The Cosmic Shed

There maybe seven worlds but there's only one Chadden Hunter, Producer/Director of landmark BBC Natural History series like Frozen Planet, Planet Earth 2 and the stunning Seven Worlds, One Planet.

On a very chilly evening in January, Chadden joined Andrew in The Cosmic Shed to talk about the wonderful news series from the BBC's legendary Natural History Unit. The series takes viewers on spectacular journeys through the seven continents on this planet of ours. It is currently playing out on TV screens across the world and on BBC iPlayer in the UK.

Chadden and Andrew were also joined in the shed by Emma Brisdion, host of the wonderful For What it's Earth podcast which is part of the Stimulus Network.

Chadden shares some of the secrets of the trade and just what goes into making a stunning series of films like the BBC's Seven Worlds, One Planet.

It really was a cold night so pour yourself a cup of tea, coffee or cocoa, sit back and let Chadden's tales take you to far flung lands in this episode of The Cosmic Shed podcast.

show notes

You can hear about Emma Brisdion's Arctic adventure on our Spirit of Apollo episode

We travel to Mars for this special episode of The Cosmic Shed as we hear from the crew of the Sensoria Mission to Mars. The crew are actually in a Martian Habitat as part of an analogue mission, paving the way for future missions to the red planet.

The crew have been largely stuck in the Habitat, thanks to the "Martian" weather, but recorded this podcast for us just before going out on an EVA.

We hear about the mission goals and how its going so far. Of course, we also hear about the science fiction they have been watching and reading so far.

The crew take part in scientific research while they are on "Mars" which informs future space missions. 

The crew are:

J.J. Hastings - Commander + Bioengineer

So press play or download to your favourite podcast app and don some headphones as we travel to Mars in the capable hands of the Sensoria 6.

show notes

Last night, we gathered in the Planetarium at We The Curious and watched TRON. Before we settled in for the classic 80s sci-fi film, Ti and Andrew discussed TRON and the science of computer games with friend of The Cosmic Shed, Dr Pete Etchells. This is the recording of The Cosmic Shed presents TRON in the Planetarium at We The Curious.

Such a fun night topped off perfectly with TRON on that wonderful domed Planetarium roof.

The evening was in aid of the wonderful Special Effect.

show notes

You can get Dr Pete Etchells' book Lost in a Good Game here

We try to separate fact from fiction and our love for the HBO series Chernobyl from our dislike of misleading information about nuclear power in this brand new episode of The Cosmic Shed.

We are joined by two professors and someone who won an Oscar too so download and listen in.

Professor Neil Willey of UWE Bristol and Professor Tom Scott of The University of Bristol join Andrew and Steve to explore the science of Chernobyl, both in the real world and in the on screen version. Professor Neil Willey has been part of the TREE study looking into the effects of Chernobyl and Professor Tom Scott's research with the South West Nuclear Hub includes, among other things, a real life Iron Man suit.

Also joining us to discuss the work his company DNEG did for the wonderful looking Chernobyl is Paul Franklin, the man who won the Oscar for the special effects in Interstellar.

Oh and Ti pops in to tell us about his trip to Chernobyl. Sorry no photos here but keep an eye on our twitter. Don't forget to get your tickets for Tron in the Planetarium on December 10th 2019.

show notes

Steve mentions these videos from the South West Nuclear Hub.

Ti brings you interviews with the first ESA Astronaut to captain the International Space Station (Frank De Winne), Chase Masterson (Leeta in Deep Space Nine), Lead Scientist on the Rosetta Mission (Matt Taylor), The Trekkie Girls, Dr Nicol Caplin and J.G Herzler (Martok in Deep Space Nine) as he reports back from Destination Star Trek 2019.

We hear about the exciting missions ESA have planned as we explore comets, planets, the moon and more around our solar system.

J.G Hertzler and Chase Masterson share their memories of the late Aron Eisenberg who played Nog in Deep Space Nine

Show notes

Tickets for Tron Fest are available from www.tronfest.co.uk

Scientists have announced the first ever discovery of water vapour on an alien world outside our solar system. We bring you the lead author on the paper that made the discovery Professor Giovanna Tinetti of University College London in this episode of The Cosmic Shed.

Just a few years ago, exoplanets (planets orbiting other stars than our own) were theorised but we'd never actually detected any. With improving techniques, telescopes and technology, astronomers have now found over 4000 and begun to be able to peak into their atmospheres. It's worth stopping for a moment to think about. Planets orbiting stars lightyears away from Earth and astronomers can peer into the their atmosphere by analysing the light signatures. Truly astounding. Perhaps even more wonderfully, one of the very first planets to reveal its atmosphere to us has revealed water vapour.

Water is essential for life on Earth. 

Listen now to Professor Giovanna Tinetti on The Cosmic Shed.

If you want to gaze up at K2-18b and wonder what might be floating or wandering around there, you'll find the star it orbits around the constellation of Leo.

We also discuss Ad Astra.

Show notes

Get your tickets for our double bill of Tron and Tron Legacy with added science here.

We travel back to the 1986 classic Flight of the Navigator as we talk to Lisa Downs, the film maker in the midst of producing Life After the Navigator, a documentary tracking what has happened to Joey Cramer, star of the Disney film.

Lisa and Andrew discuss their love of the 80s classic scifi and Lisa tells us about the wonderful film she is making about Joey Cramer, the child star at the centre of the film and some dramatic real life stories.

This being The Cosmic Shed, we find time to bring you some wonderful science too so we catch up with Dr Nicol Caplin, Astrobiologist at the European Space Agency to talk about those tardigrades on the Moon. Are they as big an issue as some are making out?

Nicol also gives us some details on how you can visit ESA in the Netherlands for their open day in October 2019

Download, sit back and let time slip by.

show notes

Life After Flash is here 

Manu Saadia is the author of Trekonomics: The Economics of Star Trek and he joins us for this episode of The Cosmic Shed podcast.

Obviously, we're no strangers to Star Trek with previous guests including Marina Sirtis, Nichelle Nichols and Benedict Cumberbatch but economics is new to us. Those who came to our live event with Andy Weir will know that our Andrew has something of a disdain for economics but add Star Trek to it and he, and we, are all ears.

We also announce the winners of our From The Earth to the Moon competition and there's a treat (in the form of a sneak peak at our forthcoming announcement) at the very end. Apparently people don't listen to the end of podcasts but we know you guys do so thanks again for listening.

We hope you enjoy this new episode.

show notes

Manu was talking to Andrew and Ti.

You can hear our episode with Marina Sirtis here

We're going back to the Moon as we talk all things From The Earth to the Moon. We speak to two Apollo Astronauts and two people heavily involved with the wonderful HBO miniseries; Graham Yost and Paul McCrane.

Paul (Robocop, 24, Fame) plays Pete Conrad in From the Earth to the Moon and Graham (Speed, Band of Brothers, The Pacific) was the series producer and writer of more than one episode of the wonderful miniseries.

Our Andrew with Fred Haise, Apollo 13 Astronaut who you'll hear in this episode

Andrew, Ti and Steve gather in the shed to discuss the series ans are joined by Tom Adams who also performs a song about Apollo 11 astronaut Mike Collins. We also hear Andrew's interviews with Alan Bean and Fred Haise.

You could also win the Blu Ray box set of the miniseries by following us on Twitter and/or Facebook and entering the competition. Thanks HBO.

show notes

Steve mentions this video from Brady Haran

The Apollo missions took humanity's spirit of exploration to its most brilliant so far and we celebrate that sense of adventure with this special episode of The Cosmic Shed podcast.

Michaela Musilova, Emma Brisdion and Lizzie Daly join us to share their love of science and exploration and tell us about their latest adventures including delving into the lava tubes of volcanoes, climbing mountains in the arctic and exploring human and elephant conflict in Kenya.

Michaela is a friend of the Cosmic Shed and first joined us for our episode on The Martian book when we also spoke to Andy Weir (for the first time) and Chris Hadfield.

Emma is one of the hosts of The For What it's Earth podcast, part of the Stimulus Network and the host of Fields Notes on Climate Change.

Lizzie joins us to tell us about the PhD she is embarking on exploring the conflict between humans and elephants but, this being the shed, we find time for a whole lot more besides.

Download, relax and listen. 

show notes

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