Afleveringen
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What’s the difference between a maser and a megamaser? How does uncertainty lead science to its newest discoveries? To find out, Dr. Charles Liu and co-host Allen Liu welcome back radio astronomer Dr. Jackie Villadsen, a professor at Bucknell University currently researching star/planet magnetic interaction in exoplanet systems.
As always, though, we start off with the day’s joyfully cool cosmic thing. In November 2024 a group of researchers announced that they’d found a series of megamasers around the supermassive black hole system NGC1068, and that for the first time ever, they’d measured the polarization of the water megamasers. Jackie, who studies a different kind of maser, explains what they are (“just a really, really big laser pointer in space that shoots out radio waves or microwaves”) and why they’re important.
Jackie studies masers around nearby stars, which are much smaller than megamasers that can be seen from other galaxies. Allen shares the fact that some megamasers can be around half a parsec (trillions of miles) across and bigger than our entire solar system.
Then it’s time for our first question for Jackie. It’s from Guadalupe, who says, “I recall reading or watching a video that stated there is liquid on Mars beneath an "ice cap" - is that right?” According to Dr. Villadsen, the question is right on the cutting edge of our understanding, with promising evidence emerging right now that suggests the answer might be yes, although more investigation is necessary before we can confirm it.
After our break, Jackie tells us about the research she’s doing using the Karl G. Jansky Very Large Array (VLA) while on her current sabbatical. You’ll hear about Karl Jansky’s breakthrough discovery of radio waves from space made nearly 100 years ago. Jackie brings us up to speed on the evolution of radio astronomy and why we’re able to get more data than ever out of the same telescopes.
Our next question comes from Bryant: “What do you think would have happened if the universe was created a bit earlier than usual? Would anything have changed?” It turns out, there’s more than one way to look at this speculative question, and Jackie and Chuck ponder the possibility of having miscalculated the age of the universe and the impact that an older universe would have on the rate of universal expansion, the perception of dark energy, and more.
Next up, Jackie tells us about the research she and her colleagues (including grad students!) have been involved with looking for star/planet magnetic interaction in nearby exoplanet systems. The search is inspired by the interaction in our solar system between the magnetic field of Jupiter and two of its closest moons, Io and Ganymede. While there are no confirmed examples yet, they already have one candidate out of the seven exoplanet systems they’ve studied.
Our next question comes from Samuel, who asks, “As an astrophysics professor, how is the work-life balance and overall lifestyle of a researcher? My dream is to become a mechanical engineer in the field of astrophysics.” Jackie explains how she approaches work, and what it took to reach the balanced state she’s in now compared to when she was a grad student.
We end the episode with another of Jackie’s book recommendations. Last time she was here she recommended the adult sci-fi romance, “The Ladies Guide to Celestial Mechanics” by Olivia Waite. This time, it’s another adult sci-fi romance with a bit of a mystery woven through it, “The Stars Too Fondly” by Emily Hamilton. The title is taken from a poem, “The Old Astronomer to His Pupil” by Sarah Williams, from which Jackie reads a snippet. She and Chuck also discuss one of their favorite poems, “The Learned Astronomer,” by Walt Whitman, found in his collection, “Leaves of Grass.”
We hope you enjoy this episode of The LIUniverse, and, if you do, please support us on Patreon.
Credits for Images Used in this Episode:
Radar sounding of Mars subsurface - Cross-section of a portion of the north polar ice cap of Mars, derived from satellite radar sounding – Mars Express/ESAMartian north polar cap as it appeared to the Mars Global Surveyor (MGS) Mars Orbiter Camera (MOC) in early northern summer. – Credit: NASA/JPL/MSSSThe Very Large Array (VLA). – Credit: NRAO/AUI/NSFVery Large Array, pictured with meteor. – Credit: Bettymaya Foott, NRAO/AUI/NSFAnimation of Jupiter’s magnetosphere. – Credit: NASAAnimation of Jupiter’s aurora. – Credit: NASA/Hubble#theliuniverse #charlesliu #allenliu #sciencepodcast #astronomypodcast #jackievilladsen #maser #megamaser #vla #verylargearray #exoplanets #jupiter #magneticfield #magnetosphere #aurora #wateronmars #blackholes #adultscifi #romance #thestarstoofondly #emilyhamilton #theoldastronomertohispupil #sarahwilliams #thelearnedastronomer #waltwhitman #leavesofgrass
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Have you ever wondered how data from the telescopes that peer into our universe ends up in the hands of the astronomers who interpret it? To find out, Dr. Charles Liu and co-host Allen Liu welcome Robert Sparks, currently from the NSF’s NOIRLab, but previously Fermi Lab and the Sloan Sky Survey.
The National Optical InfraRed Astronomy Research Lab is responsible for operating the National Science Foundation’s ground based, nighttime optical and near infrared astronomy for the United States. Robert describes their Community Science Data Center which ties all the data from all their telescopes together to make it available for astronomers around the world to use in their research.
As always, though, we start off with the day’s joyfully cool cosmic thing, a project coming out of NOIRLab called 88 Constellations. Robert, who spearheaded the project, explains how the final, incredibly detailed image combined classic constellations and new, modern additions and covered the entire sky. One of his favorite parts of the project? Learning about the constellations in the southern hemisphere that doesn’t get to see that often, like the Southern Cross. Chuck, Allen and Robert share some of their experiences stargazing down below, and yes, you know Chuck takes the opportunity to sing us a little Crosby, Stills and Nash! You’ll also hear which constellation is the smallest in the southern hemisphere, Crux (the Southern Cross) or Delphinus.
Then it’s on to audience questions. Our first comes from Amirah, who asks, “Blue stars are hotter than red stars, so does that mean blue light bulbs are hotter than red light bulbs? Why would something's color matter about how hot something is?” The short answer: yes (pre-LED, that is!) Robert’s long answer involves black body radiation, the electromagnetic spectrum, and red giant carbon stars.
Rob shares stories from a career that bridges astronomy and particle physics, including how he got his hands on some original scintillator material from particle detectors at Fermi Lab. (Check out The LIUniverse on Patreon for a scintillating deep dive into…well, scintillation!)
The next audience question, from Bryan, is particularly relevant to the discussion: How do astronomy and physics work together? In many, ways, as Robert and Chuck explain. Allen shares the story of the discovery of the element Helium, which was first discovered in the Sun by astronomers, hence its name.
You’ll also get to hear about Robert’s 38-year-long career in improv comedy – and get to watch him (and his cat) act out scenes prompted by Chuck.
Finally, we’ve got one last audience question from Jerry, who says, “I live really far away from the city and I don't have a telescope. What's the best way for me to do astronomy research?” Robert, who grew up in Iowa, tells Jerry about citizen science astronomy projects he can get involved like those at The Zooniverse. You’ll hear about how, while working at a program there known as the Galaxy Zoo, a Dutch schoolteacher named Hanny Van Arkel discovered a weird light echo from a quasar that is now known as “Hanny’s Voorwep” (Hanny’s Object).
If you’d like to find out more about NOIRLab, the National Optical InfraRed Astronomy Research Lab, check out their website.
To keep up with Robert Sparks, you can follow him @halfastro on Bluesky, Threads, Flikr, and Instagram.
We hope you enjoy this episode of The LIUniverse, and, if you do, please support us on Patreon.
Credits for Images Used in this Episode:
Mauna Kea observatories in Hawaii – Credit: Wikicommons/Alan L.Kitt Peak National Observatory (KPNO) in Arizona. – Credit: KPNO/NOIRLab/NSF/AURA/T. Slovinský3-D view of the largest structures in the Universe via data from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey. – Credit: NASA/University of Chicago and Adler Planetarium and Astronomy Museum88 Constellation sky-scape video compiled using images from the best and darkest locations around the globe: Germany (Waldenburg), Spain (Tenerife, La Palma), Namibia and Chile. – Credit: NOIRLab/NSF/AURA/E. Slawik/M. ZamaniThe constellation Crux (Southern Cross) – Credit: E. Slawik/NOIRLab/NSF/AURA/M. ZamaniThe constellation Delphinus – Credit: E. Slawik/NOIRLab/NSF/AURA/M. ZamaniIllustration of the spectrum of electromagnetic energy, highlighting the portions detected by NASA’s Hubble, Spitzer, and Webb space telescopes – Credit NASAEvent captured by the Super Kamiokande detector – Credit: Tomasz Barszczak/Super-Kamiokande collaborationVisualization of two colliding galaxies that merge into a single elliptical galaxy over a period spanning two billion years – Credits: NCSA, NASA, B. Robertson, L. HernquistHelium spectral lines which appear in the visible spectrum at about 400-700 nanometers. – Credit: Creative Commons/ McZusatzHanny’s Voorwep, A Space Oddity – Credit: NASA, ESA, W. Keel (University of Alabama), and the Galaxy Zoo Team#TheLIUniverse #CharlesLiu #AllenLiu #SciencePodcast #AstronomyPodcast #NOIRLab #NSF #FermiLab #SloanDigitalSkySurvey #88Constellations #GalaxyZoo #TheZooniverse #blackbodyradiation #electromagneticspectrum #redgiants #carbonstars #particlephysics #scintillatormaterial #particledetectors #scintillation #HannysVoorwep
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Zijn er afleveringen die ontbreken?
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What were the coolest science and sci-fi events in the LIUniverse in 2024, and what’s in store for us in 2025? To find out, Dr. Charles Liu and co-host Allen Liu welcome three members of our production team: Leslie Mullen, our Executive Producer making her first on air appearance, Jon Barnes, our Editor, and Stacey Severn, our Social Media/Patreon Community Director, both of whom are familiar to longtime fans.
But first, as always, we start with the day’s joyfully cool cosmic thing: the latest development in the dispute that astrophysicists call the “Hubble Tension.” Over the past 20 years, the two different methods of measuring the Hubble Constant, which is used to calculate the rate of universal expansion, have led to two different conclusions. Leslie points out that the universe isn’t confused, we are, leading to a conversation about why accurate measurements matter in helping us expand our limited understanding.
Then we begin our look back at the year in astronomy – or rather, our look up. Stacey takes us on a tour, from a Geminid meteor hitting the moon, to the spectacular aurora borealis visible in the Northeastern US, to Comet C/2023 A3 Tsuchinshan-ATLAS, to, of course, the Great North American Eclipse. The team share their viewing experiences while Chuck explains the impact of solar max on both the eclipse and the auroras.
Next, Jon Barnes is back to talk about “The Three-Body Problem” science fiction series on Netflix. He asks Chuck to explain what we really know about cosmic particles (aka cosmic rays), because, in the series, the aliens use sophons, a supercomputer combined with a photon, to communicate across long distances at or near the speed of light. You’ll also hear about the recent detection of a surprisingly large number of very high energy cosmic rays that are hitting us right now.
Our fan question comes from Pshemo on Patreon and concerns an experiment to measure the dynamics of a local system relative to spacetime by using light as a way of gauging the background nature of the universe. And if you think that sounds pretty geeky, it’s nothing compared to the conversation between Allen, Chuck and Leslie that ensues, encompassing Einstein, the Michelson–Morley experiment, gravitational waves, LIGO, Virgo, KAGRA, and LISA.
There’s plenty more in this episode, including a discussion of the recent wave of drone sightings, their similarity to the past UFO sightings, and the likelihood that they are all explained by less exotic causes than aliens. Moving on to the coolest “identified flying objects” of 2024, Leslie tells us about the Europa Clipper, which launched in October. It will reach orbit around Jupiter in 6 years in order to search for alien life in the subsurface oceans of its icy moon Europa. Chuck reminds us all that NASA’s Parker Solar Probe will make its closest approach to our Sun on Christmas Eve 2024.
Finally, it’s time for the team to share what they’re looking forward to in 2025. Jon is psyched for “Mickey 17,” a film by director Bong Joon-ho about a clone on a space colony. Allen is excited for Rocket Lab’s Venus Life Finder, the first private interplanetary space probe, which launches in January to search for organic compounds within Venus' atmosphere. Stacey is looking forward to Axiom Space’s fourth mission to the ISS in 2025, an international trip to conduct scientific experiments commanded again by Peggy Whitson. Leslie is most excited for the discovery nobody is expecting, whatever that may be.
And what is Chuck looking forward to most in 2025? The long-awaited start of scientific operations at the Vera Rubin Observatory, which will take a full picture of the sky every 30 seconds for ten years and deliver an unprecedented level of data for astronomers to feast upon!
We hope you enjoy this episode of The LIUniverse, and, if you do, please support us on Patreon.
Credits for Images Used in this Episode:
Illustration of the Hubble constant – NASA/ESA/StSci, Public DomainGianluca Lombardi Geminid meteor shower video podcast – ESO, Public DomainNorthern Lights over the Northeastern US in 2024. – Elliot Severn, All Rights ReservedNorthern Lights over the Northeastern US in 2024. – Allen Liu, All Rights ReservedComet C/2023 A3 Tsuchinshan-ATLAS – Elliot Severn, All Rights ReservedMap showing total solar eclipse viewing in US in 2017 and 2024. – Ernest Wright/NASA’s Scientific Visualization Studio, Public DomainTotal solar eclipse, April 8, 2024. – Elliot Severn, All Rights ReservedHow LIGO achieves steadiness – Caltech/MIT/LIGO Lab, Public DomainEuropa Clipper construction – NASA/JPL, Public DomainArtist rendering of Europa Clipper traveling to Jupiter – NASA/JPL, Public DomainArtist concept of the Casini spacecraft flying through the water/ice plumes of Enceladus – NASA/JPL, Public DomainArtist concept of NASA’s Parker Solar Probe flying close to the Sun. – NASA, Public Domain -
How far can following your passions take you in science? To find out, Dr. Charles Liu and co-host Allen Liu welcome the multi-faceted Leah Voytovich, a software development engineer for Project Kuiper who planned on going to med school but instead ended up working on space lasers for Amazon’s satellite internet constellation.
As always, though, we start off with the day’s joyfully cool cosmic thing: the use of deuterium levels in the search for exoplanets with advanced civilizations. That’s because signs of deuterium depletion can indicate that a planet has developed nuclear fission power.
After that, Leah tells us a little about Amazon’s Project Kuiper. She explains the wide variety of challenges to keeping the satellites, which are in low earth orbit, in communication with the ground. The project she’s working on now is using infrared space lasers to communicate more securely within the satellite constellation.
Chuck brings up the impact that these massive groups of satellites like Starlink are having on astronomy, from satellite streaks on dark sky surveys to image-destroying flares. Leah said there are people working on reducing Project Kuiper’s impacts across multiple areas of concern.
For our first question. Yasmin asks, “Will our satellites all be controlled by AI someday? If so, when? And is this a good idea?”
Leah speculates that there may be some projects already using Machine Learning here on Earth, but that it will be further down the line before there’s AI actually present in satellites themselves. Leah doesn’t see a problem with the use of ML tools for science, as long as there are protections in place and that humans are still writing the software.
After our break, Leah tells us about what she does outside her work – literally – from climbing Mount St. Helens in winter using an ice ax and crampons, to skiing, to running marathons – 3 so far!
Then we’re back to AI, ML, and the differences between the two. Charles talks about how important AI has beome as a tool for astronomers and other scientists. Leah explains the “Chinese Room Argument” and why it’s a good analogy for machine learning, Allen shares the description of AI as a “stochastic parrot.”
Our next question comes from Jonathan, who asks, “With so many problems facing the world like poverty, war and the climate crisis here on Earth, why should we spend money and resources on space exploration and astronomy?”
Leah talks about how Project Kuiper is intended to serve underserved communities by providing internet access to people who don’t already have it. That in turn increases global communication and connectivity and can then help address those other problems. And of course, to launch those satellites, we need rockets.
She also explains how valuable internet access is to communities– something she knows a little about. She and Martin Leet co-founded Maji, a nonprofit in Uganda that uses solar power to make clean water easily accessible for refugee communities. Leah, a former EMT, explains how Maji also provides first aide medical training and agricultural training to the communities. The story of how Maji came to be is remarkable – we’ll leave it to Leah to share that with you in the episode.
We end with Leah recounting what it was like to be in Mission Control for the launch of the first Project Kuiper satellites. She was the representative for her team in the Mission Control room, so she was the one who actually got to say “Go” for her service during the final pre-launch Go/No Go review.
If you’d like to know more about Maji, you can check out the nonprofit’s website here.
We hope you enjoy this episode of The LIUniverse, and, if you do, please support us on Patreon.
Credits for Images Used in this Episode:
Illustration of Kepler-138 exoplanets– NASA, ESA, Leah Hustak (STScI)Deuterium, aka hydrogen-2 (²H or D) – Center for Deuterium DepletionAn axonometric view displays various Earth orbits, illustrating space debris and active satellites – WikiCommons/Pablo Carlos BudassiThe history of the universe since the Big Bang – NASASatellite streaks in an astronomical image – University of Washington/ Abhilash Biswas, Kilando Chambers, and Ashley SantosSpace-based lasers – IEEE SpectrumIllustration of NASA’s Laser Communications Relay Demonstration (LCRD) communicating with the I.S.S. over laser links – NASA’s Goddard Space Flight CenterIllustration of machine learning and artificial intelligence – Creative Commons / mikemacmarketingComputer simulation of dendrites of pyramidal neurons – Hermann Cuntz/ PLoS Computational Biology, Vol. 6(8) August 2010.Earth illuminated time-lapse video if ISS over Earth – NASAMartin Leet and Leah Voytovich – University of PennsylvaniaThe Maji water tank for the Olua I community – University of Pennsylvania/Martin Leet -
What was it like forging a career in physics as a woman in the 1970s? To find out, Dr. Charles Liu and co-host Allen Liu welcome the “Dynamic Duo of Physics” – physicist Dr. Betty Jensen and astrophysicist Dr. Mary Lou West.
As always, though, we start off with the day’s joyfully cool cosmic thing, a potential new revelation about Jupiter’s Great Red Spot. It seems that the current spot may be only 190 years old rather than 400 years old, and that the first spot described by Cassini in the 1600s may have actually disappeared in the early 1700s. Mary Lou points out that the older spot may not even have been red and gives us a primer on the storms of Jupiter.
Next, Betty talks about her love of math and science, her research in fusion energy, and how she forged her own path to becoming the physicist she always knew she would be. Both scientists talk about how “the two body problem” led each of them to stay in the New York area. Mary Lou talks about how she also studied math and physics, but how she ended up becoming an astrophysicist.
Then it’s time for an audience question for Dr. Jensen and Dr. West: “What kinds of mentoring opportunities were available during your PhD years?” Betty says that while as the lone woman in her area she didn’t feel very supported, she did have some really good experiences with professors at Columbia University, including Nobel prize winner in physics Dr. Isadore Isaac Rabi.
Mary Lou, who was also at Columbia, tells the story of how she had to do a second thesis after someone published on the subject she’d been working on. She also recounts the wild story of how she used a children’s chalkboard to save her PhD thesis defense after student protests disrupted it.
Charles brings up the story of Dr. Chien-Shiung Wu, one of the most famous woman physics professors of the period and a member of the Manhattan Project, with whom Betty took a class. In a perhaps unsurprising turn of events, Dr. Wu and the other women on her team who conducted the “Wu Experiment” were ignored by the Nobel Prize committee in favor of the male scientists who predicted the results of her experiment.
Throughout the episode, Betty and Mary Lou share some of their most interesting experiences, from riding in the back of a car with Edward Teller, the father of the H-Bomb, to the nearly catastrophic installation of a large telescope at the Harriman Observatory.
Chuck talks with Betty and Mary Lou about what it was like to use computers in the punch card era. It turns out, both Betty’s dissertation and Mary Lou’s thesis were on punch cards!
Finally, after the two scientists brag about their families, Chuck asks them for some parting words of advice for future scientists. But we wouldn’t dream of speaking for them, so please tune in to the episode for words of wisdom from these two inspirational physicists.
We hope you enjoy this episode of The LIUniverse, and, if you do, please support us on Patreon.
Credits for Images Used in this Episode:
Great Red Spot seen by the Juno probe – Kevin Gill, CC BY 2.0Cassini’s drawing of Jupiter’s “permanent spot” – Giovanni Domenico Cassini, Public DomainGreat Red Spot in the 1880s – Thomas Gwyn ElgerMagnetic plasma storms on the Sun – Courtesy of NASA/SDO and the AIA, EVE, and HMI science teams, Public DomainDr. Isadore Isaac Rabi – Nobel FoundationDr. Chien-Shiung Wu at work – Smithsonian Institution, no known copyright restrictionsDr. Edward Teller – UC Davis, CC BY 2.0#TheLIUniverse #CharlesLiu #AllenLiu #SciencePodcast #AstronomyPodcast #Physics #Astrophysics #BettyJensen #MaryLouWest #Jupiter #GreatRedSpot #MagneticPlasmaStorms #JovianStorms #SolarStorms #Cassini #NobelPrize #IsadoreIsaacRabi #ChienShiungWu #EdwardTeller #ManhattanProject #HarrimanObservatory #ColumbiaUniversity #TwoBodyProblem
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Why should people care about fundamental questions of existence or try to understand the principles of our universe? Because we may be the only sentient beings in existence who can! At least, that’s what returning guest Dr. Kelsey Johnson, past president of the AAS and the ASP, and author of “Into the Unknown – The Quest to Understand the Mysteries of the Cosmos, tells Dr. Charles Liu and co-host Allen Liu as our interview resumes.
And then we’re off and running! Kelsey explains where her passion for astrophysics comes from, and why it’s our responsibility to explore the reality in which we live. You’ll hear about how really big our universe is and why we need to get comfortable with the unknown – with an assist from Rainer Maria Rilke’s “Letters To A Young Poet.”
Our first question comes from Violetta, who asks, “What was the most interesting thing that got you into astrophysics?” Kelsey describes how, long before she knew anything about astronomy, she fell in love with Vega while staring at it from the middle of a giant potato field. She talks about what it’s like to discover something through a telescope that no one on Earth has ever seen before. Charles shares a memory about hunting for – and discovering – quasars around the Hubble Deep Field (North) when he was a post-doc using the MMT Telescope in Arizona. Kelsey talks about seeing the unbelievable night sky while visiting the site of the ALMA Observatory in the Atacama Desert in Chile.
We end the episode with Chuck and Kelsey talking about how hard it can be for parents to get their kids to follow in their footsteps, at least when those footsteps lead to a telescope!
If you’d like to know more about Kelsey, you can visit her website and follow her on Twitter (X) and Instagram at @ProfKelsey,
We hope you enjoy this episode of The LIUniverse, and, if you do, please support us on Patreon.
Credits for Images Used in this Episode:
The Hubble Deep Field (north) – NASA, Public DomainInside the MMT observatory – Bill85704 on Flickr, CC BY 2.0Two of ALMA’s radio antennae – Iztok Bončina/ESO, CC BY 4.0Vega – Stephen Rahn, public domain (CC0)#TheLIUniverse #CharlesLiu #AllenLiu #SciencePodcast #AstronomyPodcast #KelseyJohnson #AAS #ASP #IntotheUnknown #RainerMariaRilke #LettersToAYoungPoet #ALMAObservatory #AtacamaDesert #Vega #MMTObservatory #HubbleDeepField
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Why is star formation the workhorse of the universe? What is a flocculent galaxy? Which cosmic cataclysm creates new globular star clusters? And why are we currently seeing such amazing aurora in unusual places?
To find out, Dr. Charles Liu and co-host Allen Liu welcome astronomer Dr. Kelsey Johnson, past president of the American Astronomical Society (AAS) and of the Astronomical Society of the Pacific (ASP), and author of “Into the Unknown – The Quest to Understand the Mysteries of the Cosmos.”
As always, though, we start off with the day’s joyfully cool cosmic thing, the auroras that have been occurring during the peak of the current solar max period of the roughly 11-year-long solar cycle. From the Mother’s Day aurora borealis in May to the amazing night of October 10, when millions of people as far south as Florida and Mexico were treated to one of the most spectacular, vibrant light shows many of them had ever seen.
Kelsey shares the story of the first time she saw an aurora, as a high school student in Minnesota who didn’t even know what one was. Upon leaving her boyfriend’s house at around 2 in the morning, she saw a brilliantly glowing sky. Kelsey’s availability bias kicked in, and her assumption was that it had to be either god or aliens, with the latter being the more likely. Needless to say, the next day the front page of the local paper solved the mystery.
And then it’s on to a nerdy discussion of existential curiosity, deep, philosophical questions, and her book, “Into the Unknown.” You’ll hear what drove Kelsey to write the book, and about her lifelong drive to understand our place in the universe. Kelsey and Allen nerd out over Calabi-Yau manifolds (concepts from string theory), imaginary numbers and complex numbers, Euler’s Formula and more, and then, thankfully, it’s time for our first question.
Johnny asks, “What is a flocculent galaxy, and why are they interesting?” Kelsey says that they’re spiral galaxies with spiral arms that aren’t very pronounced, that are exceptionally “floofy and chaotic” with very different, but very cool star formation. Chuck and Kelsey explain why star formation is the workhorse of the universe and how important it is. Kelsey also explains why globular clusters are her “favorite” type of star cluster. There are about 150 of them living around our galaxy, and they’re almost as old as the universe itself, over 10 billion years old. Kesley studies them to learn how the universe was formed and how galaxies came together. New globular clusters are rare, but they can be created by the collision of two galaxies.
That’s all we could squeeze into Part 1, but come back in two weeks for Part 2 of "Into the Unknown with Dr. Kelsey Johnson."
If you’d like to know more about Kelsey, you can visit her website at and follow her on Twitter (X) and Instagram at @ProfKelsey,
We hope you enjoy this episode of The LIUniverse, and, if you do, please support us on Patreon.
Credits for Images Used in this Episode:
Graph of the solar cycle – David Hathaway, NASA, Marshall Space Flight Center, Public DomainMay 2024 aurora in Northern Ireland – David Kernan, CC BYMay 2024 Aurora from Chihuahua, Mexico – Levi bernardo, CC BYChuck & Allen’s view of the October 2024 aurora – Allen LiuEugenio Calabi and Shing-Tung Yau – National Science Foundation, Public DomainEugenio Calabi and Shing-Tung Yau – Konrad Jacobs3D model of a Möbius Strip – Inductiveload, Public Domain3D model of a Klein bottle – Lukáš Hozda, Public DomainNumber line – Rumil, Public DomainComplex Plane – Brigban, Public DomainNGC 2775, a flocculent galaxy – European Space Agency, CC BYMessier 2, a globular cluster – NASA Hubble, CC BY#TheLIUniverse #CharlesLiu #AllenLiu #SciencePodcast #AstronomyPodcast #KelseyJohnson #AAS #ASP #IntotheUnknown #aurora #solarmax #CalabiYaumanifolds #stringtheory #imaginarynumbers #complexnumbers #flocculentgalaxy #spiralgalaxy #globularclusters #starformation #starcluster
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Happy Halloween! In this special episode of The LIUniverse, Dr. Charles Liu and co-host Allen Liu welcome back archaeology expert Hannah Liu, MEd to bring a scientific eye to the holiday and some of its most familiar denizens: witches, werewolves, zombies, black cats and even the Great Galactic Ghoul!
As always, though, we start off with the day’s joyfully cool cosmic thing: Comet C/2023 A3 (Tsuchinshan-ATLAS). You’ll learn all about this visitor from the Oort Cloud, including how we know where it came from. Hannah talks about how ancient people responded to the arrival of a comet, including how leaders have used them for their own political purposes, and Charles brings up the inclusion of Halley’s Comet on the Bayeux tapestry.
Then it’s time for Chuck to introduce our theme for this special episode: how the superstitions of the past interact with the mysteries of science.
You’ll hear from Hannah about the history of Halloween and its beginning as the Druidic celebration of Sawen (or Samhain) marking the end of the harvest season.
Jumping ahead in history, we look at the Salem Witch Trials of the 17th Century, and the “science” that was used to condemn innocent young women to death for behaviors the powers that be disapproved of.
You’ll also get serious answers to spooky questions like “Do full moons affect behavior?” (We’re talking the behavior of moths, sea turtles and humans, rather than werewolves, although we do actually get into the possible origins of the wolfman myth as embodied in the Greek myth of Zeus and Lycaon with a minor digression into D&D and legendary DJ Wolfman Jack.)
After witches and werewolves, what else could we talk about next than zombies? In this case, natural zombie spiders created by the sting of a parasitic Tarantula Hawk wasp, or zombie ants that have been infected by the fungus Ophiocordyceps unilateralis. And yes, somehow The Walking Dead and The Last of Us shamble into the discussion, although regarding the latter, Allen explains why cordyceps probably couldn’t survive in a human host.
Next up, we look at the connection between black cats and the holiday. Hannah brings up the traditions of cats as “Witch’s Familiars” and shapeshifters, and Chuck reminds us of the moment when we saw a cat transform into Professor McGonagall in Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone. You’ll hear about how STS-13, which was slated to be the thirteenth mission of the Space Shuttle, was renamed STS-41-C, in an attempt to avoid any superstition or reminder of the ill-fated Apollo 13. There was an alternate mission patch that featured an illustration of the shuttle landing under a giant black cat, referencing the mission's original designation, STS-13; and that the day the mission returned was April 13, 1984, which was a Friday the 13th.
Speaking of space, Hannah asks Chuck about the concept of “The Great Galactic Ghoul,” the fictitious space monster blamed for the failure of nearly every probe sent to Mars by the Soviet Union, Japan, and even NASA between 1988 and 1999. Out of 10 missions, only 2 US probes landed successfully on the Red Planet. Since then, while the Ghoul did claim a few more victims including two missions by the UK, it seems to have gone into hiding, since the US has had multiple successful missions, as has China with their Tianwen lander and Zhurong rover, India, Russia, the European Space Agency, and the UAE.
Finally, to end our special HaLIUween episode, Chuck brings up Albert Einstein’s term, “Spooky Action at a Distance,” which he coined derisively to describe the physics concept known as quantum entanglement that he dismissed but has since been proven to exist.
We hope you enjoyed this special episode of The LIUniverse, and, if you do, please support us on Patreon.
Credits for Images Used in this Episode:
Comet Tsuchinshan-Atlas – AlexL1024, Public DomainDiagram of the Oort Cloud – NASA, Public DomainHalley's Comet on the Bayeux tapestry – 11th century English embroiderers, Public DomainIrish hero Fionn fighting Aillen on Samhain – Beatrice Elvery, Public DomainLater depiction of the Salem Witch Trials – Joseph E, Public DomainPainting of the Aos Sí – John Duncan, Public DomainAnt infected with Ophiocordyceps unilateralis – Denis ZabinTarantula Hawk wasp – Davehood, Public DomainSTS-13 alternate mission patch – Bp1222Mars Climate Orbiter, unit error victim – NASA/JPL, Public DomainPurported face on Mars – Viking 1, NASA, Public DomainBetter image of the same feature – NASA / JPL / Malin Space Science Systems, Public DomainChina’s Tianwen lander and Zhurong rover – China News Service#TheLIUniverse #CharlesLiu #AllenLiu #HannahLiu #SciencePodcast #AstronomyPodcast #Halloween #Samhain #Sawen #witches #werewolves #zombies #blackcats #GreatGalacticGhoul #SalemWitchTrials #Ophiocordycepsunilateralis #zombieantfungus #TarantulaHawkwasp #STS13 #CometC2023A3 #CometTsuchinshanAtlas #HalleysComet #BayeuxTapestry
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Welcome to Season 4 of The LIUniverse and thank you for joining us on this journey.
We’re kicking off the new season with another Chuck GPT episode devoted to answering your questions, and to do that, we’ve brought back archaeology expert Hannah Liu, MEd. She’s not alone: joining Dr. Charles Liu and co-host Allen Liu is The LIUniverse’s Social Media Guru, Stacey Severn.
As always, we start off with the day’s joyfully cool cosmic thing, Earth’s temporary second moon 2024 PT5. Don’t get excited, though, because it’s only the size of a school bus and won’t be visible to the naked eye. But it gives Chuck the chance to ask Hannah about the impact of celestial visitors in the past, and she tells us the story of Caesar’s comet (C/-43 K1) which showed up for about a week in the summer of 44 BCE – not long after the assassination of Julius Caesar. Allen also brings up the Great comet of 1680 and how it affected the development of astronomy.
Our first question comes from NSimplexPachinko, who asks, “During condensation of matter to 300,000 years after the Big Bang, did spacetime cease to expand, or did it continue expanding at the same rate as the energy within it?”
Short answer: Yes. For the long answer, you’ll have to watch or listen to the show for Chuck’s description (honed for the Intro to Astronomy class he teaches) of decoupling, expansion, universal evolution and “BIG, BIG, INFLATION!”
Stacey reads the next question from a listener in Poland. Pshemo Ziembora wonders, “The volume/length of space should be different for every observer depending on how fast they’re travelling or how strong the gravity field is. In other words, the speed of light will always be constant for each observer, but it may have a different value than 300,000 km/second. Distances on cosmic scales may vary due to your speed. When you are traveling faster in space your distance should be shorter. What am I missing?”
Chuck explains that Pshemo isn’t missing anything and has got it exactly right, describing the insight we now call the “Lorentz Contraction” which Albert Einstein built into his Special Theory of Relativity. Allen explains the physics involved, with an example that includes muons and cosmic rays and how different mediums can impact the speed of light.
Speaking of Poland, Hannah shares a story about licking the wall of the Wieliczka salt mine, which she visited on a trip there. For those of you watching, you can see a photo of one of the caverns hollowed out by the miners, with statues and scenic reliefs carved from the salt. There are no photos of the reported salt tasting.
Our next question comes from one of Chuck’s Astronomy 100 students: “Is Earth Intelligent?”
Chuck describes the Gaia Hypothesis, before the group grapples with the question. Hannah looks at the skepticism around the validity of that very hypothesis, and then takes a typical LIUniverse deep dive into Percy Jackson, and Greek and Egyptian mythology. Allen assesses Earth’s intelligence through the lens of Artificial Intelligence. Stacey brings up the concept that climate change is the Earth taking revenge on humanity for our actions, which Hannah relates back to Greek mythology, natural disasters, and the role of Demeter in bringing about winter.
Finally, “@I have an unoriginal name” asks, “How does the cyclic model of the universe deal with information not being destroyed.” And Andy Love wonders “about the quantum gravity issue. My thought is that gravity is emergent, from loop or string vibrations, where the outward pulse of the loop or string creates the atoms (Higgs field) and the inward pulse is gravitational force meaning there is no need for a new quantum gravity theory, gravity is already quantum.”
Both of those questions spawned some interesting and far-ranging conversations amongst the group (Can you say slinky cosmology and quantum gravity?) that would be impossible to summarize for you here, so just please watch or listen to the episode now!
We hope you enjoy this episode of The LIUniverse, and, if you do, please support us on Patreon.
Credits for Images Used in this Episode:
– 2024 PT5’s orbit –NASA/JPL-Caltech – Public Domain
– Caesar’s comet coin –From ~18 CE in modern Spain, – Public Domain
– Comet C/2023 A3 Tsuchinshan-ATLAS – AlexL1024, Public Domain
– Great comet of 1680 –Lieve Verschuier, Public Domain
– Diagram of the universe’s expansion –NASA/WMAP Science Team, Public Domain
– Refraction in a block of plastic –Ajizai, Public Domain
– A muon’s view of Earth –The LIUniverse, derived from “Blue Marble”
– Wieliczka salt mine –Rj1979, Public Domain
– Gaia depicted on pottery –About 410 BCE, Public Domain
– Statue of Demeter –Photo by Marie-Lan Nguyen, CC BY
– Lord Kelvin’s Analog tide computer –Photo by Daderot, Public Domain
– Svalbard Global Seed Vault –Frode Ramone, CC BY
– ~1800 year old clothes preserved by a bog – Bullenwächter, CC BY
– LIGO gravitational wave signals –Caltech/MIT/LIGO Lab, CC BY
#TheLIUniverse #CharlesLiu #AllenLiu #HannahLiu #StaceySevern #SciencePodcast #AstronomyPodcast #2024PT5 #CaesarsComet #SlinkyCosmology #QuantumGravity #comets #GreatCometof1680 #UniversalExpansion #muon #GaiaHypothesis #PercyJackson #GreekMythology #Egyptianmythology #AI #ArtificialIntelligence #cyclicmodeloftheuniverse #LorentzContraction #AlbertEinstein #SpecialTheoryofRelativity #archaeology
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How did the universe evolve, and more importantly, how might it end? To find out, Dr. Charles Liu and co-host Allen Liu welcome theoretical cosmologist and astrophysicist, Dr. Katie Mack, author of the recently published book, “The End of Everything (Astrophysically Speaking).” In Part 2, we look at dark matter, Gravitational Memory Effect, and more. (You can listen to Part 1 here.)
We dive right in with a question from David: “I was wondering if any physicists have looked into the idea that the “empty” space in an atom is actually “filled” with dark matter. What experiments could be done to prove or disprove this hypothesis?”
In order to answer David, first Katie explains the science supporting the idea that dark matter exists, including gravitational lensing and other evidence. The fact that there are indications of dark matter in areas where there is sparse regular matter suggests that dark matter is an entirely different kind of particle. Katie describes many of the ways that that dark matter is unrelated to the empty space in atoms, including the fact that dark matter has no real interaction with atoms at all.
Chuck asks whether the amount of dark matter still holds the key to how the universe evolves as he was taught or have new understandings made it entirely irrelevant? Katie explains that dark energy has replaced dark matter in importance, and that’s what’s making the universe expand faster. But we really don’t know what it is, or what it’s doing, or even if it will remain constant.
Our next question comes from Aileen Balderas: “I recently read about something called the Gravitational Memory Effect. This talks about how space remembers certain things. Gravitational wave signals have the power to make it so that the universe remembers what happens to it. How can scientists say that the universe is able to remember things?”
Katie unpacks this fascinating phenomenon which she only learned about five years ago. It turns out that, as Chuck puts it, “The universe has memory the way that memory foam has memory, not like the way elephants have memory.”
Chuck asks Katie about flying planes, which she learned to do in late 2020 during the pandemic, after her book came out. Talk about a lockdown hobby! Katie shares why she loves flying so much, and what she gets out of it. And while she doesn’t own her own plane, she has a share in a single engine airplane with 4 other people.
Chuck also asks the inevitable question: Star Trek or Star Wars? Katie’s answer: Star Trek!
We end the show with Katie describing what she’s doing at The Perimeter Institute, an independent research institute that’s dedicated to stretch the boundaries of our understanding of physics in areas like cosmology, particle physics, quantum information and various areas of theoretical physics. Katie’s been working with them to create some short videos. Check out Perimeter Institute for Theoretical Physics on YouTube to watch "Quantum Physics 101" and "Cosmology 101."
If you’d like to know more about Dr. Kathryn Mack and her work, check out her website, https://www.astrokatie.com/ where you can also sign up for her newsletter, “Watch this Spacetime.” You can also find her on Bluesky at astrokatie.com, Instagram and TikTok at @astrokatiemack, and Twitter (X), YouTube, and Facebook at @astrokatie.
You can also find Katie on John Green’s “Crash Course Pods: The Universe” on Complexly, YouTube, Spotify, Simplecast and more.
We hope you enjoy this episode of The LIUniverse, and, if you do, please support us on Patreon.
Credits for Images Used in this Episode:
Galaxy group "Stephan's Quintet" seen by NASA's James Webb Space Telescope – NASA, ESA, CSA, and STScINGC 4826, otherwise known as M64— a spiral galaxy. – NASA / Hubble Heritage TeamHubble image showing light distortions from the collective gravity of dark matter. – NASA, ESA, and J. Lotz and the HFF Team (STScI)The expansion of the universe over time. – NASAThe End of Everything (Astrophysically Speaking) – ScribnerDr. Katie Mack in the cockpit of her plane – Image via Katie Mack’s Instagram#TheLIUniverse #CharlesLiu #AllenLiu #SciencePodcast #AstronomyPodcast #DarkMatter #DarkEnergy #UniversalExpansion #BlackHoles #EarlyUniverse #Spacetime #Physics #Astrophysics #Cosmology #GravitationalMemoryEffect #GravitationalWaves
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How did the universe evolve, and more importantly, how might it end? To find out, Dr. Charles Liu and co-host Allen Liu welcome theoretical cosmologist and astrophysicist, Dr. Katie Mack, author of the recently published book, “The End of Everything (Astrophysically Speaking).” You’re going to need your thinking caps for this episode, because the trio get into some pretty intense and complex concepts in physics and astrophysics.
We start off this episode hearing why Katie, who grew up under the starless pink skies in LA, embarked on her journey to explore the very beginnings of existence itself. It turns out, it wasn’t the constellations or “pretty space pictures” that drew her to astrophysics, but the fact that all of the really cool, mindbending questions and extreme physics were related to stuff that happens in space like black holes and spacetime and “The Big Bang.”
For the day’s joyfully cool cosmic thing. Chuck, who studies Observational Galaxy Evolution, brings up a paper recently published in the Astrophysical Journal by Anna de Graaff et al, about the discovery, using the James Webb Space telescope, of a group of 13-billion-year-old dwarf galaxies with an unusually large amount of dark matter inside them compared to modern day galaxies. The researchers then used the Illustris cosmological simulation of galaxy formation to evolve those galaxies and found that they would end up with a percentage of dark matter that is consistent with dwarf galaxies today.
Katie talks about the value of simulations in the study of the galaxies and the early universe, especially as the simulations get better at exploring more physics, like Illustris does. The kinds of simulations she works with, though, are more simple models designed to capture the essential physics of galactic evolution.
She’s currently studying the possibility of dark matter annihilation in the early universe and what that would mean in terms of interacting with gas and energy as galaxies evolve. (At least, we think that’s what Katie’s talking about!)
Then it’s time for our first cosmological question for Katie. Ellis asks, “What’s your opinion on Block Universe theory?” Katie explains how the Block Universe theory attempts to model the past, present and future of spacetime, and how every point in space and time exists at the same time. (Again, we think that’s what she’s talking about!)
You’ll hear about physics equations that look the same forward and backward in time, the Second Law of Thermodynamics, relativity, causality, predetermination, the limits of observation, and the meaning of time itself.
Next, Chuck asks Katie about her book, “The End of Everything” and how she thinks the universe might end. The two discuss string theory, bouncing membranes, the ekpyrotic model of the universe, and other cyclical cosmological models. Katie shares how people often respond to her book from a theological perspective, including the idea of cyclical universes in religion.
Finally, this episode addresses the confluence of science, philosophy and faith, looking at life and death, religion and the divine, personal beliefs and the need many people have to find meaning in existence and possibly even objective truth.
Like we said, thinking caps! And that’s just Part 1. Join us in two weeks for the conclusion to our interview with Katie.
If you’d like to know more about Dr. Kathryn Mack and her work, check out her website, https://www.astrokatie.com/. You can also find her on Instagram and TikTok @astrokatiemack, and Twitter (X), YouTube, and Facebook @astrokatie.
We hope you enjoy this episode of The LIUniverse, and, if you do, please support us on Patreon.
Credits for Images Used in this Episode:
TNG simulation (lines and shade) versus observations (symbols) – de Graaff et al. 2024Observers moving through a block universe – Jonathan Schooler/UCSBModel of two branes in extradimensional space that give rise to a cyclic universe. – Princeton University"The End of Everything (Astrophysically Speaking)" – Scribner#TheLIUniverse #CharlesLiu #AllenLiu #SciencePodcast #AstronomyPodcast #ObservationalGalaxyEvolution #DwarfGalaxies #DarkMatter #Illustris #CosmologicalSimulation #GalaxyFormation #GalacticEvolution #Galaxies #BlackHoles #EarlyUniverse #DarkMatterAnnihilation #BlockUniverseTheory #Spacetime #SecondLawOfThermodynamics #Physics #Astrophysics #StringTheory #BouncingMembranes #EkpyroticModelOfTheUniverse #CyclicalModels #Cosmology #Theology #Philosophy
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How do you go from a small town in Colorado to being a scientist-astronaut candidate in Australia? And how can you make space accessible for disabled astronauts? To find out, Dr. Charles Liu and co-host Allen Liu welcome scientist-astronaut candidate Celene Shimmen.
As always, though, we start off with the day’s joyfully cool cosmic thing, the new study using the James Webb Space Telescope that disproves the detection of tryptophan, a complex amino acid, in the interstellar cloud IC 348. Or, as Chuck jokes, no sleepy turkeys in space.
Then we get to meet Celene Shimmen, who is a scientist-astronaut candidate in Australia. She’s a physical therapy student who is already putting her research to work in the space industry.
Celene describes how she recently designed and implemented the Lower Extremity Motor Coordination Test in Microgravity for AstroAccess, a project she works with dedicated to promoting disability inclusion in human space exploration by paving the way for disabled astronauts. (You may remember Cady Coleman talking about working with AstroAccess in our recent episode, Sharing Space with Astronaut Cady Coleman, Part 1.
You’ll hear about Celene’s acceptance into the scientist-astronaut training program for suborbital missions with the International Institute of Astronautical Sciences, beginning in 2023. She tells us about her upcoming parabolic flight where she’ll be the principal investigator testing balance differences after acute exposure to weightlessness. Chuck asks whether the “Vomit Comet” is aptly named – Celene explains that she’ll have to let us know, since her upcoming flight will have 16 periods of microgravity.
Our first question comes from Anne, who asks, “What are some psychological or physical traits that make for a good astronaut?” Celene highlights the importance of training for strength, endurance, balance, and cardiovascular fitness, especially for upcoming, long-term missions on the moon. It turns out that while the moon has lower gravity, the encumbrance of spacesuits requires greater strength and endurance. Allen explains that lesser gravity doesn’t mitigate some aspects of force and inertia that also require physical strength.
Celene describes the psychological aspects of being an astronaut, and the need for mental resilience to cope with isolation and stressful situations, as well as problem solving skills and the ability to work as part of a team.
You’ll also find out about Celene’s journey from growing up in a single-wide trailer in a town of 1000 residents in Colorado to studying hospitality in the Disney College Program in Florida, where she met her Australian husband. After watching “First Man”, the movie about Neil Armstrong, Celene decided she wanted to get into the space program. She applied to and was accepted by the Melbourne Space Program, working on a nano-satellite program. She also helped a humanoid robot take its first step, which inspired her to get involved with physiotherapy and the human body in space.
Our next question is from “anonymous”: What part of the human body is most vulnerable in space? Celene explains that extended exposure to microgravity leads to muscle atrophy and bone density loss, which is still a big issue even with ongoing exercise. Even just a 14-day stay in space leaves returning astronauts with muscle weakness.
Finally, we hear about Celene’s desire to be deployed to the moon, should the opportunity arise. Upcoming lunar missions to the moon will likely last about 30 days each, including 7 days of activity on the lunar surface.
If you’d like to reach out to Celene and chat, you can follow her on Instagram @spaceptcelene and on LinkedIn and Facebook as Celene Shimmen.
You can also find out more about AstroAccess here.
We hope you enjoy this episode of The LIUniverse, and, if you do, please support us on Patreon.
Credits for Images Used in this Episode:
– JWST image of IC 348, a star cluster wreathed in dusty gas. – NASA, ESA, CSA, STScI, Kevin Luhman (PSU), Catarina Alves de Oliveira (ESA)
– The different gravity phases during a parabolic flight. – ESA
– 2013 parabolic flight for astronaut trainees on a NASA C-9 aircraft – NASA
– Astronaut Jim Irwin at the Apollo 15 mission’s Hadley-Apennine lunar landing site. – NASA
– Humanoid Robot developed by students in the Melbourne Space Program – University of Melbourne, Australia
– Participants in NASA’s 30-day bed rest study must maintain a six-degree head-down tilt at all times. – NASA
– Concept animation of NASA Artemis astronauts exploring the lunar South Pole. – NASA
#TheLIUniverse #CharlesLiu #AllenLiu #SciencePodcast #AstronomyPodcast #CeleneShimmen #CeleneMerazBenavente #microgravity #weightlessness #AstroAccess #JamesWebbSpaceTelescope #tryptophan #IC348 #spaceexploration #VomitComet #gravity #astronaut #astronauttraining #MelbourneSpaceProgram #physiotherapy #physicaltherapy #muscleatrophy #bonedensityloss #lunarmission #InternationalInstituteofAstronauticalSciences
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We jump right back in where we left off in Part 1 of our interview with Dr. Cady Coleman, astronaut, chemist, engineer, flautist, and most recently, the author of “Sharing Space: An Astronaut's Guide to Mission, Wonder, and Making Change.” (If you missed it, listen to Part 1 here.)
Chuck asks Cady to tell us more about NASA’s decision to not include small and extra-large spacesuits to “save space.” She explains how, a few months later, they reinstated the extra-large suits, but not the small suits that affected about a third of the women, and the serious impact that decision had.
Chuck and Cady discuss the importance of diverse perspectives in the exploration of space. And then Cady offers her ideas about how to change the world for the better and the importance of doing what you can to help the people who come next. You’ll hear about astronaut Ron Garan and his nonprofit’s efforts to provide millions of filter straws to allow people in Africa to have access to safe, clean water. And you’ll hear about how you can purposefully shift your own perspectives.
For Part 2’s first question, Anne W. a student at “The School Without Walls” in Washington, D.C., asks, “What are some common reasons as to why people don’t become astronauts after starting training?” Cady explains why that rarely happens, mostly due the quality of the candidates who make it that far. But Cady then talks about why some people who should get selected to become astronauts don’t, and she shares some of her reasoning for the applicants she’s selected. The reason Cady stresses most is that if you don’t show them who you really are on the application, they cannot pick you. And she also explains the surprising reason why some astronauts who have flown already don’t get selected to go again.
The conversation circles back to diversity and bias in NASA. Allen shares the story of test pilot Ed Dwight, which he believes reflects some racial bias. Cady, who knew Ed, talks about some of the political factors in the choice, but also what an amazing artist he became. She reflects on the importance of Sally Ride in her life, and wonders what would have happened if the original Mercury 13 had been allowed to become astronauts back in the 60s.
Charles and Allen bring up Valentina Tereshkova, the cosmonaut who became the first woman in space in 1963, and how it took until 1983 for Sally Ride to take her famous flight as the first American woman. And yes, Cady does bring up “For All Mankind!” and “the role that art and storytelling can play to move the needle a little faster.”
For our final question, Allen shares a question from our podcast producer Leslie M., who asks, “Would materials behave differently in a different universe?” Cady, a chemical engineer who studied chemistry at M.I.T. and then got her Ph.D. degree in polymer science and engineering from the University of Massachusetts Amherst, says yes. And that kicks off a discussion of the impact of different physics on different materials. But Cady also talks about the importance of using the compelling nature of space to drive kids to want to become more educated and to improve life here on Earth.
In addition to Cady’s new book, Cady was recently in a documentary on PBS, Amazon Prime, and Apple TV, along with her family, NASA personnel and other astronauts. It’s called “Space: The Longest Goodbye” and it’s about how we are going to send people to Mars and put the human into human spaceflight.
You can find out more about her new book and everything else she’s up to on her website, https://www.cadycoleman.com/.
To find the kind of bookstore you love that carries “Sharing Space: An Astronaut's Guide to Mission, Wonder, and Making Change,” you can go to www.bookshop.org.
Follow Cady on Instagram, Twitter (X), and Threads: @astro_cady.
And please be sure to check out People Love Art, which shares 50% of their profits with their artists and donates 10% to causes of the artist’s choice: https://peopleloveart.com/.
You can also find out more about AstroAccess (mentioned in Part 1) here: https://astroaccess.org/.
(Please note that The LIUniverse receives no compensation for these links and mentions. We just like what they’re doing in the world!)
We hope you enjoy this episode of The LIUniverse, and, if you do, please support us on Patreon.
Credits for Images Used in this Episode:
3 crew members in a Soyuz space capsule – NASA/Bill Ingalls, Public DomainRon Garan on the space station – NASA, Public DomainEileen Collins in command of the Space Shuttle (STS-93) – NASA, Public DomainEd Dwight in the Air force – USAF, Public DomainBronze by Ed Dwight – Photo by Carol M. Highsmith (Public Domain), art by Ed DwightJerrie Cobb of the “Mercury 13” – NASA, Public Domain#TheLIUniverse #CharlesLiu #AllenLiu #SciencePodcast #AstronomyPodcast #CadyColeman #NASA #astronaut #SpaceShuttle #ISS #SharingSpace #spacewalk #PeopleLoveArt #RonGaran #EileenCollins #EdDwight #JerrieCobb #Mercury13 #SpaceTheLongestGoodbye #SallyRide #ForAllMankind
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What is the overview effect? Why is slow fast when you’re spacewalking? And what would happen to Chuck and Allen’s hair in space?
To get the answers to these and other questions, Dr. Charles Liu and co-host Allen Liu welcome back astronaut, chemist, engineer, flautist, and most recently, the author of “Sharing Space: An Astronaut's Guide to Mission, Wonder, and Making Change,” Dr. Cady Coleman.
As always, though, we start off with the day’s joyfully cool cosmic thing, a micrometeorite pit 2 microns across found on a tiny volcanic glass beat that was part of the lunar regolith collected by China’s Chang'e 5 Lunar Sample-Return Mission. On the surface of the pit is a trace of Di-Titanium Oxide (TiO2) in mineral form that can’t exist on Earth.
Cady, who is a material scientist, talks about how this new discovery may not be as “new” as it seems, because we have much better detection technology for detecting it in lunar samples than we had during the Apollo lunar missions. She also explains how creating materials in space, unfettered by gravity, can be very different than here on Earth. She recounts the liquid physics experiments they did on her first Space Shuttle mission and how they could lead to innovations in the development of space toilets, among other things. (To find out more about space toilets and how to pee and poop in space, check out Appendix 1 of Cady’s new book!)
Our first student question today comes from Violetta, a student at “The School Without Walls” in Washington, D.C., who asks, “What is your outlook on the overview effect? Cady defines the effect, and how it changes people who go into space and see the planet below them. For her, she explains, “I knew I was going to go to space, and I just thought I’d be going to a different place. Then, when I got up there, I looked back at Earth, I still felt at home. It’s just that the whole place felt like home, and home was closer than I thought.”
Allen follows up Violetta’s question for Cady with one from Anne W., a fellow student, who asks, “How is Space?” Cady’s answer: “Space is Awesome!” She explains that here on Earth, we grow up with limits on what we can do, how far we can run, or how fast. But, in space, we’re constantly discovering more things that you can do: ”I love the flying.”
You’ll hear Cady share what it was like in space during her two Space Shuttle missions and 6 months on the International Space Station as a member of Expedition 26/27. She talks about her work schedules and experimentation and the self-induced tendency to work too much, to more personal activities like looking out the window, social media posting, and even shopping – or ordering a pizza from Domino’s like Ron Garan did, hoping to earn a free pizza since there was no way they could deliver it in 30 minutes or less! What would she do differently if she went back? Sleep more and take better care of herself, which she reminds us in equally important to all of us here on Earth.
Next, Chuck turns to some of the big ideas in Cady’s book, starting with “Slow is fast.” While holding up the very first copy of the book Cady ever got, she talks about spacewalking and how haste can be problematic. She takes issue with the phrase, “There’s no I in TEAM” and how in real life, it’s actually about what each individual member brings to the team.
Part One of our interview with Cady ends with a discussion of the t-shirt she’s wearing from “People Love Art” who she met through her work with AstroAccess, a project dedicated to promoting disability inclusion in human space exploration by paving the way for disabled astronauts.
There’s plenty more of our interview with Cady, so please tune in in two weeks for Part 2. But, until then, you can find out more about her new book and everything else she’s up to on her website: https://www.cadycoleman.com/.
You can also find out more about AstroAccess here.
And please be sure to check out People Love Art, which shares 50% of their profits with their artists and donates 10% to causes of the artist’s choice.
(Please note that The LIUniverse receives no compensation for these links and mentions. We just like what they’re doing in the world!)
We hope you enjoy this episode of The LIUniverse, and, if you do, please support us on Patreon.
Credits for Images Used in this Episode:
– Micrometeorite pit on lunar sample – Xiaojia Zeng et. al., CC BY 4.0
– Cady working on liquid experiments on the Space Shuttle – NASA, Public Domain
– Tracy Caldwell Dyson viewing Earth from the ISS – NASA, Public Domain
– Cady at work on the Shuttle – NASA, Public Domain
#TheLIUniverse #CharlesLiu #AllenLiu #SciencePodcast #AstronomyPodcast #CadyColeman #NASA #astronaut #SpaceShuttle #ISS #SharingSpace #spacewalk #Change5 #LunarSampleReturnMission #DiTitaniumOxide #liquidphysics #Slowisfast #AstroAccess #PeopleLoveArt
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Does sound travel faster in space? Is the multiverse theory true? Can gravity escape a black hole? In our latest episode of our popular “Chuck GPT” series, Dr. Charles Liu and co-host Allen Liu welcome our Social Media/Patreon Community Director Stacey Severn to answer fan questions collected from Patreon patrons, students, Facebook and YouTube.
As always, though, we start off with the day’s joyfully cool cosmic thing: the recently released Euclid space telescope image of galactic cluster Abell 2390, which is about 2.7 billion light years away from Earth, in which more than 50,000 galaxies are visible. You’ll also hear about the Coma Cluster, the Virgo Cluster, the closest galactic cluster to us, and the planned Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope.
Our first fan question comes from Emil R. on Patreon: “I wonder what would happen, if you tied one end of a really, really long rope to the International Space Station and have the other end hang down all the way down in the Earth's atmosphere. Would the current speed of the ISS circling the globe counteract the fact that the rope is in the atmosphere and experiencing drag? Would people on airplanes be able to see a rope swing by? Would the end of the rope on the ISS be stretched out or loose, and would it drag the ISS down in its orbit?”
Allen, who loves this question, addresses orbital velocity, drag, momentum, conservation of energy, space tethers, sky hooks, space elevators, and the ISS. Chuck talks about having seen the Tethered Satellite System trailing behind the Space Shuttle through the telescope he was using for his doctoral dissertation in the 1990s!
Our first student question comes from Michael L.: “Is the multiverse theory true?” Chuck’s answer involves eternal inflation, bubble universes, quantum mechanics, many worlds, and, somehow, Schrödinger’s cat.
From Facebook, Steven B. asks: “We all know that warp drive is still science fiction. But what is developing with other kinds of propulsion? Have we reached the limit of chemical propellants? What is happening with ion drives and nuclear systems?” Allen reviews the state of the art, including Ad Astra’s VASIMIR engine, which we covered in our 2-part episode Star Trucking with Franklin Chang-Diaz and Miranda Chang.
Our next student question is from Roberto J.: “How was gravity created?” Chuck says that while we just don’t know for certain, gravity may have come into existence during the “Plank time” at the very start of our universe before cosmic inflation began.
YouTuber @UnexpectedBooks asks, “How can gravity be “transmitted” via gravitons? It seems that a black hole would have no mass, because gravitons, like everything else, couldn’t escape it.” Chuck explains that even though definitely black holes have mass, if gravitons exist, they must be able to leave the event horizon, and Allen points out that gravitational waves do just that.
Our last student question is from Omar: “Does sound travel faster in space?” Chuck describes how sound waves travel, and why there’s enough particulate matter in space to still allow it, possibly even faster than here on Earth.
We end on a Patreon question from Eric S.: “The Heisenberg uncertainty principle is a casualty of the particular mathematics we have used to explore the quantum world. If we were to adjust those mathematics to a less consistent but more complete axiomatic viewpoint, could it be possible to 'see deeper'?” Chuck and Allen’s answer involves high-order math, the Heisenberg uncertainty principle, string theory and quantum mechanics.
We hope you enjoy this episode of The LIUniverse, and, if you do, please support us on Patreon.
Credits for Images This Episode:
– Euclid telescope image of Abell 2390 – ESA/Euclid/Euclid Consortium/NASA, image processing by J.-C. Cuillandre (CEA Paris-Saclay), G. Anselmi, ESA license
– Virgo Cluster of Galaxies – Chris Mihos (Case Western Reserve University)/ESO, CC BY 4.0
– Coma Cluster of Galaxies – Nielander, Public Domain
– Hubble telescope image of Abell 2390 – NASA, ESA, & Johan Richard (Caltech, USA), Public Domain
– Roman Space Telescope under construction – NASA/Chris Gunn, Public Domain
– Space Elevator Artist’s concept – Andrei Sokolov
– The ISS in orbit – NASA, Public Domain
– The Tethered Satellite System – Space Shuttle – NASA, Public Domain (Image: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:STS-46_TSS-1_fully_extended.jpg)
– Many-worlds depiction of Schrödinger’s cat – Christian Schirm, Public Domain
– NEXIS Ion thruster – Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Public Domain
– Design of NASA & DARPA’s DRACO nuclear rocket – DARPA, Public Domain
– History of the universe diagram – NASA/WMAP Science Team, Public Domain
– Artist’s animation of gravitational waves – LIGO/T. Pyle, free to use
– Fourier transform of a signal – Wawo1102, Public Domain
– Waveform of same signal – Made with Desmos, Attribution
– Wavelet (Gabor) transform of same signal – Wawo1102, Public Domain
#TheLIUniverse #CharlesLiu #AllenLiu #SciencePodcast #AstronomyPodcast #Euclidspacetelescope #galacticcluster #Abell2390 #VirgoCluster #ComaCluster #darkmatter #darkenergy #orbitalvelocity #momentum #conservationofenergy #spacetethers #skyhooks #spaceelevators #ISS #InternationalSpaceStation #TetheredSatelliteSystem #SpaceShuttle #multiverse #theoryofthemultiverse #eternalinflation #bubbleuniverses #quantummechanics #manyworldstheory #schrodingerscat #soundwaves #blackhole #gravitons #gravity #Planktime #BigBang #Heisenberguncertaintyprinciple
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Is there really a music of the spheres? And why is space so inspirational for creativity? To ponder these cosmic questions, Dr. Charles Liu and co-host Allen Liu welcome noted composer and pianist Bruce Lazarus.
As always, though, we start off with the day’s joyfully cool cosmic thing, this time in honor of our guest: the fact that the movie “Oppenheimer” won the Academy Award for Best Original Score. Chuck mentions some other incredible musical scores, especially John William’s soundtrack to “Star Wars.” Bruce points out that Williams also did the theme song and soundtrack to the 1960s TV series, “Lost In Space.” And of course, his soundtracks for “Jurassic Park,” “Raiders of the Lost Ark,” “E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial,” and “Close Encounters of the Third Kind.”
Bruce has composed many musical pieces inspired by and about the cosmos, including
“Musical Explorations of Messier Star Clusters and Nebulae” and “Starry Messenger.”
He talks about how the early U.S. space program and the Mercury 7, and the U.S. World’s Fair in 1964 inspired him. And while he got away from space-themed music for a while after his time at Juilliard in the 1970s, Bruce estimates that about two thirds of his work over the last 20 years has been astronomy themed. He talks about being inspired by other musical works, from science fiction movie soundtracks like “Arrival” to a few classical pieces like “Colors of the Celestial City” and “Visions from Beyond” by Olivier Messiaen.
For our first student question, Ariella asks, “Is there really a music of the spheres?” To answer, Bruce quotes the 5th Century Roman philosopher Boethius, who wrote about how everything is vibrating, so everything has sound. We then listen to a portion of Bruce Lazarus’s piece, “Boethius Said.” Allen talks about how many aspects of our existence involve vibration and sound while Chuck brings up the Cosmic Microwave Background and Gravitational Wave Background.
Bruce talks about his cycle of 14 pieces for the solo piano inspired by the most commonly referenced Hubble images of the celestial objects found in the Messier Catalog (not to be confused with Messiaen), including Andromeda Galaxy (M31), Ring Nebula (M57), Eagle Nebula (M16), Sombrero Galaxy (M104), and the Pleiades (M45).
Our next student question comes from Gino, who asks, “Did you ever want to be a scientist before you became a composer?” Bruce explains that he’s always liked building things, so he began building music the way he’d built model airplanes, and at 14 years old decided he wanted to be a composer and also focused on the piano, for both composing and making money! The trio ends up discussing the original “Tron” – and believe it or not, it’s Bruce who brings it up, not our Geek-in-Chief Chuck!
Our last student question comes from Wally, who asks, “Why is space the most inspirational thing to you when writing music?” Bruce describes how space has been a large part of his life for as long as he can remember. He talks about the Veil Nebula, and why he didn’t include it in his Messier cycle. He also shares his experience watching the April 8, 2024 total solar eclipse, and how the reality of seeing it with his own eyes impacted him unexpectedly.
If you’d like to know more about Bruce, you can visit his website at www.brucelazaruscomposer.com.
We hope you enjoy this episode of The LIUniverse, and, if you do, please support us on Patreon.
Credits for Images Used in this Episode:
– NASA’s first astronauts, the “Mercury 7” – NASA, Public Domain
– Olivier Messiaen – Dutch National Archives, Public Domain
– Andromeda Galaxy (M31) – Kees Scherer, Public Domain
– Ring Nebula (M57) – NASA, ESA, and C. Robert O’Dell, Public Domain
– Eagle Nebula (M16) – NASA, ESA, and the Hubble Heritage Team (STScI/AURA), Public Domain
– Sombrero Galaxy (M104) – NASA/ESA and The Hubble Heritage Team (STScI/AURA), Public Domain
– Pleiades (M45) – NASA, ESA, AURA/Caltech, Palomar Observatory, Public Domain
– Crab Nebula (M1) – NASA, ESA, J. Hester and A. Loll, Public Domain
– Veil Nebula – Giuseppe Donatiello
– The April 8 2024 Total Solar Eclipse – NASA Headquarters / NASA/Keegan Barber
Credits for Music Used in this Episode:
– “Boethius Said”; Original Lyrics by Boethius, Music & Lyrics by Bruce Lazarus, performed by Cantabile Chamber Chorale, Directed by Rebecca Scott. Used with permission from Bruce Lazarus.
– “M1 Crab Nebula” from “Musical Explorations of the Messier Catalogue of Star Clusters and Nebulae.” Composed and performed by Bruce Lazarus. Used with permission from Bruce Lazarus.
#TheLIUniverse #CharlesLiu #AllenLiu #SciencePodcast #AstronomyPodcast #BruceLazarus #MusicoftheSpheres #CharlesMessier #MessierCatalog #Boethius #BoethiusSaid #MusicalExplorationsoftheMessierCatalogue #StarClusters #Nebulae #ColorsoftheCelestialCity #OlivierMessiaen #CelestialObjects #HubbleSpaceTelescope #SolarEclipse
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Do gravitons exist? What are blazars? How did our universe begin? To grapple with questions on a cosmological scale, Dr. Charles Liu and co-host Allen Liu welcome Dr. Ron Gamble, a theoretical astrophysicist at the NASA Goddard Space Flight Center.
As always, though, we start off with the day’s joyfully cool cosmic thing, the gravitational wave background. Luckily, we have the “cosmological - gravitational wave - black hole meister dude” Ron on board as our expert to unpack the concept. Ron’s explanation involves pulsars, pulsar timing arrays, and gravitational waves. You’ll hear about how ripples in spacetime can help us date the age. Ron compares the gravitational wave background to the cosmic microwave background, how both compare to sound waves, and how we decipher them.
We interrupt Ron’s flow for an audience question from Kelly for Dr. Gamble: Do gravitons exist? Ron explains why gravitons should exist for the force of gravity the same way that particles exist for each of the other fundamental forces. (And yes, bosons and fermions get discussed.)
Next, Chuck asks Ron about his journey to NASA, a path that began when he was 4 years old with a question and continued as a search for answers to this day. You’ll hear how he learned grad school level math 2 years before grad school so he’d be ready when he needed it to study non-linear gravitational wave theory. He explains why he had to relearn how to learn math and science, and how, after that, everything else was just like “building Legos.”
He's currently studying little understood objects called “black hole lasers” – relativistic black hole jets, or blazars. You’ll hear all about them, as well as learning about the work of Roger Penrose and Dr. Reva Kay Williams, the first black woman to get a PhD in theoretical astrophysics in the U.S. which lead to a Nobel Prize in Physics –unfortunately awarded only to Penrose, as Chuck and Ron discuss.
Our next cosmological question comes from Nicholas, who asks, “Is the big bang theory in trouble?” Not in trouble, Ron says, but incomplete. We have a pretty good idea of cosmology, but we’re still testing it, and we don’t know exactly what happened or what we might find.
Ron is also a wide-ranging artist, and he shows off some of his work on the walls of his office, from artistic depictions of equations to visions of urban decay. (Sorry, podcast listeners – but Chuck does his best to describe what they look like!) If you’re interested in his work, you can find it in his new online store at www.theartoftheory.com.
Finally, Chuck asks about what it’s like to be an artist and a NASA scientist. Ron talks about his role as the Director of the NASA Cosmic Pathfinders Program.
You can keep up with Ron on TikTok, Instagram and Twitter (X) at @dr_gamble21. Or you can visit his website at www.theoreticallydrgamble.com.
We hope you enjoy this episode of The LIUniverse, and, if you do, please support us on Patreon.
Credits for Images Used in this Episode:
– Animation of a Pulsar – NASA SVS, Public domain
– The planned Laser Interferometer Space Antenna (LISA) – NASA, Public Domain
– The four fundamental forces – NASA, Public Domain
– A 4x4 matrix representing a tensor – Public Domain text
– A Christoffel Symbol – Public Domain text
– Illustration of a black hole jet – NASA/JPL-Caltech, Public Domain
– Dr. Reva Kay Williams – (Fair Use)
– A cosmology timeline of the universe – NASA/WMAP Science Team, Public Domain
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Volcanoes in space...supervolcanoes here on Earth... and lava lakes everywhere! To get an expert opinion on eruptions, Dr. Charles Liu and co-host Allen Liu welcome Dr. Sam Tramontano, a Post-Doctoral researcher in geology and Earth sciences at The American Museum of Natural History.
As always, though, we start off with the day’s joyfully cool cosmic thing, the Juno spacecraft’s two recent close passes (under 1000 miles) of Jupiter’s moon Io and the amazing images of volcanic activity and Io’s lava lake “Loki Patera” with an island in its center!
Allen and Samantha dive into the fascinating and little-understood mechanics of lava lakes, which continue to remain liquid at their surface and persist for years at a time despite tidal fluctuations. You’ll hear about the Erta Ale lava lake in Ethiopia and the Kilauea lava lake in Hawaii.
For our first audience question, Ellis asks, “Are there volcanoes on Venus?” Sam explains how studying volcanism on Venus is a promising avenue but that we don’t yet have a clear answer to that question. She talks about how scientists are only now untangling the Magellan mission data that suggests geologic activity on Venus.
You’ll find out how Sam, a sax player who went to Fiorello H. LaGuardia High School of Music & Art and Performing Arts (the school in Fame), ended up falling in love with geology and never looking back. And you’ll hear all about the interesting geology – including billion-year-old rocks and “mica book crystals” – that you can find in and around New York City.
Our next audience question is from Bianca, who asks, “How did global warming begin?” Samantha explains the difference between normal climate cycles and the climate crisis we’re in now as a result of human activity. We discuss the impact of volcanic super-eruptions on atmospheric CO2, including prehistoric eruptions like the three Yellowstone eruptions and the rifting of the Atlantic ocean and splitting of Pangaea. Dr. Tramontano, a self-described “Ash Lady” who is currently studying active volcanoes on Iceland’s Reykanes Peninsula, explains how we would have at least a year’s notice if something that large were to happen in the future. We end the episode with Sam describing what eruptions and cooling lava flows sound like.
If you’d like to know more about Sam, you can follow her on Instagram @samtramrox and X @samtramrox. And if you’re a young undergraduate in Earth Sciences, you should check out her YouTube channel @EarthOpticsVideos to see what rocks look like under the microscope.
We hope you enjoy this episode of The LIUniverse, and, if you do, please support us on Patreon.
Credits for Images Used in this Episode:
– Columnar basalts in the Palisades – Mark Wyman, CC BY 2.0
– The Staten Island Ferry – Estormiz, Public domain
– Jupiter and Io seen by the Juno spacecraft – Andrea Luck, CC BY 2.0
– Io’s lava lake “Loki Patera” and its island – Cropped from NASA/JPL/SwRI/MSSS/Simeon Schmauß, CC BY 3.0
– Erta Ale lava lake in Ethiopia – Alton Chang, CC BY 3.0
– Magellan Spacecraft leaving the Space Shuttle – NASA, Public Domain
– Rocks near Orchard Beach – Peter Romano, Public Domain
– Ash fall from the “Lava Creek” Yellowstone eruption – Metrodyne, Public Domain
– Volcanic calderas in Yellowstone – National Park Service, Public Domain
– January Eruption on Iceland’s Reykjanes Peninsula – Veðurstofa Íslands, Attribution
#TheLIUniverse #CharlesLiu #AllenLiu #SciencePodcast #AstronomyPodcast #Palisades #SuperVolcano #SpaceVolcano #EarthScience #Geology #Venus #Io #ErtaAle #Kilauea #LavaLake #LokiPatera #Iceland #ReykanesPeninsula #VolcanicEruption #YellowstoneEruption #Volcanism
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How does the brain actually work? And is there anything we can do when it doesn’t? To find out, Dr. Charles Liu and co-host Allen Liu welcome Dr. Nicki Driscoll, CTO and Co-Founder of NeuroBionics.
As always, though, we start off with the day’s joyfully cool cosmic thing, the recently announced discovery of Super-Earth TOI-715 b that is within its star’s habitable zone. It’s roughly 1.5x the diameter of Earth and orbits an M-4 Red Dwarf star in a zone where liquid water could exist and be stable on the surface of the planet. And where there’s liquid water, there is the possibility for life.
Charles and Nicki quickly move from the search for intelligent to the actual activities inside the brain itself that give rise to consciousness. As Nicki points out, as incredible as it is that our brains can ponder what’s out there, it’s equally incredible how little we know about what’s inside them... especially when things go wrong in the brain.
Dr. Driscoll explains stochastic processes and brain complexity, with over a billion neurons, each behaving like its own little computer with thousands of connections with other neurons called synapses.
You’ll hear about white matter and gray matter, and what they have in common with the interstate highway system. Nicki points out how humans frequently create systems that mirror efficient systems found in nature. Chuck points out that when we map the large scale structure of the universe, including the cosmic background radiation and dark matter, it looks like a brain!
Then it’s time for a question for Nicki from the audience. Madison H. asks, “What is the most interesting thing about the brain that impacts the way humans think?” Nicki settles on the fact that the brain uses multiple mechanisms for signaling, from electrical signals in the neurons to chemical signaling via neurotransmitters and chemicals in the brain, and how they can vary due to minute differences.
Nicki explains the field of neurotechnology, where her company NeuroBionics creates devices that allow us to interact with the brain, recording and even stimulating activity in the brain. She describes the two different areas of neurotechnology.
The first, the domain of Elon Musk’s company Neuralink, is recording neural activity with brain computer interfaces that use electrodes to record brain activity and then try to decode that activity to try to help people with paralysis or who are unable to communicate.
The second area, which involves stimulating the brain, is called neuromodulation and is very useful for therapy for people with epilepsy and Parkinson’s disease. NeuroBionics has developed a technique for neuromodulation that doesn’t require invasive surgery by feeding very thin fiber devices into the brain through catheters in blood vessels using the same process that neurosurgeons already use in treating strokes.
Our next question comes from Elene, who asks Nicki, “Since you have your PhD, do you think it was worth it or gratifying going through that many years of schooling?” Nicki answers with a resounding yes, for herself, but explains that it depends on your career goals.
Elene also asks, “Do you think AI will ever reach a point where it will start dangerously affecting our day to day life such as job opportunities?” Charles and Nicki agree that AI is a useful tool, especially for scientists, but that the ability to generate misinformation and deep fakes is already troubling and that, like nuclear power, we should be able to maximize the positive use while minimizing the worst excesses.
The subject turns to AI and brain science in games and science fiction, and Nicki describes the first book in a series she’s reading, called “Children of Time.” In it, a character uploads their consciousness into a computer, and act which is still most decidedly in the realm of fiction. You’ll hear about the still incomplete efforts to map the 212 neurons in the brains of C. Elegans, a simple primitive worm with a simple brain structure that scientists use to study the activity of individual neurons and small quantities of synapses.
Before we run out of time, Chuck asks Nicki whether he should freeze his brain when he dies and whether supercomputers could be used to recreate who he is – but to find out the surprising answer to that question (or perhaps not so surprising after all), you’ll need to watch or listen to the episode.
If you’d like to know more about Dr. Driscoll, follow NeuroBionics on LinkedIn or visit neurobionics.io.
We hope you enjoy this episode of The LIUniverse, and, if you do, please support us on Patreon.
Credits for Images Used in this Episode:
– Illustration of Super-Earth TOI-715 b – NASA/JPL-Caltech, Public Domain
– Map of “white matter” in the brain – Xavier Gigandet et. al. CC BY 2.5
– A growing slime mold – Christian Grenier, Public Domain
– A large-scale simulation of the universe – Andrew Pontzen and Fabio Governato, CC BY 2.0
– C. Elegans worms – ZEISS Microscopy, CC BY 2.0t
#TheLIUniverse #CharlesLiu #AllenLiu #SciencePodcast #AstronomyPodcast #neurobionics #NickiDriscoll #Stochasticprocesses #neurons #synapses #whitematter #graymatter #neuralactivity #Neuralink #braincomputerinterfaces #neuromodulation #epilepsy #Parkinsonsdisease #AI #brainscience #ChildrenofTime #CElegans #supercomputers
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The total solar eclipse is almost here! In this special episode of The LIUniverse, Dr. Charles Liu and co-host Allen Liu bring you both the basics and some more in-depth investigations of how eclipses work, how to see them, and what makes them so unique. This episode includes clips from Chuck’s recent public talk at the College of Staten Island to a packed house. So, if you hear some background chatter, it’s the audience getting as excited about the eclipse as we are.
Today’s joyfully cool cosmic thing is, of course, the eclipse itself! Dr. Liu discusses why total solar eclipses are so rare at any given spot on the planet, and how illustrations of eclipses can miss the mark. While a total eclipse will happen somewhere on Earth every year or two, each is only visible in a narrow band, so to see one you need to get lucky – or travel.
With a path over land stretching from Mazatlán, Mexico (where Dr. Liu saw a previous eclipse in 1991) through Newfoundland, Canada, there are already tens of millions of people in place to see this astronomical wonder this time around. Millions more will travel to join them. Since the Moon’s shadow races across the landscape at about 1,000 miles per hour, Chuck likens the visual effect to something out of Lord of the Rings.
Speaking of rings, the “diamond ring effect” and the “Baily’s beads” will become visible right before totality as the sun peeks through the Moon’s valleys. Chuck and Allen talk about how to protect your eyes so to enjoy these last rays of sun safely.
Dr. Liu shares how best to get yourself into the ~100 mile wide path of totality. One piece of advice: Don’t try to battle the traffic driving up on the morning of the 8th!
What if you can’t reach totality? Charles explains that 99% of the best parts of an eclipse happen in that last 1% of the eclipse where the Sun becomes completely covered. Don’t worry if you can’t make it to the path of totality – Charles and Allen share cool stuff you can watch for including a method for calculating the true size of the Moon (link below).
Dr. Liu also explains his idea about how to have the most fun with the eclipse, and why his favorite 2017 eclipse photo isn’t a masterpiece.
If you’re a fan of the LIUniverse, you know we love questions. At Dr. Liu’s recent public talk at the College of Staten Island, he fielded live questions from the audience which we’ve included here. The first is about a comet called 12P Pons-Brooks that you can spot in the direction of the sun during the eclipse, perhaps just on the edge of visibility with your unaided eye.
The next question is about how we are able to predict eclipses so far in advance. Allen explains how the Babylonians used Lunar eclipses (or “Blood Moons”) as the key to predict Solar eclipses. Allen also adds his own calculations about where else in the solar system you can see a total eclipse – it’s often said that the Earth is the only planet where total eclipses happen, but that might only be partially correct. Also, find out where you’d need to park a spaceship to create your own eclipse whenever you want!
Our last question ponders why the Sun throws out such large and bright flares and coronal streamers which become visible as fiery red and ghostly white spikes coming from the Sun during an eclipse. The answer explains how the Sun is like a pot of boiling water, with some fun science terms thrown in for flavor! Can you say “magnetohydrodynamics” three times fast? We conclude the discussion with a little more Solar physics: how we’ve recently sent a space probe into those very same coronal streamers, and how the Sun is nearing the peak of its 11 year cycle, offering some bonus chances to test out your eclipse glasses.
The LIUniverse wants to help you have the best, safest, and most informed experience for the celestial display of the decade. We hope you enjoy this episode. Please support us on Patreon.
How to measure the Moon’s size.
Smarter Every Day’s ISS video.
Credits for Images Used in Episode
– Baily’s beads, 2017 total solar eclipse – NASA/Aubrey Gemignani, Public Domain
– Diamond ring, 2017 total solar eclipse – NASA/Aubrey Gemignani, Public Domain
– The ISS in front of 2017 eclipse – NASA/Bill Ingalls, CC BY 2.0
– Comet 12P Pons-Brooks – Nielander, Public Domain
– A Total Lunar Eclipse in January 2019 – Giuseppe Donatiello, Public domain
– Phobos in front of the Sun (from Perseverance rover) – NASA/JPL-Caltech/ASU/MSSS/SSI, Public Domain
– Jupiter and Galilean Moons (photos combined) – NASA/JPL/DLR, Public Domain
– The bubbling surface of the Sun – NSO/NSF/AURA, CC BY 4.0
– Solar Flare seen from Skylab in 1973 – NASA, Skylab 4 crew, Public Domain
– Coronal streamers seen by Parker Solar Probe – NASA, Public Domain
– The giant sunspot in Feb. 2024 – NASA SOHO space probe, Public Domain
#TheLIUniverse #CharlesLiu #AllenLiu #SciencePodcast #AstronomyPodcast #TotalSolarEclipse #GreatAmericanEclipse #eclipse #sunspot #coronalstreamer #solarflare #Sun #Comet12PPonsBrooks #Baily’sbeads #Diamondring #magnetohydrodynamics #Jupiter #GalileanMoons #Moon
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