As a young child in India, Nithin Silvadas picked up Carl Sagan’s Cosmos, and it may have changed his life. From that moment on, he was enraptured with they universe. An undergraduate in engineering (where he literally helped build satellites) and PhD focused on radiation belts around planets (including Earth) later, he’s now a Research Scientist with NASA Goddard studying space weather.Wait, what’s space weather?We talked with Nithin about plasma fields, how social class affects science, and who science really should serve.This episode was produced by Shane M Hanlon, and mixed by Collin Warren. Artwork by Karen Romano Young. Interviews conducted by Jason Rodriguez

Invisible forces: Weathering the (academic space) storm

Third Pod from the Sun is back, and we’re going weekly! We’re breaking things up into six-week mini-series and our first series is all about the true, personal stories from scientists, for everyone. Join us as we combat misconceptions about sharks, learn how to lasso lizards, hear from a Martian here on Earth, spark science joy via TikTok, journey to Antarctica, and fight over food with some capuchins!

Natural Sciences

Science & Medicine

Science

Astronomy

Earth Sciences

Horror stories (especially movies) have a tradition of long series capstoned by an “ending” movie. Halloween Ends. Friday the 13th: The Final Chapter. THE Final Destination. And while Third Pod isn’t a horror movie, we are ending (but like some of those stated “final” movies, we may someday return).Join hosts Shane Hanlon, Vicky Thompson, and a special guest, to reflect on the highs, and the highs (of course there weren’t lows!) of the podcast over the years, and what it has meant to them.This episode was produced by Shane M Hanlon (https://linktr.ee/ecologyofshane), and mixed by Collin Warren (https://www.collinwarren.com/). Art by Jace Steiner (https://www.instagram.com/opiartsy/).

Tales from the (manus)crypt: This is the end

There’s something powerful about the sound of a scream. Whether it pierces the silence of an empty building or rings out through a crowded room, it forces you to stop what you’re doing and take note. It turns out there’s a scientific explanation for that. Our brains are hardwired to recognize the sound of a human scream as a distress signal so that we can respond accordingly. We talked to neuroscientist Luc Arnal about what particular sounds make a scream a scream and how he studies the brain circuits that interpret them. This episode was produced by Andrew Saintsing (https://twitter.com/AndrewSaintsing) and mixed by Collin Warren (https://www.collinwarren.com/).

Tales from the (manus)crypt: The sound of screams

Carolyn Elya is the Zombiologist in Chief, aka incoming Assistant Professor in Molecular and Cellular Biology at Harvard University. She’s been obsessed with parasites for a while, but it was the flies zombified by a fungus that made them climb, perch, and die that really caught her fancy. We talked with Carolyn about how fungi control flies and other insects, and the evolutionary implications for the zombie-making fungus and its doomed victims.This episode was produced by Devin Reese and mixed by Collin Warren (https://www.collinwarren.com/). Art by Jace Steiner (https://www.instagram.com/opiartsy/).

Tales from the (manus)crypt: Zombie-making fungi

One of the scariest things for scientists is watching entertainment media portray your field of study inaccurately—the horror! Flood resilience officer and social volcanologist Jazmin Scarlett turned her hobby of playing video games into a paper discussing the depictions of volcanic hazards in games such as Pokémon, LEGO DC Super Villains, and Shadow of the Tomb Raider. The typical video game volcano nearly always has molten lava, but would these games be even more fun to play if they incorporated fissure eruptions, pyroclastic flows, and the dangerous effects of ash and toxic gasses? Jazmin talked with us about her views on natural disasters in fiction media, what scares her about volcanoes, and why she left volcanology to work on flood resilience with the UK’s Environment Agency.This episode was produced by Katrina Jackson (https://www.katrina-jackson.com/) and mixed by Collin Warren (https://www.collinwarren.com/). Art by Jace Steiner (https://www.instagram.com/opiartsy/).

Tales from the (manus)crypt: Volcanic video games

The video game and TV show “The Last of Us” captivated audiences with the concept of a fungal pandemic. The story is set in a world ravaged by a fungus that infects people and turns them into zombies. But what’s the likelihood a human fungal pandemic could happen? Scientists Teresa O’Meara and Tim James separate fungal fact from fiction and talk about what real fungal fears keep them up at night.This episode was produced by Molly Magid  (https://twitter.com/molmagid)and mixed by Collin Warren (https://www.collinwarren.com/). Art by Jace Steiner (https://www.instagram.com/opiartsy/).

Invisible forces: Weathering the (academic space) storm

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