Carnegie Science Center Podcast

Dr. Arthur Kosowsky

Professor of Physics and Astronomy

Arthur Kosowsky, a top expert in cosmic microwave background (CMB) radiation, will speak about a new discovery made using the BICEP telescope at the South Pole earlier this year. A team of physicists noticed a subtle change in the CMB, which is hypothesized to be the result of gravitational waves by a sudden cosmic expansion during the very earliest moments of the universe. Despite the buzz this discovery has generated, more analysis is needed to determine whether the signal is evidence of the first moments of the universe, or whether it has a much more local source – such as dust grains in our own galaxy, aligned by magnetic fields. More data will be required to determine the cause of the change. If the signal is indeed from the first moments of the universe, it opens a remarkable window into physics at a scale we will never be able to probe with experiments on Earth, and it can tell us what happened when the universe was a trillionth of a trillionth of a trillionth of a second old.

Kosowsky will talk about the science behind these ideas, what kinds of observations need to be done to decide the source of what we are seeing in the microwave sky, what this might tell us about the universe, and what kinds of future physics experiments and theories it might prompt.

Arthur Kosowsky is a professor of Physics and Astronomy at the University of Pittsburgh. He received his PhD in physics from the University of Chicago in 1994 and has been on the faculty of Pitt since 2005. He is the author of many scientific papers about the universe, and particularly how the cosmic microwave background radiation tells us about the properties of the universe and about fundamental physics. He is also a member of the Atacama Cosmology Telescope (ACT) project, which has built a custom-designed 6-meter microwave telescope with superconducting bolometric detectors to observe the microwave sky from the Atacama desert in the Chilean Andes.

Recorded on Monday, November 10th, 2014 at Carnegie Science Center in Pittsburgh, PA.

Dr. Cynthia Morton

Carnegie Museum of Natural History

As a botanist, Dr. Cynthia Morton, curator of botany at Carnegie Museum of Natural History, has worked locally and internationally to collect specimens for phylogenetic analysis of molecular and morphological data. The range of projects include redefining the citrus family, constructing genomic maps, cleaning ground water, and investigating park and nursery tree genetics.

Her work in 2008 compared the level of genetic variation in London Plane trees already existing in the Pittsburgh area with trees of the same species currently available from three commercial nurseries. The genetic diversity was far greater in the older urban tree samples compared to the nursery samples, indicating that the nursery industry has been selectively cloning to produce new trees. While cloning trees is in itself a benign practice, doing so on a mass scale without a proper understanding of the implications of drastically reducing the genetic diversity of urban forests is ill-advised. A greater understanding of urban tree genetic diversity will allow policy makers, city planners, environmental agencies, and the nursery industry to make informed decisions and recommendations to improve practices for maintaining a robust tree landscape for the future.

An urban environment rich with trees is highly valued for its aesthetic qualities as well as its environmental benefits, such as reducing summer cooling costs, carbon sequestration, intercepting airborne pollutants, and reducing storm water runoff. In the United States, urban forests are estimated to contain about 3.8 billion trees, with an estimated structural asset value of $2.4 trillion. Billions of federal, local and private dollars are spent annually on management, labor, and the trees themselves as part of tree revitalization projects, and millions more are spent by individual homeowners to improve their environment and property values. Despite this multi-billion dollar urban tree economy, little work has been done to understand urban tree genetic diversity as an issue of vulnerability, or to examine the long-term impacts of urban tree genetic diversity on the sustainability of the urban environment.

Morton's research has been featured in newspapers, videos, and in peer-reviewed scientific articles.

Recorded Monday, October 6, 2014 at Carnegie Science Center in Pittsburgh, PA.

This is the Q&A portion of Dr. Morton's presentation.

Dr. Cynthia Morton

Carnegie Museum of Natural History

As a botanist, Dr. Cynthia Morton, curator of botany at Carnegie Museum of Natural History, has worked locally and internationally to collect specimens for phylogenetic analysis of molecular and morphological data. The range of projects include redefining the citrus family, constructing genomic maps, cleaning ground water, and investigating park and nursery tree genetics.

Her work in 2008 compared the level of genetic variation in London Plane trees already existing in the Pittsburgh area with trees of the same species currently available from three commercial nurseries. The genetic diversity was far greater in the older urban tree samples compared to the nursery samples, indicating that the nursery industry has been selectively cloning to produce new trees. While cloning trees is in itself a benign practice, doing so on a mass scale without a proper understanding of the implications of drastically reducing the genetic diversity of urban forests is ill-advised. A greater understanding of urban tree genetic diversity will allow policy makers, city planners, environmental agencies, and the nursery industry to make informed decisions and recommendations to improve practices for maintaining a robust tree landscape for the future.

An urban environment rich with trees is highly valued for its aesthetic qualities as well as its environmental benefits, such as reducing summer cooling costs, carbon sequestration, intercepting airborne pollutants, and reducing storm water runoff. In the United States, urban forests are estimated to contain about 3.8 billion trees, with an estimated structural asset value of $2.4 trillion. Billions of federal, local and private dollars are spent annually on management, labor, and the trees themselves as part of tree revitalization projects, and millions more are spent by individual homeowners to improve their environment and property values. Despite this multi-billion dollar urban tree economy, little work has been done to understand urban tree genetic diversity as an issue of vulnerability, or to examine the long-term impacts of urban tree genetic diversity on the sustainability of the urban environment.

Morton's research has been featured in newspapers, videos, and in peer-reviewed scientific articles.

Recorded Monday, October 6, 2014 at Carnegie Science Center in Pittsburgh, PA.

Dr. Katherine Freese

George E. Uhlenbeck Professor of Physics

Author

Dr. Katherine Freese, a pioneer in the study of dark matter, discusses her book, "The Cosmic Cocktail," which documents the inside story of the epic quest to solve one of the most compelling mysteries of modern science – what is the universe made of?

Craig Nelson, Author "The Age of Radiance: The Epic Rise and the Dramatic Fall of the Atomic Era" With a biographer's penchant for detail, author Craig Nelson will chronicle the historical figures of the atomic age, including its "Forgotten Women." His lecture will keep visitors guessing at every turn. Nelson is the author of "The Age of Radiance: The Epic Rise and Dramatic Fall of the Atomic Era," "Rocket Men" (a New York Times bestseller), "Thomas Paine: Enlightenment, Revolution, and the Birth of Modern Nations," among other works. Nelson, a historian, will offer new understanding of the era, focusing on its forgotten heroes and heroines who have impacted all of our lives. For example, Albert Einstein called Lise Meitner, the first female university professor in the history of Germany, "our Curie." The Viennese head of the Kaiser Wilhelm Institute's Physics department made one of the great discoveries of modern science on Christmas in 1938: Nuclear fission. But she was written out of history, first by the Nazis for being a Jew, and then by the post-war Germans for being a woman. Heisenberg called her nothing more than an assistant. Her worktable was mounted at Munich's German History Museum and labeled as being the desk of her great antagonist. She was denied the Nobel prize. But the physics community would enact a precise form of eternal vengeance – giving her a spot on the periodic table – while ensuring that her great foe could never achieve this honor. Learn more about Craig Nelson at www.craignelson.us Recorded on Monday, August 4, 2014 at Carnegie Science Center in Pittsburgh, PA.

This is the Q&A portion of Craig Nelson's talk, "The Age of Radiance." With a biographer's penchant for detail, author Craig Nelson will chronicle the historical figures of the atomic age, including its "Forgotten Women." His lecture will keep visitors guessing at every turn. Nelson is the author of "The Age of Radiance: The Epic Rise and Dramatic Fall of the Atomic Era," "Rocket Men" (a New York Times bestseller), "Thomas Paine: Enlightenment, Revolution, and the Birth of Modern Nations," among other works. Nelson, a historian, will offer new understanding of the era, focusing on its forgotten heroes and heroines who have impacted all of our lives. For example, Albert Einstein called Lise Meitner, the first female university professor in the history of Germany, "our Curie." The Viennese head of the Kaiser Wilhelm Institute's Physics department made one of the great discoveries of modern science on Christmas in 1938: Nuclear fission. But she was written out of history, first by the Nazis for being a Jew, and then by the post-war Germans for being a woman. Heisenberg called her nothing more than an assistant. Her worktable was mounted at Munich's German History Museum and labeled as being the desk of her great antagonist. She was denied the Nobel prize. But the physics community would enact a precise form of eternal vengeance – giving her a spot on the periodic table – while ensuring that her great foe could never achieve this honor. Learn more about Craig Nelson at www.craignelson.us Recorded on Monday, August 4, 2014 at Carnegie Science Center in Pittsburgh, PA.