Comet Harpoon
NASA scientists are testing a harpoon that could bring back samples from comets.
Far-Out Mega Planet
An enormous planet, orbiting a star at a tremendous distance, challenges theories of planet formation.
Space Elevator
Could a “space elevator” carry supplies to the International Space Station?
Lunar Insomnia
The full moon affects people's sleep cycles, even if they can't see it.
Storm Cloud Life
A world of bacterial life inhabits storm clouds high in the atmosphere.
Dung Beetle Navigation
Dung beetles use the Milky Way to roll their dung balls in a straight line.
Comet Encounters
A newly discovered comet will be visible from earth this fall.
Podcast for 21 December 2012
THE CHANGING ENVIRONMENT - What a scallop's cough can tell us about environmental health, how melting Arctic ice may have caused the earth's last big freeze, and why climate change may have undone the Maya empire. Also: using weather forecasting techniques to predict flu outbreaks, and revisiting the apocalypse myth surrounding the fictional planet Nibiru.
Podcast for 7 December 2012
ARE YOU WREN ENOUGH? Why fairy wrens require their babies to show ID, how coral reefs ask for help, and how one microscopic animal patches itself up with borrowed genes. Also: Host Bob Hirshon went down to NASA Headquarters to report on the discovery of water on the planet Mercury.
Butterfly Migration Radar
Radar data, along with highly coordinated observations, has solved a disappearing-butterfly mystery.
Martian Water
An analysis of meteorites suggests that the Martian interior contains much more water than previously suspected.
Podcast for 6 July 2012
OUR SOLAR SYSTEM - Scientists discover organic carbon in meteorites from Mars and take a new look at the asteroid Vesta. Also: zebrafish meet their robotic overlords, and someone finally invents a blind-spot-free side-view mirror.
Martian Carbon
Researchers have discovered organic carbon in meteorites from Mars.
Vesta the Protoplanet
The asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter contains an embryonic planet in arrested development.
Runaway Planets
Under some circumstances, planets could be thrown out of the galaxy at tremendous speed.
Podcast for 27 April 2012
Why some planets are on the run. How to harpoon a comet. And counting penguins from space.
Penguins from Space
Researchers have estimated the total number of Emperor Penguins in Antarctica using satellite images.
Podcast for 13 April 2012
CHEMISTRY & LIFE - What 2-billion-year-old raindrop fossils can tell us about conditions on the early earth. What science is revealing about the artwork of Leonardo da Vinci and Vincent Van Gogh. And a breakthrough in materials science technology yields plastic that can repair itself.
Comet Harpoon
NASA scientists are testing a harpoon that could bring back samples from comets.
Comet Harpoon
NASA scientists are testing a harpoon that could bring back samples from comets.