Startalk and Science

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

Astronomer Michelle Thaller talks with Ashley Davies, a research scientist at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, about the importance of volcanoes in the creation of Earth and how the study of volcanoes in space can help us understand life here. Davies has journeyed to remote volcanoes like Mt. Erebus in Antarctica and Erta Ale in Ethiopia as a way to help map volcanoes like those on Jupiter's moons, Io and Europa, and in turn come that much closer to understanding how life began.

Episode 4: In Praise of Volcanoes

During SiriusXM Insight's Climate Summit, famed Astrophysicist Dr. Neil deGrasse Tyson explains to host Pete Dominick how to respond to climate change deniers. 

Listen to SiriusXM Insight's Climate Summit hosted by Pete Dominick  Friday April 22nd at 6pm ET on channel 121. 


How Neil deGrasse Tyson Shuts Down Climate Change Deniers

In this special Mother's Day episode, Michelle talks with her mom about what it was like raising a space-obsessed daughter in Wisconsin and watching her grow into a scientist.

Orbital Path is produced for PRX by Lauren Ober. Subscribe iTunes or wherever you listen to podcasts. 

Image: Michelle's sister (top L), Michelle (top R), and their mom in the '80s.

Episode 5: Michelle & Her Mom

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

When Proxima b's discovery appeared in <em>Nature</em> on August 24, the media breathlessly announced a new Earth-like planet just 4.2 light years away from Earth. 

Astronomers have, for years, anticipated a planet orbiting Proxima Centauri. Michelle Thaller talks with astrophysicist Dr. Patricia Boyd about NASA’s ongoing search for exoplanets and what’s the next step in human exploration of other worlds.

Startalk and Science

Keefer Kamali'i Miller