Sauropodcast

Our special guest on this edition of the Sauropodcast is Margot Lee Shetterly.

Her best-selling book, “Hidden Figures,” and the Oscar-nominated movie it inspired tell the previously unknown story of an extraordinary group of female African-American mathematicians, known as human computers, whose work at NASA in the early days of the space race helped the first astronauts reach orbit and return safely to Earth.

Ms. Shetterly recently received the Anisfield-Wolf Book Award, which honors authors who help improve public understanding of issues of race and diversity.

Our interview took place in Cleveland, where she attended the award ceremony.

To watch a video of the interview, visit cmnh.org/Sauropodcast.

A man of boundless energy and interests, President Theodore Roosevelt took on enough roles to occupy two lifetimes.

We remember him as a statesman and diplomat. Rough Rider and progressive reformer. Adventurer, outdoorsman, and conservationist. The champion of the Panama Canal and the first pastor of the bully pulpit.

But one important pursuit has largely escaped historical notice. Theodore Roosevelt was a lifelong naturalist and, according to our guest on today’s Sauropodcast, a founding father of America’s natural history museums, helping amass their scientific collections of animal and bird specimens from around the world.

Darrin Lunde recounts TR’s passion for museum naturalism in his recent book, “The Naturalist – Theodore Roosevelt, a lifetime of exploration and the triumph of American natural history.”

Lunde is in a unique position to explore and explain Roosevelt’s deep museum connections. He’s a collections manager in the Smithsonian’s National Museum of Natural History, which houses many of the specimens TR collected during his lifetime.

Previously, Lunde worked at the American Museum of Natural History, where he led field expeditions throughout the world. He’s named more than a dozen new species of mammals and contributed to scientific descriptions of many other animals. And as Lunde will explain, his early life shares some interesting parallels with TR’s boyhood.

A man of boundless energy and interests, President Theodore Roosevelt took on enough roles to occupy two lifetimes.

We remember him as a statesman and diplomat. Rough Rider and progressive reformer. Adventurer, outdoorsman, and conservationist. The champion of the Panama Canal and the first pastor of the bully pulpit.

But one important pursuit has largely escaped historical notice. Theodore Roosevelt was a lifelong naturalist and, according to our guest on today’s Sauropodcast, a founding father of America’s natural history museums, helping amass their scientific collections of animal and bird specimens from around the world.

Darrin Lunde recounts TR’s passion for museum naturalism in his recent book, “The Naturalist – Theodore Roosevelt, a lifetime of exploration and the triumph of American natural history.”

Lunde is in a unique position to explore and explain Roosevelt’s deep museum connections. He’s a collections manager in the Smithsonian’s National Museum of Natural History, which houses many of the specimens TR collected during his lifetime.

Previously, Lunde worked at the American Museum of Natural History, where he led field expeditions throughout the world. He’s named more than a dozen new species of mammals and contributed to scientific descriptions of many other animals. And as Lunde will explain, his early life shares some interesting parallels with TR’s boyhood.

When Apollo 11 astronaut Neil Armstrong declared "We came in peace for all mankind" while standing on the moon in July 1969, he wasn't just expressing his personal sentiment.

As our guest on this episode of the Sauropodcast will explain, it’s an expression of international space law. The 1967 agreement known as the Outer Space Treaty, signed by the United States, the Soviet Union and more than 100 other nations, requires that the moon and other celestial bodies only be used for peaceful, non-military purposes.

The treaty also forbids any government from laying claim to a moon or planet, and says that space exploration must be done to benefit all countries.

A lot’s changed since 1960s. Multiple nations, and now commercial companies, are launching spacecraft. More than 1,400 satellites currently orbit Earth. Space tourism, asteroid mining, and lunar and Mars outposts are all on the horizon.

All of those activities need regulation, and sometimes the mediation of conflicts. That’s where the field of space law comes in. Our guest, Mark Sundahl, is an international scholar, lecturer and educator on the subject. He’s an Associate Professor of Law at Cleveland State University’s Cleveland-Marshall College of Law.

Professor Sundahl serves on various space law advisory and policy-making groups, including the U.S. delegation to the United Nations Committee on the Peaceful Uses of Outer Space, and the Federal Aviation Administration's International Space Policy Working Group.

Professor Sundahl also is director of Cleveland State University’s new Global Space Law Center. The center will help train the next generation of space lawyers, formulate laws and policies that promote the peaceful use of space, and assist the growth of the commercial space industry.

When Apollo 11 astronaut Neil Armstrong declared "We came in peace for all mankind" while standing on the moon in July 1969, he wasn't just expressing his personal sentiment.

As our guest on this episode of the Sauropodcast will explain, it’s an expression of international space law. The 1967 agreement known as the Outer Space Treaty, signed by the United States, the Soviet Union and more than 100 other nations, requires that the moon and other celestial bodies only be used for peaceful, non-military purposes.

The treaty also forbids any government from laying claim to a moon or planet, and says that space exploration must be done to benefit all countries.

A lot’s changed since 1960s. Multiple nations, and now commercial companies, are launching spacecraft. More than 1,400 satellites currently orbit Earth. Space tourism, asteroid mining, and lunar and Mars outposts are all on the horizon.

All of those activities need regulation, and sometimes the mediation of conflicts. That’s where the field of space law comes in. Our guest, Mark Sundahl, is an international scholar, lecturer and educator on the subject. He’s an Associate Professor of Law at Cleveland State University’s Cleveland-Marshall College of Law.

Professor Sundahl serves on various space law advisory and policy-making groups, including the U.S. delegation to the United Nations Committee on the Peaceful Uses of Outer Space, and the Federal Aviation Administration's International Space Policy Working Group.

Professor Sundahl also is director of Cleveland State University’s new Global Space Law Center. The center will help train the next generation of space lawyers, formulate laws and policies that promote the peaceful use of space, and assist the growth of the commercial space industry.

Dark matter is the stealthy cosmic stuff that makes up 85 percent of the universe. It helps hold galaxies together, but so far, scientists haven’t been able to detect it directly, or figure out exactly what dark matter is.

Could this mysterious material have played a role in the catastrophe that wiped out the dinosaurs and most other life on Earth 66 million years ago?

That’s the provocative idea at the heart of physicist Lisa Randall’s recent best-selling book, Dark Matter and the Dinosaurs.

On this episode of the Sauropodcast, Dr. Randall explains what led her and several of her colleagues to finger dark matter as the culprit in one of history’s most notorious events. We’ll discuss the evidence, the implications, and the surprising connections between seemingly remote forces and phenomena in the universe and life on our small planet.

Lisa Randall studies theoretical and particle physics and cosmology at Harvard University, where she is the Frank B. Baird Jr. Professor of Science. She’s a member of the National Academy of Sciences and is among Esquire Magazine’s 75 most influential people of the 21st century.

If you’d like to hear Dr. Randall in person, she’ll be speaking at the Cleveland Museum of Natural History at 7 p.m. Friday, October 13, 2017, as part of our Explorer lecture series. For more details on that event, and the rest of the Explorer lineup, visit cmnh.org/explorerseries.

Dr. Randall’s lecture also marks the kickoff of the Museum’s celebration of women in science, from October 2017 to April 2018. For more information about the events, visit cmnh.org/womeninscience.

Dark matter is the stealthy cosmic stuff that makes up 85 percent of the universe. It helps hold galaxies together, but so far, scientists haven’t been able to detect it directly, or figure out exactly what dark matter is.

Could this mysterious material have played a role in the catastrophe that wiped out the dinosaurs and most other life on Earth 66 million years ago?

That’s the provocative idea at the heart of physicist Lisa Randall’s recent best-selling book, Dark Matter and the Dinosaurs.

On this episode of the Sauropodcast, Dr. Randall explains what led her and several of her colleagues to finger dark matter as the culprit in one of history’s most notorious events. We’ll discuss the evidence, the implications, and the surprising connections between seemingly remote forces and phenomena in the universe and life on our small planet.

Lisa Randall studies theoretical and particle physics and cosmology at Harvard University, where she is the Frank B. Baird Jr. Professor of Science. She’s a member of the National Academy of Sciences and is among Esquire Magazine’s 75 most influential people of the 21st century.

If you’d like to hear Dr. Randall in person, she’ll be speaking at the Cleveland Museum of Natural History at 7 p.m. Friday, October 13, 2017, as part of our Explorer lecture series. For more details on that event, and the rest of the Explorer lineup, visit cmnh.org/explorerseries.

Dr. Randall’s lecture also marks the kickoff of the Museum’s celebration of women in science, from October 2017 to April 2018. For more information about the events, visit cmnh.org/womeninscience.

The flickering lamps of fireflies are a sure sign of summer. Seeing those tiny golden flares on the lawn can instantly transport us back to childhood, and warm evenings spent trying to catch their glow in a Bell jar.

You probably know that firefly flashes are a signaling system. But the language the bugs are using is far more complex than you might suspect. And the message isn’t always just, “Let’s hook up.”

Our guest for this Sauropodcast episode, entomologist Dr. Marc Branham, can help us understand the fascinating history and habits of fireflies. Dr. Branham is an associate professor of insect systematics and taxonomy at the University of Florida. He does extensive research on fireflies, focusing on learning more about their relationships and behaviors.

Dr. Branham also is a consultant on the exhibit Creatures of Light, Nature’s Glowing Mysteries, which explores the science of bioluminescence. You can see it at the Cleveland Museum of Natural History through January 7, 2018.

The flickering lamps of fireflies are a sure sign of summer. Seeing those tiny golden flares on the lawn can instantly transport us back to childhood, and warm evenings spent trying to catch their glow in a Bell jar.

You probably know that firefly flashes are a signaling system. But the language the bugs are using is far more complex than you might suspect. And the message isn’t always just, “Let’s hook up.”

Our guest for this Sauropodcast episode, entomologist Dr. Marc Branham, can help us understand the fascinating history and habits of fireflies. Dr. Branham is an associate professor of insect systematics and taxonomy at the University of Florida. He does extensive research on fireflies, focusing on learning more about their relationships and behaviors.

Dr. Branham also is a consultant on the exhibit Creatures of Light, Nature’s Glowing Mysteries, which explores the science of bioluminescence. You can see it at the Cleveland Museum of Natural History through January 7, 2018.

A decade ago, the very first self-driving cars were still figuring out how to avoid obstacles and cross intersections.

Today, although they’re still in testing mode, autonomous vehicles are a common sight on the streets of Pittsburgh and other cities.

And by 2035, some business forecasters say we’ll be entering the passenger economy – where it will be routine for a computer do the driving while you nap, catch up on work or watch a movie.

What’s behind this rapid progress in autonomous vehicles, and what’s on the road ahead? Our guest today will help us understand the fascinating, fast-changing science of self-driving cars and artificial intelligence.

Dr. Wyatt Newman is a professor in the Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science at Cleveland’s Case Western Reserve University, where he’s taught since 1988. He’s an expert in robotics and artificial intelligence. He holds 12 patents and has written more than 150 technical publications, including a new textbook on robot programming. Professor Newman led student teams competing in the 2007 DARPA Urban Challenge for autonomous vehicles, and the 2015 DARPA Robotics Challenge.