Restoring Darkness

Hannah Moon is a PhD Candidate at the University of Hawai’i at Mānoa in Dr. Megan Porter’s vision lab.  Her work focuses on understanding the physiological and molecular aspects of light perception in birds and has won multiple awards at scientific conferences.  In other words, she’s trying to understand what birds are seeing. As you’ll hear, it goes beyond just the molecular structure of the bird's eyes.  And yes, it’s but another species that can’t make it to the sea because of our nonchalance towards light pollution. 

Dr. Meredith Kernbach is a postdoctoral scholar at the University of South Florida, St. Petersburg in the lab of Dr. Mya Breitbart. For her doctoral dissertation, she studied how light pollution may affect zoonotic disease dynamics, specifically West Nile virus in House sparrows. Dr. Kernbach has found that even low light levels have allowed sparrows to hold the disease longer which means more mosquitos acquire it. And you can guess what that means for us.  Turn off your lights! 

Dr. Andreas Jechow is an interdisciplinary physicist with a broad expertise in photonics, the science of light. Earlier in his career Andreas worked in laser physics and quantum optics, for example on imaging the "shadow of a single atom" with lasers. In 2015, Andreas transitioned to environmental sciences where he applies his knowledge of light in research on light pollution.  Some of the fascinating studies Andreas is involved in include the impact of light on bats and insects and also on aquatic ecosystems. You’ll love the story of his daughter’s astute observation of the moon, and you’ll be jealous to hear that the city of Berlin where he lives is one of the darkest cities in Europe.

Dr. Sam Illingworth is an Associate Professor at Edinburgh Napier University, UK. He is a leading expert in using poetry to develop a dialogue between scientists and non-scientists. Sam write’s books, tweets, blogs, composes poetry, podcasts, creates games and still finds time for running.  If you want to engage your left AND right brain, give this episode a listen. 

Gail Walker is the founder of Nantucket Lights, an all-volunteer citizen advocacy group recently formed to combat the growing light pollution on Nantucket, the island off the coast of Massachusetts that is a popular summer destination for many. A former litigator for the U.S. Department of Justice, she began working on light pollution issues there after retiring a few years ago. Gail discusses with Jane how she uses her litigation skills to convince people on Nantucket Island to take steps to preserve the night sky.  With a yearly influx of up to 50,000 seasonal residents each year, it is a challenge to simply enforce the Light Ordinance Bylaws.  Will Gail get it done?  Listen to this episode and you be the judge.

Correction: Gail reached out to us after our enlightening podcast on all things Nantucket to offer a small correction. In the pressure of the moment, she misspoke and stated that Nantucket is 18 miles long; it is actually 14 miles long. Jane also did not get the name of the children's book she mentioned quite right. For those who are interested, it is Skywachter by Jamie Hogan.

Hilding Neilson is an interdisciplinary scientist currently working with the David A. Dunlap Department of Astronomy and Astrophysics at the University of Toronto and is Mi’kmaw from the Qalipu First Nation band. Hilding is working at the intersection of science, astronomy and Indigenous knowledge. He tells us some fascinating Indigenous stories about the constellations, and how many more have been lost and overshadowed over time by what he refers to as “Astro-colonialism.”    Hilding also tells us about his favourite star, Polaris, and why our sun is a “weird” star.

Dr. Tyler Nordgren is an artist, author, astronomer, and night sky ambassador. He holds a Ph.D. in Astronomy from Cornell University where he did work on dark matter as well as a B.A. in Physics from Reed College. In this episode, we discuss the role of his artwork in public education about the night skies, how inhabiting Mars is a longshot with questionable benefits, and you won't want to miss Tyler's description of solar eclipses and why they are so important for humanity.

Megan Porter PhD is an Associate Professor in the School of Life Sciences at the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa.  Her research program is focused on understanding the evolution of animal eye diversity, particularly from a molecular perspective. In this episode, Megan tells us about the vastly different vision perceptions that animals have from humans and the massive impact light pollution has on their vision. Wait till you hear about the Mantis Shrimp. 

Douglas Arion, PhD is the founder and director of Mountains of Stars, a public science outreach and education program that engages the public with ‘environmental awareness from a cosmic perspective’.  In this episode, Douglas logically explains why all other living creatures are equal to humans. He warns us of the pitfalls of the plethora of satellites that are going to be orbiting earth.  And you’re going to want to order the Galileoscope, a VERY affordable telescope that Douglas helped create and bring to market in order to bring the night sky to the less financially fortunate around the world.

Dr. Micah Brodsky is a wildlife veterinarian who focuses on marine animal medicine, research, and conservation and is the Director of Conservation Medicine at Hawaiʻi Marine Animal Response and a lecturer at the University of Hawaiʻi. Dr. Brodsky tells us about the dire consequences of light pollution on Wedgetail Shearwater birds, sea turtles and Monk Seals, to name a few, in Hawai’i.  As he says, it’s not Disney out there!