Jessica Chomik-Morales from MIT wants the Mi Última Neurona podcast to become a movement.

Fanuel Muindi interviews Jessica Chomik-Morales, host of the Spanish neuroscience podcast Mi Última Neurona based in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Jessica shares her ongoing journey at MIT as a graduate student and the origin story of a podcast that makes neuroscience accessible to the Spanish-speaking community.

Jessica reflects on building the podcast, balancing science with personal stories to engage audiences: ‘People love a good story. You could have the best, most interesting science, but if the person isn’t moving in some way, it usually doesn’t perform well.’ She also discusses the unique challenges of finding Spanish-speaking neuroscientists doing relevant research.

As Jessica shares, her ultimate goal is for the podcast to be a movement in Latin American neuroscience, even hoping to expand it into a TV show. ‘I’d love to become the face of neuroscience in Latin communities.’

Chapters

0:36 Last on the program

1:37 Podcast intro

3:22 Inspiration

4:46 Jessica’s Background

6:40 What Makes it Unique

9:49 Telling Scientist Stories

11:46 Audience Feedback

15:35 Measuring Impact

20:51 Podcast Challenges

23:48 Finding Neuroscientists

28:20 Fact-Checking Process

31:36 Season Three Announcement

32:59 Advice for #Podcasters

36:51 #podcast Goals

Fanuel Muindi

Fanuel Muindi is a former neuroscientist turned civic science ethnographer. He is a professor of the practice in the Department of Communication Studies within the College of Arts, Media, and Design at Northeastern University, where he leads the Civic Science Media Lab. Dr. Muindi received his Bachelor’s degree in Biology and PhD in Organismal Biology from Morehouse College and Stanford University, respectively. He completed his postdoctoral training at MIT.