University of California Audio Podcasts (Audio)

The International System of Units (the SI), the modern metric system, has recently undergone its most revolutionary change since its origins during the French Revolution. The nature of this revolution is that all of the base units of the SI are now defined by fixing values of natural constants. Our measurement system is now, both philosophically and practically, strongly quantum. Nobel Prize recipient William Phillips, Ph.D., a Distinguished University and College Park Professor of Physics at the University of Maryland, talks about why this reform was needed and how it is done. Series: "UC Berkeley Graduate Lectures" [Science] [Show ID: 37728]

Jackie Ferrara designed a series of three distinct spaces at UCSD's Cellular and Molecular Medicine Facility. Each area is paved with a similar linear pattern of green, red, and black slate and surrounded by compacted gravel. Each has a unique character, but the terraces flow into one another becoming one continuous space. She has placed Australian willows and benches in lines that echo the grid of the slate and the lines of the low walls. The cloistered intimacy of the terraces, with their suggestion of early or monumental architecture, provides a space of contemplation for the scientists who work in the center, and articulates and emphasizes the architectural motifs of the building itself. Series: "Stuart Collection at UC San Diego" [Arts and Music] [Show ID: 37813]

Climate change is one of the hallmarks of the Anthropocene. Rising global temperatures are having profound effects on ecosystems and the organisms that inhabit them, including disease-causing organisms such as viruses, bacteria, and parasitic worms. However, much less is known about the potential for infectious agents to contribute to changes in climate. Many infectious agents have the potential to affect greenhouse gas emissions via effects on their hosts. In her talk, Vanessa Ezenwa explores the idea that interactions between climate change and infectious diseases are not solely unidirectional, specifically, that climate change can increase disease prevalence in human and animal populations, but disease, in turn, may exacerbate climate change. Series: "CARTA - Center for Academic Research and Training in Anthropogeny" [Health and Medicine] [Humanities] [Science] [Show ID: 37774]

Tilden Park’s Jewel Lake is home to a community of Western pond turtles, a species that is struggling to survive the combined threats of climate change, habitat loss and competition from red-eared slider turtles. Former UC Berkeley postdoctoral scholar Max Lambert is part of a team of wildlife experts who spent much of the pandemic checking in on the health of the Bay Area’s Western pond turtles, including those at Jewel Lake. Series: "UC Berkeley News" [Agriculture] [Show ID: 37841]

Dr. B.S. Manjunath, distinguished professor in the Department of Electrical & Computer Engineering at UC Santa Barbara, discusses the use of computer video technology to assist with visual analysis of issues like human stress and disease, methane gas release, and underwater mapping. He also discusses what we know about human vision, how it works compared to how computer vision works. Series: "GRIT Talks" [Science] [Show ID: 37871]

This century is the first in Earth's history when the catastrophic threats to the entire planet can be induced by one species, humans. We have an ever-heavier collective footprint on the planet. We’re empowered by ever more powerful technologies that can be hugely beneficial, but which if misapplied could trigger calamitous setbacks to civilization. Such events could be global: we’re so interconnected that no continent would be unscathed. It’s an ethical indictment of humanity that the gap between the actual state of the world, and the way it could be, is widening rather than narrowing. COVID-19 has been a wake-up call. It has shown that our increasingly interconnected civilization is vulnerable - but also that well-directed science can be our salvation. Series: "CARTA - Center for Academic Research and Training in Anthropogeny" [Humanities] [Science] [Show ID: 37777]

Dr. Susan Cassels, Associate Professor in the Department of Geography at UC Santa Barbara, and a research associate with the Broom Center for Demography discusses the latest thinking on HIV interventions. Her research focuses on the study of topics related to health geography, demography, and infectious disease epidemiology. Series: "GRIT Talks" [Health and Medicine] [Show ID: 37873]

A 199-foot tall metal flag-pole-like sculpture is mounted with a flashing light which playfully spells out “What Hath God Wrought” in Morse Code. The titular phrase is notably the first message Samuel Morse tested and transmitted across 41 miles in 1844. The sculpture reflects both the origins of the university as well as the origins of present-day communications: Morse Code is at the root of our contemporary era of information exchange, where communication travels instantaneously. Morse’s good-humored, secular message is interpreted thoughtfully by Mark Bradford and aligned with the artist’s expansive work depicting communities and reflecting on our shared cultural history. With this epic artwork, Bradford explores the physical means behind past and present-day communication that underlines his greater practice. Series: "Stuart Collection at UC San Diego" [Arts and Music] [Show ID: 37825]

At the beginning of the 20th century, Einstein changed the way we think about time. Now, early in the 21st century, the measurement of time is being revolutionized by the ability to cool a gas of atoms to temperatures millions of times lower than any naturally occurring temperature in the universe. Nobel Prize recipient William Phillips, Ph.D., a Distinguished University and College Park Professor of Physics at the University of Maryland, talks about laser cooling and ultracold atoms and how they relate to time.

Atomic clocks, the best timekeepers ever made, are one of the scientific and technological wonders of modern life. Such super-accurate clocks are essential to industry, commerce, and science; they are the heart of the Global Positioning System (GPS), which guides cars, airplanes, and hikers to their destinations. Today, the best primary atomic clocks use ultracold atoms. Series: "UC Berkeley Graduate Lectures" [Science] [Show ID: 37727]

Connections between past and present human exploitation of the environment, the coming crisis of the Anthropocene and what we humans can do to alleviate the crisis. Series: "CARTA - Center for Academic Research and Training in Anthropogeny" [Humanities] [Science] [Show ID: 37773]