Mentorship plays an essential role in encouraging and inspiring the next generation. Often, mentors are parents, family members or teachers, but anyone can be a mentor. We'll speak with Dr. Sethuraman Panchanathan, the 15th director of the U.S.  National Science Foundation, to learn about his experiences with mentorship and his approach to inspiring others. We will also look at the mentor – mentee relationship between NSF Creative Services Division Branch Chief Cori Bassett and AAAS fellow Dr. Sasha Luks-Morgan.

NSF-supported researchers at Princeton University have developed an egg protein-derived aerogel whose unique structure is able to remove both salt and microplastics from water. We speak with Sehmus Ozeden to learn more about how this aerogel was developed, how it might be used and what impact it could have on the food supply.

NSF's Engineering Research Center for Smart Streetscapes will forge livable, safe, and inclusive communities through real-time, hyperlocal technologies for streets and their surroundings. We are joined by Principal Investigator Andrew Smyth and Co-PI Mubarak Shah, as well as NSF Director Sethuraman Panchanathan, Assistant Director Susan Margulies, and Program Manager Sandra Cruz-Pol.  

While we are seeing climate change impacts around the world, researchers from the Florida Museum have reported the results of 30 dives tracking the number and diversity of one animal that appears to be doing just fine. 

The NSF Engineering Research Center for Advancing Sustainable and Distributed Fertilizer Production will enable resilient and sustainable food production by developing next-generation technology for capturing, recycling and producing decarbonized nitrogen-based fertilizers. We are joined by Principal Investigator Gerardine Botte, Co-PI Odemari Mbuya, as well as NSF Director Sethuraman Panchanathan, Assistant Director Susan Margulies, and Program Manager Mehdi Ferdowsi.  

A recent nuclear fusion ignition event at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory has made headlines around the world. We are joined by physicists Slava Lukin and Jose Lopez to find out what nuclear fusion is and to learn about plasmas.

The Polar Geospatial Center at the University of Minnesota Twin Cities and the Ohio State University have recently released four more years of image data, creating the most detailed polar region terrain maps ever. Claire Porter, Co-Director at the Polar Geospatial Center joins to tell us exactly what is at the north pole and what we can learn from mapping it.

At North Carolina State University, NSF-supported researchers have developed a swimming soft robot that is four times faster than previous soft robots. Professor Jie Yin joins to explain how they developed the energy efficient model inspired by manta rays.

NSF's Engineering Research Center for Precision Microbiome Engineering will be creating microbiome technologies that address challenges at the interface of human health and the built environment. We are joined by principal investigator Claudia Gunsch, co-PI Joseph Graves, Duke University Dean of Engineering Jerome Lynch, as well as NSF Director Sethuraman Panchanathan, Assistant Director for Engineering Susan Margulies and ERC Program Director Randy Duran.

Kaitlyn Becker was working on her doctorate at Harvard University when she helped develop a soft robotic system that can handle complex objects by using entanglement grasping. She joins to explain how creatures of the sea inspired the robotic gripper and how it might be used in the future.