Magnificent Eruption on the Sun

Source - Space Weather News for Sept. 30, 2013: http://spaceweather.com

MAGNIFICENT ERUPTION: On Sept. 29th, a long filament of magnetism in the sun's northern hemisphere erupted, producing a magnificent CME and several must-see movies from NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory.  Although the CME was not aimed at Earth, our planet might receive a glancing blow from the cloud on Oct. 2-3.  Check http://spaceweather.com for more information and updates.

Big Picture Science for 09/30/13 - Power to the People

Big Picture Science - Power to the People

Let there be light! Well, it’s easy to do: just flip a switch. But it took more than the invention of the light bulb to make that possible. It required new technology for the distribution of electricity. And that came, not so much from Thomas Edison, but from a Serbian genius named Nikola Tesla.

Hear his story plus ideas on what might be the breakthrough energy innovations of the future. Perhaps hydrogen-fueled cars, nuclear fusion electrical generators or even orbiting solar cells?

Plus, a reminder of cutting-edge technology back in Napoleon’s day: lighthouses.

Guests:

• W. Bernard Carlson – Professor of science, technology and society, University of Virginia, and author of Tesla: Inventor of the Electrical Age
• Michael Dunne – Physicist, program director for laser fusion energy, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory
• R. Tom Baker – Chemist, director of the Center for Catalysis Research and Innovation, University of Ottawa
• Paul Young – Radio engineer, director of Powersat Ltd.
• Theresa Levitt – Historian, University of Mississippi, and author of A Short Bright Flash: Augustin Fresnel and the Birth of the Modern Lighthouse

Permalink: http://radio.seti.org/episodes/Power_to_the_People

You can listen to this and other episodes at http://radio.seti.org/, and be sure to check out Blog Picture Science, the companion blog to the radio show.

Meteor Explodes Over Ohio

Source - Space Weather News for Sept. 28, 2013: http://spaceweather.com

OHIO FIREBALL: Last night, just before midnight on Sept. 27-28, sky watchers in more than a dozen US states witnessed a bright flash of light. NASA all-sky cameras recorded a brilliant fireball, which analysts believe was a meter-class space rock exploding almost directly above Columbus, Ohio.  Images and more information about this event may be found on today's edition of http://spaceweather.com.

COMET ISON APPROACHES MARS: Comet ISON is about to have a close encounter with Mars, giving Red Planet rovers and satellites a close-up view of the sungrazing comet. Amateur astronomers can watch the encounter as it plays out in the predawn sky between now and October 2nd.  Check http://spaceweather.com for sky maps and observing tips.

Amateur Astronomers See Comet ISON

Source - NASA Science News for Sept. 24, 2013

Comet ISON is now close enough for amateur astronomers to photograph through backyard telescopes. The comet is not as bright as forecasters expected, but experts say it is still on track to become an impressive sungrazing comet later this year.

The complete article can be found here: http://science.nasa.gov/science-news/science-at-nasa/2013/24sep_ison2/

A companion video is posted below and can also be viewed at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E6Yd-TiNiyU



License: Standard YouTube License

Big Picture Science for 09/23/13 - Invisible Worlds

Big Picture Science - Invisible Worlds

You can’t see it, but it’s there, whether an atom, a gravity wave, or the bottom of the ocean … but we have technology that allows us to detect what eludes our sight. When we do, whole worlds open up.

Without telescopes, asteroids become visible only three seconds before they slam into the Earth. Find out how we track them long before that happens. Also, could pulsars help us detect the gravity waves that Einstein’s theory predicts?

Plus, why string theory and parallel universes may remain just interesting ideas … the story of the woman who mapped the ocean floor … and why the disappearance of honeybees may change what you eat.

Guests:

• David Morrison – NASA space scientist and Director of the Carl Sagan Center at the SETI Institute
• May Berenbaum – Entomologist, University of Illinois
• Scott Ransom – Astronomer, National Radio Astronomy Observatory
• Lee Smolin – Theoretical physicist, Perimeter Institute of Theoretical Physics, Canada, author of Time Reborn: From the Crisis in Physics to the Future of the Universe
• Hali Felt – Author of Soundings: The Story of the Remarkable Woman Who Mapped the Ocean Floor

Permalink: http://radio.seti.org/episodes/Invisible_Worlds

You can listen to this and other episodes at http://radio.seti.org/, and be sure to check out Blog Picture Science, the companion blog to the radio show.

Watch Out for the Harvest Moon

Source - NASA Science News for Sept. 16, 2013

The full Moon closest to the northern autumnal equinox is coming this week. Don't miss the Harvest Moon.

The complete article can be found here: http://science.nasa.gov/science-news/science-at-nasa/2013/16sep_harvestmoon/

A companion video is posted below and can also be viewed at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-5GauJNCRJ4



License: Standard YouTube License

You Say You Want an Evolution?

Big Picture Science - You Say You Want an Evolution?

Imagine: Your pint-sized pup is descended from a line of predatory wolves. We have purposefully bred a new species – dogs – to live in harmony with us. But interactions between species, known as co-evolution, happen all the time, even without deliberate intervention. And it’s frequently a boon to survival: Without the symbiotic relationship we have with bugs in our gut, one that’s evolved with time, we wouldn’t exist.

Discover the Bogart-and-Bacall-like relationships between bacteria and humans, and what we learn by seeing genes mutate in the lab, real time. Also, the dog-eat-dog debate about when canines were first domesticated, and how agriculture, hip-hop music, and technology can alter our DNA (eventually).

Plus, why some of the fastest humans in history have hailed from one small area of a small Caribbean island. Is there a gene for that?

Guests:

• Greger Larsen – Evolutionary biologist, department of archaeology, Durham University
• Peter Richerson – Professor emeritus, University of California, Davis, department of Environmental Science and Policy, author of Not by Genes Alone: How Culture Transformed Human Evolution
• Dave van Ditmarsch – Biologist, post-doctoral researcher, Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center
• David Epstein – Senior writer, Sports Illustrated, author of The Sports Gene: Inside the Science of Extraordinary Athletic Performance

Permalink: http://radio.seti.org/episodes/You_Say_You_Want_an_Evolution_

You can listen to this and other episodes at http://radio.seti.org/, and be sure to check out Blog Picture Science, the companion blog to the radio show.

The Sun Goes Strangely Quiet

Source - Space Weather News for Sept. 14, 2013: http://spaceweather.com

QUIET SUN: Right in the middle of Solar Max, the sun has entered one of its deepest quiet spells in years. Flare activity has subsided and the sun's x-ray output has flatlined.  This event highlights the unpredictability of the solar cycle.  Visit http://spaceweather.com for updates and commentary.

AURORAS ANYWAY: Even during a period of low solar activity, geomagnetic storms and auroras are possible as solar wind streams buffet Earth's magnetic field. Earth is inside such a stream right now. Geomagnetic storm alerts are available from http://spaceweathertext.com (text) and http://spaceweatherphone.com (voice).

Voyager Captures Sounds of Interstellar Space

Source - NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory: Sep 6, 2013

NASA's Voyager 1 spacecraft captured these sounds of interstellar space. Voyager 1's plasma wave instrument detected the vibrations of dense interstellar plasma, or ionized gas, from October to November 2012 and April to May 2013.

The graphic shows the frequency of the waves, which indicate the density of the plasma. Colors indicate the intensity of the waves, or how "loud" they are. Red indicates the loudest waves and blue indicates the weakest.

The soundtrack reproduces the amplitude and frequency of the plasma waves as "heard" by Voyager 1. The waves detected by the instrument antennas can be simply amplified and played through a speaker. These frequencies are within the range heard by human ears.

Scientists noticed that each occurrence involved a rising tone. The dashed line indicates that the rising tones follow the same slope. This means a continuously increasing density.

When scientists extrapolated this line even further back in time (not shown), they deduced that Voyager 1 first encountered interstellar plasma in August 2012.

The Voyager spacecraft were built and continue to be operated by NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, in Pasadena, Calif. Caltech manages JPL for NASA. The Voyager missions are a part of NASA's Heliophysics System Observatory, sponsored by the Heliophysics Division of the Science Mission Directorate at NASA Headquarters in Washington.

For more information about Voyager, visit: http://www.nasa.gov/voyager and http://voyager.jpl.nasa.gov .

Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/University of Iowa

 

License: Standard YouTube License

Voyager 1 Has Left the Solar System

Source - NASA Science News for Sept. 12, 2013

In an unexpected turn of events, researchers have realized that Voyager 1 left the solar system about a year ago. This event sets in motion a new era of exploration of the realm between the stars.

The complete article can be found here: http://science.nasa.gov/science-news/science-at-nasa/2013/12sep_voyager1/

Meteor Outburst over Europe

Source - Space Weather News for Sept. 11, 2013: http://spaceweather.com

METEOR NEWS: Earth is passing through a stream of debris from an unknown comet or asteroid.  It happens every year around this time and produces a minor shower known as the "September epsilon Perseids."  This year, Earth ran into an unusually dense patch of meteoroids, which produced an outburst of meteors over Europe near midnight on Sept. 9-10.  The event is highlighted on today's edition of http://spaceweather.com.

CHANCE OF STORMS:  NOAA forecasters estimate a 45%-50% chance of polar geomagnetic storms on Sept. 12-13 in response to an incoming solar wind stream.  This is not a major event, but it could produce bright auroras around the Arctic Circle. Geomagnetic storm alerts are available from http://spaceweathertext.com (text) and http://spaceweatherphone.com (voice).

ISS "Firestation" to Explore the Tops of Thunderstorms

Source - NASA Science News for Sept. 10, 2013

Sometimes, Earth mimics a supernova, producing a Terrestrial Gamma-ray Flash from the tops of thunderstorms. A new lightning sensor on the International Space Station could solve the mystery of these energetic bursts.

The complete article can be found here: http://science.nasa.gov/science-news/science-at-nasa/2013/10sep_firestation/

A companion video is posted below and can also be viewed at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vNmUfcc_zBk



License: Standard YouTube License

Big Picture Science for 09/09/13 - Skeptic Check: Follywood Science

Big Picture Science - Skeptic Check: Follywood Science

ENCORE: The Day After. 2001. Prometheus. There are sci-fi films a’plenty … but how much science is in the fiction? We take the fact checkers to Hollywood to investigate the science behind everything from space travel to human cloning.

Plus, guess what sci-fi film is the most scientifically accurate (hint: we’ve already mentioned it). Also, why messing with medical facts on film can be dangerous … and the inside scoop from a writer of one of television’s most successful sci-fi franchises.

And, a robot who surpasses even Tinseltown’s lively imagination: a humanoid that may become a surrogate you.

Guests:

• David Kirby – Senior lecturer in science communication studies at the University of Manchester in the U.K. and author of Lab Coats in Hollywood: Science, Scientists, and Cinema
• Lucas Kavner – Reporter, Huffington Post, author of a piece on the rise of robot surrogates
• Wayne Grody – Medical geneticist, director of the DNA diagnostic Laboratory, UCLA Medical Center
• Andre Bormanis – Television writer and science consultant for Star Trek

This encore podcast was first released on July 30, 2012.

Permalink: http://radio.seti.org/episodes/Skeptic_Check_Follywood_Science

You can listen to this and other episodes at http://radio.seti.org/, and be sure to check out Blog Picture Science, the companion blog to the radio show.

Industrial Soot Linked to the Retreat of 19th Century Glaciers

NASA Science News for Sept. 4, 2013

Researchers have uncovered strong evidence that soot from a rapidly industrializing Europe caused the abrupt retreat of mountain glaciers in the European Alps that began in the 1860s, a period often thought of as the end of the Little Ice Age.

The complete article can be found here: http://science.nasa.gov/science-news/science-at-nasa/2013/03sep_soot/

NASA Mission To Study Mysterious Lunar Twilight Rays

Source - NASA Science News for Sept. 3, 2013

A NASA spacecraft slated for launch on Sept. 6 will fly to the Moon to investigate the tenuous lunar atmosphere. Researchers hope "LADEE" will solve a mystery that has been puzzling them since the days of Apollo.

The complete article can be found here: http://science.nasa.gov/science-news/science-at-nasa/2013/03sep_ladee/

A companion video is posted below and can also be viewed at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2z_oi36O8tw



License: Standard YouTube License

Big Picture Science for 09/02/13 - Catch a Wave

Big Picture Science - Catch a Wave

ENCORE: Let there be light. Otherwise we couldn’t watch a sunset or YouTube. Yet what your eye sees is but a narrow band in the electromagnetic spectrum. Shorten those light waves and you get invisible gamma radiation. Lengthen them and tune into a radio broadcast.

Discover what’s revealed about our universe as you travel along the electromagnetic spectrum. There’s the long of it: an ambitious goal to construct the world’s largest radio telescope array … and the short: a telescope that images high-energy gamma rays from black holes.

Also, the structure of the universe as seen through X-ray eyes and a physicist sings the praises of infrared light. Literally.

And, while gravity waves are not in the electromagnetic club, these ripples in spacetime could explain some of the biggest mysteries of the cosmos. But first, we have to catch them!

Guests:

• Anil Ananthaswamy – Journalist and consultant for New Scientist in London
• Harvey Tananbaum – Director of the Chandra X-Ray Center, located in Cambridge Massachusetts at the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory
• David Reitze – Executive director of the Laser Interferometer Gravitational Wave Observatory (LIGO), California Institute of Technology
• Albert Lazzarini – Deputy director, LIGO, California Institute of Technology
• Alan Marscher – Professor of astronomy at Boston University

This encore podcast was first released on March 19, 2012

Permalink: http://radio.seti.org/episodes/Catch_a_Wave

You can listen to this and other episodes at http://radio.seti.org/, and be sure to check out Blog Picture Science, the companion blog to the radio show.