The Story Collider

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Do-over: Stories from Boise State University

September 18, 2026

This week’s episode — produced in partnership with Boise State University’s “AWESOME” Center — features two stories from The AWESOME Center’s research team. Part 1: Physicist Leslie Atkins has spent her life trusting evidence over intuition. Part 2: Eric Jankowski is determined to beat his math-genius dad at the game Go. Leslie Atkins is a professor at Boise State University whose work moves across physics, science studies, and education. Trained as a physicist, she studies how scientific co...

Chasing Perfect: Stories about the pursuit of perfection

September 11, 2026

While many believe striving for perfection is a fool's errand, in this week's episode both of our storytellers chase it anyway.Part 1: Weiji Ma grapples with the pressure of living up to his child prodigy reputation as he grows older. Part 2: Chia Lin's meticulously structured life is upended by a chance encounter with a swarm of bees outside her lab. Weiji Ma received his Ph.D. in Physics from the University of Groningen, the Netherlands, but ended up strongly disliking working in Physics. H...

Taking Back Power: Stories about reclaiming control

September 04, 2026

In this week's episode, two storytellers reclaim their power—one by challenging a broken system, the other by confronting the ways trauma continues to shape her life.Part 1: Kimberly Babiarz sets out to fight human trafficking, only to discover that one of the biggest obstacles is the lack of reliable data.Part 2: After years of therapy, Denise Cai believes she's moved beyond her trauma—until her family notices patterns she can't yet see.This story does include mentions of sexual assault and ...