79: LIGO's high quality (factor) fibers with Dr. Robertson
Dr. Norna Robertson shares a drink from her home country and talks about a specific part of LIGO. She explains that LIGO's eighty-pound mirrors are suspended by four, incredibly thin, silica fibers th...
8 Jan 201718min
78: Signals traveling through the fabric of spacetime with Dr. Kanner (Part 2)
Dr. Kanner explains how gravitational waves could teach us about the big bang, and how we might be on the cusp of discovering new phenomena that are so unusual, theorists haven't even predicted their ...
1 Jan 201716min
77: Signals traveling through the fabric of spacetime with Dr. Kanner (Part 1)
Dr. Kanner talks about gravitational waves, which were detected for the first time by LIGO last year. He explains how studying neutron stars with gravitational waves can tell us how everyday elements ...
25 Dec 201618min
76: Mars' teenage robot with Dr. Fraeman
Dr. Abby Fraeman returns to the show to talk about Opportunity, the rover that won't quit. Along with its sister rover, Spirit, Opportunity has discovered Mars rocks that could have only formed in the...
18 Dec 201618min
75: Looking for trouble with Eric Rice
Eric Rice talks about systems engineering and we drink what turns out to be the most disgusting beverage yet. He talks about what it is like to control a spacecraft, and explains why predicting what c...
11 Dec 201612min
74: Asteroid families with Dr. Masiero
Dr. Joe Masiero returns to the podcast to talk about asteroid families, which are groups of asteroids that astronomers think are fragments from ancient collisions. He describes how he identifies these...
4 Dec 201614min
73: Earthquake early warning systems with Dr. Weiser
Dr Debbie Weiser explains the importance of building an early warning system in the US before a major earthquake hits. Even a few seconds warning is enough to stop elevators, pause surgery, and give p...
27 Nov 201628min
72: Perturbing the Earth with Dr. Weiser
Dr. Debbie Weiser talks about human-made earthquakes on my favorite planet, Earth. She explains how seismologists try to distinguish between natural earthquakes and those caused by human activity, and...
20 Nov 201621min
