Podcasts by Third Pod from the Sun

Tales from the (manus)crypt: This is the end from 2023-11-06T00:05

Horror stories (especially movies) have a tradition of long series capstoned by an “ending” movie. Halloween Ends. Friday the 13th: The Final Chapter. THE Final Destination. And while Third Pod ...

Tales from the (manus)crypt: The sound of screams from 2023-10-30T00:02

There’s something powerful about the sound of a scream. Whether it pierces the silence of an empty building or rings out through a crowded room, it forces you to stop what you’re doing and take ...

Tales from the (manus)crypt: Zombie-making fungi from 2023-10-23T00:05

Carolyn Elya is the Zombiologist in Chief, aka incoming Assistant Professor in Molecular and Cellular Biology at Harvard University. She’s been obsessed with parasites for a while, but it was the f...

Tales from the (manus)crypt: Volcanic video games from 2023-10-16T00:15

One of the scariest things for scientists is watching entertainment media portray your field of study inaccurately—the horror! Flood resilience officer and social volcanologist Jazmin Scarlett turn...

Tales from the (manus)crypt: Mind-controlling mushrooms from 2023-10-09T00:15

The video game and TV show “The Last of Us” captivated audiences with the concept of a fungal pandemic. The story is set in a world ravaged by a fungus that infects people and turns them into zombi...

Tales from the (manus)crypt: Evolved bloodsuckers from 2023-10-02T07:49:06

We're diving into the intriguing world of vampire bats and their unique genetic adaptations to a blood-based diet. Shenglin Liu is a researcher at the Senckenberg Natural History Museum in Frankfur...

Tales from the (manus)crypt from 2023-09-25T00:15

It’s that time of year again! For many of us, temperatures are cooling, leaves are changing, Pumpkin Spice Lattes are…latte-ing. While that all sounds lovely, it’s also spooky season, and we’re cel...

Invisible forces: Weathering the (academic space) storm from 2023-09-15T00:15

As a young child in India, Nithin Silvadas picked up Carl Sagan’s Cosmos, and it may have changed his life. From that moment on, he was enraptured with they universe. An undergraduate in engineerin...

Invisible forces: Gravity of the (Venus) situation from 2023-09-08T11:03

What goes up must come down, right? Well, what if things go up and come down slightly slower than you might expect? Are there balloons attached? Filled with helium? Are you on Venus? Probably not...

Invisible forces: Through the cloud of atmospheric aerosols from 2023-09-01T07:08:02

If you’re a scientist in an oceanography department, you’re probably studying the ocean, right? Well, part of your job might be studying things like phytoplankton, the tiny oceanic powerhouses that...

Invisible forces: Fielding Earth's magnetic mysteries from 2023-08-25T07:28:10

What was the first big project you worked on at your job? An important report? An interesting experiment? How about helping to build a satellite? Ashley Greeley, research scientist in the Helioph...

Invisible forces: Sharpening our cosmic vision from 2023-08-18T07:05

When you look up into the night sky, what do you see? Is it a clear picture? Do you see anything at all? What if we could enhance our view of the cosmos and develop technology that promises to clea...

Invisible forces from 2023-08-11T07:21:21

We’re journeying into the mysterious world of invisible forces that shape our lives in ways we often overlook for our next series! Join us as we, explore nuclear energy, feel the pull of magnetic f...

Fieldwork rocks: Icy balloons&(natural) gaseous fumes from 2023-08-07T00:15

What do Antarctica, Nepal, South Korea, and rural NE Pennsylvania all have in common? They’re all places where Doug Goetz of UC Boulder’s Laboratory for Atmospheric and Space Physics has done field...

Fieldwork rocks: Can it be accessible for all? from 2023-07-28T11:28:03

The mountains are calling! But the trail to get there is pretty bumpy…can everyone come along? When we imagine a geologist striding through the mountains, carrying heavy samples and equipment, the ...

Fieldwork rocks: Tree rings of the Civil War from 2023-07-21T07:04:16

Many of us know that tree rings can tell us how old a tree is. But there’s so much more we can learn from these seemingly simple lines.  In the mid 1800’s, right before the start of the U.S. Civil...

Fieldwork rocks: Marooned on purpose from 2023-07-14T00:15

You might think of a deserted island when you picture being marooned, but for some geology researchers the island is their research ship. To collect samples of rocks and sediments from deep beneath...

Fieldwork rocks: Head in the (funnel) clouds from 2023-07-07T00:15

Every year between June and November, researchers take to the skies to better understand and measure hurricanes. Heather Holbach is part of NOAA’s Hurricane Research division and is one of the scie...

Fieldwork rocks: From sea to quaking sea from 2023-06-30T00:15

Seismologist Margaret Boettcher has ventured to the depths of South African gold mines and the middle of the Pacific Ocean in a quest to find earthquakes that are predictable enough to measure and ...

Fieldwork rocks: Picturing science from 2023-06-23T07:12

Joris De Raedt, a passionate scientific illustrator dedicated to capturing the beauty and significance of nature through his art, strives to foster a deep connection between people and the fauna an...

Fieldwork rocks from 2023-06-16T00:15

It’s that time of year again where many scientists head out into the field, from far-flung locations to local backyards. In recognition of the lengths that some scientists go to to get answers to q...

Solving for climate: Understanding the"wild"in wildfire from 2023-06-09T00:15

Wildfires seem to be happening more often, and in 2020, Colorado experienced the worst fire season in its recorded history. Extreme fire events are often assumed to be caused by climate change, but...

Solving for Climate: The silent killer in your urban backyard from 2023-06-02T00:15

The different temperatures humans experience can be as localized as the variance from a suburban area to its urban center. The urban heat island effect - UHI for short - is one such danger. Cities ...

Solving for climate: Earth’s next top (climate) model from 2023-05-26T00:15

We all know the saying “history repeats itself” but to what extent is that true when it comes to Earth’s climate? In order to understand and even predict future climates, transitions from one histo...

Solving for climate: (Health and) safety in (climate) numbers from 2023-05-19T00:15

We’ve all probably heard about how climate change is affecting the ice sheets and polar bears, but what about human health? More severe and numerous floods, droughts, and heat waves impact a wide r...

Solving for climate: Do go chasing hurricanes from 2023-05-12T00:15

Jane Baldwin is a storm chaser, only her mode of chasing is computational modeling using multiple streams of data. As an Assistant Professor of Earth System Science at UC Irvine, she models how hur...

Solving for climate: Coasts in the machine from 2023-05-05T00:15

The Earth's oceans play a crucial role in regulating the planet's climate by absorbing and storing vast amounts of heat and carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. However, due to human activities such...

Solving for climate from 2023-04-28T00:15

Are you a math person? Does thinking about math make your head hurt? Well, we hate to break it to you, but we’re all math people! Math is part of our everyday lives, whether we realize it or not. A...

One giant leap: For first-generational beginnings&talking rockets! from 2023-04-21T00:15

Peter Falcon is an Earth Science communications specialist at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory with an atypical background: behavioral science. As a communications specialist, Peter acts as a liais...

One giant leap: For beating the odds and troubleshooting telescopes from 2023-04-14T00:15

Hashima Hasan is the program scientist for NASA’s James Webb, XP, and NuSTAR telescopes, helping to bring those missions from cradle to grave. Hashima followed the space race closely growing up in ...

One giant leap: For opening up the sciences from 2023-04-07T00:15

Cynthia Hall is the community coordinator for NASA’s Transform to Open Science program, where she works with organizations and communities to build diverse scientific collaborations with NASA. She ...

One giant leap: For James Webb and scientists on the silver screen from 2023-03-31T00:15

Dr. Alex Lockwood is the project scientist on the science communication team for the James Webb Space Telescope at the Space Telescope Science Institute. While earning her Ph.D. in Planetary Astron...

One giant leap: For space librarians&accessible data from 2023-03-24T00:15

When it comes to data archiving, Michele Thornton has you covered. As a Geospatial Data Professional for ORNL-DAAC, Michele ensures that NASA funded research is accessible not only to researchers o...

One giant leap: For meteorology&climate communication from 2023-03-17T00:15

As a leading international expert in weather and climate and Georgia Athletic Association Distinguished Professor of Geography and Atmospheric Sciences at the University of Georgia, James Marshall ...

One small step...for Third Pod? from 2023-03-10T07:45:07

We're back! And this time, we're heading to the moon! Well, not the moon, but to space! Well, that's not quite true either. But we are starting season two with a series all about folks who with for...

Your favorites: Not your science fair volcano from 2023-03-03T00:15

For many of us, the word “extinctions” conjures up images of dinosaurs, asteroids, and (maybe?) volcanos. And while that last point did likely play a role in the demise of the dinosaurs, volcanos i...

Your favorites: A Martian on Earth from 2023-02-24T00:15

Tanya Harrison never thought she was going to be an astronaut. But she was determined to go to space. And she did just that – through satellites, first to Mars, and now looking back at our own thir...

Your favorites: Dinosaurs, a big rock, and…climate change? from 2023-02-17T00:15

When you hear the word “extinction,” chances are you probably think of the extinction of the dinosaurs and a big rock. But did you know that there were other factors at play that lead to that extin...

Your favorites: The ice ships of Project Habbakuk from 2023-02-10T00:15

Dive down into the freezing depths of Patricia Lake, in Alberta’s Jasper National Park, and you will find the wreck of the Habbakuk—a sixty-foot model battleship originally constructed of wood and ...

Spaceship Earth: Overseeing space...&Earth from 2023-02-03T00:15

When Christa Peters-Lidard cold-called the head of NASA’s hydrology lab as an undergrad, she wasn’t thinking she’d eventually land that very position. Now as the Acting Director for Sciences and Ex...

Spaceship Earth: The (visual) beauty of science from 2023-01-27T00:15

As the Scientific Visualization lead for NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center, Mark SubbaRao oversees the translation of NASA science into images and movies. For Mark, science visualization is a key ...

Spaceship Earth: Powering humans in space from 2023-01-20T07:29:44

As the Deputy Program Manager for NASA’s Radioisotope Power Systems Program at Glenn Research Center, Concha Reid leads a team overseeing and monitoring devices that heat and give power to NASA spa...

Spaceship Earth: Discovering water on Earth from space from 2023-01-13T00:15

Being a Hydrologist was never on Matthew Rodell’s radar, let alone working for NASA. But he always trusted the path ahead. Now as their Deputy Director of Earth Sciences for Hydrosphere, Biosphe...

Spaceship Earth: A love of space through a son's telescope from 2023-01-06T00:15

Dorian Janney is a science communicator for NASA asking the big question: how do we make science accessible? Sparked into Earth Space Science through her son’s curiosity with space, we talk to D...

Spaceship Earth: Using satellites to feed the world from 2022-12-30T07:40

Chris Justice is a geographer and professor at the University of Maryland whose research on land use changes and global agriculture has taken him around the world. His research has had a hand in...

Spaceship Earth from 2022-12-23T00:15

What do folks who fight food insecurity with satellites, do outreach about Pluto, and map out the Earth's gravitational fields have in common? How about a common thread between those who study l...

Distillations: Mapping the seafloor with computer games from 2022-12-16T08:36

Many might think that we know most or all there is to know about our world. On the surface, that might be somewhat true. But below the surfaced, we mapped less of the oceans than of places outsi...

Distillations: Quilting science&changing climates from 2022-12-15T08:56

When you think of a combo of science & art, what comes to mind? Drawings? Dance? Music? How about quilting? Laura Guertin, Professor of Earth Science at Penn State Brandywine, was looking fo...

Distillations: Bringing equity to community science in Chicago (&beyond) from 2022-12-14T00:15

While climate change is a global issue, it affects people on a local, and sometimes personal level. And it disproportionately affects those from traditionally marginalized backgrounds. Luckily, ...

Distillations: Clean water in the Navajo Nation from 2022-12-13T00:15

Fresh water is something that many of us take for granted. But for Carmen George and Brianna John, it's not a trivial thing. They're working to bring clean water to the Navajo reservation throug...

Distillations: Sharing science for the public good from 2022-12-12T00:15

It’s that time of year again. No, we’re not talking about the holiday season (though, happy holidays everyone!). We’re talking AGU’s annual meeting! To celebrate, we’re releasing an episode each da...

Fire: Bringing fire back to the land from 2022-12-09T00:15

Fire is a part of life for many indigenous groups, but for decades cultural burning was restricted and even criminalized. Now, fire is being brought back to the land by indigenous groups to help...

Fire: Lighting the skies with fireflies from 2022-12-02T00:15

This episode is about how random flashes of fireflies gradually acquire synchrony. Studies have shown that this surreal coordination of twinkling occurs through a natural cadence among certain s...

Fire: Does a planet need life for fire to burn? from 2022-11-25T00:15

Think about what types of things burn: wood, grasses, fossil fuels… mostly things that were formed by life. Fire also requires oxygen, which is largely produced by life. Did Earth have fire befo...

Fire: Mixing (volcanic) fire and water from 2022-11-18T07:26

When the Halema‘uma‘u crater at the summit of Kīlauea Volcano began filling with water in 2019 it wasn’t unprecedented, volcanic crater lakes aren’t uncommon; but, it was surprising for active v...

Fire: Deep space burn from 2022-11-11T00:15

At the end of the decade, NASA’s Artemis missions will return to the moon—traveling through deep space to get there. A lot of things make deep space travel complicated, but one you might not hav...

Fire: Forests under (mega) fire in the Pacific northwest from 2022-11-04T08:03:17

Climate change is accelerating as human-made greenhouse gasses continue to warm our atmosphere. Megafires certainly evoke climate change doomsday feelings, but are these types of fires new to th...

Halloween special: Nessie&the kraken from 2022-10-31T00:15

We’ve all heard stories about fantastical creatures that people swear they’ve seen and have evidence of but can never be confirmed. Think Bigfoot or the Loch Ness monster. Mermaids or the Kraken...

Halloween special: Sasquatches&mermaids from 2022-10-30T00:15

We’ve all heard stories about fantastical creatures that people swear they’ve seen and have evidence of but can never be confirmed. Think Bigfoot or the Loch Ness monster. Mermaids or the Kraken...

A podcast of fire and ice from 2022-10-28T07:12:01

As the leaves change and temperatures cool, head inside, fire up your headphones, and get ready for hot-podcast fall as share stories about, well, fire. Join us over the next six weeks to hear s...

Storied Careers: Gaining a footing in landslide science from 2022-10-21T00:15

How do you study something that’s constantly shifting? That’s the challenge that USGS geologist Richard Iverson faced when he began his career in landslide research. He and his team developed a fir...

Storied Careers: Auroras, deadly radiation, and Earth’s long-term future from 2022-10-14T00:15

With a heliophysics career spanning across nearly five decades, Thomas Earle Moore has always been fascinated by the Sun’s relationship with the Earth and how that relationship affects life on o...

Storied Careers: Ocean sensors and dog scenters from 2022-10-07T00:15

Tommy Dickey is an emeritus oceanographer from U.C. Santa Barbara and Naval Operations Chair in Ocean Sciences. His modeling and observational research yielded ocean monitoring technologies and ...

Storied careers: Scouring seas from the skies from 2022-09-30T07:41:44

This episode is about how satellite technology is being used to study a big chunk of the earth’s surface. Seventy percent of the earth comprises water but we know very little about it. Color sen...

Storied careers: The unexpected path to Ethiopian rifts from 2022-09-23T00:15

Choosing a major and university is one of the earliest major life decisions—but what if you had to leave those choices up to chance? Today we hear from Dr. Ameha Muluneh, who grew up wanting to ...

Storied careers: What you didn’t learn in (geo)science class from 2022-09-16T07:08:34

In the past couple of decades, Earth and space science education for K-12 has evolved significantly, much due to the work of geologist, educator, and writer, Listen

The (not so) secret histories of scientists from 2022-09-09T00:15

Science is all about experimentation, discover, and sharing those results. But what happens behind the scenes? What stories do scientists have to tell that don’t make it in the manuscript or the cl...

Ice: Ancient knowledge for modern tech from 2022-09-02T00:15

To the untrained eye, Arctic ice appears unchanging, but conditions can shift quickly, and often reveal life-threatening hazards when they do. It is an unforgiving environment, but the Inuit kno...

Ice: Stolen moon ice from 2022-08-26T00:15

When you think of ice, you might imagine glaciers, the North Pole, a clink in your water glass. But it turns out that our closest neighbor in space isn’t just a dusty ball—the moon has ice tucke...

Ice: Shells of an ice-less past from 2022-08-19T12:15

Brian Huber is a climate detective at the Smithsonian who grew up collecting arrowheads in the woods of Ohio, but now collects and studies fossils from sediment cores. Brian uses fossils of tiny or...

Ice: Birds foretelling climate change from 2022-08-12T12:15

Anant Pande is an Indian polar researcher who studies snow petrels - shy pelagic (sea-faring) birds who nest on rock crevices in Antarctica. These endemic birds prefer to nest near less icy wate...

Ice: Glacier tourism on thin ice from 2022-08-05T07:35

Glaciers around the world are melting because of climate change. Yet, while glaciers might be smaller than they once were, that’s not stopping tourists from flocking to see them. We talked with ...

Ice: The ice ships of Project Habbakuk from 2022-07-29T12:15

Dive down into the freezing depths of Patricia Lake, in Alberta’s Jasper National Park, and you will find the wreck of the Habbakuk—a sixty-foot model battleship originally constructed of wood a...

A podcast of ice and fire from 2022-07-22T00:15

Cool off from the summer heat with our next six-part miniseries all about ice – from those who call it home to its use as a tool in science. Experts tell us how this state of matter can create s...

Extinctions: Space station splashdown from 2022-07-15T00:15

The International Space Station feels like a permanent fixture. It’s been up there since 2000! But earlier this year, NASA announced it is bringing the ISS back to earth in the 2030s as it plans...

Extinctions: Oddballs of the Triassic from 2022-07-08T00:15

Hans Sues is a fossil guy at the Smithsonian. Born in Germany, he has been all over the world finding and interpreting fossils for more than 40 years. His focus is on vertebrates – both in his p...

Extinctions: Showdown of the giant space rocks from 2022-07-01T00:15

Dani DellaGiustina is one of the youngest leaders of a NASA mission, and she was in charge of image processing for OSIRIS-REx before she even got her PhD. OSIRIS-REx is a spacecraft sent to stud...

Extinctions: Not your science fair volcano from 2022-06-24T00:15

For many of us, the word “extinctions” conjures up images of dinosaurs, asteroids, and (maybe?) volcanos. And while that last point did likely play a role in the demise of the dinosaurs, volcano...

Extinctions: The (Maybe) Cambrian (Not Really) Explosion from 2022-06-17T00:15

The Cambrian explosion is commonly labelled as the time in Earth’s history when animals suddenly appear. But research from geoscientist Rachel Wood and her team turns this explanation on its hea...

Extinctions: Dinosaurs, a big rock, and…climate change? from 2022-06-03T12:15

When you hear the word “extinction,” chances are you probably think of the extinction of the dinosaurs and a big rock. But did you know that there were other factors at play that lead to that ex...

Extinctions: Dinosaurs, volcanoes, the space station, oh my! from 2022-06-03T01:00

When you hear the word “extinction,” what comes to mind? Dinosaurs? Asteroids? Volcanoes?

How about the International Space Station?

Join us for our next six-part min...

True story: Migrating robins&thieving capuchins from 2022-05-27T00:15

Emily Williams has traveled the world in search of birds. As a biologist, she’s worked in Kansas, Argentina, Australia, and Denali, and studied loons, flycatchers, kingbirds, and more. And even ...

True story: A prop plane, a bucket, and a trip to Antarctica from 2022-05-20T11:05

Pacifica Sommers is an ecologist and explorer. From the deserts of Arizona to the Antarctic tundra, Pacifica has looked at how organisms from tardigrades to pocket mice live in extreme environme...

True story: Using TikTok for (shark) science good from 2022-05-13T12:00

Jaida Elcock says she thrives in chaos. And we’re inclined to believe her. From her ridiculously entertaining TikToks on animal facts, to her work with the non-profit Minorities in Shark Science...

True story: A Martian on Earth from 2022-05-06T07:55

Tanya Harrison never thought she was going to be an astronaut. But she was determined to go to space. And she did just that – through satellites, first to Mars, and now looking back at our own t...

True story: Lassoing lizards (for science) from 2022-04-29T12:30

Gina Zwicky love lizards. And frogs. And turtles. Basically, all sorts of amphibians and reptiles. The love has turned into a career looking at how lizards fight off parasites and how those para...

True story: Slapped by a (misinformation) shark from 2022-04-29T12:15

David Shiffman is a shark guy. It’s in his Twitter handle, he’s writing a book about it, and he was wearing a shark shirt the day we interviewed him. But more broadly he’s a marine conservation ...

True (science) stories you’ve never heard before from 2022-04-22T12:15

Third Pod from the Sun is back, and we’re going weekly! We’re breaking things up into six-week mini-series and our first series is all about the true, personal stories from scientists, for every...

Staff Picks: Chasing Narwhals from 2021-12-25T12:32:03

University of Washington biologist Kristin Laidre travels to the Arctic to study animals many of us have only see...

Staff Picks: Toxic City Under the Ice from 2021-11-22T10:30

In 1959, the United States built an unusual military base under the surface of the Greenland ice Sheet. Camp Century was a hub for scientific research, but it also doubled as a top-secret site f...

Staff Picks: Mythical monsters&their real-life inspirations (Part 2) from 2021-10-27T00:15

We’ve all heard stories about fantastical creatures that people swear they’ve seen and have evidence of but can never be confirmed. Think Bigfoot or the Loch Ness monster. Mermaids or the Kraken...

Staff Picks: Mythical monsters&their real-life inspirations (Part 1) from 2021-10-12T00:15

We’ve all heard stories about fantastical creatures that people swear they’ve seen and have evidence of but can never be confirmed. Think Bigfoot or the Loch Ness monster. Mermaids or ...

Third Pod Presents: Stereo Chemistry - Searching for Mars’s missing water from 2021-09-20T12:15

More than 50 years of missions to Mars paint a clear picture of a cold, dry, desert planet. And at the same time, photographs, minerals, and other data tell scientists that Mars once had as much...

Staff Picks: The Johnstown Flood from 2021-09-06T12:15

The Johnstown Flood occurred on May 31, 1889, after the failure of the South Fork Dam, which is located on the south fork of the Little Conemaugh River, 14 miles up...

3rd Pod Summer: The Johnstown Flood from 2021-09-06T00:15

The Johnstown Flood occurred on May 31, 1889, after the failure of the South Fork Dam, which is located on the south fork of the Little Conemaugh River, 14 miles upstream of the town of Johnstown, ...

Staff Picks: Parking Lot Lava from 2021-08-16T12:15

In a parking lot behind the Comstock Art Facility at Syracuse University, geologist J...

3rd Pod Summer Series: Parking Lot Lava from 2021-08-16T00:15

In a parking lot behind the Comstock Art Facility at Syracuse University, geologist Jeff Karson and sculptor Bob Wysocki cook up something almost unimaginable – homemade lava. Using a gas furnace t...

Special podcast episodes explore allyship and DEI at AGU - Part 2 of 2 from 2021-06-24T13:00

Today, we are releasing two more special Third Pod from the Sun podcast episodes exploring allyship and diversity, equity and inclusion featuring conversations with Billy Williams, AGU executive...

Special podcast episodes explore allyship and DEI at AGU - Part 1 of 2 from 2021-06-24T13:00

Today, we are releasing two more special Third Pod from the Sun podcast episodes exploring allyship and diversity, equity and inclusion featuring conversations with Billy Williams, AGU executive...

Standing Up for Science During an Epidemic from 2021-06-21T00:15

Before COVID, before the swine flu, there was the bird flu outbreak of the mid-2000s. An international group of scientists came together to combat the deadly virus, including D...

Scientists Mine 16th Century Ship Logs for Geophysical Research from 2021-05-17T00:15

As ships explored the world from the Age of Sail through 20th century, mariners kept detailed navigation records using the Sun and stars. Scientists scoured these ship logs, ma...

Special Release: Allyship from 2021-05-05T11:43:20

This month's “Third Pod from the Sun” episode is a special release, featuring AGU Vice President of Meetings Lauren Parr and AGU Vice President of Science Policy and Government Relations Lexi Sh...

What's It Like Pretending to Live on Mars? from 2021-04-19T00:15

If someone offered you the chance to drop everything, fly to Hawaii, and spend four m...

What Tree Rings Can Tell Us About the Civil War from 2021-03-22T12:04:06

Many of us know that tree rings can tell us how old a tree is. But there’s so much more we can learn from these seemingly simple lines.
In the mid 1800’s, right before the start of the U.S. Civ...

What Tree Rings Can Tell Us About the U.S. Civil War from 2021-03-22T11:04

Many of us know that tree rings can tell us how old a tree is. But there’s so much more we can learn from these seemingly simple lines.

In the mid 1800’s, right before the start of the U....

A Modern Way to Look for Aliens from 2021-02-08T00:15

If you were an ant living in an anthill in the Serengeti and you wanted to know whether an intelligent species lived on planet Earth, how could you tell? A particularly clever ant might pick up ...

Third Pod Presents: Sci & Tell - Bärbel Hönisch, “Queen of Boron” from 2021-01-31T22:10:42.023393

Bärbel Hönisch, Associate Professor of Environmental Sciences at Columbia University also known as Queen of Boron, transported us millions of years beyond the ice cores to the realm when Greenland ...

Special Release: The Beast of the Arctic from 2020-12-11T00:15

Scientists sent a remotely operated vehicle named Beast under the sea ice in Arctic winter. Jenessa Duncombe talks with scientist Christian Katlein about the race to characteri...

Special Release: It's astrobiology, my dear WATSON from 2020-12-10T00:15

By drilling into ice sheets on Earth, a new instrument called WATSON can help us find biosignatures on icy ocean worlds across the solar system. Read more at Listen

Special Release: Can Volcano Forecasting Make Visiting Whakaari Safe Again? from 2020-12-10T00:15

Last year’s explosive eruption at the New Zealand volcano tragically took tourists by surprise. Jenessa Duncombe talks with scientist David Dempsey about a new forecasting mode...

Special Release: The Canadian Wildfire Chronicles from 2020-12-08T00:15

How have wildfires in Canada changed in the past 50 years? New research documents how a warming climate contributes to patterns in wildfire severity and frequency and how the f...

From Athlete to Astronaut from 2020-12-07T00:15

Leland Melvin’s scientific career began during his childhood in Lynchburg, Virginia, when he created a fantastic explosion...

Songs of the Arches (with Helicopters) from 2020-11-18T11:46:30

Utah’s famous bridges and spires hum with a deep, Earthly music, below the threshold of human perception.

The wind that carved the sandstone of Arch...

Special Release: Mythical Monsters and their Real-life Inspirations (Part 2) from 2020-10-28T00:15

We’ve all heard stories about fantastical creatures that people swear they’ve seen and have evidence of but can never be confirmed. Think Bigfoot or the Loch Ness monster. Merm...

Special Release: Mythical Monsters and their Real-life Inspirations (Part 1) from 2020-10-26T00:15

We’ve all heard stories about fantastical creatures that people swear they’ve seen and have evidence of but can never be confirmed. Think Bigfoot or the Loch Ness monster. Merm...

Final Frontier? The Evolution of Planetary Science Missions from 2020-10-12T00:15

The latest episode of Third Pod from the Sun features an interview with planetary sc...

The Unusual Relationship Between Climate and Pandemics from 2020-09-15T19:10

Well-documented torrential rains and unusually cold temperatures affected the outco...

Putting Brains in Rock Machines from 2020-08-17T00:15

What happens when you cross medical science with geophysics?In one study published last year...

Escape from Thera from 2020-07-13T14:09:46

About 3,600 years ago, a colossal volcanic eruption blew apart the Greek island Thera, now the popular tourist destination known as Santorini. Falling volcanic rock and dust bu...

Instruments of Unusual Size from 2020-06-15T10:08:36

Volcanic craters could be the largest musical instrument on Earth, producing unique sounds that tell scientists what is going on deep in a volcano’s belly.

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Special Release: Climate change, tree rings, and string theory from 2020-06-01T14:00

What’s it like to be one of the most well-known climate scientists around? People (e.g. your dad) should just trust what you say, right? Well…it doesn’t always work out like that.

Kate Ma...

Mt. St. Helens: 40 Years Later from 2020-05-18T00:15

On May 18, 1980, Mt. St. Helens erupted in Washington state, capping off a series of volcanic events that began on March 27th of that year. The May 18th explosions is credited ...

Third Pod Live: The Dirty Links between Soil and Climate from 2020-05-04T00:15

Asmeret Asefaw Berhe is a Professor of Soil Biogeochemistry at the Life and Environmental Sciences unit, University of California, Merced. She received her PhD in Biogeochemistry from the Univer...

Third Pod Presents: Sci&Tell - James Garvin on Earth Day at 50 from 2020-04-24T00:15

James Garvin is the Chief Scientist at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center. Dr. Garvin has been at NASA for 35 years in a variety of roles and missions, and is well known for hi...

Third Pod Presents: Sci&Tell - Earth Day at 50, Stories from NASA from 2020-04-22T00:15

This year is the 50th anniversary. To celebrate, we chatted with over a dozen NASA scientists about what Earth Day means to them in this special compilation episode!

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Earthrise from 2020-04-20T00:15

On 24 December 1968, humans witnessed our home planet rise over the horizon of another world for the first time. The crew of Listen

Paradise Lost from 2020-04-06T00:15

From 1946 to 1958, the United States military conducted more than 20 nuclear bomb tests at Bikini Atoll, an idyllic tropical island in the South Pacific Ocean. During the first...

Third Pod Presents: Sci&Tell - Kim Cobb, Standing Up for Women in Science from 2020-04-01T08:16:38

Kim Cobb loves being out in the field. She talks about the euphoria and passion she has for it, saying “It's like nothing I...

Et tu Etna? from 2020-03-24T00:15

In 44 BCE, a momentous event occurred. Somewhere on Earth, a volcano erupted—one of the largest of last 2,500 years te...

Third Pod Presents: Sci&Tell – Pulwarty&Hayes, Connecting Science&Society from 2020-03-04T00:15

Why do people feel they way they do about issues? Why do lawmakers and policy leaders seemingly act against their better interests? And how can information be developed in a way that leads not j...

Exhuming a Buried Piece of American History from 2020-02-19T00:15

In 1991, the United States government unearthed a staggering archaeological find during construction of a federal office building in lower Manhattan. While digging the building...

Discovering Europe’s History Through its Timbers from 2020-01-27T00:15

An analysis of timber used to construct buildings in Europe hundreds of years ago is giving scientists and historians new insights into the region’s history from the 13th to 17...

Third Pod Presents: Sci&Tell - Bärbel Hönisch, “Queen of Boron” from 2020-01-13T08:59:57

Bärbel Hönisch, Associate Professor of Environmental Sciences at Columbia University also known as Queen of Boron, transported us millions of years beyond the ice cores to the ...

Antarctica's Oldest Ice from 2020-01-06T00:15

Drilling engineer and ice core scientist Robert Mulvaney has driven thousands of kilometers over Antarctica in the past few years in a snow tractor, creeping slowly over one of...

Third Pod Presents: Sci&Tell - Lori Glaze on Nudging Asteroids from 2019-12-26T00:15

Lori Glaze, Acting Director of the Planetary Science Division at NASA Headquarters, works with everything from understanding asteroid trajectories and material make up to the InSight mission whi...

The Johnstown Flood: A Most Avoidable Tragedy from 2019-12-16T08:51:04

The Johnstown Flood occurred on May 31, 1889, after the failure of the South Fork Dam, which is located on the south fork of the Little Conemaugh River, 14 miles upstream of th...

Third Pod Live: O-klahoma, where there's fracking, oil, faults, and more! from 2019-12-09T00:15

What’s it like to be a seismologist who’s studied the Marcellus Shale and San Andreas Fault, worked around the world from Pennsylvania to Rome, and is now a professor at the Un...

A Walk in the (Gemstone) Vault with Jeff Post - Part 2 from 2019-12-04T00:15

Mineralogist Jeff Post has a one-of-a-kind job: he’s curator of the National Gem and Mineral Collection, a collection of over 375,000 rock and mineral specimens housed at the N...

(Hope) Diamonds are Forever - Part 1 from 2019-12-02T00:15

Mineralogist Jeff Post has a one-of-a-kind job: he’s curator of the National Gem and Mineral Collection, a collection of over 375,000 rock and mineral specimens housed at the N...

Special Release: Tribes, Trails, and Tailings from 2019-11-25T00:15

Mining is more than just harvesting natural resources – it’s about who owns those right and what the land that those mines are on mean to the people who live there.

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A Nuclear Legacy Buried in Ice from 2019-11-18T00:15

Earlier this year, scientists reported that radioactive fallout from nuclear accidents and weapons testing is present in ice sediments on the surface of glaciers in the Arctic,...

Third Pod Presents: Sci&Tell - Rafael Loureiro on Space Plants from 2019-11-11T08:46

Rafael Loureiro may confess to being an introvert, but he has no fear of people. He started off talking about AGU’s Voices for Science initiative, which he is participating in ...

Bonus Clip: Meteorite Hunting in Antarctica from 2019-11-07T09:04

Nina Lanza is a member of a research team hunts for meteorites in Antarctica. In this bonus clip from Episode 23, Between a Varnished Rock and a Hard Place, Nina describes the ...

Between a Varnished Rock and a Hard Place from 2019-11-04T00:15

Scientists have been testing whether life exists on Mars for over 40 years, ever since the Viking 1 lander touched down on the Red Planet. Researchers often perform expe...

Third Pod Presents: Sci&Tell - Jim Green on Space Exploration from 2019-10-28T00:15

We're trying something new with Third Pod. In addition to your regularly scheduled programming, we're going to showcase short stories from scientists in a new series we're dubbing Sci & Tell...

Plate Tectonics: The Theory that Changed Earth Science from 2019-10-21T00:15

Xavier Le Pichon came to Lamont Geological Observatory in 1959 and spent four months aboard the R/V Vema as a physical oceanography technician. The research cruise set o...

Special Release: Managing Emergencies in a Water World from 2019-10-11T00:15

Water is one of the things that none of us can live without. Yet, it’s taken for granted in so many parts of the parts, and even in parts of the U.S. But what woul...

Diamond Anvils and the Heart of Jupiter from 2019-10-08T08:39:41

Physicist Marius Millot investigates the intimate atomic worlds of elements in order to understand the inn...

Volcano Disaster Prepping from 2019-09-23T10:04:35

Many people have emergency kits packed to flee or survive forces of nature like floods, hurricanes, or wildfire. But what do you throw in your bag when you expect to rush to...