Volcanoes can be some of the worst natural disasters we can experience here on Earth, but life wouldn’t even exist without them. What are volcanoes good for anyway?
Our Hosts
Fraser Cain
Universe Today
Dr. Pamela Gay
CosmoQuest
Production by
- Richard Drumm, Audio Engineer
- Ally Pelphrey, Video Engineer
17 Seasons
700+ Episodes
Ep. 608: NASA Perseverance – The First 100 Days
As you all know, Pamela refuses to talk about any missions which aren’t actually doing science. Well, Perseverance has crossed the line, from fantasy to an actual working rover, scooping regolith and yeeting helicopters. What has the rover accomplished in its first 100 days?
Ep. 607: InSight and Marsquakes
Mars is cold and dead today, but the massive volcanoes tell us what the planet used to be like, millions and even billions of years ago. But how volcanically active is the planet today? That’s what NASA’s Mars InSight lander is there to figure out.
Ep. 606: Time Dilation – Skipping Through Time
Have you ever wanted to be a time traveler? Good news! You’re time traveling right now. Into the future at one second per second. Too long? Don’t want to wait? Good news, Einstein’s got you covered. Today, let’s talk about the weird world of time dilation.
Recent Episodes
Ep. 165: Doppler Effect
You know how a police siren changes sound when it passes by you? That's the doppler effect. It works for sound waves and it works for light waves. Astronomers use the doppler effect to study the motion of objects across the Universe, from nearby extrasolar planets to...
Ep. 164: Inside the Atom
We've talked about the biggest of the big, now let's focus in on the smallest of the small. Let's see what's inside that basic building block of matter: the atom. You probably know the basics, but with ever more powerful particle accelerators, physicists are revealing...
Ep. 163: Auroras
When the Sun's solar winds crash into the Earth's magnetosphere, we get to enjoy an incredible light show called auroras, or the Northern and Southern Lights. Let's learn about what causes these incredible phenomena, and the best times and places that you can see them...
Ep. 162: Edwin Hubble
You might know the name "Hubble" because of the Hubble Space Telescope. But this phenomenal observatory was named after one of the most influential astronomers in modern history. Hubble discovered that galaxies are speeding away from us in all directions, leading to...
Ep. 161: Launch Facilities
Launching a rocket into space requires a big effort on the ground. Space agencies have built up huge infrastructures to store, prepare and launch rockets. Let's take a look at what's involved on the ground at a place like Cape Canaveral. What happens before, during...
Ep. 160: Eclipses
Every now and then, the Moon destroys the Sun. Okay, not destroys, covers. Well, not really covers, but from here on Earth, sitting inside the shadow of the Moon, that's what it sure looks like. These events are called eclipses, or more precisely, transits and...
Ep. 159: Planet X
Astronomers have been searching for the mysterious Planet X for hundreds of years. It was the search for a theoretical planet beyond Uranus that turned up Neptune, and then again for Pluto. And even now there are some astronomers who think there's a more distant...
Ep. 158: Pulsars
Imagine an object with the mass of the Sun, crushed down to the size of Manhattan. Now set that object spinning hundreds of times a second, blasting out powerful beams of radiation like a lighthouse. That's a pulsar, one of the most exotic objects in the Universe. Ep....
Ep. 157: Constellations
Did you know there are 88 constellations in the night sky? Let's learn about the constellations and other star formations, their history, their connection to the zodiac, and how to find some of them. Ep. 157: Constellations Jump to Shownotes Jump to Transcript or...
Ep. 156: Famous Stars
This week we're going to talk about famous stars. But not those boring human ones you read about in People magazine. No, we're talking about those hot balls of plasma across the distant Universe. The close ones, the bright ones, the massive ones, the giant ones. Let's...
Ep. 155: Dwarf Stars
We think we live near an average star, but that's not the case at all. Compared to most stars in the Universe, the Sun is a giant! Let's look at the small end of the stellar spectrum, to stars with a fraction of the size and mass of our own Sun. There are many ways...
Ep. 154: Dragon*Con Live with Seth Shostak
This week we step away from our regular programming to bring you a live show from Dragon*Con in Atlanta. Pamela shares the stage with SETI researcher Seth Shostak. Together they discuss the technology and science of searching for intelligence, And answer questions...
Ep. 153: Dark Skies
If you live in a city, it's possible that you've never seen the Milky Way with your own eyes. To really appreciate everything the night skies have to offer, you've got to get out of the city, away from the lights, where the skies are really dark. But those places are...
Ep. 152: Binary Stars
Did you know that our Solar System is a rarity with its single star. Astronomers believe that most star systems out there actually contain 2 or more stars - imagine seeing a sky with 4 suns. These binary and multiple star systems are a great target for new...
Ep. 151: Atmospheres
Take a quick breath. There, that's what we're going to talk about today - the atmosphere. And not just the Earth's familiar atmosphere, but the strange, exotic and deadly atmospheres we find in the Solar System and surrounding extrasolar planets. Ep. 151: Atmospheres...
Ep. 150: Telescopes, the Next Level
We've explained how to get into astronomy and buy your first telescope. Now we're going to take things to the next level and get you drooling about bigger and better telescopes. If you're serious about astronomy, what kinds of telescopes will give you the best bang...
Ep. 149: Constellation Program
It's been more than 40 years since humans first set foot on the Moon. But plans are in place to return humans to the surface of the Moon, and maybe even to asteroids and the planet Mars. New rockets, landers and flight technology are all under development. Humans are...
Ep. 148: Astronomy and New Media
Astronomy is one of the scientific fields that have been completely shaken up by new media. The Internet has enabled communication between researchers in a dramatic new way, creating new collaborations, removing obstacles, and drawing in an army of enthusiastic...
Ep. 147: How to Be Taken Seriously By Scientists
For those non-scientists trying to get their original ideas accepted by the scientific community, you've got to have thick skin. It might seem like there's a vast conspiracy, or a general attitude that drives away original, but unorthodox ideas. But that's not true,...
Ep. 146: Astronomy Research from Idea to Publication
Have you ever wondered how astronomers do their research? How do they go from idea or question, to gathering their data, to publishing the research. What are all the hoops they have to jump through, the paperwork to fill out, and the cool toys they get to use along...