Celebrating Women's History Month (Patreon)

Happy Women’s History Month! Our Deep Look producers have collaborated with many talented women scientists over the years, and we’d like to put the spotlight on a few individuals who have worked with our team behind the scenes –– and sometimes make an appearance in front of the camera, too.

Seira Ashley Adams. (Seira Ashley Adams/UC Berkeley)

Seira Ashley Adams, UC Berkeley

Seira Ashley Adams is currently a Ph.D. student at UC Berkeley who collaborated with producer Mike Seely on his episode, “Is a Spider's Web a Part of Its Mind?” She not only licensed some of her own footage to use in the episode, but she helped him locate tetragnatha orb weavers hiding throughout campus. Adams also gave him some construction tips for special plexiglass boxes. These enclosures allowed him to film the spiders as they wove their webs late at night.

Catherine Loudon examines a bean leaf in her lab at UC Irvine. (Josh Cassidy/KQED)

Catherine Loudon, UC Irvine

Biologist and engineer Catherine Loudon of UC Irvine is featured in “Watch Bed Bugs Get Stopped In Their Tracks.” Producer Gabriela Quirós writes that “she’s collaborating with several engineering labs on campus to create synthetic surfaces that could trap bed bugs.” The second half of the episode is about her efforts to develop a bed bug trap “which was inspired by the tiny hooked hairs that grow from the leaves of some varieties of beans, such as kidney and green beans.”

Michelle Trautwein peers into a microscope at the California Academy of Sciences in San Francisco. (Josh Cassidy/KQED)

Michelle Trautwein, California Academy of Sciences

Entomologist Michelle Trautwein is assistant curator and Schlinger chair of dipterology at the California Academy of Sciences in San Francisco. Trautwein worked with lead producer and cinematographer Josh Cassidy on two episodes about the tiny creatures that live on us and in our homes: “Meet the Dust Mites, Tiny Roommates That Feast On Your Skin” and “These Face Mites Really Grow On You.” You’ll see her in action –– collecting and analyzing specimens –– in both of these episodes.