Podcasts and Vodcasts by Topic

Red Rover
May 15, 2013
Calla talks with Roger Wiens about NASA's successful and not-so-successful missions, including the recent Curiosity rover.
Read more on this podcast's blog post

Astro Roundup 2012
January 09, 2013
Mike and Calla recap their favorite astronomy and astrophysics stories of 2012. Two space probes from the 1970's, massive galaxy clusters, the Mars Rover, and a mohawk make the cut.

Extreme Cosmos
December 05, 2012
Dr. Bryan Gaensler is the author of the book "Extreme Cosmos: A Guided Tour of the Fastest, Brightest, Hottest, Heaviest, Oldest and Most Amazing Aspects of Our Universe." Gaensler talks to us about the fastest object in the universe, and explains why astronomers don't always aim to break universal records in their research, even if the news headlines can seem a little over-eager to do just that.

Dance your PhD
October 31, 2012
Today on the physics buzz podcast we talk with Diana Davis, winner of the Dance Your PhD contest in the physics division. Check out Davis' winning entry on our blog, then listen to Davis address misconceptions about math research, and the shape of our universe.

Alpha Centauri Bb
October 24, 2012
Scientists have located an Earth-sized planet orbiting one of the closest stars to our solar system. While the planet is too hot to support life, there may be other planets in the same system where liquid water, and possibly life, exist.

The Electromagnetic Universe
October 04, 2012
What if we could see beyond visible light? How would we perceive the universe? Calla takes you on a tour of the electromagnetic universe.

Science Advisors
July 25, 2012
Even though Hollywood films aren't known for being completely scientifically accurate all of the time, the writers of some of the biggest films and TV shows have been relying on their science advisors to make the science in science fiction all the more believable.

Who is Enrico Fermi?
July 18, 2012
Physicist Enrico Fermi has his name attached to a number of monumental physics items, like Fermilab, fermions and fermium. Who was Fermi, what did he do to earn so much notoriety and the title of "universal physicist"? We'll try to find out in today's podcast.

How the Hippies Saved Physics
July 04, 2012
Dr. David Kaiser, author of the book "How the Hippies Saved Physics"
talks about how the culture of the 1970's influenced physics, and
brought the philosophical exploration of quantum mechanics back into
the mainstream.

Physics from Prometheus
June 29, 2012
The much-anticipated science fiction movie Prometheus recently opened in theaters. How much of the science presented in the movie was accurate, how much is still in our distant future, and how much was just plain wrong? We'll investigate a some of the science from the movie in this week's Physics Buzz podcast.

A Rocky Planet History
June 21, 2012
NASA's Kepler telescope reveals that planet formation might have begun earlier than previously believed.

Space Shuttle
May 16, 2012
On April 23, the Space Shuttle Discovery was brought to the Smithsonians Udvar Hazy Center, its final home after 27 years of service.

NASA's Super Black Material
May 09, 2012
Light noise can make it difficult for Astronomers to see the objects they want to study. To help this, engineers have created a material that absorbs 99.8% of incoming light.

Dark Photons
May 02, 2012
There is an enormous portion of our universe that we can't see. Some scientists wonder if this so-called dark sector is bigger than we once thought.  Are there any other dark forces out there?

The Milky Way's Black Hole
April 11, 2012
Scientists have strong evidence that there is a black hole at the
center of our galaxy. But to be totally sure, scientists need to image
the black hole. How soon can we hope to do this? That's today on the
physics buzz podcast.

The Year in Planets
February 01, 2012
2011 was a good year in the hunt for planets outside our solar system.
The record for smallest extrasolar planet was broken...twice!
Scientists found a diamond planet, a planet straight out of science
fiction and orphan planets with no solar system to call home. Today
we'll recap some of the highlights of the year.

What's in a year?
January 11, 2012
How do you define a year? One trip around the sun? There are actually different ways to define a year, and those definitions yield different values. Listen and learn why a year can be hard to pin down.

The Dark Twins
November 09, 2011
Dark matter and dark energy are both dark: literally, because they don't interact with light, and figuratively, because they remain mysterious. But we do know that dark matter and dark energy are two totally different things, despite the fact that they are often grouped together. Hear a little more about what makes these two things different, and the things they have in common.

Dust Trail to Alien Life
November 02, 2011
There's a storm of comets bombarding the inner part of the Eta
Corvi solar system. What's more? The exact same thing happened to Earth
not too long before life started here.

Accelerating Universe
October 19, 2011
In 2011 the Nobel Prize in Physics was awarded to three men, for their work in discovering that the universe is accelerating as it expands.  Join Calla Cofield as she sheds some light on this otherwise dark discovery.

Juno to Jupiter
August 19, 2011
The Juno spacecraft lifted off on August 5, 2011 and is now on a five
year journey to Jupiter, our solar system's largest planet. From orbit
around Jupiter, Juno will gather information that could tell us how
our solar system formed.

Summer of Science
August 10, 2011
Science writer Lizzie Wade and photographer Nick Russell drove 15,000 miles visiting physics labs across the country during their Summer of Science.

Comic-Con
July 29, 2011
From a Richard Feynman comic book to cosmic dung, physics and Comic-Con intersect in some unusual places.

BigBOSS
July 01, 2011
David Schlegel of Berkeley National Laboratories is leading a team that’s making the biggest, most detailed three dimensional map of the known universe. BOSS and its successor BigBOSS will be able to peer back in time to when the universe was young, and dark energy was just starting to appear on the scene.

A Supernova Close to Home
June 15, 2011
Did a supernova recently go off close to our solar system? If it did, how would we know?

Big Bang Theory
June 08, 2011
Hear Bill Prady, writer and producer of 'The Big Bang Theory' speak on using the sitcom platform to get the public excited about science, and respond to criticisms of the popular television show.

Coolest Brown Dwarf
June 01, 2011
Scientists think they may have found the lowest temperature brown dwarf ever detected. What's so cool about that?

APS April Meeting
May 18, 2011
Calla and Mike team up to discuss the APS Physics Meeting.  Join Calla and Mike as they search for planets, discuss the Higgs Boson and how this research reflects on current science issues.

Solar Storms Part 2
April 13, 2011
What a solar storm looks like from Earth's perspective and what precautions we can take to prevent loss of satellites and power grids? Find out in part two of our podcast on solar weather.

For More Information:

Space Weather Alerts from NOAA:
http://www.swpc.noaa.gov/alerts/index.html

Space Weather Event Categorization: http://www.swpc.noaa.gov/NOAAscales/

NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory:
http://sdo.gsfc.nasa.gov/

NASA's STEREO solar observatory:
http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/stereo/main/index.html

Solar Storms Pt. 1
April 06, 2011
Join Calla Cofield as she learns about solar weather and the impact it has on our lives.

The Sound of Stars
March 09, 2011
Mike Lucibella interviews William Chaplin, a researcher at the University of Birmingham who uses asteroseismology, the music of the stars, to study stars' resonance.

Finding Habitable Planets
February 23, 2011
NASA's Kepler mission, launched in March of 2009 to search for extrasolar planets, has found a system with five Earth‑like planets in the habitable zone, where liquid water may exist. Now, Kepler needs
your help in the hunt for other planets.

Black Hole Hunter
January 19, 2011
Join Andrea Ghez in her search for black holes and what kind of mysteries these invisible celestial beings.

Tycho Brahe
January 05, 2011
What killed Tycho Brahe, the Father of Modern Astronomy?  Calla Colfield explores the man and the mystery of his death.

How Fast Can Santa Travel?
December 15, 2010
How fast would Santa have to move to be able to deliver all those presents in one night?  He may not be traveling fast at all, but rather very slowly.

Neutron Star
November 17, 2010
Scientists at the National Radio Astronomy Observatory (NRAO) have measured the most massive neutron star ever recorded.

USA Celebrates Science
November 03, 2010
Mike Lucibella takes us on a journey through the inaugural USA Science and Engineering Festival on the National Mall.

Colliding Planets part 2
October 13, 2010
Mike Lucibella interviews Mark Kuchner about the discovery of a dust cloud around a binary star system, possible evidence of colliding planets.

Colliding Planets part 1
October 06, 2010
In today's podcast, PhysicsBuzz talks to Marc Kuchner from NASA Goddard about planets orbiting around binary stars. Kuchner and his colleagues recently reported their findings from the Spitzer Space Telescope, which showed that planets around binary stars can have a rough life. They discovered a ring of diffuse dust and believe it may be all that's left of an unfortunate planet that was too close to its dying star.

When Black Holes Collide
February 26, 2010
We sat down with the physicist Joan Centrella to talk about how black holes collide.

Where the Sun Meets the River
November 27, 2008
Scientists have observed a correlation between solar activity and river flow.