Things have been busy lately! JWST has launched and is making its way to L2 and I successfully presented and defended my qualifying exam to become a PhD candidate officially! Also, new records have been set in terms of amount of extractable ene

James Webb Space Telescope

Oct 28th, 2021 27m 2s

Let's face it, Hubble won't be around forever. There needs to be another space observatory launched soon so that it can replace Hubble. The James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) may be just the candidate. As it will mostly operate in the infrared r

Home Stretch to the Playoffs

Oct 8th, 2021 16m 58s

The New York Yankees mission statement every year. And that is to win the World Series. But to do that, you have to make the playoffs. It wasn't looking good back in July. But let's talk about what happened and how the Yankees clinched that sec

Inspiration 4 Mission

Sep 21st, 2021 17m 47s

Are you a civilian? Would you like a chance to go to space? That might just be a reality for you in the not too distant future. The Inspiration 4 mission just completed and it was crewed by all civilians. The first all-civilian orbital spacefli

Your Drinking Water Could be Contaminated with PFAS

Sep 7th, 2021 17m 20s

Are you concerned about contamination in your drinking water? I think everyone feels that their water should be clean and free of pollutants. One of the common pollutants is a class of compounds that simply do not break down. These are per- and

A Promising Climate Change Solution

Aug 24th, 2021 24m 28s

The International Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) released a report this month outlining how bad climate change is, how bad it will be, and what will happen if we don't make drastic changes in the way we address the crisis. But that doesn't mean

Marsquakes, Yes They're Real

Aug 3rd, 2021 20m

We have sent so many rovers, landers, and orbiters to Mars over the past few decades, including the Perseverance rover. So surely we know just about everything we need to know about the red planet, right? Absolutely not! We don't even really kn

Hubble in Trouble?

Jul 20th, 2021 18m 29s

Is the planet's most famous and arguably most successful telescope on the brink of total failure? Luckily, no. The Hubble Space Telescope is still working just fine and producing all kinds of stunning images and valuable data. But the latest pr

Are the Yankees an Average Team?

Jul 6th, 2021 22m 10s

It's been tough to be a Yankees fan in 2021. The team was billed as being reloaded for another run at the World Series as recent failures against the Astros and Rays occurred. But things seem to not be going according to plan. Is it the hitting

The Amazing Material Graphene

Jun 22nd, 2021 29m 22s

Why is carbon such an interesting element? It can take so many forms such as diamonds, coal, graphite, carbon black, carbon nanotubes, and buckyballs, just to name a few. But today, let's talk about graphene and why it could lead a revolution i

Missions to Venus

Jun 8th, 2021 22m 21s

Do you enjoy visiting your nearest neighbors? For us, we haven't since 1994. That seems like a long time. So NASA has decided to change that by selecting 2 standalone Venus missions for development. DAVINCI+ and VERITAS have been chosen from NA

Celebrating a Year with Some Astrochemistry

May 25th, 2021 21m 20s

Happy birthday to the show! Thank you to all of you who have taken the time to listen to this show. I truly appreciate all of you! It's been about a year since the show was launched so why not take a look back at what we have talked about over

2021 NFL Draft

May 6th, 2021 18m 31s

The NFL Draft is a time when teams can fill the needs that become apparent during the season. It's also a time where teams like the Jets get their next franchise player and hope that he leads them to a Superbowl. And that means the Zach Wilson

Ingenuity Helicopter Takes Flight

Apr 22nd, 2021 15m 9s

History has been made! The first controlled, powered flight on another planet! And this was all done by the Ingenuity helicopter that hitched a ride on the Perseverance rover. A real Wright Brothers moment! Let's talk about what Ingenuity is at

Genetic Testing

Apr 15th, 2021 18m 48s

Do you watch courtroom dramas on TV? Have you tried one of those family genealogy tests? Have you ever been tested for COVID? If you answered yes to at least one of these, then you have been exposed to a PCR test. This is used to test for DNA o

Unexpected Chemistry

Apr 1st, 2021 28m 12s

Chemistry is one of those subjects where getting your hands dirty and doing the research with the necessary chemicals and materials in the lab drives some of the biggest advances. And when you get in there, sometimes you find some unexpected. S

Women In STEM

Mar 18th, 2021 27m 27s

Throughout history, women have contributed significantly in every facet of life. And STEM fields are no different. On this episode, let's talk about some very important women, past and present, that have impacted space science as well as chemis

One Wild Offseason

Mar 4th, 2021 24m 37s

Will your favorite team have the same starting quarterback next season? Now that the Superbowl is over, this triggers the offseason for the NFL. And it seems like there was a memo going around requiring teams to change their starting quarterbac

Reaching Mars with Hope and Perseverance (and Tianwen-1 too)!

Feb 18th, 2021 27m 4s

We did it! Absolutely incredible and awe inspiring! Teams around the world have successfully guided three completely different probes to Mars and they all arrived within the last week and a half. Hope from the United Arab Emirates, Tianwen-1 fr

New COVID Vaccines

Feb 9th, 2021 17m 57s

This pandemic is still ongoing, but that doesn't mean we should sit on our laurels with the two vaccines that are approved. We need more safe and effective vaccines so that more people can get vaccinated quicker. Luckily we are getting closer t

COVID Vaccine Myths

Jan 28th, 2021 24m 57s

We have two very safe and effective vaccines available to address the COVID-19 pandemic and the data currently shows this. Yet there is plenty of misinformation circulating around out there about the vaccines. What's the truth and what's a myth

Catalysis and Sustainability

Jan 19th, 2021 21m 2s

How do chemical reactions proceed so efficiently? The majority of products are not produced just by adding reactants together. Most processes require a catalyst to get things started. Let's talk about what catalysts are and how they change the

NFL Playoffs

Jan 12th, 2021 17m 34s

The NFL playoffs are underway and started with the Wild Card weekend. A new playoff format with expanded teams is just one of the changes that these teams are dealing with. COIVD protocols with little to no fans. Injuries to key players. And on

Renewable Energy - Solar Power

Jan 5th, 2021 22m 31s

It's the first episode of 2021! New year, new topics to shed some light on. Coincidentally, we're talking about solar power in this episode. Why is solar power worth trying to harness and how does it compare with fossil fuels? Not surprisingly,

Sample Returns from Space

Dec 21st, 2020 19m 44s

How can we defend ourselves from a potential asteroid impact? We want to know answers to this plus more about how our solar system formed and how life got started on Earth. And the way to do this is to send probes out there to do some solid sci