*Due to a recording error this recording begins with Kellie Marie Tran answering a question*

Join the creators and cast of the hit podcast Passenger List from PRX's Radiotopia for a fan-submitted Q&A about the mystery fiction series. This recording includes Kelly Marie Tran (Executive Producer, Voice of Kaitlin Le), John Dryden (Executive Producer and Show Creator), Lauren Shippen (Series Writer, Podcaster) and Meghan Fitzmartin (Series Writer), and is moderated by Jonathan Mitchell (host of the Radiotopia fiction podcast The Truth).

Q&A with the Passenger List Creative Team - June 29, 2021

Listening to The Movies

Why watch a movie if you can’t see the screen? Matthew and his friend Ben take in a Marx Brothers film and showcase the power of a good description. Blind Guy Travels is written and performed by Matthew Shifrin, and produced and sound-designed by Ian Coss. Blind Guy Travels is a production of Radiotopia from PRX and part of Radiotopia Presents, a podcast feed debuting limited-run, artist-owned series from new and original voices. Learn more about Blind Guy Travels and access transcripts at radiotopiapresents.fm and discover more shows from across the Radiotopia network at radiotopia.fm.

Radiotopia Presents: Blind Guy Travels

Never-before-broadcast memories from JFK's confidantes recorded just after the assassination. Hosted by legendary journalist Robert MacNeil.

We Knew JFK: Unheard Stories from the Kennedy Archives

Oliver Burkeman, author of 4000 Weeks: Time Management For Mortals, shares how perhaps it's not what's happening in life, but the fact that it happens at all as a sort of revelation to reboot us to be attuned to awe, wonder, and the present moment.

No Small Endeavor Thanksgiving Special

In her episodes of Transistor, neuroscientist Wendy Suzuki introduces us to scientists who have uncovered some of the deepest secrets about how our brains make us who we are. She begins by talking with groundbreaking experimental psychologist Brenda Milner, who in the 1950s, completely changed our understanding of the parts of the brain important for forming new long-term memories.

This episode of Transistor is hosted by neuroscientist Wendy Suzuki and produced by Julie Burstein, with editing and sound design by Derek John.

Episode extras are at transistor.prx.org.

Image is of host Wendy Suzuki.

Transistor Episode 3: Totally Cerebral: Untangling the Mystery of Memory

What a year it has been for Radiotopia! In celebration of all the podcast goodness of 2015, and in thanks to Roman Mars, our excellent partner in Radiotopia, PRX asked The Mysterious Breakmaster Cylinder to create this special year-end mix featuring a few of our favorite voices from the Radiotopia extended family. Happy holidays to all!

Thanks for a Banner Radiotopia Year, Roman! Love, PRX (aka Time Is A Flat Circle)

Host Michelle Thaller talks with astronomer and author Phil Plait of Slate's Bad Astronomy blog about this conundrum: why are humans so quick to give aliens the credit for mysteries of the cosmos?

About the Show: Astronomer and host Michelle Thaller takes a look at the big questions of the cosmos and what the answers can reveal about life here on Earth. From podcast powerhouse PRX, with support from the Sloan Foundation.  

Visit our site: orbital.prx.org

Episode 1: Must Be Aliens

Dr. Michelle Thaller talks to Prof. Lisa Randall, a theoretical particle physicist at Harvard, about her new book, Dark Matter and the Dinosaurs: The Astounding Interconnectedness of the Universe. The scientists explore what caused the dinosaurs' extinction and the role dark matter plays in the universe and our world.

About the Show: Astronomer and host Michelle Thaller takes a look at the big questions of the cosmos and what the answers can reveal about life here on Earth. Produced by Lauren Ober. From podcast powerhouse PRX, with support from the Sloan Foundation.

Visit our site: orbital.prx.org

Episode 2: Mass Extinctions Get Personal

The most rare objects in the night sky are only visible in some extreme places. Dr. Michelle Thaller introduces us to Dr. Anna Moore, a scientist whose trips to Antarctica help us better understand the solar system.

Learn more about the show at orbital.prx.org.

Episode 3: The Most Dramatic Sky

From space, the view of earth has no boundaries for countries, no barriers to achievement. Michelle Thaller speaks with Aprille Ericcson, a senior engineer at NASA, about her career path and about current challenges recruiting more women and minorities into engineering and space science.

Produced by Lauren Ober. Learn more at orbital.prx.org.

Episode 6: A World Without Boundaries

Michael Kentrianakis loves eclipses and has seen them from all over the world. Host Michelle Thaller and Mike talk about the stages of the eclipse we can see in his video that went viral a few months ago after an Alaska Airlines flight. That flight was diverted for better eclipse viewing thanks to Joe Rao, who has convinced airlines to do this before. We’ll hear how he pulled it off and learn where best to view the August 21, 2017 total solar eclipse.

Get episode videos and photos at: 
https://orbital.prx.org/2016/07/chasing-an-eclipse/

Orbital Path is produced by Justin O’Neill and hosted by Michelle Thaller.

Episode 7: Chasing An Eclipse

The asteroid belt is portrayed in movies as a crowded place with massive rocks bouncing each other like pool balls, capable of sending a mile-wide missile hurtling toward Earth at any moment. The reality is much more fascinating.

Host Dr. Michelle Thaller speaks with Dr. Lucy McFadden, Co-Investigator of NASA’s Dawn Mission to orbit the asteroids Vesta and Ceres. She shares what they’ve learned by traveling 130 million miles to visit places we’ve always viewed from afar.

Learn more about Orbital Path at orbital.prx.org.

Image of Vesta from: 
http://dawn.jpl.nasa.gov/multimedia/images/image-detail.html?id=PIA15506

Episode 8: A Tale of Two Asteroids

Scientific discovery can happen in two ways: “Eureka!” moments of sudden understanding, where researchers glean unexpected insight into new phenomena. Or, a slower, less glamorous hunt for truth that happens day-after-day, for years. But both methods can lead to new understandings that pushes the field forward for future breakthroughs.

In this episode: the sudden realization that led to the discovery of the first ever black hole, and another more methodical search for the moment that a star dies and a black hole is born.

Guests:
Jeremy Schnittman
Paul Murdin
Christopher Kochanek

Learn more about Orbital Path with Michelle Thaller at orbital.prx.org.

Episode 11: Black Hole Breakthroughs

An Orbital Path episode all about… an orbital path! Planet 9's, to be exact. The replacement for Pluto as our solar system’s ninth planet is out there somewhere, and astronomers can see the ripples it creates, especially at this time of year.

Episode 12: In Search of Planet 9

Going to Mars is hot right now, just ask Matt Damon. But would you go if you knew your bones would turn into something called “pee brittle”?

Former astronaut Michael Massimino reveals the uncomfortable side of liftoff. And Dr. Jennifer Fogarty from NASA’s Human Research Program elaborates on the physical challenges humans face with longterm weightlessness.

Learn more about Orbital Path at orbital.prx.org.

Episode 13: Warning: Space May Wreak Havoc on Your Body

In 1985, the British Antarctic Survey discovered something that shocked scientists around the world: the ozone layer had a hole in it. And the hole was growing very quickly.

When they were presented with the problem, politicians and world leaders quickly came up with an international agreement to immediately reduce chlorofluorocarbons released into the atmosphere. It was a success story, and we could learn from it on climate change.

Learn more at orbital.prx.org.

Episode 14: How the World Came Together to Avoid Ozone Disaster

Space science can help track what's happening on earth. Orbital Path talks landslides and the satellites that monitor them for the third anniversary of the deadliest landslide in US history.

On March 22, 2014 a 650-foot hillside collapsed and covered the community of Oso, Washington. Forty-three people died. 

David Montgomery studied the Oso landslide's remains as part of the 'Geotechnical Extreme Events Reconnaissance' (GEER) team that investigated the landslide and tried to pinpoint the causes that lead to the Oso landslide.

Dr. Dalia Kirschbaum, of NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center, studies landslides from space using satellites to create various models. Her goal is to develop a model that can be used as the foundation for a global landslide predicting software that can help keep people living in wet, mountainous regions safe from the slides.

And Asheley Bryson is the manager at the Darrington Sno-Isles Library, which is just a few miles from the site of the landslide. She shares her memories from that day.

Learn more about Orbital Path with Michelle Thaller at orbital.prx.org.

Episode 16: Lessons in Landslides

Listeners, we’ve heard you! You requested more episodes, so we present the first of our mini episodes. They’ll arrive two weeks after each monthly regular episode, and include Michelle’s insight on the latest space news. Enjoy episode one:

NASA’s NICER (Neutron star Interior Composition Explorer) mission will launch in May. Michelle explains the NICER mission’s many applications, including the possibility of using neutron stars as intergalactic global positioning systems.

Learn more about our podcast at orbital.prx.org.

Mini-sode 1: NASA's NICER Mission

Nearly 100 years after Einstein predicted the existence of gravitational waves — huge undulations in the fabric of space-time itself — in 2015, detectors here on Earth finally picked up the signal of these massive disturbances. 

Dr. Michelle Thaller pulls apart the power and mystery of gravitational waves, and talks with Dr. Janna Levin, theoretical astrophysicist and author of the book, Black Hole Blues and Other Songs From Outer Space.

Learn more about the podcast Orbital Path with Michelle Thaller at orbital.prx.org.

Episode 17: Making (Gravitational) Waves

Dr. Michelle Thaller visits the NASA lab that discovered that meteorites contain some of the very same chemical elements that we contain. Then, Michelle talks to a Vatican planetary scientist about how science and religion can meet on the topic of life beyond Earth.

Learn more about the Orbital Path podcast at orbital.prx.org.

Episode 19: We Are Stardust

We live our lives in three dimensions. But we also walk those three dimensions along a fourth dimension: time.  

Our world makes sense thanks to mathematics. Math lets us count our livestock, it lets us navigate our journeys. Mathematics has also proved an uncanny, stunningly accurate guide to what Brian Greene calls “the dark corners of reality.”

  But what happens when math takes us far, far beyond what we — as humans — are equipped to perceive with our senses?  What does it mean when mathematics tells us, in no uncertain terms, that the world exists not in three, not in four — but in no fewer than eleven dimensions?  

In this episode of Orbital Path, Brian Greene, director of Columbia’s Center for Theoretical Physics and a celebrated explainer of how our universe operates, sits down to talk with Dr. Michelle Thaller. Together they dig into the question of how we — as three-dimensional creatures — can come to terms with all those extra dimensions all around us. 

 Orbital Path is produced by David Schulman and edited by Andrea Mustain. Production oversight by John Barth and Genevieve Sponsler. Hosted by Michelle Thaller.  

For more about the show, visit orbital.prx.org  
More at briangreene.org

The 11 Dimensions of Brian Greene

We've got some awkward news to share, folks: The producer of Orbital Path is claiming he’s been abducted by space aliens.

So this week, we're dusting off the theremin and returning to one of our favorite early episodes — “Must Be Aliens.” 

Dr. Michelle Thaller talks with Phil Plait — AKA the "Bad Astronomer" — about the Kepler mission to find planets circling other stars ... and why we humans are so quick to ascribe the unknowns of the cosmos to aliens.

In the two years since this episode was originally produced, however, the universe has not stood still. So Michelle has an update on the Kepler project — and a discovery that, once upon a time, had certain astronomers murmuring the "A" word. 

Orbital Path is produced by David Schulman and edited by Andrea Mustain. "Must be Aliens" episode produced by Lauren Ober. Production oversight by John Barth and Genevieve Sponsler. Hosted by Michelle Thaller.

Aliens Again!

These days, astrophysicists like Dr. Michelle Thaller use instruments to probe the distant reaches of our galaxy, and far beyond. They use interferometry,  the Hubble space telescope, and other technology impossible to imagine when the constellations of the winter sky were named. 

But, as the season changes and Orion returns to view, Michelle still finds plenty of wonder left for us to see — even with the naked eye — in the cold, clear air of a winter’s night.

Orbital Path is produced by David Schulman (who returns this episode to answer Michelle’s questions about his recent alleged alien abduction). The program is edited by Andrea Mustain. Production oversight by John Barth and Genevieve Sponsler. Hosted by Michelle Thaller.  

More at: http://orbital.prx.org/

Winter's Night Sky

In this darkest season of the year, Dr. Michelle Thaller and NASA astronomer Andrew Booth curl up by the fire. Gazing into the embers, red wine in hand, they consider the meaning of the winter solstice — on other planets. 

Like Uranus, where parts of the planet go 42 earth years without seeing the sun. Or Mars, where winters are made colder by an orbit politely described as “eccentric.” Or Saturn — where winter’s chill is deepened by the shadow of the planet’s luminous rings.  

Marshmallow, anyone?

 Orbital Path is produced by David Schulman. The program is edited by Andrea Mustain. Production oversight by John Barth and Genevieve Sponsler. Hosted by Dr. Michelle Thaller.  

For more about the show, visit orbital.prx.org

Photo: NASA

Fireside Physics: A Solstice on Saturn?

For a long time, probably as long as we have been gazing up at the night sky, people have been asking ourselves: Are we alone? Is there life out there, anywhere else in the universe?

For modern Earthlings, our fascination with extraterrestrial life has focussed on one place in particular: 

Mars.

The planet today is a forbidding, arid place. But billions of years ago, Mars may have had a gigantic ocean. It was, like Earth, just the kind of place you’d think life could get started.

Earlier this month, in the journal Science, NASA astrobiologist Dr. Jen Eigenbrode and her team published a stunning discovery. The Curiosity rover on Mars had found rocks that contain organic molecules — the building blocks of life.  

On this episode of Orbital Path, Dr. Michelle Thaller sits down with Eigenbrode to understand what this discovery really says about the possibility of life on Mars.

This episode of Orbital Path was produced by David Schulman. 
Our editor is Andrea Mustain. Production oversight by John Barth and Genevieve Sponsler.

Support for Orbital Path is provided by the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation, enhancing public understanding of science, technology, and economic performance.

For more about the show, visit orbital.prx.org

Mars Goes Organic

On September 15, 2018, the last Delta II rocket lifted off from Vandenberg Air Force base, in California. It carried into orbit IceSat-2 — a satellite equipped with perhaps the most sophisticated space laser ever built.  

NASA didn’t put it up there to shoot down rogue asteroids. Instead, it’s taking aim — with exquisite precision — at Earth.

On this episode of Orbital Path, Dr. Michelle Thaller talks with Tom Wagner. He’s been looking forward to the launch of IceSat-2 for a decade. Officially, Wagner is NASA’s Program Scientist for the Cryosphere. That means he studies the frozen regions of the Earth: Antarctica. The Arctic Ocean. The glaciers of Greenland. All places critical to understanding our planet’s changing climate.

From 300 miles above, the six laser beams of IceSat-2 won’t harm even the most light-sensitive earthling, Wagner says. But, as he describes it, the satellite will allow scientists to precisely map the retreat of ice at the poles. And that promises to teach us a great deal about how Earth’s climate will change in the years to come.

Orbital Path is produced by David Schulman. 
Our editor is Andrea Mustain. Production oversight by John Barth and Genevieve Sponsler.

Support for Orbital Path is provided by the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation, enhancing public understanding of science, technology, and economic performance.

For more about the show, visit orbital.prx.org

Space Lasers for the Home Planet

To make a black hole, you need to think big. Really big. 

Start with a star much bigger than the sun — the bigger the better. Then settle in, and wait a few million years for your star to die.

That should do the trick, if you want to get yourself a garden-variety black hole. But there’s another kind of black hole. They are mind-boggling in size. And deeply mysterious:

Super-massive black holes. 

Last year, in the journal Nature, a team of astronomers reported finding one with the mass of 800 million suns. It’s the most distant black hole in the known universe. And it’s so ancient, it dates to a time when it seems light itself was only just beginning to move.

On this episode of Orbital Path, Dr. Michelle Thaller talks with astrophysicist Chiara Mingarelli — Flatiron Research Fellow at the Center for Computational Astrophysics in New York. Using a special gravitational wave observatory, Dr. Mingarelli is part of a cadre of astronomers hoping ancient super-massive black holes will soon reveal mysteries dating to the dawn of our universe.

Orbital Path is produced by David Schulman. 
Our editor is Andrea Mustain. Production oversight by John Barth and Genevieve Sponsler.

Support for Orbital Path is provided by the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation, enhancing public understanding of science, technology, and economic performance.

For more about the show, visit orbital.prx.org

Black Holes from the Dawn of Light

Asteroids, as the dinosaurs found out, can have big effects on life on Earth. 

Sixty-five million years ago, an asteroid crashed into the Yucatán. The impact caused apocalyptic tsunamis and volcanic eruptions. Grit and ash blotted out the sun. It wiped out species that had roamed the Earth for millions of years.

Yet asteroid hits also were critical to the origins of life on Earth. Asteroids may well have been the bringers of water, of carbon, even of amino acids — the building blocks of life.

That’s a big reason why NASA is on a mission to Bennu. This asteroid is like an ancient fossil of our solar system — largely unchanged since the time the planets formed.

In December, after a billion-mile journey, NASA’s Osiris-Rex mission arrives at Bennu. And, for the first time, a spacecraft will try to actually bring back an asteroid sample to Earth.

On this episode of Orbital Path, Dr. Michelle Thaller sits down with Dr. Amy Simon — a senior scientist at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center, and a key player on the Osiris-Rex mission. Michelle and Amy talk about the mission, Amy’s work to probe the origins of the solar system, and one other thing: 

The remote chance that Bennu, someday, could collide with Earth.

Orbital Path is produced by David Schulman. 
Our editor is Andrea Mustain. Production oversight by John Barth and Genevieve Sponsler.

Support for Orbital Path is provided by the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation, enhancing public understanding of science, technology, and economic performance.

For more about the show, visit orbital.prx.org

HELLO, ASTEROID FINAL MIX

All things in the cosmos have a lifespan, from the smallest particles to the most ancient suns. Everything has its season. Every season must come to an end.

And this episode marks the end of Orbital Path.

So, for the last transit of our podcast, Dr. Michelle Thaller and producer David Schulman join NASA astrobiologist Dr. Jen Eigenbrode on a site visit to one of Michelle’s very favorite places at Goddard Space Flight Center. It’s building 29, where NASA builds and tests spacecraft in some of the most extreme conditions found anywhere on earth. 
 
Orbital Path is produced by David Schulman. 
 
Our editor is Andrea Mustain. Production oversight by John Barth and Genevieve Sponsler. Hosted by Michelle Thaller.
 
Support for Orbital Path is provided by the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation, enhancing public understanding of science, technology, and economic performance.
 
For more about the show, visit orbital.prx.org

Building 29

Mixtape: The PRX Remix Valentine’s Special is exclusive stories about love of all kinds from radio & podcast stars like Al Letson and Phoebe Judge, plus talented new producers not yet heard on public radio. The hour is sound designed in a “mixtape” format with popular storyteller Shannon Cason (Snap Judgment, The Trouble) as cupid deejay...or er, host.

Mixtape: The PRX Remix Valentine's Special

This is part 1 of the hour-long special <a href="https://soundcloud.com/prx/sets/generation-putin">Generation Putin</a>, an in-depth look at the millennial generation in the post-Soviet states.

------

It's been over 20 years since the collapse of the Soviet Union.

Young people in Russia, Ukraine, Kazakhstan, and Georgia are facing unemployment, democratic pressure, and the legacy of repression, while being influenced by the West, punk music, and the Pussy Riot trials. PRX sent a reporting team from the Seattle Globalist to explore the tensions in these countries, described by The Atlantic as 'uneasily suspended' between two political eras.

Join host Brooke Gladstone for Generation Putin, an in-depth look at the millennial generation in the post-Soviet states.

Produced by <a href="http://www.seattleglobalist.com/">the Seattle Globalist</a>.  Presented by PRX, the <a href="http://www.prx.org">Public Radio Exchange</a>, with support from the <a href="http://www.opensocietyfoundations.org/">Open Society Foundations</a>.  

Public radio stations can <a href="http://www.prx.org/pieces/89929-generation-putin-hour-special">get Generation Putin for broadcast</a>.

Go to PRX

Generation Putin Part 1 - Anti-Putin Protest in Russia

PRX is a leading media company, shaping the future of audio by connecting talented producers with their most engaged, supportive audiences.
PRX builds technology and creates cutting-edge content that reaches millions of listeners worldwide.

For 15 years, PRX has operated public radio’s largest distribution marketplace, offering thousands of shows including This American Life, The Moth Radio Hour and Reveal. Named one of Fast Company’s "Ten Most Innovative Companies in Media" in both 2015 and 2017, the company has pioneered new approaches to technology and talent.

In 2014, PRX launched Radiotopia, a curated network of extraordinary podcasts anchored by 99% Invisible from Roman Mars. The network has quickly grown to over 19 million downloads per month (November 2017, Podtrac).

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