Spiros Michalakis is manager of outreach and a staff researcher at Caltech’s Institute for Quantum Information and Matter, an NSF Physics Frontiers Center. He joins us to discuss his role representing the U.S. for World Quantum Day; quantum states as a natural language; the challenges in communicating complex ideas; and where he hopes to see the field go in the future.

In a landmark development for neuroscience, an interdisciplinary team has completed the first full map of an insect brain, revealing synaptic connections and valuable insights into how the brain operates. We are joined by Joshua Vogelstein, associate professor of biomedical engineering at Johns Hopkins University to learn about the obstacles in processing and analyzing big data; the links between animal intelligence, artificial intelligence, and machine learning; and where he’s hoping to take his research in the future.

The NSF Engineering Research Center for Hybrid Autonomous Manufacturing Moving from Evolution to Revolution will accelerate the development and deployment of intelligent, autonomous manufacturing systems, enabling mass customization in local production facilities. We are joined by co-principal investigators Glenn Daehn and Jian Cao, as well as NSF Director Sethuraman Panchanathan, Assistant Director for Engineering Susan Margulies, and ERC Program Director Sarit Bhaduri.  

Representation is vital for inspiring the next generation, and the fields of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics are no different. Today we are joined by Karen Marrongelle, the NSF’s chief operating officer to talk about her career in mathematics, leadership in education and efforts being made to bolster the future STEM workforce.

Peggy Giordano has studied cognitive transformation and the dynamics of desistance for many years. Her work at Bowling Green State University in Ohio led to a 2021 Stockholm Prize in Criminology. We’ll hear about her study that follows subjects from adolescence into adulthood looking at social influences on the long-term cessation of violence, including the effects of intimate partner and family dynamics, and what behavioral changes are needed for successful cessation to occur.

The video game and television adaptation, The Last of Us, has created a lot of interest in the parasitic fungi Ophiocordyceps. We're joined by Charissa De Bekker, assistant professor of biology at Utrecht University in the Netherlands, to learn about the different kinds of Cordyceps, her experience studying their parasitic relationship with ants, and the zombie-like behavior that is exhibited as the fungus develops.

NSF's Directorate for Social, Behavioral, and Economic Sciences supports research focused on human behavior and how behavior can be shaped by social, economic, political, cultural, and environmental forces. Two NSF-supported researchers, Abigail Marsh, a professor in the Department of Psychology and the Interdisciplinary Program in Neuroscience at Georgetown University and Joshua Greene, professor of psychology and a member of the Center for Brain Science at Harvard University, join us to discuss altruism. What is it? Are first responders altruistic? Are other creatures capable of altruism? If it's on the internet, is it performative?

With accurate definitions of a seemingly contradictory nature and complex concepts like entanglement and teleportation, the realm of quantum science can get unusual very quickly. But what is quantum? What can you do with it? Do the movies get it right? We set out to answer some of these questions with quantum physicist Spiros Michalakis, a staff researcher and manager of outreach at the Institute for Quantum Information and Matter at Caltech, a U.S. National Science Foundation Physics Frontiers Center.

During Iceland's Viking Age, a volcanic eruption formed a lava tube, which became a cave known as Surtshellir. Fast forward more than a millennium and a researcher from Brown University heard stories of tourists visiting a Viking Era site inside the cave and taking away bones they found there. What does the site tell us about Viking culture, Norse Mythology, and folklore? We'll speak with Kevin P. Smith to hear what he found when he descended into the cave of Surtur.

In elite athletics, competitive advantages can come from the smallest of differences. Track, cycling, baseball, basketball, soccer, football have all been fundamentally impacted by technological developments. Supported in part by NSF, NeuroTrainer has developed a virtual reality program that can impact performance by training the mind. We are joined by founder Jeff Nyquist and CEO Noah Rolland. We further explore scientific technology's revolutionary impact on sport with Rayvon Fouché.