Science and Technology Podcasts

Science and Technology Podcasts:

The last of the three broad categories which fill up my podcast queue is science and technology.  This is really a rather loose descriptor, but will have to suffice for the sake of this post.

When I use the term ‘science’, readers might find that rather than covering a range of different scientific topics, most of the podcasts relate to astronomy, and that technology is relegated to a single show.  These are just the podcasts that I currently subscribe to, there are, of course, a great many more, and if there are any stand out exceptions, I’d love to read about them!

All in the Mind

All in the mind is a podcast covering a rather eclectic mix of topics to do with psychology and neuroscience.  The show is well presented, and each episode deals with a specific topic, such as shared memory, or the science of compassion.  All in the Mind is an enjoyable and interesting listen.

Dr Karl’s Great Moments in Science

A very brief podcast, with each episode featuring Dr Karl discussing some tidbit, whether from current scientific research or an important breakthrough or discovery in the history of science.  It’s an extremely quick glance at each topic, but rather engaging nonetheless.

The Infinite Monkey Cage

The two hosts, Robin Ince and Brian Cox are usually joined by a panel of 3 others to discuss a topic.  The show manages to encapsulate a lively, interesting and humourous discussion within a relatively short time-frame.  The Infinite Monkey Cage is recorded in series, and episodes are highly enjoyable.  This is probably one of my favourite podcasts, not just of this category, but of all the podcasts I listen to.  It manages to maintain both a humourous approach to discussion, as well as covering some fascinating areas for discussion.  Brian and Robin work well together to provide a witty and intelligent banter, and their guests are a mix of experts and comedians/non-experts, and the mix works very well.

A thoroughly excellent show; not for those who avidly follow their star sign, or suspect their might be fairies at the bottom of their garden, but a wonderful podcast.

Planetary Radio

A podcast hosted by Matt Caplan of the Planetary Society.  Planetary Radio discusses the news and goings on in the world of space exploration, with a variety of segments from other members of the Planetary Society.  It’s an interesting, and each episode is a light and enjoyable listen.

StarStuff with Stuart Gary

Probably my favourite podcast that relates to astronomy, and I’ve listened to a few.  Stuart manages to cover the news of what’s going on in space exploration and astronomy mixing a good deal of information into a digestible and enjoyable package.  All in all it’s a fantastic show for those with an interest in the world of space exploration or the scientific discoveries that relate to our universe.  Well recommended.

StarTalk Radio Show

StarTalk Radio is the question time section of the StarTalk radio show with Neil deGrasse Tyson.  This show is both about the information it presents, and the personality of it’s main host - Neil deGrasse Tyson.  Neil manages to cover his topics extremely well, with a good dose of humour and flair.  Highly enjoyable.

This Week in Tech

This Week in Tech, with Leo LaPorte and a variety of guest panelists, is a podcast covering all the news of the tech world, from start ups to the big companies.  The discussion is lively and enjoyable.  The mixture of expert panelists makes for some interesting discussion, insights and analysis of the goings-on in the world of technology.  It’s a longer show, but nonetheless, very enjoyable to listen to.

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So these are the main podcasts I listen to that fit beneath the banner of science and technology, they are certainly not the only podcasts, or even the best, but they are the ones I subscribe to at the moment.

One of the topics I’d love to find a podcast covering is the world of paleontology, search as I might I can’t seem to find anything that covers this area.  If anyone knows of such a show - I’d love to hear about it!

Cheers,

Giles.

Heavens Above...

Watching the moon slowly crawl across the disk of the sun through some eclipse glasses was a moment of duality - two competing senses, one of excitement at seeing so wonderful a spectacle, and one of stillness, a quiet sense of marvel at the machinery of the cosmos.  It inspired me to again lug my telescope outside, something I had neglected doing for most of the past winter.

The eclipse...

Winter is gone, and though the evenings are comparatively cool, they can hardly be used as an excuse.  I have four favourite things to look at in the night sky, probably because they are easy for an amateurs amateur such as myself to find.  The first is the moon; most obvious.  Next are the two largest planets in our solar system, Saturn with its rings is great to view, even with my telescope and surrounding street-light induced light pollution it appears an orange-y/yellow-y marble with the the rings clearly visible, and the most prominent moons as stars in a neat line around the planet.  Jupiter, which is visible now quite clearly is also nice.  And lastly my one-of-four favourite things is the nebula in Orion, M42, a dusty cloud in space punctuated by bright new stars.

Saturn isn’t visible during any of the hours I like to keep (it’s rising around 5.00am at the moment), but Jupiter certainly is.

Jupiter - a shot of this planet with no added equipment (just from my phone).

Viewing anything in the night sky from the backyard is always an exercise in mild frustration, the incoming flood of light from nearby street-lights can be annoying to say the least, and can also serve to wash out some of the colour from the things you’re viewing.  Nonetheless, Jupiter appears as a large bright white marble, and sometimes, on a dark night, creamy rather than white.  Several dark brown bands are also clearly visible as lines across its surface, on a dark night some of the detail of these bands can be seen, the turbulent edges, the spots.  The largest of Jupiter’s moons are also clearly visible - though these appear as stars in a rough line, changing position night to night.

Jupiter - the poor camera loses all sense of the colour and bands, but three moons are visible.

Tonight I also took some time to view the moon, since it is a crescent phase at the moment it makes for excellent viewing, the angle of the sunlight on it’s surface means the craters and mountains stand with long shadows, making the three dimensionality of the surface really stand out.

A phone's view of the moon...

I tried to take some photos using my iPhone through the eye-piece of my scope, but the results are (obviously) far poorer than what one sees with ones own eyes.

The brightness of the moon is overwhelming for the phone camera.  Nearly all the detail: lost.

It’s a cathartic experience, gazing heavenward; a good time to pause and contemplate life, the universe and everything.  The implacable march of the celestial machinery that drives the cosmos invites us to experience a sense of smallness in comparison.  A window into the fleeting nature of time and yawning enormity that surrounds us.  Far from being a depressing thing, it is humbling, a chance to to ponder the things that we as individuals invest importance in.  A vast yardstick against which my own troubles seem trifling and trivial things.  What do I think about?  The universe of course, and existence - how can one not.  But also my family: my larger family often, my friends occasionally, but most certainly my wife and my kids.

The solar system I can come at, the solar system I can wrap my mind around, but gazing into deeper space, into the turbulence of new star formation, of the death of stars, of galaxies, gazing into time itself... that I can only wonder at.  Trying to establish a mental foothold on the concept of something so... immense.  Rather than finding a foothold I end up feeling adrift, it is simply too large to fit within the confines of my small primate mind.  Adrift and in wonder.  Quietly marvelling.  

Through a smaller eyepiece...

Even through the smaller eye-piece most of the detail is lost...

Cheers,
Giles.

Curiouser and Curiouser

More than 500 years ago Western scientific thought supposed the Earth to be at the center of a created universe and the planets but wandering stars.  Today the picture of the universe is far bigger, far more beautiful, and far more amazing.  Today there are robots on the surface of another planet that is, on average, about 225 million kilometers away.  Robots that are taking photos, analyzing and sending back information from the surface of Mars.

News of the touchdown of the Mars Science Laboratory ‘Curiosity’ in the Gale Crater on the surface of Mars has made headlines and news stations the globe over.  Well it should, as amazing as this car sized rover is, and as bountiful as the findings of its many instruments are likely to be, the landing itself is one of the most spectacular and amazing feats of planning, and as of earlier today: astounding execution.

From:  http://mars.jpl.nasa.gov/

I was lucky enough to be able to watch the live feed from NASA TV in the buildup and moment of Curiosity's landing, and the technically difficult and amazingly creative fashion in which this rover made it from Earth to the surface of another planet in our solar system was both exciting and stunning.

Kudos to NASA and the people at JPL who managed this feat, it is truly one of the great triumphs of technical expertise, science, mathematics and engineering.  It is also so creative and audacious that it seems too unreal to even fit comfortably in the pages of a science fiction novel.  Luckily, truth is sometimes stranger than fiction.

My mind boggles at the comparatively simple mathematics involved with launching a rocket from Earth that will, 8 months later, collide with Mars - all of these being moving objects.  But the multi-stage landing, combining aerobraking with parachute deployment, the ejection of the parachute and use of powered descent, and then the amazing crane to lower this giant rover to the surface is one of the great triumphs of scientific endeavor.

Well done to all those involved - to the people at JPL who created and managed this amazing feat, and to all those supporting around the world - from the ESA to the radio telescopes of Australia.  Here’s hoping for an amazing array of discoveries from Curiosity.  Thanks to Curiosity the story of our solar system is about to increase in definition and quality.  We live in amazing times.

From the surface of Mars earlier today (and the NASA website).

An amazing video that neatly encapsulates why this landing is so amazing:

Cheers,
Giles.

Astronomy, of the amateur kind...

Earlier this week the esteemed McGurie college, here in the fine town of Shepparton, held a star gazing night.  This was an auspicious beginning, supported by the Telescopes in Schools initiative, and saw some 20 or so kids and families come along to view the cosmos.  This evening is to be the first of a series.  It was a convivial gathering, spoilt to only a small degree by poor weather conditions, some trouble with the collimation of the scope, and a near dazzling array of security lighting.  Despite these troubles we had a good night, a sound beginning to what promises to be an enjoyable and interesting program.  I was especially impressed with the energy of the organiser Robert, and of course by the telescope McGuire had at their disposal - a 12” catadioptric behemoth that required sets of castor wheels to be relocated.  Anything that requires wheels in order to be moved deserves some natural level of respect and admiration.  Yes, this giant marvel of precision engineering is ungainly and difficult to budge, but damn-it if a set of wheels won’t bring the beast to bear!

Some time out in the fresh evening, basking in the splendour of the raiment above, does wonders for one’s eagerness to dust off the scope at home and drag it out-of-doors for more.  So inspired, I pulled my more humble reflector out this evening to take in Saturn.  

While the general glow of street-lights does something to wash the colour from the view, it was rather nice to sit back and look at the orb of Saturn and its encircling rings.  It is something humbling to look at what appears to be a star through our eyes, and bring it into sharper focus with a telescope, and to find a dusty orange marble, replete with a girdling of brilliant white rings in its place.  As much as the Southern sky is splendid for its cloudy encircling arm of our galaxy, I find something especially calming and marvellous about gazing at our solar neighbours in the ecliptic.  It might not be everyone’s cup of tea, but I rather enjoyed myself.  

I tried to take some photos through the eyepiece, but I don’t really have the set-up to make it work.  The best I got was a blurry smudge that would do well on a UFO Sightings website, but wasn’t exactly what I was hoping for.  Nonetheless, a pleasant evenings viewing, and I am much looking forward to the day when my lad is old enough to come outside with his Dad and view the moon, the planets and our universe.


Cheers,
Giles.

There's a Dragon in Space!

SpaceX has become a world-wide trending topic in the twitterverse with the triumphal launch of their Dragon module into space.  While the #dragonlaunch will come and pass like a proverbial moon-phase, the real victory is in the latest successful launch - being one of several meant to demonstrate the readiness of SpaceX as a viable option for supplying the International Space Station (ISS).  After some two days of tests and maneuvers we will all see the Dragon module successfully dock with the ISS (all going to plan), and in so doing boldly announce the arrival of commercial space-faring.

There are, of course, many private companies currently working on technologies that will support various commercial uses of space; Branson’s Virgin Galactic being probably the most well-publicised.  With all of that as noise in the background to tonight's successes, SpaceX has managed to ascend to a new level of legitimacy with the accomplishment of tonight’s launch.  

While it is not ‘history making’ in the same way we might think of Sputnik, Yari Gagarin, or NASA’s Moon Landing, it is most certainly representative of a paradigm shift in the potentials to be found in the exploitation of low Earth orbit.  If SpaceX manage to make a viable business out of supplying the ISS, delivering satellites and so forth they will be helping to pave the way to a fascinating future.  

As much as I might hesitate to suggest that tonight’s launch is a historical watershed moment, it is nonetheless, absolutely representative of a huge step forward in the legitimacy of commercial space flight.  Such steps forward will take us to those watershed and historically defining moments.  SpaceX is currently the vanguard of the commercial space future.  It is exciting; we are counting the measured steps by which we have the opportunity to assail a universe of future potentials.

To Elon Musk and all of SpaceX - congratulations on your successful launch tonight, and here’s hoping for many more such successes in the future!


Cheers,
Giles.