Podcasts by Orbital Path

Building 29 from 2018-12-21T16:34:04

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 en...

Hello, Asteroid! from 2018-11-30T18:53:11

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 ...

Black Holes from the Dawn of Light from 2018-10-26T20:08:07

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...

Space Lasers for the Home Planet from 2018-09-28T21:00:35

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 sophisticate...

Brian Greene goes to 11 — again from 2018-08-31T14:58:47

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 lives...

The Universe of Leonard Susskind from 2018-07-27T18:49:38

To hear Leonard Susskind tell it, we are living in a golden age of

quantum physics.

And he should know.

Susskind is a grandee of theoretical physics. In the 1960s, he was...

Mars Goes Organic from 2018-06-29T16:36:59

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...

Earth, Desert Planet? from 2018-03-23T16:17:17

Zoe is in 8th grade. She’s a student in Mr. Andersen’s Earth science class at a public school in Brooklyn.

Lately, she’s been concerned about the future of the planet.

Specifical...

Our Darkening Universe from 2018-03-09T22:49:48

Secrets of the universe? A glimpse of the whiteboard in the office of Nobel Prize-winning astrophysi...

Introducing…Telescope! from 2018-02-23T19:31:36

Instead of grappling with the big, cosmic questions that preoccupy adults, this week on Orbital Path we’re doing something different.

We’re grappling with the big, cosmic questions that ...

Star Death Tango from 2018-02-09T16:48:45

On August 17, 2017, an alert went out.

Gravitational wave detectors in Louisiana and Washington state had detected a disturbance from deep space.

The effect was subtle — these de...

Ozone Disaster Redux from 2018-01-26T15:43:33

Scientists in 1985 discovered something that threatened the world we live in:

The ozone layer had a hole in it.

A big one. And this hole was growing very quickly. If it continued...

Fireside Physics: A Solstice on Saturn? from 2017-12-29T17:16:10

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 s...

From Another Star from 2017-12-15T17:56:52

NASA’S office of planetary defense isn’t worried about Klingons or Amoeboid Zingatularians. 

They worry about asteroids and comets. 

Like the one that exploded over Chelyabinsk, ...

Winter’s Night Sky from 2017-12-01T14:01:23

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 t...

Aliens Again! from 2017-11-17T05:04:29

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 on...

Time and Space in the Kingdom of Bhutan from 2017-11-03T19:52:49

The Himalayan kingdom of Bhutan avidly guards its traditional culture. Bhutan is a nation that — instead of looking to GDP or debt ratios — measures success by an index of “Gross National Happin...

The 11 Dimensions of Brian Greene from 2017-10-20T13:59:52

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 lives...

Minisode 5: Scary Math from 2017-09-29T14:52:57

In a scary time, in a scary world, in a scary universe, NASA astronomer Andrew Booth says one of the things that frightens him most is math.

Specifically, the power of mathematics to des...

Episode 22: Journey to the Sun from 2017-09-15T16:08:43

Locked up on the Greek island of Crete, Icarus and his dad made wings out of  beeswax and bird feathers. They soared to freedom — but Icarus got cocky, flew too close to the sun, and fell into t...

Minisode 4: Hot Tub Physics! from 2017-09-01T12:32:55

After a full day in a clean suit, there’s nothing like …

a dip in the hot tub.

NASA astronomer Andrew Booth spends his days working with lasers, developing some of the word’s mos...

Episode 21: First Light from 2017-08-18T17:01:54

There was a time before planets and suns. A time before oxygen. You could sa...

Episode 20: Holy Sheet! from 2017-08-04T13:37:07

NASA is relying on hi-tech lasers — and some vintage U.S. Navy hand-me-downs — to learn a...

Mini-sode 3: Dr. Thaller Helps You Prep for The Eclipse from 2017-07-21T02:15:48

The big one is coming! That is, the total solar eclipse of Aug. 21. Dr. Thaller shares her wisdom on how best to view the eclipse and its larger implications for science.

Orbital Pat...