Blue Dot

KTB. If you live in Northern California, you’ve likely seen that bumper sticker with the iconic outline of the lake we share with the Nevada border. Keep Tahoe Blue is the message, and it's a worthy goal. The lake’s pristine waters are getting less clear by the year. We look at the science behind the clarity and more – it’s Lake Tahoe – and it’s definitely all new and all blue on Blue Dot!

It’s time for our seasonal weather show with our friends from the National Weather Service in Sacramento. And joining us to talk about it will be Michelle Mead and Brooke Bingaman from the NWS to tell us about a really important topic – being ready for disasters, natural or otherwise.

This week our guest is Adam Nimoy. His recent film For the Love of Spock recounts his father Leonard’s famous Star Trek character but also provides a revealing look at the man, the actor and most importantly, the father of the director.

This week we look at the universe on the grandest scale with the James Webb Space Telescope, it’s scheduled for launch in 2018. We will talk about it with Bonnie Meinke from the Space Telescope Science Institute. Then we will hear from our social media correspondent, Kacey Gardner . She spoke with NASA’s Courtney O’Connor, she is responsible for the social media presence of the Juno spacecraft on Twitter.

The skies will darken, the birds will quiet and crickets will start chirping...in the daytime. It all happens next August — it’s the Great American Eclipse , and this week on Blue Dot we have Dr. Tyler Nordgren to tell us all about it.

This week we talk with Kenneth Williford , the deputy project scientist for the Mars 2020 Rover. He's an expert on where biology, geology, and chemistry collide to inform the search for evidence of ancient microbial life in rocks. We also chat with graphic design artist Rachel Ignotofsky about her new book, Women in Science . This illustrated guide profiles 50 women in STEM fields, from ancient times until the present, who have shaped our world.

This week on Blue Dot we talk with award-winning NASA scientist, Fiona Harrison . She is an astrophysicist and chairperson at CalTech as well as Principal Investigator for the Nuclear Spectroscopic Telescope Array — our premier orbiting X-Ray observatory better known as NuStar . We also take a sneak peak at next week's interview with Kenneth Williford - who shares an exciting story of a recent development in his lab at JPL . Finally, we cap it all off with some audio captured over the weekend by

This week on Blue Dot, Sarah Bohannon interviews Emily Graslie - host of the YouTube science series The Brain Scoop , and Dave interviews Nicholas van der Elst about how gravity is unlocking the secrets of the San Andreas Fault.

This week on Blue Dot we introduce co-host/producer Nolan Ford , and talk about the dark night sky at Lassen Volcanic National Park. Every year in August, around the time of the Perseid Meteor Shower, the park hosts the Lassen Dark Sky Festival . This year’s event takes place Friday, August 12th through Sunday, August 14th. On today's show we speak with some of the festival's star participants, and learn why "half the park is after dark."

On today's Blue Dot (Matt's last one), Bill Patzert, NASA Oceanographer and climatologist gives us the scoop on the state of our warming oceans, and what it's doing to our climate. We're also rolling out two new recurring features. The first is "Science on the Tube," wherein Dave and his correspondents speak with folks making science videos on the Internet. This week it's Anna Rothschild of the PBS Digital Studios show Gross Science . You'll also hear the first installment of "Blue Dot Goes to