139. Dr. Jennifer Mather – Scientist / World Expert on Octopuses – Needing to Explore Without Consequences

Jennifer joins us from Alberta, Canada. She grew up on the edge of the ocean in Victoria, British Columbia. Since 1985, she has been a faculty member of the Department of Psychology at the University of Lethbridge. And among many things, Jennifer is also one of the world’s leading specialists in cephalopods – including the enigmatic octopus. She was recently a scientific advisor to Netflix’s Oscar-winning documentary My Octopus Teacher in 2020. Jennifer brings us through her background as a little girl interested in sea animals to a journey of “un-meeking” herself as a young scientist pursuing a life of scientific exploration. We discuss curiosity and exploration and the brutal reality of the squashing of both as we leave childhood. We hear about exploring with consequences in academia, the importance of finding knowledge, the blimp, torpedo and the plastic bag, and the importance of always asking new questions. We learn from the Octopus that it’s never happy not knowing … and from Jennifer that the more you know, the more you know that you don't know. Kindred spirits, they are. To DONATE to the Behind Greatness podcast, please visit here: https://behindgreatness.org. As a charity, tax receipts are issued to donors.  Jennifer, Bio: https://directory.uleth.ca/users/mather Consider the Octopus: https://www.theglobeandmail.com/canada/article-octopus-eating-meat-ethics/