Guest Benjamin Greenhagen, a planetary scientist at Johns Hopkins University’s Applied Physics Laboratory in Maryland, outlines the lunar surface’s remaining mysteries --- everything from permanently shaded regions at the North and South poles to near and far side impact craters. Greenhagen is the deputy principal investigator of the Diviner Lunar Radiometer instrument onboard NASA’s Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO) and is an expert on the geology of the Moon’s surface.
Sep 11, 2021•49 min•Ep. 67
Guest Paul Davies, a theoretical physicist and director of the BEYOND Center at Arizona State University, gives an enlightening and fascinating interview on the true nature of the Cosmos and why there is something rather than nothing. We also discuss his new book: “What’s Eating the Universe? --- and Other Cosmic Questions.”
Sep 03, 2021•1 hr 6 min•Ep. 66
Guest Christopher Combs, an assistant professor of aerodynamics at the University of Texas at San Antonio, discusses current prospects for supersonic. hypersonic and even suborbital spaceplane passenger flight. Combs clearly communicates the technical aspects of flight faster than sound and the issues that are hindering our ability to hop from one corner the Earth to the other within 90 minutes or less.
Aug 28, 2021•55 min•Ep. 65
Acclaimed U.K. journalist Mark Piesing chats about his first book N-4 DOWN: THE HUNT FOR THE ARCTIC AIRSHIP ITALIA (Harper-Collins) which tracks the long-forgotten history of how airship and early aviators tried to conquer the North Pole. Umberto Nobile’s Italia airship crashed onto the Arctic ice in May 1928 and sparked an international search before Nobile and what was left of his crew were eventually saved by the then relatively novel technology of radio.
Aug 21, 2021•49 min•Ep. 64
Guest Sheryl L. Bishop, a social psychologist and professor emeritus at the University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston gets real about what we need to make happen if astronauts are going to be able to thrive off-world beyond low-Earth orbit. Bishop chats candidly about her new book “Space Habitats and Habitability: Designing for Isolated and Confined Environments on Earth and in Space,” co-authored with Sandra Hauplik-Meusburger.
Aug 14, 2021•55 min•Ep. 63
Guest Edwin (Ted) Bergin, professor of astronomy and Chair of the Dept. of Astronomy at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor, discusses whether our existence in this solar system is directly related to the initial chemical makeup of our star’s protosolar disk from which our planets formed.
Aug 07, 2021•55 min•Ep. 62
University of Chicago associate professor Dorian Abbot chats about his research on the controversial Snowball Earth Hypothesis. That is, the idea that at least twice in Earth’s geological past, our planet was basically a glacial ball of ice and snow. Abbot says it likely happened some 2 billion years ago and again some 600 to 800 million years ago. There's evidence for at least four such snowball events that likely persisted for tens of millions of years.
Jul 31, 2021•42 min•Ep. 61
Our civilization and technology as we know it owes itself to a fluke of evolution that enabled the development of human intelligence. It’s a marvelous and nuanced intelligence that cannot be replicated anywhere else in the cosmos. That doesn’t mean that intelligent life isn’t out there. But it’s likely not very similar to our own. Guest Bret Stetka chats about his new book “A History of the Human Brain” from Workman Publishing and tackles some of humanity’s biggest questions.
Jul 23, 2021•47 min•Ep. 60
Darren DePoy, Professor of Astronomy and Associate Dean for Research at Texas A&M University in College Station, talks about using one of Einstein’s little-known and underappreciated method of microlensing to look for extrasolar planets around sunlike stars. An expert on building telescope instrumentation, DePoy outlines the other methods of planet detection and a bit about the difficulties of funding huge astronomical projects such as the Giant Magellan Telescope.
Jul 16, 2021•55 min•Ep. 59
Guest Earl Swift, a former reporter for The Virginian-Pilot and New York Times bestselling author of “Chesapeake Requiem” discusses his brand-new book “Across the Airless Wilds---the Lunar Rover and the Triumph of the Final Moon Landings,” just out from William Morrow. Swift talks candidly about how NASA’s Apollo Lunar Moon Rover transformed the Apollo 15, 16 and 17 missions and argues that these last six moon-walking astronauts don’t get enough credit as bona fide explorers.
Jul 09, 2021•49 min•Ep. 58
University of Washington paleontologist Peter Ward, co-author of the famed non-fiction title, “Rare Earth: Why Complex Life Is Uncommon In The Universe" is my guest. He and University of Washington astronomer Donald Brownlee’s controversial book was published two decades ago, but even in this age of astrobiological plenty, remains as prescient as ever.
Jul 02, 2021•57 min•Ep. 57
Guest Gerald Jackson, former Fermilab physicist and advanced propulsion entrepreneur chats about his plans for an Antimatter Propulsion interstellar robotic probe. First stop would be Proxima Centauri. In a wide-ranging interview, Jackson talks about the politics and pitfalls of advance propulsion research. Too many people seem to think antimatter is something that is still science fiction. It’s not. It’s as real as the chair you’re sitting on.
Jun 26, 2021•51 min•Ep. 56
Matt Anderson, the John and Horace Dodge Curator of Transportation at The Henry Ford Museum in Dearborn, Michigan, speaks candidly about the early days of The Ford Motor Company and its foray into aviation via its revolutionary Tri-Motor airplane. Although the Ford Tri-Motor was in production for less than a decade, its influence spawned much of what we take for granted about today’s passenger airline industry. Lots of interesting tidbits make for a lively episode.
Jun 18, 2021•47 min•Ep. 55
Marc Pinsonneault, a professor of astronomy at The Ohio State University in Columbus, and an expert on stellar open clusters, chats about some of the most famous star clusters in the sky, including the beautiful, blue Seven Sisters of The Pleiades; the Hyades star cluster and the Beehive star cluster. We also cover what such clusters teach us about our own Sun and the evolution of stars in general.
Jun 11, 2021•47 min•Ep. 54
Historian and former Clinton presidential speechwriter Jeff Shesol chats about his new book, “Mercury Rising: John Glenn, John Kennedy and the New Battleground of the Cold War” just out from W.W. Norton. Shesol makes the case that the Cold War and the Space Race were inextricably intertwined in ways that are rarely appreciated in most conventional histories of the subjects. Shesol gives us a great inside look into this mostly-forgotten early era.
Jun 04, 2021•1 hr•Ep. 53
Guest Ben K.D. Pearce, a Ph.D student in astrophysics and astrobiology at McMaster University in Toronto, and an expert on the origins of life’s building blocks here on Earth. We discuss the idea that all the genetic components from which life emerged were incredibly readily available biogenically very early in Earth’s evolution. As early as 4.5 billion years ago. Pearce is part of a group making great strides in learning how this all may have happened in Earth’s very ancient warm little ponds....
May 28, 2021•57 min•Ep. 52
Villanova University astrophysicist Edward Sion, an expert on stellar white dwarfs chats about our Sun’s own endgame and planet Earth’s ultimate future which may end in cinders. We also discuss the possibility of finding remnant solar systems around these hyperdense stellar cores.
May 22, 2021•50 min•Ep. 51
Geneticist Christopher Mason chats about his new book, “The Next 500 Years: Engineering Life to Reach New Worlds” from MIT Press. We discuss both the nuts and bolts and the philosophy driving our expansion offworld. Mason’s goal is to preserve our species by expanding to an Earth 2.0 in order to avoid our star’s own Red Giant endgame.
May 14, 2021•50 min•Ep. 50
Guest commercial pilot and author Jack Hersch talks about his 2020 book, “The Dangers of Automation in Airliners: Accidents Waiting to Happen.” It’s both a fascinating and harrowing read but prompts questions and nagging issues that the aviation industry needs to continue to address.
May 07, 2021•52 min•Ep. 49
World-renowned, University of Hawaii cosmologist Brent Tully on 50 years of mapping the nearby universe which includes our own home supercluster ‘Laniakea.’ Tully candidly assesses the state of cosmography, the science of making 3-D maps of the nearby universe and speculates on when astronomers will finally map the cosmos in its entirety.
May 01, 2021•52 min•Ep. 48
Astronomer and author Linda Schweizer talks about her comprehensive new history of Palomar Observatory --- “Cosmic Odyssey: How Intrepid Astronomers At Palomar Observatory Changed Our View of the Universe” from MIT Press. We focus on Palomar’s early 20th century construction and history. Schweizer is an expert on every aspect of the observatory; its history, and its many astronomical discoveries.
Apr 24, 2021•53 min•Ep. 47
Harvard University geologist Andrew H. Knoll takes on the grand sweep of Earth’s formation and evolution in his new book “A Brief History of Earth: Four Billion Years in Eight Chapters. He succinctly describes Earth from its cosmological beginnings in a molecular cloud on through to the present day. It’s a fine line between the vacuum of space and the planet on which we walk.
Apr 16, 2021•58 min•Ep. 46
Author Eric Lindner talks about his forthcoming book, “Tiger in the Sea: The Ditching of Flying Tiger 923 and the Desperate Struggle for Survival.” The September 23, 1962 Flying Tiger Line passenger charter Lockheed Super Constellation aircraft en route from McGuire Air Force Base in New Jersey to Frankfurt, Germany lost three of its four engines to fire some 500 miles off the west coast of Ireland. This largely forgotten episode in aviation history hastened the end of propeller-driven transport...
Apr 08, 2021•48 min•Ep. 45
Fascinating new chat with Michael Seiffert, the NASA project scientist for the U.S. contribution to the European Space Agency’s Euclid spacecraft. Due for launch in the second half of 2022, we discuss how this new space telescope will help astronomers finally understand the mystery of dark energy and maybe even dark matter.
Apr 02, 2021•52 min•Ep. 44
Jason Rhodes, a cosmologist at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, and the JPL Roman Space Telescope Project Scientist, discusses a proposed galaxy survey to end all galaxy surveys. One that would wring as much information out of our universe’s trillion or so galaxies across cosmic time as humanly possible. Astronomers are still at least half a century off from this final galaxy census, but the hope is that it will give cosmologists most of the answers they need about the makeup and st...
Mar 25, 2021•57 min•Ep. 43
Astrophysicist Neil DeGrasse Tyson, director of the Hayden Planetarium at the American Museum of Natural History (AMNH) in New York City, discusses everything from pond scum to space aliens in this off-the-wall and very engaging episode. It’s vintage Tyson. We also touch on his latest book written with George Mason University physicist James Trefil --- “Cosmic Queries: StarTalk’s Guide To Who We Are, How We Got Here, And Where We’re Going.”
Mar 18, 2021•46 min•Ep. 42
Award-winning NASA astrophysicist and author Sten Odenwald discusses several of the 100 objects featured in his 2019 book: “Space Exploration: A History in 100 Objects.” I pick a few of the lesser known and underappreciated objects, which run the gamut in their differing ages. In this compelling episode, it’s amazing to hear and understand just how far humanity has come in its technological quest to understand the cosmos.
Mar 13, 2021•59 min•Ep. 41
I welcome renowned evolutionary paleobiologist Bruce S. Lieberman, a professor at the University of Kansas in Lawrence, who is an expert on how cosmic cataclysms have impacted the evolution of life here on Earth. Massive nearby supernovae, gamma-ray bursts (GRBs) as well as asteroidal and cometary impactors have each played a role in our planet’s long tape of life. And if we were able to rewind that tape and roll the die once more? Would intelligent life have manifested itself here at all? This ...
Mar 05, 2021•1 hr 3 min•Ep. 40
NASA’s Rob Manning, JPL’s Chief Engineer, discusses management, logistics, innovation and the future of robotic Mars exploration in this unique episode. With this week’s successful landing of the Perseverance rover on an ancient river delta, NASA ups its game at a time when the rest of the country badly needs some encouraging news. Manning talks about how JPL keeps itself on track when finessing complicated billion-dollar initiatives.
Feb 26, 2021•1 hr 4 min•Ep. 39
Nearly 25 years after its discovery, the mystery at the core of dark energy persists. Astronomers are no closer to understanding what’s behind this cosmic repulsive force that counteracts gravity and causes the cosmos to expand at an accelerating rate than when it was first discovered in 1998. Guest Alexei Filippenko is a member of the Nobel Prize-winning team that detected dark energy via supernovae surveys. He gives us the inside scoop on how dark energy was detected; what it means for our exi...
Feb 19, 2021•54 min•Ep. 38
