Earth Ideas

Dr Elizabeth Tasker is an astrophysicist who studies exoplanets: extra-solar planets - those worlds that exist, function and potentially support life outside of our own solar system.    

We talked about methods & theories in discovering and learning about exoplanets, the search for a planet similar to Earth, and the very exciting near future of space technologies & discoveries.   

0:00 Elizabeth's career journey 

9:51 First exoplanet discovery 

17:00 Detecting their compositions 

29:24 How to we detect & guess? 

34:52 Searching for water 

36:53 Searching for life 

44:29 The $.5bn Question 

52:07 JAXA's next missions  

This is a series of in-depth conversations with fascinating people, with loads to say about the current state of the world, everything that came before us, and everything that could be still to come.     

 We hope you enjoy.    

Leave us a comment :)    

SHARE SUBSCRIBE!    

And come back next week for more.     

 If you found this episode valuable, please support me with caffeine to keep them coming https://www.buymeacoffee.com/lauramahler :)    

Refs & Links:  

Hayabusa 2 Asteroid samples landing: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-55201662

The Planet Factory: https://www.elizabethtasker.com/planetfactory

Elizabeth's Links:   

https://twitter.com/girlandkat 

https://twitter.com/nexssmanyworlds 

https://www.elizabethtasker.com/ 

Our Socials:    

https://twitter.com/ideas_earth 

https://twitter.com/llcmahler 

https://www.instagram.com/earthideaspodcast 

https://www.instagram.com/laura.mahler

Dr Lindsay Morcom (Ardoch Algonquin First Nation) is a linguist and researcher of aboriginal languages and teaching. She works actively in language revitalisation techniques and advocates for decolonising education. Indigenous languages hold knowledge, histories & ways of thinking about their lands and culture that do not easily translate into western vocabularies and, as hundreds of languages die out every year, people like Lindsay work to make sure they are received by their heirs.   

0:00 Introduction to Lindsay 

5:07 Urban language revitalisation 

12:46 How do you think First Nation Canadians feel about their language? 

19:06 Can we have true direct synonyms or translations? 

25:42 Isolate languages 

28:19 Reconstructing languages 

33:24 Lindsay's approach to revitalising & teaching languages 

42:00 How are indigenous languages changing & updating?  

44:10 Lindsay's latest research  

This is a series of in-depth conversations with fascinating people, with loads to say about the current state of the world, everything that came before us, and everything that could be still to come.      

We hope you enjoy.    

Leave us a comment :)    

SHARE SUBSCRIBE!    

And come back next week for more.      

If you found this episode valuable, please support me with caffeine to keep them coming https://www.buymeacoffee.com/lauramahler :)    

Refs & Links:  

https://www.ted.com/talks/lindsay_morcom_a_history_of_indigenous_languages_and_how_to_revitalize_them

Lindsay's Links:   

https://educ.queensu.ca/lindsay-morcom https://educ.queensu.ca/atep 

Our Socials:    https://twitter.com/ideas_earth 

https://twitter.com/llcmahler 

https://www.instagram.com/earthideaspodcast 

https://www.instagram.com/laura.mahler

Prof Matthew Cobb is a zoologist and researcher into animal behaviours through their sense of smell (including ours!) On the side, he explores further his work in science with writing books on the history of science. His newest, The Idea Of The Brain: A History, explores how we come to define & thus attempt to understand the brain and all its complexities, and how we must continually reinvent our approach to doing as we learn more & more about how the brain works. 

We talked about historical understandings of the physical human brain and our cognitive abilities, the metaphors used over time for the brain, and new research & research methods that are revealing the limitations of our previous discussions on the brain.

The 1st half of this podcast focuses on Matthew's research into the sense of smell, so is available separately in the previous episode :)  

0:00 How did you get inspired for your new book?  

6:05 Comparing the brain to a computer 

10:15 Do we need a new metaphor for the brain? 

14:45 Smell in the brain 

20:40 How is the brain divided up?  

26:30 What are you writing now?

This is a series of in-depth conversations with fascinating people, with loads to say about the current state of the world, everything that came before us, and everything that could be still to come.    

We hope you enjoy.   

Leave us a comment :)   

SHARE SUBSCRIBE!   

And come back next week for more.    

If you found this episode valuable, please support me with caffeine to keep them coming https://www.buymeacoffee.com/lauramahler :)

Refs & Links: 

https://www.research.manchester.ac.uk/portal/cobb.html

Matthew's Links:  

https://twitter.com/matthewcobb

The Idea Of The Brain: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/51719771-the-idea-of-the-brain

Smell: A Very Short Introduction: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/52049783-smell 

Our Socials:   

https://twitter.com/ideas_earth 

https://twitter.com/llcmahler 

https://www.instagram.com/earthideaspodcast 

https://www.instagram.com/laura.mahler

Prof Matthew Cobb is interested in animal behaviour & psychology, and seeks his answers through research into the sense of smell.  

We talked about what effect Covid could be having which is causing a loss of smell and taste, how smell differs across the diversity of life, and what looking into smell can tell us about the effects of today's anthropogenic changes.  

0:00 COVID & loss of smell 

14:30 Can you regain loss of smell? 

18:20 How do you study smell? 

30:35 Pheromones 

40:50 Global & cultural differences in smelling 

48:25 Effects of anthropogenic changes

The 2nd half of this podcast focuses on Matthew's work in the history of science, so is available separately in the next episode.   

This is a series of in-depth conversations with fascinating people, with loads to say about the current state of the world, everything that came before us, and everything that could be still to come.    

We hope you enjoy.  

 Leave us a comment :)   

SHARE SUBSCRIBE!   

And come back next time for more.    

If you found this episode valuable, please support me with caffeine to keep them coming https://www.buymeacoffee.com/lauramahler :)

Refs & Links: 

https://www.research.manchester.ac.uk/portal/cobb.html

AS Barwich Smellosophy https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/51579757-smellosophy 

Matthew's Links:  

https://twitter.com/matthewcobb

The Idea Of The Brain: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/51719771-the-idea-of-the-brain

Smell: A Very Short Introduction: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/52049783-smell 

Our Socials:   

https://twitter.com/ideas_earth 

https://twitter.com/llcmahler 

https://www.instagram.com/earthideaspodcast 

https://www.instagram.com/laura.mahler

Dr Robert Wicks is a space physicist and specialist in natural and man-made hazards in our solar system. He is part of the team behind the ESA Solar Orbiter mission which aims to gather data about our sun's solar wind and polar regions, to better understand its magnetic fluctuations or 'seasons.'  

We talked about space weather, the newest attempts to predict it (like Solar Orbiter), and the risks posed by the solar storms & coronal mass ejections that we currently can't well predict. 

We then spoke about hot satellite real estate and the growing commercialisation of the space industry.    

0:00 How has your teaching been affected by lockdown? 

6:47 How has your research been affected? 

11:00 International cooperation in space industry 

17:20 Creating a space weather forecast 

28:35 Historical geomagnetic storms 

37:07 Effect of storms on satellites 

43:44 The Kessler Syndrome & space junk 

49:04 How do you feel about privatisation of industry? 

01:02:33 What new mission would you start with unlimited funding?

This is a series of in-depth conversations with fascinating people, with loads to say about the current state of the world, everything that came before us, and everything that could be still to come.    

We hope you enjoy.   

Leave us a comment :)   

SHARE SUBSCRIBE!   

And come back next week for more.    

If you found this episode valuable, please support me with caffeine to keep them coming https://www.buymeacoffee.com/lauramahler :)

Refs & Links: 

https://www.esa.int/Science_Exploration/Space_Science/Solar_Orbiter 

https://www.nasa.gov/content/goddard/parker-solar-probe 

https://www.northumbria.ac.uk 

https://www.northumbria.ac.uk/about-us/our-staff/w/robert-wicks/ 

http://interstellarprobe.jhuapl.edu https://ambasat.com 

https://www.aac-clyde.space 

https://www.ucl.ac.uk/mssl/ 

https://www.metoffice.gov.uk/weather/specialist-forecasts/space-weather  

Robert's Links:  

https://twitter.com/RobTWicks 

https://www.northumbria.ac.uk/about-us/our-staff/w/robert-wicks/ 

Our Socials:   

https://twitter.com/ideas_earth 

https://twitter.com/llcmahler 

https://www.instagram.com/earthideaspodcast

https://www.instagram.com/laura.mahler

Dr Aparna Banerjee is a microbiologist who works in the field of extremophiles - microbes who live & thrive in extreme environments. She's currently working on microbes that live in the Andean Hot Springs, and has previously studied those living in freezing Antarctic temperatures.  

We talked about extremophile methods for survival, and then went on to talk about her work in levelling the STEM playing field for women and hard-to-reach would-be scientists.

0:00 Chile's Atacama Desert 

6:12 Polymeric networks 

12:46 Use in industry 

19:34 Aparna's career journey 

26:00 Microbe conservation 

35:00 Lockdown's effect on microbes 

38:49 Women in STEM 

53:22 Microbes in space 

56:30 The $.5bn Question

This is a series of in-depth conversations with fascinating people, with loads to say about the current state of the world, everything that came before us, and everything that could be still to come.  

Or you can WATCH this episode on Youtube at https://tinyurl.com/y6akmj2p

We hope you enjoy.  

Leave us a comment :) 

SHARE SUBSCRIBE! 

And come back next week for more.  

If you found this episode valuable, please support me with caffeine to keep them coming https://www.buymeacoffee.com/lauramahler :)

Aparna's Links: 

https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Aparna_Banerjee3

Bioclues: http://bioclues.org/core-members/ 

https://twitter.com/AparnaMicrobio

Our Socials:  

https://twitter.com/ideas_earth

https://twitter.com/llcmahler

https://www.instagram.com/earthideaspodcast 

https://www.instagram.com/laura.mahler 

If you found this episode valuable, please support me with caffeine to keep them coming https://www.buymeacoffee.com/lauramahler :)

Prof Deborah Gordon is a biologist at Stanford University and a world expert in the function and survival of ant colonies. Her research uses ant colonies to investigate and design other systems that also operate without central control such as the internet, the immune system, and the brain. 

She is also concerned with how ants are adapting their behaviour in the Anthropocene and our changing climate.  

This is a series of in-depth conversations with fascinating people, with loads to say about the current state of the world, everything that came before us, and everything that could be still to come.  

Or you can WATCH this episode on Youtube at https://youtu.be/eIRhsL2C3Ck

We hope you enjoy.  

Leave us a comment :) 

SHARE SUBSCRIBE! 

And come back next week for more.  

Deborah's Links: 

Lab https://web.stanford.edu/~dmgordon/ 

Ted Talk https://tinyurl.com/yyg3x2zw  

My Socials:  https://www.instagram.com/laura.mahler 

https://www.instagram.com/earthideaspodcast

Professor Rebecca Earle is an historian of food & culture and is interested in all things of the everyday life of ordinary people - how their choices & activities have shaped and affected the global experience. She has written 2 whole books on the POTATO and how its glorious palatability in all kinds of dishes, and its brilliant caloric offering for a low land & water usage, changed the lives of people from Peru to China.

We talk about her determination to shine the light of history away from the usual characters and tell those other stories, and how concerns of the current days (ecological destruction, political & social division, human rights) must ultimately affect historical research.

0:00 Being a Food Historian 

5:51 Why were the Americas so blessed for crops? 

14:24 Potatoes head to Europe 

23:45 Potatoes take over the world 

34:25 A different view of history 

45:51 The $.5bn Question 

50:11 Future for potatoes

This is a series of in-depth conversations with fascinating people, with loads to say about the current state of the world, everything that came before us, and everything that could be still to come.  

You can also WATCH this episode on Youtube at https://tinyurl.com/y6akmj2p 

We hope you enjoy.  

Leave us a comment :) 

SHARE SUBSCRIBE! 

And come back next week for more.  

If you found this episode valuable, please support me with caffeine to keep them coming https://www.buymeacoffee.com/lauramahler :)

Rebecca's Links: 

https://warwick.ac.uk/fac/arts/history/people/staff_index/earle 

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Feeding-People-Politics-Rebecca-Earle-ebook/dp/B0868QFW2V 

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Potato-Object-Lessons-Rebecca-Earle/dp/1501344315 

My Socials:  https://www.instagram.com/laura.mahler 

https://www.instagram.com/earthideaspodcast

Dr Brian Hare is an evolutionary anthropologist, founder of the Duke University Canine Cognition Center and NYT bestselling author of The Genius Of Dogs. His new book, Survival Of The Friendliest, challenges the famous notion of 'survival of fittest' and proposes that it is in fact our (and our domesticated companions') friendliness & cooperation that lead to our massive success as a species.  

0:00 Why should we study animal psychology? 

5:35 Physical changes in domestication 

12:13 Anthropological Group Identity 

19:54 When wolves become dogs 

27:05 Dog fashions through history 

33:43 Cognitive differences across breeds 

37:56 Human & dog relationships 

48:52 Brian's research methods 

56:47 The $.5bn Question

This is a series of in-depth conversations with fascinating people, with loads to say about the current state of the world, everything that came before us, and everything that could be still to come.  

You can also WATCH the episode on Youtube at: https://youtu.be/FqbzYHlreEQ

We hope you enjoy.  

Leave us a comment :) 

SHARE SUBSCRIBE! 

And come back next week for more.  

If you found this episode valuable, please support me with caffeine to keep them coming https://www.buymeacoffee.com/lauramahler :)

Brian's Links: 

brianhare.net 

Survival Of The Friendliest book: http://www.brianhare.net/#books 

The Genius of Dogs book: http://www.brianhare.net/#books 

https://twitter.com/bharedogguy  

My Socials:  https://www.instagram.com/laura.mahler 

https://www.instagram.com/earthideas.podcast

Dr Danna Staaf is a marine biologist, science writer, and powerhouse expert on cephalopods, who's on a mission to bring them the fame and wonderment they deserve.

0:00 Danna's career beginnings 

5:00 Have we forgotten about Cephalopods? 

9:49 Evolution of Cephalopod intelligence 

19:08 The shell question 

28:14 Surviving mass extinctions 

35:11 Ability to adapt  

42:50 What do we have in common? 

49:54 Cephalopod brains 

56:14 Variety of life on Earth 

1:13:24 The $.5bn Question

This is a series of in-depth conversations with fascinating people, with loads to say about the current state of the world, everything that came before us, and everything that could be still to come.  

You can also WATCH this episode now on Youtube: https://youtu.be/h6aBXLsIKaY

We hope you enjoy.  

Leave us a comment :) 

SHARE SUBSCRIBE! 

And come back next week for more.   

If you found this episode valuable, please support me with caffeine to keep them coming https://www.buymeacoffee.com/lauramahler :)

Danna's Links: 

Monarchs Of The Sea book: https://bit.ly/MonarchsOfTheSea

https://twitter.com/DannaStaaf  

My Socials:  https://www.instagram.com/laura.mahler 

https://www.instagram.com/earthideas.podcast/