Universe Today Podcast

In this week's questions show, I theorize how long life can survive in the Universe, could we detect a wormhole in the Solar System, what's happening with the Chinese Space Agency? And more...

My guest today is Dr. Nikku Madhusudhan, a PhD astronomer at the University of Cambridge. Dr. Madhusudhan is one of the researchers who investigated the habitability of "hycean worlds"; ocean worlds with a thick hydrogen ocean. These worlds are completely alien to anything we have in the Solar System, and yet, could have a much wider region that remains habitable than terrestrial planets.

My guest today is Dr. Hiro Ono, the Group Leader of the Robotic Surface Mobility Group for NASA's Jet Propulsion Lab. Dr. Ono is been awarded a NIAC prize to develop a rover that could crawl into the fascinating vents on Enceladus, to search for evidence of life on this icy world.

In this week's live questions and answer show, I explain how astronomers measure the distance to gravitational wave events, how clean are spacecraft sent to Mars, and would it be possible to have a sample return mission from Titan?

In this week's Questions and Answers show, I explain how we'll get the matter to build stuff out in space, what about the matter for a Dyson Sphere? How long will the International Space Station survive? And More...

In this week's questions show, I explain why we don't see the same thing multiple times as we look out into the Universe, could a planet orbit in the Lagrange Points of two stars, and why haven't there been any missions to Io?

In this week's questions show, I jump into the controversy between Blue Origin and SpaceX, explain why bigger telescopes are better, and talk about how Mercury has eternally shadowed craters and could serve as a place for a base.

The new season has begun! We're back with an all-new series of question shows. In this week's episode, I provide a quick guide to seeing fireballs (bolides), which are the brightest meteors you can see (and sometimes hear). I explain the philosophy behind Dyson Spheres, and explain why dark matter can't be made out of antimatter.

My guest today is Dr. Hamsa Padmanabhan, a cosmologist at the University of Geneva. Dr. Padmanabhan's work involves the investigation of Cosmic Dawn, the period shortly after the beginning of the Universe when the large-scale structure of the cosmos was defined.

https://cosmology.unige.ch/users/hamsa-padmanabhan

My guest today is Dr. Markus Janson, an astronomy professor at Stockholm University. Dr. Janson and his co-authors have recently published a study investigating if ground-based observatory could use starshades to help directly image exoplanets.

https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007%2Fs10686-021-09792-y

In the season finale of my questions show, I talk about high-altitude bacteria, traveling into the future, does it make sense to go back to University, and more. See you all in September!

In this week's questions show, I explain why Dyson Spheres (and Swarms) should actually be pretty easy to detect across the Universe. If it's possible to service the Hubble Space Telescope with a Falcon 9, and will computers take jobs away from astronomers.

In this week's questions show, I explain what would happen if scientists discovered an existential threat to humanity. Would they let us know, or keep it secret to avoid a panic? Could we detect a Breakthrough Starshot fleet coming our way? And how well does China communicate its space exploration to the public?

My guest today is Professor Lee Cronin from the University of Glasgow. Dr. Cronin investigates the chemistry of life and has developed methods that could help us detect it on other worlds - even life as we don't know it.

In this week's questions and answer show, I explain how all the dust in space forms, could life be Von Neumann probes, why do people think black holes lead to another universe, and more...

In this week's Q&A, I try to imagine what might happen if a microscopic black hole passed through the Earth. How long will James Webb take to become operational, and what will be the Plan B for James Webb if it fails?