Third Pod from the Sun

Anant Pande is an Indian polar researcher who studies snow petrels - shy pelagic (sea-faring) birds who nest on rock crevices in Antarctica. These endemic birds prefer to nest near less icy waters. Climate change has melted polar oceans and perhaps made it less energy intensive -- as they have to fly shorter distances to find non-frozen oceans.

But it has also increased extreme weather events that tend to flood homes of less experienced nesters who are unaware of safer, wind-free directions to house a nest. The story will uncover facts about snow petrels and the research process details of Indian scientist Anant Pande who goes on expeditions to Antarctica to study these birds.

This episode was produced by Anupama Chandrasekaran and mixed by Collin Warren, with production assistance from Jace Steiner.

Glaciers around the world are melting because of climate change. Yet, while glaciers might be smaller than they once were, that’s not stopping tourists from flocking to see them. We talked with Heather Purdie, a glaciologist and former glacier guide, about how exactly glaciers are changing and how glacier tourism is adapting to these changes.

This episode was produced by Molly Magid and mixed by Collin Warren, with production assistance from Jace Steiner.

Dive down into the freezing depths of Patricia Lake, in Alberta’s Jasper National Park, and you will find the wreck of the Habbakuk—a sixty-foot model battleship originally constructed of wood and ice.

This “berg ship” was the brainchild of the eccentric wartime genius Geoffrey Pyke. In 1943, the Allies were being hard pressed by German U-boats, and British and American leaders were desperate to gain the upper hand in the War of the Atlantic. Pyke’s idea was to construct a fleet of the huge ships, each 1,970 feet long and made from a mixture of ice and wood pulp called Pykrete. He claimed the ships were bulletproof and unsinkable. The project was approved by Winston Churchill himself, and Project Habbakuk was born.

The history of Project Habbakuk is more than a tale of unconventional ice engineering: it touches on theTitanic, the Bible and Superman.

This episode was produced by Jamieson Findlay and mixed by Collin Warren, with production assistance from Jace Steiner.

Cool off from the summer heat with our next six-part miniseries all about ice – from those who call it home to its use as a tool in science. Experts tell us how this state of matter can create shelters and ships, document changes in climate, bring communities together, and even support future astronaut missions on the Moon.

This episode was produced by Shane M Hanlon and Jace Steiner, and mixed by Collin Warren. Artwork by Karen Romano Young. 

The International Space Station feels like a permanent fixture. It’s been up there since 2000! But earlier this year, NASA announced it is bringing the ISS back to earth in the 2030s as it plans for new space stations. We talked with Justin Walsh about what he’s learned about human life in space by doing archaeology research on the ISS and what he’s racing to study before the space station goes extinct in a watery grave back on Earth. 

This episode was produced by Sara Whitlock and mixed by Collin Warren, with production assistance from Jace Steiner.

Hans Sues is a fossil guy at the Smithsonian. Born in Germany, he has been all over the world finding and interpreting fossils for more than 40 years. His focus is on vertebrates – both in his professional work and his personal attachment to cats. We talked with Hans about why the Triassic era had so many strange animals, what happened in the extinctions at each end, and why he worries about getting arrested while doing field work.

This episode was produced by Devin Reese and mixed by Collin Warren. Editing and production assistance by Jace Steiner.

Dani DellaGiustina is one of the youngest leaders of a NASA mission, and she was in charge of image processing for OSIRIS-REx before she even got her PhD. OSIRIS-REx is a spacecraft sent to study asteroid Bennu and scheduled to return a sample to Earth in 2023. Dani walks us through the difference between asteroids and comets—it turns out there’s some overlap! There’s even a thing called “extinct comets,” and some think Bennu might be one, but Dani isn’t so sure. Along the way, Dani tells us about her non-traditional career path and attempts to avoid polar bears in Greenland.

This episode was produced by Katrina Jackson and mixed by Collin Warren.

For many of us, the word “extinctions” conjures up images of dinosaurs, asteroids, and (maybe?) volcanos. And while that last point did likely play a role in the demise of the dinosaurs, volcanos in their own right can go extinct. In this episode, we chatted with volcanologist Janine Krippner, Honorary Research Associate at the University of Waikato, about what exactly makes a volcano extinct, the difference between volcanic ash and smoke, and what it’s like being up close and personal with a volcano.

Oh, and the best volcano movie (spoiler: it’s not Volcano).

This episode was produced by Shane M Hanlon and mixed by Collin Warren. Editing and production assistance by Jace Steiner.

The Cambrian explosion is commonly labelled as the time in Earth’s history when animals suddenly appear. But research from geoscientist Rachel Wood and her team turns this explanation on its head. We talked with Rachel about how this research changes our understanding of how animals arose on Earth and about whether we can even call this event the “Cambrian explosion,” anymore.

This episode was produced by Molly Magid and mixed by Collin Warren.

When you hear the word “extinction,” chances are you probably think of the extinction of the dinosaurs and a big rock. But did you know that there were other factors at play that lead to that extinction including volcanos and sea-level rise? We talked with David Mascato and Will Harris of the Common Descent podcast about dinosaurs (of course), K-Pg misconceptions, and what an asteroid-included change in climate then can teach us about climate change now.

This episode was produced by Shane M Hanlon and mixed by Collin Warren. Artwork by Karen Romano Young.