Podcasts by omega tau - English only
How do scientists uncover phenomena and explain their connections? How do engineers design machines, methods and infrastructure? At omega tau, experts give detailed answers. Over the last ten years, we have produced over 350 episodes in which we dug deeper, until we ran out of questions. Join us on our journey through the world of science and engineering: the closer you look and listen, the more interesting things get.
Further podcasts by info@omegataupodcast.net
Podcast on the topic Wissenschaft
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383 - The LHC Beam Dump from 2022-02-06T12:29:12
The beam dump is a large graphite block used to take up the energy stored in the LHC beam in case the beam needs to be shut down. Since the energy in the beam can be as high as the kinetic energy o...
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378 – Flying the F-18 Classic Hornet from 2021-10-22T06:52:28
It's been 377 episodes and we have not yet dedicated one to the F-18. This changes now. In the episode we first talk with Jerry Deren, a former US Navy Hornet pilot who also flew with the Blue Ange...
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374 – Flying the F-22 from 2021-08-01T18:58:08
The main part of this episode is about flying the F-22 Raptor, the most modern air superiority fighter in the inventory of the USAF. Our guest is Dan Javorsek, callsign Animal, who has previously f...
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370 – Nixus, the Fly-by-Wire Glider from 2021-06-04T18:13:53
In this episode I talk with Paulo Iscold, a professor or aeronautical engineering at Cal Poly about Nixus Nixus, his most recent project. Nixus is one of the most fascinating and ground-breaking re...
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370 – Nixus from 2021-06-04T18:13:53
In this episode I talk with Paulo Iscold, a professor or aeronautical engineering at Cal Poly about Nixus Nixus, his most recent project. Nixus is one of the most fascinating and ground-breaking re...
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368 – Nuclear Waste Disposal and Storage from 2021-05-01T08:09:38
In this episode we cover the final storage of nuclear waste in underground facilities. We start out with a conversation about the basic process and the chemistry and physics of nuclear waste with G...
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366 – The Viper Gliding Club from 2021-04-02T16:40:44
My guest Jens and I have two things in common: we both fly gliders, and we both got to fly in an F-16. Which is why we form the Viper Gliding Club :-) Jens is a Danish journalist and got to fly wit...
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364 – Physics beyond the Standard Model from 2021-03-06T19:06:01
A while ago we had a whole series about LHC, ATLAS and particle physics in general. However, despite all we know and the explanatory power of the standard model, there is also a variety of open que...
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359 – Modern Fission Reactors from 2021-01-04T19:43:42
In this episode we take a look at newer generations of fission reactors, those that are currently being developed or researched. Our guest is Jacopo Buongiorno of MIT. We discuss some of the high-l...
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355 – Supercomputing for COVID-19 from 2020-10-29T19:08:29
In this episode we look at how supercomputers are used to help with managing the pandemic. It's a double-header with two guests. We start with Cineca's Andrew Emerson. As part of the EXSCALATE 4 CO...
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350 – Existential Risk from 2020-08-22T07:32:24
Humanity has always been exposed to potentially catastrophic risks that might endanger the continued existence of humanity. Asteroid impacts or supervolcano eruptions come to mind. But since about ...
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348 – ATLAS Computing from 2020-07-27T14:35:06
To conclude our detailed look at the ATLAS experiment, this episode looks at the computing infrastructure. We start out with the trigger systems that decide, very quickly, whether the data from a p...
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345 – ATLAS Science from 2020-06-16T08:16:58
After understanding the history and development of ATLAS (and covering the LHC and particle physics in general) in previous episodes, we are now at the point where we can try to understand how a sc...
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344 – History and Development of ATLAS from 2020-06-02T16:29:21
ATLAS is one of the two general-purpose experiments at the LHC. It has been conceived, designed, and built over decades by hundreds of scientists and engineers from dozens of countries and hundreds...
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343 – Flying and Testing the F-35 from 2020-05-20T16:46:05
The Lockheed F-35 Lightning II is going to be more or less what the F-16 and F-18 are today: the backbone of the US and NATO land and sea-based air forces. It is a multi-role fighter, and one of it...
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341 – Emergency and Intensive Care, Ventilation from 2020-04-29T14:12:59
In light of the current situation, we have decided to record a couple of episodes that cover some of the relevant background in terms of biology, medicine and healthcare. In this first episode we d...
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340 – Plasma Wakefield Acceleration with AWAKE from 2020-04-22T09:45:34
A major component of particle accelerators like the LHC are the actual accelerators; the current approach relies on radio frequency cavities. However, their acceleration gradient, measured in Volts...
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Special – Once You Start Asking from 2020-04-11T08:47:29
Over the last two years, Markus wrote a book about some of the repeated topic covered on omega tau: SOFIA, Enterprise, Aerospace, Gravitational Waves, Telescopes, Models and Particle Physics. The b...
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150.5 – Controlling the ELT from 2020-02-14T15:14:02
Six years ago, in episode 150, Jochen Liske of ESO told us about the Extremely Large Telescope that is currently being built in Chile. This episode is a continuation (which is why this is a kind of...
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333 – (Flying and Simulating) The F-14 Tomcat from 2020-01-03T10:35:01
The F-14 Tomcat is one of the most iconic fighters, certainly among its generation. In this episode we talk with Nick Pirnia about the aircraft's development and history as well as about flying it ...
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332 – Attribution of Extreme Weather Events from 2019-12-22T07:12:19
An important consequence of the warming of the planet due to climate change is that the frequency and/or severity of extreme weather events will increase. But how can we tell whether a particular e...
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330 – Parabolic Flights at AirZeroG from 2019-11-29T07:37:41
When I was in Bordeaux with the DLR to report about their science campaign in September, I also talked to the team from AirZeroG/Novespace about the technical and aviation aspects of parabolic flig...
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328 – Flying the P-3 Orion (and some other aircraft) from 2019-11-12T19:45:49
Marija Jovanovich is a pilot for the Royal Australian Air Force where she has been flying the P-3 Orion. We discuss the aircraft, the missions, and some anecdotes. Marija then also attended the USA...
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326 – Weather Forecasting at the ECMWF from 2019-10-19T13:36:55
Earlier this year I visited the European Center for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts, a European organization that produces global weather forecasts and performs research on how to improve those. The...
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324 – Air Traffic Control at Heathrow and RIAT from 2019-09-27T10:38:52
In July I visited the NATS tower at Heathrow Airport to interview my guest Adam Spink. We chatted about some of the mechanics of air traffic control at Heathrow and the unique ways of optimizing th...
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321 – Societal Change and the Climate from 2019-08-29T11:30:55
I am interested in societal change: how can a complex society with lots of emergent (perhaps unintended) behaviors make a conscious change, such as transitioning to a more sustainable economy? We d...
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320 – The Event Horizon Telescope from 2019-08-16T17:35:57
A few months ago, a collaboration called the Event Horizon Telescope presented the first direct image of a black hole; or more specifically, of the radiation created by accelerated particles at its...
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318 – (My Flight with) The USAF Thunderbirds from 2019-07-19T16:13:57
In June 2019 I had the pleasure and honor to fly in an F-16D with the USAF Thunderbirds. The episode covers the medical briefing about how to prevent motion sickness and how to deal with Gs, suitin...
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317 – The ALICE Detector from 2019-07-09T10:30
In May I visited ALICE, one of the four large experiments at the LHC and talked with Despina Hatzifotiadou. We briefly discussed the science that ALICE is interested in, and then spent the majority...
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315 – Modeling Socio-Technical Systems from 2019-06-14T10:02:48
Socio-technical systems are systems where (groups of) humans interact with (non-trivial) technical systems; an example is the power grid. The people, the technical system and the combination might ...
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314 – London Air Ambulance from 2019-06-01T07:32:26
Earlier this year I visited the London Air Ambulance, a charity organization that flies two MD-902 helicopters over the UK's capital. I chatted with their chief pilot Neil Jeffers about the flying ...
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312 – The Wendelstein 7-X Fusion Experiment from 2019-05-11T09:29:26
In our never-ending quest to understand fusion and its potential use in energy production, I visited the Wendelstein 7-X fusion experiment in Greifswald run by the Max-Planck-Institut für Plasmaphy...
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309 – Forensic Engineering from 2019-04-09T19:55:59
In this episode I chat with Sean Brady about structural failures in civil engineering. We first discuss the technical and organzational causes for such failures. We then look at Sean's specialty, f...
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306 – Flying the RC-135S Cobra Ball from 2019-03-09T09:45:06
Throughout the cold war, and til today, the Cobra-codenamed ground, sea and air assets have been used by the US to monitor Soviet/Russian ICBM missile launches and warhead reentries. The air compon...
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304 – The Past, Present and Future of Fusion Energy from 2019-02-09T17:13:02
Justin and Jason wrote a nice book on fusion called The Future of Fusion Energy, and this episode is based on this book. We start out by revisiting the breakthroughs that drove progress in fusion o...
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300 – How Processors Got So Fast from 2018-12-17T13:49:21
Have you ever wondered how the processor in your phone or computer got so much more faster than what the increase in megahertz suggests? In this episode we talk with Lex Augusteijn about superscala...
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299 – Gravity Storage from 2018-12-02T09:02:16
With power generation in the grid becoming more diverse and decentralized, energy storage is becoming more and more important. Eduard Heindl's gravity storage is an approach to storing electrical e...
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297 – Flying the AH-64 Apache from 2018-11-18T07:12:43
In mid-September I drove to Illesheim Army Airfield to meet with Caleb Marheine who flies the AH-64 Apache helicopter there. We talked about the helicopter's systems, the cockpit, aspects of flying...
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295 – BepiColombo from 2018-10-26T18:19:59
On October 20, the BepiColombo started its flight to Mercury on an Ariane 5 from Kourou. I was at the launch press event at ESOC in Darmstadt to follow the launch and to record a couple of intervie...
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292 – Gene Editing with CRISPR/Cas from 2018-09-14T17:59:39
CRISPR is a family of DNA sequences in bacteria and archaea that are a part of these organisms' cellular defense system. A recent discovery showed how this mechanism can be used to edit genes much ...
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291 – Flying in the Papuan Bush from 2018-08-31T18:37:06
I chat with Daniel Geaslen about bush flying. His (at this time, former) job is to fly Kodiak turbo props for Mission Aviation Fellowship in Papua Indonesia, supplying remote villages. We cover the...
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289 – Music Production at Sandlane Studios from 2018-08-01T10:50:58
A few years ago, I interviewed Arjen Lucassen about his wonderful music and how he makes it; obviously, I am a big fan! Recently, his Ayreon universe was performed live on stage and I was blown awa...
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288 – Flight Research at NASA Armstrong, Part 3: Historic from 2018-07-17T15:59:05
In this episode I talk with NASA Armstrong's chief scientist Al Bowers about the research projects he has been involved in during his long career at NASA. We cover deep stall research with a Schwei...
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286 – Software Analog Effects from 2018-06-21T18:21:01
Effects devices are essential for electric guitars and keyboards because they shape sound and make it interesting; many classic devices exist. However, those are rare and/or expensive, plus, even i...
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285 – Superconductivity from 2018-06-08T16:31:43
Superconductivity, the ability of a material to carry electrical current with zero resistance, is a surprising property of nature, which man has been able to exploit in many ways, in particular, fo...
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283 – The Perlan Project from 2018-05-10T10:07:41
The Perlan Project aims to fly gliders into the stratosphere by exploiting mountain waves in order to better understand those waves and to explore the edge of what gliders can do. In fact, last Sep...
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279 – Microgravity Research at ZARM Drop Tower from 2018-03-10T15:31:01
During our tour NorthWest 2017 I visited the drop tower at Uni Bremen's ZARM and talked with Martin Castillo, the head of material science at the facility. We discussed the basics of microgravity r...
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277 – Life and Work on HMS Enterprise from 2018-02-07T13:09:23
In December 2017 I had the opportunity to spend a few days on board the Royal Navy's HMS Enterprise on her trip from Limassol, Cyprus to Valetta, Malta. HMS Enterprise is a survey ship, her primary...
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276 – Linguistics, Conlangers and Game Of Thrones’ Dothraki from 2018-01-17T17:25:36
Conlangers are people who design human languages, either just for fun or for use in works of fiction, often TV series or movies. My guest, David Peterson, has designed several languages, including ...
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274 - The Shuttle's Achievements for Space Exploration from 2017-12-25T09:03:01
274 - The Shuttle's Achievements for Space Exploration
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274 – The Shuttle’s Achievements for Space Exploration from 2017-12-25T09:03:01
This episode is a continuation of the two previous episodes (132, 133) with Davide on the Space Shuttle. Based on his new, second book we talk about the contributions the Space Shuttle made to spac...
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270 – Nuclear Weapons from 2017-11-26T18:34:44
In this episode we chat about the science and engineering involved in nuclear weapons. Our guest is Alex Wellerstein of the Stevens Institute of Technology. We talk about atomic bombs as well as hy...
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267 – The Quantum Tron UAV from 2017-10-22T17:42:26
Quantum Systems designs, builds and sells unmanned air vehicles for professional use. Their particular specialty is VTOL designs, i.e., UAVs that take off and land vertically, but then switch to ai...
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266 – Secondary Surveillance Radar from 2017-10-13T05:56:59
Secondary surveillance radar (SSR) is the radar technology used in aviation to query transponders; it forms the backbone of today's air traffic control infrastructure. Our guest in this episode is ...
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258 – The History and Technology of Spy Satellites from 2017-07-28T17:25:51
In this episode we speak with David Baker, who wrote a fascinating book about spy satellites. We cover the political and military context that drove their development, their (known and suspected) c...
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257 – Flight Research at NASA Armstrong, Part 2: Fullscale from 2017-07-21T15:59:05
257 – Flight Research at NASA Armstrong, Part 2: Fullscale
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256 – Flight Research at NASA Armstrong, Part 1: Subscale from 2017-07-16T18:49:38
As part of my trip to the US earlier this year I visited NASA's Armstrong Flight Research Center at Edwards Air Force Base. I conducted six interviews over two days, the ones concerning subscale re...
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255 – Aerial Refueling with the KDC-10 from 2017-07-08T16:54:05
In late March 2017 I was participating in the media day of the European Air Refuelling Training Exercise, organized by the European Air Transport Command headquartered in Eindhoven. While the plann...
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252 – Red Flag from 2017-06-17T14:17:26
On the second day of my visit to Nellis AFB we covered the Red Flag, an advanced aerial combat training exercise hosted at multiple times per year at Nellis. We started out with a general overview ...
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251 – Flying the F-16 Viper from 2017-06-09T18:15:55
As part of my US trip 2017 I visited Nellis AFB, where LtCol Jan Stahl flies the F-16 for the 64th Aggressor Squadron. We spent a day around, in and under the F-16. The episode contains five parts....
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249 – Plasma Physics from 2017-05-20T19:29:40
During my trip to the US I also visited the Basic Plasma Science Facility at the UCLA in Los Angeles. I talked with the two professors who run the facility, Walter Gekelman and Troy Carter. We disc...
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248 – Distant Early Warning, SAGE and the F-106 Delta Dart from 2017-05-13T16:11:54
In this episode we look back at (aspects of) the North American Air Defense system in the cold war. In particular, we look at the distant early warning line(s), the F-106 interceptor and the SAGE ...
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247 – Bulk Metallic Glass from 2017-05-07T07:44:05
Dr. Douglas Hofmann works as a scientist in the Metallurgy Lab at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory. I visited Doug during my US trip earlier this year, and we chatted about metallic glass. In parti...
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245 – Glaciology Research at the Darwin Glacier from 2017-04-22T08:37:12
During my visit to DLR's Earth Observation Center earlier this year I also talked to Dana Floricioiu about her work in glaciology. We discuss a couple of her recent publications, and then focus on ...
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243 – Formal Specification and Proof from 2017-04-10T05:17:37
The increasing complexity of software requires increasingly sophisticated means of ensuring its correctness -- "just" testing is not necessarily good enough, depending on the domain in which the so...
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242 – Satellite Testing at ESTEC from 2017-03-31T18:46:25
This is the last episode recorded during my visit to ESA's ESTEC last fall. I get a tour of the Test Centre with the head of the section, Mark Wagner. We discuss the various test stands and facilit...
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241 – Electric Propulsion of Spacecraft from 2017-03-25T09:03:46
During my visit to ESA's ESTEC last fall, I talked to Jose Gonzalez del Amo, who is the head of the Electric Propulsion Lab. We discussed the basics of electric propulsion, the pros and cons compar...
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239 – The Saturn V Launch Vehicle from 2017-03-12T00:24:24
David Woods has a new book out, so of course he has to talk about it on omega tau :-) His recent book is about the Saturn V launch vehicle, i.e., this time it is about the rocket, not about the spa...
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238 – Societal Complexity, Part II: Today’s Perspective from 2017-03-05T11:25:12
In October 2015, Joseph Tainter was my guest in omega tau 184 to discuss his concept of increasing complexity and eventual collapse of societies. In this episode, our guest Paul Arbair discusses th...
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238 - Societal Complexity, Part II: Today's Perspective from 2017-03-05T10:25:12
238 - Societal Complexity, Part II: Today's Perspective
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235 - A Walk in the Woods with Miami Rick and the Big Boeings from 2017-02-11T09:41:30
235 - A Walk in the Woods with Miami Rick and the Big Boeings
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233 - Bio-Inspired Systems at EPFL from 2017-01-28T07:24:20
233 - Bio-Inspired Systems at EPFL
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231 - The Future Circular Collider from 2017-01-15T08:04:33
231 - The Future Circular Collider
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209 - Satellite Development at OHB from 2016-07-04T06:06:43
209 - Satellite Development at OHB
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204 - Earth Observation at Planet Labs from 2016-05-09T18:41:14
How do scientists uncover phenomena and explain their connections? How do engineers design machines, methods and infrastructure? At omega tau, experts give detailed answers. Over the last ten years...
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202 - Aviation Incident Reporting at CHIRP from 2016-04-22T17:15:06
202 - Aviation Incident Reporting at CHIRP
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195 - Flying the Shuttle Carrier Aircraft from 2016-02-05T18:19:36
195 - Flying the Shuttle Carrier Aircraft
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Das Jahr The Year 2015 from 2015-12-29T13:11:01
How do scientists uncover phenomena and explain their connections? How do engineers design machines, methods and infrastructure? At omega tau, experts give detailed answers. Over the last ten years...
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189 - SOFIA Part 1, Basics from 2015-11-30T14:27:22
How do scientists uncover phenomena and explain their connections? How do engineers design machines, methods and infrastructure? At omega tau, experts give detailed answers. Over the last ten years...
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185 - Nuclear Test Monitoring and the CTBT from 2015-10-20T14:21:42
How do scientists uncover phenomena and explain their connections? How do engineers design machines, methods and infrastructure? At omega tau, experts give detailed answers. Over the last ten years...
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184 - Societal Complexity and Collapse from 2015-10-13T18:28:49
How do scientists uncover phenomena and explain their connections? How do engineers design machines, methods and infrastructure? At omega tau, experts give detailed answers. Over the last ten years...
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183 - Aerobatics and Red Bull Air Racing from 2015-10-05T06:51:45
How do scientists uncover phenomena and explain their connections? How do engineers design machines, methods and infrastructure? At omega tau, experts give detailed answers. Over the last ten years...
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181 - Why Megaprojects Fail (and what to do about it) from 2015-09-17T05:40:31
How do scientists uncover phenomena and explain their connections? How do engineers design machines, methods and infrastructure? At omega tau, experts give detailed answers. Over the last ten years...
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176 - The Gemini Programme from 2015-07-18T15:53
How do scientists uncover phenomena and explain their connections? How do engineers design machines, methods and infrastructure? At omega tau, experts give detailed answers. Over the last ten years...
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