Tumble Science Podcast for Kids

This is an encore episode, picked by our Patreon supporters. If you want to go vote for our next encore, just go to patreon.com/tumblepodcast to go vote! You don't have to be a patreon supporter to vote, but it does help!

Why do bubbles pop, and why do bubbles have shadows? We’re in double bubble trouble with two listener questions. Luckily, Dr. Bubbles is here to save the day! We’ll find out how a normal, everyman physicist named Justin Burton became a superhero bubble scientist, on a quest to make a scientifically proven recipe for giant bubbles. Along the way, we’ll discover the answers to our listeners’ bubbling curiosity. 

Hear from the inventor of edible bubbles, Li Wei Tan, in a bonus interview episode available on our ad-free Patreon feed! It’s available for just $1/month when you pledge to support Tumble at patreon.com/tumblepodcast. 

We’ll have free resources about bubbles on the blog on our website, sciencepodcastforkids.com.

If you want to buy tickets to our live event in West Stockbridge, go to bit.ly/TumbleLive! We'd love to see you there!

Happy Halloween! We’re headed to Candy Land, a sugary laboratory where mathematicians found a mysterious candy dagger appear - over and over again. So gather up your candy box, and let’s discover out why mathematicians are studying candy to understand the real-life landscapes around us. Mathematician Leif Ristroph shares how he stumbled into making sweet experiments. 

Want to learn more about the reason behind Leif’s experiments? Listen to our bonus interview episode, available for Patrons at the $1/level a month or higher. Pledge now at Patreon.com/tumblepodcast!

We have Leif’s special recipe for “research-grade candy” on our website. Check it out on the blog at sciencepodcastforkids.com!

Want to see Lindsay and Marshall perform LIVE at the Foundry in West Stockbridge, MA? Go get tickets here.

This is an encore of one of our favorite episodes from Season 5! If you'd like to help us choose our next episode, go to our Patreon and VOTE! You don't have to pledge to support us in order to vote, but if you do we'd appreciate it a ton!

What’s it like to be a kid doing experiments in one of the most famous science places in the world? Oscar and Mae Johnson were nine and twelve when they traveled to the Galapagos Islands with their scientist dad. The Galapagos are isolated tropical islands made famous by Charles Darwin, who came up with the theory of evolution based on his research there. Mae and Oscar followed in Darwin’s footsteps. With help from their parents, they conducted their own research and got it published in a scientific journal - a big deal for scientists of every age! Hear Mae and Oscar tell their own story of science discovery in this episode. 

See photos of Oscar and Mae doing their experiment on our blog at sciencepodcastforkids.com! We also have more resources to learn about the Galapagos there. 

Want to learn more about Mae and Oscar’s great science adventure and experiments? We have a special bonus interview episode available for our Patrons. Just pledge $1/month for this and all our scientist interviews at patreon.com/tumblepodcast.

This is a summer encore episode of one of our favorite episodes from Season 4 of Tumble!

Do you love fossils, adventure, and spending time in small spaces? If so, you could become an underground astronaut! Marina Elliot, Becca Peixotto, and Kenni Molopyane found this unusual job description through a Facebook ad, and landed deep inside a cave that few people can access. The team of archeologists talked to Tumble in the middle of excavating Homo Naledi, one of the biggest recent discoveries on the human family tree. Find out how they squeeze through a 7 inch gap on their daily commute, and how their work could change the way we understand early human history.

If you want to vote on Tumble's next re-broadcast for the summer, go to https://bit.ly/SummerTravelPoll and vote!

While you're there, think about subscribing at the $5 level or higher to get birthday shout outs, interview extras, and more!

Is it possible to build a time machine? Can we time travel someday? That’s what Tumble listener Willa wants to know. Clifford Johnson, a theoretical physicist and film consultant, says that there’s real science behind the time travel - and he’ll tell us what it takes to do it.

To learn more about time travel, go visit our blog at sciencepodcastforkids.com, where you can find all sorts of awesome resources to go along with this episode.

This is our last episode of season 9! If you like what we do, why not support our show on Patreon? Just go to patreon.com/tumblepodcast and support us at any level for ad-free episodes, or for $5 a month you can hear a happy birthday wish on our show.

Visit our Threadless shop to get awesome tumble t-shirts: tumblepodcast.threadless.com

How do scientists find out if an asteroid might hit our planet? And what do they do if it’s on a collision course with Earth? We’ll meet a planetary defender - an astronomer who uses radar telescopes to defend our planet from space rocks! Edgard Rivera Valentín grew up in Puerto Rico, next to Arecibo, the world’s most powerful radar telescope. Hear the story of how Edgard became a scientist superhero, and the supervillain asteroids they’re up against. 

A bonus interview episode with Edgard is available to Patreon members who pledge at the $1 level or higher at patreon.com/tumblepodcast. 

Check out more resources about Arecibo and asteroids on our blog, at sciencepodcastforkids.com.

Listen to Tumble en Español! Search for “Tumble en Español” wherever you get your podcasts, or on our website under “En Español.”

How did cicadas evolve to go underground for so long? Why do cicadas spend so much of their lives underground? That’s what listeners Gus and Zachary want to know. This spring, up to a TRILLION cicadas will emerge across 16 states in the U.S., in an event that hasn’t happened since 1803. Cicada scientist Chris Simon helps us dig into the surprising science of cicadas - and figure out how they’re changing on this science podcast for kids. 

Listen to our interview episode with Chris Simon, available to Patreon members who pledge at the $1 level or higher at patreon.com/tumblepodcast. 

We also have free resources on our website - including maps of the emergence and links to download Cicada Safari, a citizen science cicada project. That’s on the blog at sciencepodcastforkids.com.

Buy Tumble gear at our threadless shop!

¿Hablas español? Hay más episodios de nuestro podcast Tumble en Español en nuestro sitio web, https://www.sciencepodcastforkids.com/tumble-en-espanol.

Scientists stage an alien abduction to learn how bacteria avoid antibiotics, in this fact-meets-fiction episode! Meet our alien bacteria invaders (fiction) and our real life scientist, Caroline Blassick (fact) as they face off in a battle of microbial life and death. We’ll find out how Caroline implants mind-control devices in bacteria to improve human health, in bioengineer Mary Dunlop’s lab.

Our bacteria are played by Clara and Elijah, middle school STEM students. 

This episode is supported by the National Science Foundation under award number MCB 2032357. 

Learn more about “alien bacteria” on the bonus interview episode on our Patreon, at patreon.com/tumblepodcast. 

We have more free resources about bacteria and antibiotics available on the blog on our website, sciencepodcastforkids.com

Why can’t we see black holes? Can we see black holes with a telescope? That’s what Tumble listener James wants to know. We explore the science of supermassive black holes and gravitational waves, with the help of astronomer Maura McLaughlin. Find out how the LIGO telescope is aiding in the search for supermassive black holes on an intergalactic collision course!

ANNOUNCEMENT: Tumble en Español, the Spanish adaptation of Tumble, is back for Season 3! Listen here: https://www.sciencepodcastforkids.com/tumble-en-espanol

Learn more about black holes and gravitational waves on the science podcast for kids blog on our website, sciencepodcastforkids.com

Listen to Maura talk about the science of pulsar stars - the key to finding gravitational waves and black holes - in our bonus interview episode, available when you support us on Patreon for just $1 or more a month on Patreon.com/tumblepodcast.

What does a spider web sound like? Join us as we weave a web of connections between science and music - and learn some truly mind-blowing facts about spiders! MIT scientist and musician Markus Buehler shares his journey into the spiderverse, turning spider silk into instruments and making materials from nature. 

Watch Markus’ spider music videos on the blog on our website, sciencepodcastforkids.com

The song "Spider Variations" by Markus Buehler was used with permission from Markus. The sounds are based on a sonification method of a spider web as described in the references below [1-2], part of a larger collaboration with Tomás Saraceno, Saraceno Studios, Ally Bisshop, Thomas Muehletahler, and Evan Ziporyn, and the MIT Center for Art, Science and Technology (CAST). Hear more of Markus' songs on his Soundcloud: https://soundcloud.com/user-275864738

Hear more from Markus about materials and music in our bonus interview episode, available when you support us on Patreon for just $1 or more a month on Patreon.com/tumblepodcast.