Total Eclipse of the Moon

Source - NASA Science News for March 30, 2015
 
On Saturday morning, April 4th, sky watchers in the USA can see a brief but beautiful total eclipse of the Moon

The complete article can be found here: http://science.nasa.gov/science-news/science-at-nasa/2015/30mar_lunareclipse/

A companion video is posted below and can also be viewed at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_70M4lkLKPk&feature=youtu.be



License: Standard YouTube License

Big Picture Science for Monday 30 March 2015 - Hidden History

Big Picture Science - Hidden History

Archeologists continue to hunt for the city of Atlantis, even though it may never have existed. But, what if it did? Its discovery would change ancient history. Sometimes when we dig around in the past, we can change our understanding of how we got to where we are.

We thought we had wrapped up the death of the dinosaurs: blame it on an asteroid. But evidence unearthed in Antarctica and elsewhere suggests the rock from space wasn’t the sole culprit.

Also, digging into our genetic past can turn up surprising – and sometimes uncomfortable truths – from ancestral origins to genes that code for disease. But do we always want to know?

Guests:

• Mark Adams – author, Meet Me in Atlantis: My Obsessive Quest to Find the Sunken City
• David Morrison – Senior scientist, NASA Ames Research Center
• Peter Ward – Paleontologist, University of Washington, author of A New History of Life: The Radical New Discoveries about the Origins and Evolution of Life on Earth
• Christine Kenneally – Journalist and author of The Invisible History of the Human Race: How DNA and History Shape Our Identities and Our Futures

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

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.

Big Picture Science for Monday 23 March 2015 - Power to the People

Big Picture Science - Power to the People

ENCORE: 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

This encore podcast was first released on September 30, 2013

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.

The Mystery of Nanoflares

Source - NASA Science News for March 19, 2015

Tiny solar flares on the Sun may be having an outsized effect on the temperature of the sun's atmosphere. To investigate, scientists will observe these "nano flares" using a space telescope built for black holes.

The complete article can be found here: http://science.nasa.gov/science-news/science-at-nasa/2015/19mar_nanoflares/

A companion video is posted below and can also be viewed at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wjB9JtTU7SU&feature=youtu.be



License: Standard YouTube License

Total Solar Eclipse on March 20, 2015

Source - Space Weather News for March 19, 2015: http://spaceweather.com

ARCTIC ECLIPSE: On March 20th, the first day of northern spring, Arctic sky watchers could witness something rare and wonderful:  Northern Lights during a total eclipse of the sun.  Earth's magnetic field is reverberating from a CME strike on March 17th that sparked the strongest geomagnetic storm of the current solar cycle.  Days after the impact, auroras are still dancing around the Arctic Circle.  Those auroras could emerge in "broad daylight" this Friday when the new Moon passes in front of the Arctic sun, producing a total eclipse visible from Svalbard, the Faroe Islands, and many ships at sea. 

Visit http://spaceweather.com for a preview and updates during the eclipse.

St. Patrick's Day Geomagnetic Storm

Source - Space Weather News for March 17, 2015: http://spaceweather.com

SEVERE GEOMAGNETIC STORM:  A coronal mass ejection (CME) hit Earth's magnetic field during the early hours of March 17th, triggering a magnetic disturbance that has escalated into the strongest geomagnetic storm of the current solar cycle (Kp=8).  During the hours before sunrise on St. Patrick's Day, bright green skies appeared over multiple US states including Wisconsin, Washington, Minnesota, and the Dakotas. 

Please check http://spaceweather.com  for pictures and updates on the progress of the storm.

Big Picture Science for Monday 16 March 2015 - Microbes: Resistance is Futile

Big Picture Science - Microbes: Resistance is Futile

You are what you eat. Whether you dine on kimchi, carnitas, or corn dogs determines which microbes live in your stomach. And gut microbes make up only part of your total microbiome.

Find out how your microbes are the brains-without-brains that affect your health and even your mood. Also, why you and your cohorts are closer than you thought: new research suggests that you swap and adopt bugs from your social set.

Plus, the philosophical questions that are arise when we realize that we have more microbial DNA than human DNA.

And a woman who skipped soap and shampoo for a month to see what would grow on her.

Guests:

• Bill Miller – Physician and author of The Microcosm Within: Evolution and Extinction in the Hologenome
• Beth Archie – Biologist at the University of Notre Dame
• Nada Gligorov – Assistant professor of medical education at Mount Sinai Hospital
• Julia Scott – Freelance reporter working in San Francisco. Her article, “A Wash on the Wild Side” appeared in the May 22, 2014 issue of the New York Times Magazine.

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

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.

X2-flare and Radio Blackout on March 11, 2015

Source - Space Weather News for March 11, 2015: http://spaceweather.com

EARTH DIRECTED X-FLARE: On March 11th at approximately 16:22 UT (09:22 PDT) sunspot AR2297 unleashed a strong X2-class solar flare. Extreme UV radiation from the blast is causing HF radio fade-outs and other propagation effects on the dayside of Earth, primarily over the Americas. 

Visit http://spaceweather.com for more information and updates.

NASA to Investigate Magnetic Explosions

Source - NASA Science News for March 10, 2015

NASA is about to launch a fleet of spacecraft to investigate the mystery of "magnetic reconnection," which is making things explode across the cosmos.

The complete article can be found here: http://science.nasa.gov/science-news/science-at-nasa/2015/10mar_mms/

A companion video is posted below and can also be viewed at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BGh1xc-O0WA&feature=youtu.be



License: Standard YouTube License

Big Picture Science for Monday 09 March 2015 - Mars-Struck

Big Picture Science - Mars-Struck

You love to travel. But would you if doing so meant never coming home? The private company Mars One says it will land humans on the Red Planet by 2026, but is only offering passengers one-way tickets. Hundreds of thousands of people volunteered to go.

Meet a young woman who made the short list, and hear why she’s ready to be Mars-bound. Also, why microbes could be hiding in water trapped in the planet’s rocks. And, how a wetter, better Mars lost its atmosphere and became a dry and forbidding place.

Plus, why Kim Stanley Robinson, author of a famous trilogy about colonizing and terraforming Mars, thinks that the current timeline for going to the planet is unrealistic.

Guests:

• Laurel Kaye – A senior in the physics department at Duke University
• Alfonso Davila – Senior scientist at the SETI Institute
• Stephen Brecht – Physicist and president of the Bay Area Research Group
• Kim Stanley Robinson – Hugo Award-winning science Fiction author of the Mars trilogy: Red Mars (Mars Trilogy), Green Mars (Mars Trilogy), Blue Mars (Mars Trilogy)

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

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.

Solar Flare and Radio Blackout

Source - Space Weather News for March 7, 2015: http://spaceweather.com

ACTIVE SUNSPOT: A sunspot has emerged near the sun's southeastern limb, and it is crackling with strong flares.  The most powerful so far, an M9-class explosion on March 7th, produced a moderately-strong radio blackout over the Pacific side of Earth. 

Check http://spaceweather.com for images and updates.

Subtracting Gravity from Alzheimer's

Source - NASA Science News for Feb. 27, 2015

The key to unraveling the mysterious cause of Alzheimer’s disease may not lie in the recesses of the human brain, but rather in the weightless expanse of space.

The complete article can be found here: http://science.nasa.gov/science-news/science-at-nasa/2015/04mar_sabol/

A companion video is posted below and can also be viewed at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uxEBK9q686c&feature=youtu.be



License: Standard YouTube License

Big Picture Science for Monday 02 March 2015 - Skeptic Check: The Me in Measles

Big Picture Science - Skeptic Check: The Me in Measles

Wondering whether to vaccinate your children? The decision can feel like a shot in the dark if you don’t know how to evaluate risk. Find out why all of us succumb to the reasoning pitfalls of cognitive and omission bias, whether we’re saying no to vaccines or getting a tan on the beach.

Plus, an infectious disease expert on why it may take a dangerous resurgence of preventable diseases – measles, whooping cough, polio – to remind us that vaccines save lives.

Also, a quaint but real vaccine fear: that the 18th century smallpox vaccine, made from cowpox, could turn you into a cow!

It’s our monthly look at critical thinking … but don’t take our word for it!

Guests:

• Paul Offit – Infectious disease specialist at the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia
• Neil deGrasse Tyson – Astrophysicist, director of the Hayden Planetarium in New York City
• Adam Korbitz – Lawyer specializing in space law
• Andrew Maynard – Professor of environmental health science, director, Risk Science Center, University of Michigan

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

Noctilucent Clouds Behaving Strangely

Source - Space Weather News for March 1, 2015: http://spaceweather.com

NOCTILUCENT CLOUDS: The strange behavior of noctilucent clouds over Antarctica in recent months has researchers on the trail of new teleconnections in Earth's atmosphere, which can alter weather and climate on a global scale. Visit http://spaceweather.com for the full story.

GEOMAGNETIC STORM:  A geomagnetic storm is underway on March 1st, and Arctic sky watchers are seeing bright auroras.  NOAA forecasters estimate a 60% chance of continued storming throughout the weekend.  Sign up for aurora alerts at http://spaceweathertext.com (text) or http://spaceweatherphone.com (voice).