelina that
Speaker:he or she is a Filipino scholar working in Hong
Speaker:Kong, and she is studying Filipino migrant musicians. And How
Speaker:what is their experience in working overseas? And that was
Speaker:actually the longest because I tried to have my podcast
Speaker:to be like 20, 25 minutes long because I get
Speaker:signed. I know science is like scary for people. So
Speaker:I tried to like make it to bite sized pieces
Speaker:of that.
Speaker:It's an easier to digest, but that interview lasted for
Speaker:about two hours. So, because it was very funny to
Speaker:me because I asked her a question, her answer was
Speaker:long winded and, and in the middle of it, that
Speaker:was like, Oh, this is not what I asked, where
Speaker:are we going? And then it made it a longterm
Speaker:to answer the inventional question that I had at the
Speaker:beginning. So that was very interesting to me to see
Speaker:how different scholars taught us from a different, a science,
Speaker:like cultural Science 'cause I had known, I have no
Speaker:background on cultural sciences or how that worked and how
Speaker:their mind works and how more complex a social studies
Speaker:are than me going in the lab, put a put
Speaker:in a and B together.
Speaker:We have to work. And the other one I enjoyed
Speaker:it is the one that is coming next week. You
Speaker:know, actually rather tomorrow I got to interview to astronomers
Speaker:who did their own calculations, and they would drive the
Speaker:new equation about how many communicating civilizations are there in
Speaker:our galaxy. Okay. So, and they came up with the
Speaker:number 36, and I was trying to understand how, what
Speaker:is, how many things do you have to consider to
Speaker:say that, okay, is that why not 35?
Speaker:Why not? So it was interesting. It was also challenging
Speaker:because it was the first time. I mean, when I
Speaker:was at the view in two people at the same
Speaker:time for the podcast. So it was, it was Usually,
Speaker:it was one-on-one So so it was challenging technically, because
Speaker:it was a different way to ask some questions for
Speaker:specific people. And it was a, astronomy's always, it's easy
Speaker:to get lost in a shot at me because we
Speaker:always, we have an age old question was like, where,
Speaker:where are we? Where do we come from? Or where
Speaker:are we going? So, and it was fun. It was
Speaker:very interesting to me to see how by looking at
Speaker:how many other galaxies, how many other communicating civilizations are
Speaker:in our galaxy.
Speaker:There is a way to actually see how long can
Speaker:we expect our civilization to exist. So it was a
Speaker:nice way to look at it, look outside, but learn
Speaker:more about yourself. So that was a nice realization, you
Speaker:know,
Speaker:Podcast. And that comes out tomorrow. All right. Yes. It
Speaker:comes out tomorrow. Oh, listen to that. My, my son
Speaker:and I are, we just moved up a bit like
Speaker:up North and that in the city, I'm at the
Speaker:last November. So are you guys are a lot clearer,
Speaker:there was no such a small ground thing. And he's
Speaker:really getting into, you know, looking at the start and
Speaker:want to know which one's in, which the galaxies are.
Speaker:And I used to be able to tell you that
Speaker:when I was at his age, that I've stuck or
Speaker:lost, it was like a bit of time. And I'm
Speaker:sure that you'd be interested to hear that as well,
Speaker:because he's really into, you know, you know, our reason
Speaker:for the people here, what's that what's that up there.
Speaker:How are they different planets, et cetera. So that would
Speaker:be a good one. I've looked forward to that. And
Speaker:I know, I know we D we spoke about earlier,
Speaker:we, we sort of came to ease into it, but
Speaker:I'm, I'm curious just to maybe revisit the, we were
Speaker:talking about, you know, how science has given us a,
Speaker:a more respected have that sort of a word that
Speaker:I don't mean to, you know, they looked at a
Speaker:thing, but that may be in the wrong word.
Speaker:I apologize if it is, but I'm curious. Why do
Speaker:you think there is such an anti science stance in
Speaker:some countries? And I mean, some are better than others,
Speaker:a lot better than I was. And I guess maybe,
Speaker:you know, you look at the U S at the
Speaker:moment and, you know, what's happened from the leadership and
Speaker:how that certainly negates what science does or what it
Speaker:can do. And I'm just curious, is there anything that
Speaker:you found in your own, you know, your own personal
Speaker:life, a personal studies or a professional life that, that
Speaker:you have seen people push back against science for particular
Speaker:reasons or beliefs are or anything?
Speaker:Yeah. I feel like most of the time that I've
Speaker:seen I've met people that are, I know they're saved
Speaker:that their not a guest Science. So Mo most of
Speaker:the people that are at ACC that are against Science,
Speaker:they don't believe that they are against science. So I
Speaker:I'm trying to come from where it was. The place
Speaker:was like, Oh, you mean, well, like you have a
Speaker:good spirit in a good idea and your head that,
Speaker:Oh, I need to experience and understand things for myself,
Speaker:which is great, which is fine. However, there are some
Speaker:things that you can not reinvent the wheel because then
Speaker:every a hundred years, somebody who was, I need to
Speaker:reinvent the wheel because he would not believe that they
Speaker:will exist because I will not believe the books and,
Speaker:or my teacher who said that the way it exists,
Speaker:I will try it to prove to myself.
Speaker:So you would hit the roadblock, like every, for every
Speaker:a hundred or so years, you would be like, nothing
Speaker:is happening or moving forward. So I know that's what
Speaker:I'm trying to explain it to the people that when
Speaker:they say like, well, I don't believe everything that a
Speaker:teacher tells me or everything that I see on that.
Speaker:It's a funny bit in that, especially in Greece, it's
Speaker:like, I don't believe everything that they tell me on
Speaker:television. And then they go on to YouTube and believed
Speaker:what they see you on YouTube, which is there, this
Speaker:is a finding a way to explain to them, well,
Speaker:that's the same thing.
Speaker:You know, it was like moving
Speaker:Pictures on a screen. It's a, it's basically lack of
Speaker:lack of formal education is plays a role, I guess.
Speaker:But at the same time, I feel that a lot
Speaker:of science, communicators and educators, maybe they don't have the
Speaker:patience to deal with these people because a, I think
Speaker:Neil Tyson Dyson in some discussion, and I said that,
Speaker:or if an argument that takes longer than five minutes,
Speaker:then I'm up, right. There are some people are stubborn
Speaker:and some people will require a bit more effort. And
Speaker:if nobody gives that effort and nobody will help them
Speaker:eventually.
Speaker:Yeah. So that's what we can find that fine line,
Speaker:I guess, between acceptance from non-believers or skeptics too. Like
Speaker:you see maybe the patients from the other side of
Speaker:it. And because I, I, I can understand that as
Speaker:well, because I mean, I know I would get super
Speaker:frustrated when I was trying to do my job and
Speaker:I was getting the same question. Same time again, at
Speaker:the same push back at the time, again, I think
Speaker:you would get at some stage, I don't have a
Speaker:patient, so you know what you get good luck go
Speaker:to whatever you want to do, you know? So I
Speaker:got that completely.
Speaker:Yeah. It's, it's a, I also do. I also have
Speaker:that as well, but I'm not the most patient person
Speaker:in the world, but I'm trying to, if I, if
Speaker:I see that the person is well spirited and he's
Speaker:not combative, like right now, right off the bat from
Speaker:this beginning of the conversation, then I would probably make
Speaker:the extra effort and try and see where we can
Speaker:find the common ground. But yeah. So if you, if
Speaker:they, if they start calling, they used to call trying
Speaker:to explain to me why the earth is flat. And
Speaker:Y I have been tricked a, and I've been lied
Speaker:to by my teachers and by the strong astronomy and
Speaker:everything, then we, then it's a lost battle.
Speaker:So,
Speaker:And it makes me wish that Facebook may be, but
Speaker:I'm not sure if it was like a, a, an
Speaker:actual memory or not. It's like if there was an
Speaker:actual poster by the page, if it was like the
Speaker:fly out for society of something like that. And a,
Speaker:the, the, the copy of that went with the, the
Speaker:picture of the put up walls, people around the globe
Speaker:are finally realizing the truth about fly or a friend
Speaker:first comment, or says that you realize what you've just
Speaker:said, the goal. And it was only because I don't
Speaker:know if it was like a for sure one, but
Speaker:I always think back to that one, you know, thinking
Speaker:of like Annie Science or deniers or, or whatever, you
Speaker:know, I, I know you had mentioned that you were
Speaker:in Singapore now, you are you originally from Greece even
Speaker:in Singapore for the last five years, five years, what,
Speaker:what, what have you found it's been the biggest difference
Speaker:or the biggest difference, or possibly between a sea science
Speaker:and how it's approached and Singapore versus Science and how
Speaker:it's approached in Greece or back in Europe, or?
Speaker:Well, it's a Singapore, ours is a lot more money
Speaker:than Greece, so it's much easier to do Science here.
Speaker:However, that that's one thing that we were discussing with
Speaker:my coworkers. It's a, it's kind of a double-edged sword,
Speaker:because what I've seen a lot of times you hear
Speaker:that, let's say we do have a problem, and it's
Speaker:me, and some other local person whose trying to solve
Speaker:it. They have, they have a methodology. So, okay. This,
Speaker:this problem has a, a hundred different methods of being
Speaker:resolved that may be, has resolved. Like one of these
Speaker:a hundred, a hundred methods.
Speaker:We have work to solve the problem. A here they
Speaker:will start OK. Method. The one let's start, Oh, that
Speaker:didn't work. Okay. Method two in Greece, because we've had
Speaker:an ethic because we haven't had the money because we
Speaker:haven't had a, the ease of access to some equipment
Speaker:or whatever we have always tried to get to see,
Speaker:okay. Th to find a way, the best way to
Speaker:do this. So from the beginning, was that okay, we
Speaker:don't have all of these resources. So from the hundred
Speaker:methods that are available, maybe these 15 are more, probably
Speaker:the most probable way of this working.
Speaker:So I'll start with those 15 first. So it's, I
Speaker:guess, is that critical thinking aspect may be sometimes lacks,
Speaker:but they are so hard working. They, they can catch
Speaker:up very fast. So if it's not, if that does
Speaker:not really impede the whole process of, of, of research,
Speaker:because they're so hard and they will stick to it
Speaker:and do it until it's like,
Speaker:It's a good trait to have. Yeah, exactly. Now let
Speaker:me just to, just to flip it over a little
Speaker:bit, just like a fun, fun, little thing. What's something
Speaker:that not a lot of people would know about you
Speaker:that may surprise them if the found out,
Speaker:Okay, what are we were discussing with my, my girlfriend,
Speaker:my partner recently is that I seem like a person
Speaker:that has a lot of patients, but there are some
Speaker:things that even though like a person like me has
Speaker:a lot of patients who will do it. I would
Speaker:just flip out in a fraction of a second, because
Speaker:I don't know, like, maybe that that's the way I
Speaker:know I've had enough. Like, I don't know, but I
Speaker:guess the I, well, maybe, okay. Maybe, maybe a better
Speaker:answer to this. 'cause that's a boring answer. A is
Speaker:that I have a playlist on my, these are our
Speaker:use a streaming platform, Spotify up Spotify.
Speaker:I have use these are, I have a playlist that's
Speaker:called miserable music. And I listen to that in order
Speaker:to seem happy to other people. Oh, wow. So in,
Speaker:instead of a showing my anger or sadness to other
Speaker:people, I tend to channel this into the music when
Speaker:I listen me. So I have a, a playlist called
Speaker:a miserable music, and I've just listened to that a
Speaker:lot of a lot.
Speaker:Okay. We can't get out of this would be on
Speaker:that then.
Speaker:Ah, it's a big range. There is a Canadian artist
Speaker:called Devin Townsend who has some ambient music, which is
Speaker:quite sad. Sometimes there is some English music and ophthalmol
Speaker:radio head some years ago from radio ahead is quite
Speaker:quite the melancholic for sure. Porcupine tree, things like that,
Speaker:that I enjoy listening and, you know,
Speaker:And being happy with safe. That's cool. That's nice to
Speaker:have a different approach. They have like the melancholic music
Speaker:to, to, to, to project the happiness of your life.
Speaker:That's a good, yeah.
Speaker:I've I went to my sadness and anger it's through
Speaker:music.
Speaker:And if that was just like, this question is some
Speaker:things pops up there. It just depends on which jumps
Speaker:in on it. Who is your old team hero and
Speaker:why that person?
Speaker:I always look up to my father because he has
Speaker:had, he, he was fair to his detriment. He was
Speaker:very fair. Like a, even when he was, he's a
Speaker:mechanical engineer, he is not an academia, but they're are
Speaker:a lot of times where he, for example, if somebody
Speaker:would ask them for him, for his help and a
Speaker:job that he got paid for, but he could have
Speaker:been paid for much, much more. Right. But, and that
Speaker:was to his detriment a lot of times, but he
Speaker:never stopped trying and he never stopped trying to learn
Speaker:things and he never stopped making an effort to provide
Speaker:for everything that he could.
Speaker:So my father is a, is definitely high up there.
Speaker:Hmm.
Speaker:And is that where you, you mentioned he was in
Speaker:mechanical engineering or is that where you got your interest
Speaker:and love for it from them?
Speaker:Yeah, that's definitely my mom, my brother is a mechanical
Speaker:engineer as well. So we are a family of engineers.
Speaker:I, it definitely got my inclined towards engineering from my
Speaker:dad, where, for example, when my brother is five years
Speaker:older and when he got his first car and he
Speaker:did not get a new car, he did not get
Speaker:a good used car. What we did is we got
Speaker:a 1974 mini Cooper, which, which was in a very,
Speaker:very bad shape. And we started building it from the
Speaker:ground off to make it, to find out how all
Speaker:of the car, how cars work and why the work
Speaker:that way.
Speaker:And so that was a nice learning experience, too cars,
Speaker:for example. So that was his way of teaching us
Speaker:basically, as I said, okay, if you're driving, but you
Speaker:are going to earn that you are a driver experience.
Speaker:Oh, that's cool. What a great card to build on
Speaker:it as well at a mini Cooper, it was like,
Speaker:exactly. It's such a historic iconic vehicle. That's all right.
Speaker:And do you still have that? Is that car still
Speaker:And?
Speaker:Well, both of my, both me and my brother left
Speaker:Greece, so it was R car. So it stayed a
Speaker:mobile for like a year. And then we went back
Speaker:and he was, was it needed another a month and
Speaker:a half all of repairs. So we kinda assaulted 'cause
Speaker:nobody was using it. My dad had his own car
Speaker:for his, for his work and my mom was staying
Speaker:at home. So.
Speaker:All right, cool. Well, let's sort of say, you really
Speaker:appreciate it on the show today. I've had had a
Speaker:blast, a chat with you, and I'm really looking forward
Speaker:to the episode coming up tomorrow. I have to like
Speaker:say, you know, my son will be a superstar because
Speaker:he loves astronomy. And I just think it's a cool
Speaker:Tropic for you to have scientists come on and certainly
Speaker:demystifying D S a nun to deescalate. That's a rubbish
Speaker:word, but take it with the field, I guess, the
Speaker:unknown behind the science and what your goal is with
Speaker:the, the podcast and future shows and guests, et cetera.
Speaker:Yeah. Well, the bigger, the better, the, the, the show
Speaker:from me, like I said, I ideally what I'd always
Speaker:had in my mind, I enjoyed Anthony Bourdain's nos innervations
Speaker:shows. So my idea of the best case scenario that
Speaker:would happen for me is that I get actually go
Speaker:with the camera and a crew in the labs or
Speaker:in wherever that happens. So then I get to experience
Speaker:and explain that, that research. So that's like a Midsummer
Speaker:nights dream was like, ah, Oh, that would be amazing.
Speaker:But yeah, for now I'm also because I come from
Speaker:the, the harder part for me to start was because
Speaker:I come from a radio background, but I did, I
Speaker:did radio when I was in Greece. So it was
Speaker:easy for me to do radio because I knew that
Speaker:every Saturday and Sunday, I have those two hours where
Speaker:I have to prepare before that go to the studio,
Speaker:do my show and then forget about it. Hmm. All
Speaker:right. And just now it's kind of its opposite. Like
Speaker:I do the show first and then I have to
Speaker:see how to promote it. So it's a learning curve
Speaker:for me is like, how do you promote, how did
Speaker:you start building a email database for a newsletter is
Speaker:how to like, things like that.
Speaker:So I that's my next to do list like a
Speaker:bill building a, a newsletter or a database for people.
Speaker:So I had an idea of what they want to
Speaker:be in the newspaper, newsletter it, but now I need
Speaker:to see how do I get people to subscribe after
Speaker:that? I start,
Speaker:It looks like you see it. It's like, that goes
Speaker:back to these 100 steps are that you had mentioned
Speaker:in an era where you have to go in there.
Speaker:So that one didn't work. Let's go a step to
Speaker:this.
Speaker:Yeah, exactly. That way. Well, that's exactly.
Speaker:So for people that want to check your podcast app
Speaker:or connect with you online, either on social media or
Speaker:a website, et cetera, where is the best PM? What
Speaker:is the best place that people can find you and
Speaker:learn more?
Speaker:All right. So Twitter is the main Ave that I
Speaker:use for the podcast of the Lefteris underscore Asks. And
Speaker:I have my website Lefteris Asks dot com where I
Speaker:upload the PO the shows there that's the two main
Speaker:avenues that, that I used to take an hour a
Speaker:day also e-mail me, but that's very new thing at
Speaker:a lift, a Lefteris ad Lefteris Asks Science calm. It's
Speaker:a, it was a, it was a weird thing because
Speaker:I know that my name is not very easy to
Speaker:say, and I was, but I could not get around
Speaker:it. You know, I have to say so. And the
Speaker:name of the podcast is because I have a lot
Speaker:of questions.
Speaker:That's where this, this comes from. Or even in my
Speaker:daily job, by me, the person who asks the most
Speaker:questions, because I need to understand every single thing. So
Speaker:Lefteris, Asks, Lefteris Asks that to come and Lefteris on
Speaker:the score. Asks R my Twitter handle is so that's
Speaker:where it's easier to see me. And I do my
Speaker:podcast every two weeks more or less like a plus
Speaker:or minus couple of days now. So yes, that's the
Speaker:Avenue for me.
Speaker:Okay, cool. And I'll make sure that they dropped the,
Speaker:all the links to your website and a podcast, et
Speaker:cetera, in the show notes. So we were listening to
Speaker:this on your podcast app, be sure to check the
Speaker:show on at So and you'll get all the details
Speaker:there for a while. Like I said, I do really
Speaker:appreciate you coming out of the status and appreciate them
Speaker:as well. I, I know I will be listening to
Speaker:you. I'll be catching up with somebody. I was listening
Speaker:quickly to some of your earlier episodes and the trailer,
Speaker:so I'll be catching up with them over the next
Speaker:week or so, but you definitely get a new subscriber
Speaker:with myself because they love the whole idea behind your
Speaker:shorts. That's that's awesome. So a really good time.
Speaker:So, yeah, I appreciate it. I appreciate that. Thank you
Speaker:very much, you know, for sure.
Speaker:Okay, guys. Well, this has been a lot of another
Speaker:episode of podcasts of stories. Have you enjoyed this week
Speaker:show? Be sure to, you know, live a review on
Speaker:iTunes. So other people will find a show too, and
Speaker:you can, you know, find each episode on your favorite
Speaker:podcast app, including Apple podcasts, Google podcasts, and Spotify and
Speaker:More, or hop on over to Podcaster Stories dot com,
Speaker:where you'll find the latest episodes, and you can catch
Speaker:up on the new site. If you want to do
Speaker:that until the next team days, take care, stay safe,
