By Laura Mahler
The podcast currently has 23 episodes available.
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/
The podcast currently has 23 episodes available.