When you think of a robot, you’re probably imagining some kind of human-shaped machine. And until now, the robotic spacecraft we’ve sent out into space to help us explore the Solar System look nothing like that. But that vision of robots is coming back, thanks to a few new robots in development by NASA and other groups.
AstronomyCast
Ep. 448: Prepping for the Eclipse
On Monday, August 21, 2017, there’s going to be a total eclipse of the Sun, visible to path that goes right through the middle of the United States. You should be making plans to see this, and we’re here to help you know where to go and what to do.
Ep. 447: Animals in Space Pt. 3: Dogs, Monkeys and More
For the final episode in our 3-part episode about animals in space, we look at the largest animals to go to orbit. And I’ll just warn you now, this is going to be a really sad episode.
Ep. 446: Animals in Space Pt. 2: Mice and Other Small Animals
Last week we talked about how the smallest creatures behave in space, but now we move up in size a little to small animals, like mice. What missions have they flown on, and how does micro-gravity affect their biology?
Ep. 445: Animals in Space Pt. 1: Insects and Arachnids
We’ve talked about animals travelling to space in the past, but it’s time to take another look, with many other creatures making the trip to the void. Today we’re going to talk about the spineless insects and arthropods, and those tough-as-nails waterbears – tardigrades.
Ep. 444: Fractals
For this historic 444th episode of Astronomy Cast, we talk about fractals. Those amazing mathematical visualizations of recursive algorithms. What are they, how do you get them? Why are they important?
Ep. 443: Destroy and Rebuild Pt. 7: Tsunamis
Surf’s up! Today we’re going to be talking about one of the most devastating natural disasters out there: tsunamis. We’re talking huge waves that wreck the seashore. But it turns out, there many ways you can get a tsunami, and one of those has to do with space.
Ep. 442: Destroy and Rebuild Pt. 6: Magnetic Pole Reversal
If we look back into the geologic record of the Earth, it appears that our planet’s magnetic field flips polarity every few hundred thousand years or so. Why does this happen? When’s it supposed to happen next? Is it dangerous?
Ep. 441: Destroy and Rebuild, Pt. 5: Continental Drift
Want to travel the world but you don’t have a lot of money? No problem, your continent is drifting across the surface of the Earth right now. In a few million years, you’ll reach your destination.
Ep. 440: Destroy and Rebuild, Pt. 4: Supervolcanoes!
There are regular volcanoes, and then there are the super-volcanoes. Massive calderas of hot magma of incomprehensible size. Bad news, these things explode randomly and catastrophically. Worse news, there are a bunch around the Earth.
Ep. 439: Destroy and Rebuild, Pt. 3: How Do We Terraform Earth?
We always want to talk about how we can make Mars more Earth like, but the reality is that we’re making Earth more Venus-Like. We’re Venus-forming Earth. What are the various factors we’re impacting on a global scale, and how can we fix them?
Ep. 438: Destroy and Rebuild, Pt. 2: Geoengineering
We know humans are having an impact on planet Earth, but what if we really put our backs into it, and intentionally tried to change the entire planet? Either to make it better, or to fix some terrible mistake we’ve made. The technique is called geoengineering. Could it work?
Ep. 437: Destroy and Rebuild, Pt. 1: The Torino Scale
We love to destroy the universe, and also rebuild it. Today we begin a new series where we destroy and rebuild. Let’s talk about some existential threats we face, and ways we could recover, starting with the sword of Damocles hanging over our head: killer asteroids!
Ep. 436: Common Misconceptions in Probability
Human beings are bad at many things, but we’re particularly terrible at understanding probability in a rational way. We underestimate, overestimate and generally mess up probability. We’ll try to fix it here, but we’ll surely fail.
Ep. 435: The Butterfly Effect
Small changes can have a big impact. But can a butterfly’s wing-beat in the Amazon really impact the weather halfway across the world? And where do small changes have no impact?
Ep. 434: Am I On An Alien World?
Once again, science fiction television and movies has let you down. They try to recreate what it might be like on an alien world, but surprise surprise, they mostly get it wrong. That’s because a truly alien world would be different in so many ways, it would blow your mind. Today we’ll help you figure out if you’re on a movie set, or you’ve actually crash-landed on an alien planet.
Ep. 433: Volcanoes on Mars
Mars is a world of extremes. This unassuming red world is home to the largest and tallest volcanoes in the entire Solar System. In fact, it’s not even a close contest, with Olympus Mons rising 22 km above the surrounding plains, more than twice as tall as Mount Everest. How did Mars get such big volcanoes, and how active is the planet today?
Ep. 432: Geoglogic Ages of Mars – From Wet and Wild to Desolate Desert
Today, Mars is a desolate wasteland, with dusty red rocks and sand stretching out to the horizon. But billions of years ago, it was a vastly different world. It was blue, with oceans, rivers, lakes, and maybe life? Let’s tell the story of geology on Mars, and we got from that world to the one we see today.
Ep. 431: The Search for Life on Mars
Enceladus and Europa are all the rage these days, but classic Mars is still a great place to search for life. In fact, ESA’s ExoMars is scanning the planet’s atmosphere for methane, evidence that there might be life there right now. Let’s talk about the search for life on the Red Planet.
Ep. 430: Coming Home from Mars, Part 2
Join us as we try to finish the interrupted episode Coming Home from Mars!
Landing on the surface of Mars is very difficult. In fact, it’s probably the toughest planet to land on in the whole Solar System. Today we’ll talk about what it’s going to take to get to and return from Mars!
No Astronomy Cast this week Nov 28- Dec 2
Hey folks, just letting you know that due to Fraser being at conference this week, we won’t be recording an Astronomy Cast any time. Unfortunately, our last show was interrupted by a power outage, and we’ll try to get back together to finish that one on Monday, 12/5. We will keep you posted as info updates!
Ep. 430: Coming Home from Mars
Landing on the surface of Mars is very difficult. In fact, it’s probably the toughest planet to land on in the whole Solar System. Today we’ll talk about what it’s going to take to get to and return from Mars! [Note – This episode was interrupted due to a power outage on Fraser’s end. They’ll reschedule to finish episode on 12/5 (most likely – Fraser is traveling this week!), and we’ll put the pieces together when we have them and release as audio podcast!]
Ep. 429: Living on Mars
When Elon Musk announced plans to send humans to Mars, he conveniently left out one important aspect. How are we supposed to survive on a place this hostile to life? Seriously, Mars sucks, and it’s going to take some impressive techniques and technologies to make it on the Red Planet.
Ep. 428: The Moons of Mars
We begin a miniseries on Mars. How many episodes will we do? Who knows? But we start today with a discussion of the two Mars moons, Phobos and Deimos.
Ep. 427: Click Bait vs Clear Science
Did you hear that Dark Energy doesn’t exist any more? Neither does Dark Matter? It turns out that NASA recalculated the Zodiac and now you’re an Ophiuchan! Science is hard enough, but communicating that science out to the public when there are publications hungry for traffic is even harder! Here’s how to parse the click-bait science titles.