Seagrasses are more efficient at storing carbon in the soil or sediment, acre for acre, than a tropical rainforest. That could make them a powerful tool for slowing the rapid rise of atmospheric CO2. The ability to quantify how much carbon a specific seagrass bed stores over time could help governments, businesses and environmental groups better manage these natural carbon sinks. Ken Dunton, a marine biology professor and Preston Wilson, an engineering professor may have found one weird trick to measuring carbon storage in seagrass beds: listening to the sound of tiny bubbles.

With current technologies, being able to accurately measure how much carbon a seagrass bed stores from year to year takes a lot of time, people and money. It requires going out and physically digging up plants and sediments and bringing them back to the lab and spending days analyzing them—and doing this repeatedly over time. 

The new method Dunton and Wilson are developing relies on a simple idea: As seagrasses turn sunlight into energy, they absorb carbon dioxide from the water, store the carbon in their roots and other tissues and release the oxygen back into the water, some in the form of bubbles. The more bubbles a seagrass plant emits during the day, the more carbon it stores. By continuously measuring the sound intensity, they can infer how much carbon is stored over time.

Episode credits

Our theme music was composed by Charlie Harper

Other music for today’s show was produced by: Podington Bear

Cover image: Concept for a new way to infer carbon storage in seagrass beds using sound intensity recorded with hydrophones (black). Illustration credit: 5W Infographics.

About Point of Discovery

Point of Discovery is a production of the University of Texas at Austin's College of Natural Sciences and is a part of the Texas Podcast Network. The opinions expressed in this podcast represent the views of the hosts and guests, and not of The University of Texas at Austin. You can listen via Apple Podcasts, Spotify, RSS, Amazon Podcasts, and more. Questions or comments about this episode or our series in general? Email Marc Airhart.

We’re celebrating the launch of “AI for the Rest of Us”, a podcast to help get you up to speed on the essentials of artificial intelligence. Every two weeks, we’ll sit down with UT faculty experts and get them talking, in simple terms, about how AI might transform healthcare, work, the ways we learn and how we make big decisions.

Co-hosts are Marc Airhart, science writer and podcaster in the College of Natural Sciences and Casey Boyle, associate professor of rhetoric and director of UT’s Digital Writing & Research Lab.

Listen via Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Podcasts, RSS, or anywhere you get your podcasts. You can also listen on the web at aifortherest.net.

About Point of Discovery

Point of Discovery is a production of the University of Texas at Austin's College of Natural Sciences and is a part of the Texas Podcast Network. The opinions expressed in this podcast represent the views of the hosts and guests, and not of The University of Texas at Austin. You can listen via Apple Podcasts, Spotify, RSS, Amazon Podcasts, and more. Questions or comments about this episode or our series in general? Email Marc Airhart.

Over the past year and a half, data and images from the James Webb Space Telescope, or JWST, have been flooding in. And floating around in that sea of data (and from other instruments over the past 20 years) are at least three big problems: There appear to be too many big, bright galaxies, too soon after the Big Bang. No one can agree on how fast the universe is (or was) expanding. And we don’t know what most of the universe is made of. 

The University of Texas at Austin brought together a panel of astronomy and physics faculty members to debate and discuss the meaning of these emerging problems in the data. The panelists were Kim Boddy, Mike Boylan-Kolchin, Karl Gebhardt, Can Kilic and Julian Muñoz. Have a listen and then decide: is cosmology really in crisis?

For a deeper dive into some of the issues raised in this episode, head over to this recently released video from the American Museum of Natural History’s Isaac Asimov Panel Debate, titled: “JWST’s Cosmic Revolution.” It features Mike Boylan-Kolchin, UT alum Neil DeGrasse Tyson and others.

Research related to today’s debate:

James Webb Space Telescope Images Challenge Theories of How Universe Evolved

Cosmic Dawn: The JWST is Changing our Calculus of the Cosmos

Hobby-Eberly Telescope Reveals Galaxy Gold Mine in First Large Survey

Did the James Webb telescope ‘break the universe’? Maybe not

Episode credits

Our theme music was composed by Charlie Harper

Other music for today’s show was produced by: Podington Bear

Cover image: JWST’s image of spiral galaxy NGC 628, which is 32 million light-years away in the constellation Pisces. The spiraling filamentary structure looks somewhat like a cross section of a nautilus shell. Read more. Credit: NASA, ESA, CSA, STScI, Janice Lee (STScI), Thomas Williams (Oxford), and the PHANGS team.

About Point of Discovery

Point of Discovery is a production of the University of Texas at Austin's College of Natural Sciences and is a part of the Texas Podcast Network. The opinions expressed in this podcast represent the views of the hosts and guests, and not of The University of Texas at Austin. You can listen via Apple Podcasts, Spotify, RSS, Amazon Podcasts, and more. Questions or comments about this episode or our series in general? Email Marc Airhart.

Here in the U.S., many of us are eagerly awaiting the April 8th, 2024 total solar eclipse, the last of its kind to cross our paths (at least in the contiguous U.S.) until the year 2045. Austin, Texas, where we produce Point of Discovery, is right in the path of totality. And this eclipse feels even more special because the last total solar eclipse in Austin happened before there was an Austin, in the year 1397.

On today’s show, we talk to bird biologist Peter English about the strange ways that animals respond to solar eclipses; biologist David Ledesma about the plants and animals that lived in Central Texas 600 years ago; and archaeologist Fred Valdez about what Native Americans might have made of that last solar eclipse. 

Resources for watching the April 8, 2024 solar eclipse

• April 8 Total Solar Eclipse (McDonald Observatory)
• Interactive Solar Eclipse Map for April 8
• Total Eclipse of the Horns (UT Austin)
• Totality (free, interactive phone app that tells you what the eclipse will be like for any location, which locations will experience totality and for exactly how long)
• How to View a Solar Eclipse Safely (American Astronomical Society)
• Solar Eclipse Across America (American Astronomical Society)

Dig deeper into eclipse science

• Lunar and solar eclipses make animals do strange things

Episode credits

• Select bird sounds from: Yasuni Soundscapes – Ecuador 2018, by Lang Elliott
• Our theme music was composed by Charlie Harper
• Other music for today’s show was produced by: Podington Bear
• Cover image: The Sun’s corona shining brightly during a total solar eclipse in 2009. This media was created by the National Optical-Infrared Astronomy Research Laboratory (NOIRLab). Credit: Miloslav Druckmüller, Peter Aniol, Vojtech Rušin, Ľubomír Klocok, Karel Martišek, Martin Dietzel. Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

About Point of Discovery

Point of Discovery is a production of the University of Texas at Austin's College of Natural Sciences and is a part of the Texas Podcast Network. The opinions expressed in this podcast represent the views of the hosts and guests, and not of The University of Texas at Austin. You can listen via Apple Podcasts, Spotify, RSS, Amazon Podcasts, and more. Questions or comments about this episode or our series in general? Email Marc Airhart.

On today’s show we talk with Philip Souza, a Ph.D. student in the lab of Simon Brandl at the Marine Science Institute, and a Stengl-Wyer fellow. His research is focused on the sounds that fish along the Texas Gulf Coast make to attract mates or defend territory. He works in the Mission-Aransas Estuary near Port Aransas, whose oyster reefs and other habitats support rich communities of fish, many of which have a big impact on the Texas economy — including spotted sea trout, catfish, red drum and black drum. He’s developing ways to continuously record sound in the water to monitor the health of the ecosystem. As fate would have it, two years ago, his approach was put to the test.

Read a Q&A with Philip Souza

See a map of the Mission-Aransas Estuary

Learn more about the Mission-Aransas National Estuarine Research Reserve

Our theme music was composed by Charlie Harper

Other music for today’s show was produced by: Podington Bear

About Point of Discovery

Point of Discovery is a production of the University of Texas at Austin's College of Natural Sciences and is a part of the Texas Podcast Network. The opinions expressed in this podcast represent the views of the hosts and guests, and not of The University of Texas at Austin. You can listen via Apple Podcasts, Spotify, RSS, Amazon Podcasts, and more. Questions or comments about this episode or our series in general? Email Marc Airhart.

On today’s show we talk with Alex Huth, assistant professor of neuroscience and computer science at The University of Texas at Austin, and Ph.D. student Jerry Tang about a new system that can read a person’s thoughts in real time and produce a stream of continuous text. The system they developed, called a semantic decoder, relies in part on the kind of AI model behind ChatGPT. It might one day help people who are mentally conscious yet unable to physically speak, such as those debilitated by strokes, to communicate intelligibly again. The scientists behind it are also wrestling with thorny issues this technology brings up, concerning privacy and the ethical use of AI.

Show Notes

If you liked this episode, check out our earlier episode featuring Alex Huth talking about an earlier iteration of this research.

Through the Good Systems initiative, The University of Texas at Austin is bringing together researchers from a broad range of disciplines to explore ways to ensure that artificial intelligence develops in a way that is beneficial, not detrimental, to humanity. Learn more about Good Systems here.

Episode Credits

Our theme music was composed by Charlie Harper

Other music for today’s show was produced by: Podington Bear

About Point of Discovery

Point of Discovery is a production of the University of Texas at Austin's College of Natural Sciences and is a part of the Texas Podcast Network. The opinions expressed in this podcast represent the views of the hosts and guests, and not of The University of Texas at Austin. You can listen via Apple Podcasts, Spotify, RSS, Amazon Podcasts, and more. Questions or comments about this episode or our series in general? Email Marc Airhart.

For graduate student Olivia Cooper, the successful launch of the James Webb Space Telescope, or JWST, comes at the perfect time to help launch her career studying galaxy evolution. Cooper works with University of Texas at Austin associate professor Caitlin Casey on the biggest project in JWST’s first year—COSMOS-Web—which is designed to take the deepest images of the universe to date and reveal some of the earliest galaxies to form after the Big Bang. We talk with Cooper about the breathtaking images JWST is collecting, the complicated legacy of the telescope’s namesake, why her fellow scientists are just as inspiring as JWST itself and what this moment means to her.

Show Notes

First images from the JWST: https://www.nasa.gov/webbfirstimages

Caitlin Casey’s full interview with KUT’s Texas Standard: https://www.texasstandard.org/stories/a-ut-researcher-is-behind-the-james-webb-telescopes-biggest-project-of-2022/

Read more about COSMOS-Web: https://arxiv.org/abs/2211.07865

Episode Credits

Our theme music was composed by Charlie Harper

Other music for today’s show was produced by: Podington Bear

About Point of Discovery

Point of Discovery is a production of the University of Texas at Austin's College of Natural Sciences and is a part of the Texas Podcast Network. The opinions expressed in this podcast represent the views of the hosts and guests, and not of The University of Texas at Austin. You can listen via Apple Podcasts, Spotify, RSS, Amazon Podcasts, and more. Questions or comments about this episode or our series in general? Email Marc Airhart.

Over the past 15 years or so, tawny crazy ants from South America have been popping up across the southeastern U.S. like paratroopers dropping in from an invading army. Where they take hold, they’re like an ecological wrecking ball and they cause headaches for homeowners. Podcast host Marc Airhart joined biologist Edward LeBrun in the Texas Hill Country to test a new weapon in the battle against the destructive tawny crazy ant.

Show Notes

LeBrun studies invasive species at the University of Texas at Austin’s Brackenridge Field Laboratory.

Watch a related video from UT News: Defending Texas from the Next Invasion

Episode Credits

Our theme music was composed by Charlie Harper

Other music for today’s show was produced by: Podington Bear

About Point of Discovery

Point of Discovery is a production of the University of Texas at Austin's College of Natural Sciences and is a part of the Texas Podcast Network. The opinions expressed in this podcast represent the views of the hosts and guests, and not of The University of Texas at Austin. You can listen via Apple Podcasts, Spotify, RSS, Amazon Podcasts, and more. Questions or comments about this episode or our series in general? Email Marc Airhart.

In addition to original interviews, today’s episode features excerpts from three interviews:

On the Shoulders of Giants: Steven Weinberg and the Quest to Explain the World (2021), World Science Festival

Physicist Steven Weinberg on His Search for a "Final Theory" (1993), Fresh Air

The Bill Moyers Interview: Steven Weinberg (1990), Bill Moyers

Our theme music was composed by Charlie Harper

Other music for today’s show was produced by: Podington Bear

On Monday, March 21, UT Austin is hosting a memorial lecture in honor of Steven Weinberg, featuring his fellow Nobel Laureate, MIT’s Frank Wilczek. This event is free and open to the public, both in-person and virtually via Zoom. Find out more and register here.

Donate to the Physics Theory Group, in memory of Steven Weinberg

About Point of Discovery

Point of Discovery is a production of the University of Texas at Austin's College of Natural Sciences and is a part of the Texas Podcast Network. The opinions expressed in this podcast represent the views of the hosts, and not of The University of Texas at Austin. You can listen via Apple Podcasts, Spotify, RSS, Stitcher, Amazon Podcasts, or Google Podcasts. Questions or comments about this episode or our series in general? Email Marc Airhart.

About Point of Discovery

Point of Discovery is a production of the University of Texas at Austin's College of Natural Sciences and is a part of the Texas Podcast Network. The opinions expressed in this podcast represent the views of the hosts and guests, and not of The University of Texas at Austin. You can listen via Apple Podcasts, Spotify, RSS, Amazon Podcasts, and more. Questions or comments about this episode or our series in general? Email Marc Airhart.

On Monday, March 21, UT Austin is hosting a memorial lecture in honor of Steven Weinberg, featuring his fellow Nobel Laureate, MIT’s Frank Wilczek. This event is free and open to the public, both in-person and virtually via Zoom. Find out more and register here.

Donate to the Physics Theory Group, in memory of Steven Weinberg

In addition to original interviews, today’s episode features excerpts from two videos:

On the Shoulders of Giants: Steven Weinberg and the Quest to Explain the World (2021), World Science Festival

Interview with Professor Steven Weinberg (2001), Nobel Prize Committee

Our theme music was composed by Charlie Harper

Other music for today’s show was produced by: Podington Bear

About Point of Discovery

Point of Discovery is a production of the University of Texas at Austin's College of Natural Sciences and is a part of the Texas Podcast Network. The opinions expressed in this podcast represent the views of the hosts, and not of The University of Texas at Austin. You can listen via Apple Podcasts, Spotify, RSS, Stitcher, Amazon Podcasts, or Google Podcasts. Questions or comments about this episode or our series in general? Email Marc Airhart.

About Point of Discovery

Point of Discovery is a production of the University of Texas at Austin's College of Natural Sciences and is a part of the Texas Podcast Network. The opinions expressed in this podcast represent the views of the hosts and guests, and not of The University of Texas at Austin. You can listen via Apple Podcasts, Spotify, RSS, Amazon Podcasts, and more. Questions or comments about this episode or our series in general? Email Marc Airhart.