For Hannah Hedelius, a classmate’s hiccups trigger an overwhelming reaction she can’t hold back, and as a graduate student, Rachel Hostetler begins to realize that her intrusive thoughts may be more than just regular stress.

On a trip to Colombia for a research conference, biologist Stephanie Galla must rely on her fight-or-flight instincts when she is cornered by a mugger with a knife, and an ordinary day takes a shocking turn when Kim Weaver is struck by lightning.

Teaching sixth grade science becomes much more difficult when Xochitl Garcia's students start hypothesizing that fire is alive, and when journalist John Rennie is assigned to cover an entomological society event where insects are served as food, he sees an opportunity to face his fear of bugs.

As an undergraduate with no “real” science experience, Molly Magid is thrilled to join a research project studying how bats fly—until she discovers the bats refuse to cooperate, and as a child, Léa Souccar and her father explore the wreckage in the aftermath of a devastating bombing.

When anxiety starts taking over her life, Jude Treder-Wolff signs up for an improv class, and counselor Belinda Arriaga and emergency medicine doctor Nancy Ewen join forces to get scientific evidence of the power of culturally responsive mental health care.

While housesitting for her uncle, JiJi Lee’s peaceful stay takes a chaotic turn when a squirrel breaks in, and when a serious mold infestation takes over the university campus, Joshua Wilson is tasked with eliminating it.

When science journalist Katherine Wu interviews a scientist about a new facial recognition algorithm, the conversation turns more personal than she expected, and Hurricane Katrina gives Mary Annaise Heglar a new perspective on both her grandfather and home state.

While juggling climate science studies and a budding comedy career, Rollie Williams finds an unexpected niche impersonating his environmental hero, Al Gore, and Scott Acton longs to follow in Hemingway’s footsteps, but when his English teacher squashes his writing dreams, he reluctantly accepts his role as “the computer guy.”