Science Quickly

Move Over Fireworks—Drone Shows Are Taking to the Skies


Listen Later

Drone shows are replacing fireworks for summer celebrations. They’re safer and more environmentally friendly but complicated to program and run. A recent preprint paper proposes an algorithmic solution that can take some technical challenges out of drone operators’ hands and give engineers more creative control. Host Rachel Feltman speaks with researchers Mac Schwager, an associate professor at the aeronautics and astronautics department at Stanford University, and Eduardo Montijano, an associate professor at the department of computer science and systems engineering at the University of Zaragoza in Spain, about their work and what it would take to move the algorithm from theory to the skies.


Recommended reading:

Read the research team’s paper, which was presented at a 2024 workshop:

https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-3-031-91813-1_6

And released as a preprint:

https://arxiv.org/abs/2408.15899

How Do Fireworks Actually Work? Here’s the Explosive Science

https://www.scientificamerican.com/video/the-science-of-fireworks/


E-mail us at [email protected] if you have any questions, comments or ideas for stories we should cover!

Discover something new every day: subscribe to Scientific American and sign up for Today in Science, our daily newsletter.


Science Quickly is produced by Rachel Feltman, Fonda Mwangi, Kelso Harper, Naeem Amarsy and Jeff DelViscio. This episode was hosted by Rachel Feltman. Our show is edited by Alex Sugiura with fact-checking by Shayna Posses and Aaron Shattuck. The theme music was composed by Dominic Smith.


Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

...more
View all episodesView all episodes
Download on the App Store

Science QuicklyBy Scientific American

  • 4.2
  • 4.2
  • 4.2
  • 4.2
  • 4.2

4.2

599 ratings


More shows like Science Quickly

View all
Science Friday by Science Friday and WNYC Studios

Science Friday

6,097 Listeners

Big Picture Science by Big Picture Science

Big Picture Science

938 Listeners

The Naked Scientists Podcast by The Naked Scientists

The Naked Scientists Podcast

604 Listeners

Nature Podcast by Springer Nature Limited

Nature Podcast

752 Listeners

Planetary Radio: Space Exploration, Astronomy and Science by The Planetary Society

Planetary Radio: Space Exploration, Astronomy and Science

1,342 Listeners

Science Magazine Podcast by Science Magazine

Science Magazine Podcast

809 Listeners

Science Quickly by Scientific American

Science Quickly

1,372 Listeners

5 Live Science Podcast by BBC Radio 5 Live

5 Live Science Podcast

109 Listeners

Science In Action by BBC World Service

Science In Action

344 Listeners

60-Second Space by Scientific American

60-Second Space

216 Listeners

Discovery by BBC World Service

Discovery

953 Listeners

60-Second Health by Scientific American

60-Second Health

77 Listeners

60-Second Tech by Scientific American

60-Second Tech

60 Listeners

60-Second Mind by Scientific American

60-Second Mind

52 Listeners

Science Talk by Scientific American

Science Talk

83 Listeners

Unexpected Elements by BBC World Service

Unexpected Elements

355 Listeners

BBC Inside Science by BBC Radio 4

BBC Inside Science

401 Listeners

The Quanta Podcast by Quanta Magazine

The Quanta Podcast

498 Listeners

SpaceTime: Your Guide to Space & Astronomy by Stuart Gary

SpaceTime: Your Guide to Space & Astronomy

319 Listeners

Science, Quickly by Scientific American

Science, Quickly

43 Listeners

Physics World Weekly Podcast by Physics World

Physics World Weekly Podcast

79 Listeners