Blueshift - October 6, 2015: Spontaneous Complexity

Jasmin Evans is an undergraduate student in astronomy and physics at the University of Central Lancashire in the UK. She shadowed us for the week and while she was here, she interviewed Nobel Laureate Dr. John Mather for our podcast. She talked to him about what lead him to science, what advice he would give to those young people currently trying to decide in which direction they should take their careers, and (of course) about JWST.

In July, we featured a guest post on our blog from astronomer Nick Howes about how he was able to image the Herschel observatory, which sat a million miles away from the Earth at the 2nd Lagrange point (and is now being moved into a graveyard orbit). For this podcast, we interviewed him about the back story about how he imaged Herschel, the telescopes he used, and what got him into astronomy.

This is the last part of our interview with Dr. Phil Plait, the so-called "Bad Astronomer." Phil is a scientist who now writes about science for the public, with a large focus on debunking bad science and astronomy. In this podcast, we talk with Phil about how science works, and how we learn.

This is part three of four of our interview with Dr. Phil Plait, the so-called "Bad Astronomer." Phil is a scientist, writer, and specializes in debunking bad science. In part 1, we learned how he got started, and in part 2, we talked about science in entertainment. In part 3, we discuss how he busts misconceptions, and the value of looking up at the sky.

A college friend of Maggie's, Dr. Eric Mamajek, discovered a cool potential exoplanet system that might also have a ring system - we reported on it last January after the American Astronomical Society conference. We checked with Eric a year later to talk more about his discovery, any updates, and the art done of his potential exoplanet system by Ron Miller, who we also recently interviewed in our two-part series about "The Art of Space." Visit our website (http://universe.nasa.gov/blueshift/) to see Ron's visualization of the exoplanet system discussed in this episode.

This is the second episode of our two-part interview with space artist Ron Miller. In this episode, Ron talks specifically about how he illustrates exoplanets, and we discuss specific pieces of his art. To listen to the first part of this interview, and to see examples of Ron's art, visit our website at: http://universe.nasa.gov/blueshift/

Blueshift recently interviewed space artist Ron Miller. Not only is he an amazingly talented illustrator, but he’s also the author, consultant, and former art director for the National Air and Space Museum's Albert Einstein planetarium. He's written and illustrated many books, one of which, "Out of the Cradle," is a classic and a huge inspiration to our generation. We recently came across his art illustrating a news article about an unusual exoplanet system which might actually have a ring system like Saturn's. This led us to Ron and resulted in a two-part podcast all about his extraordinary work. This is part 1. You'll find examples of Ron's art on our website at: http://universe.nasa.gov/blueshift/

Dust - on Earth, it's a nuisance. But in space, it's a valuable natural resource, a raw material essential to the formation of nearly any object imaginable. NASA Postdoctoral Fellow Dr. Christina Richey studies interstellar dust grains through laboratory-created analogs, comparing the properties of simulated stardust to data from missions like SOFIA, Spitzer, and Herschel. This hands-on approach gives Christina and other researchers unique insight into the building blocks of stars, planets, and even life. This research complements observational data, computer simulations, and other studies of how objects form and work in space. In this interview, Blueshift spoke to Christina about her research as well as her adventures outside the lab, looking for life in exceptionally hostile environments.

As you might imagine, the James Webb Space Telescope is a pretty big deal here at NASA Goddard, because much of it is being assembled here. As a companion to all our tech coverage of Webb, we thought it would be nice to talk about the science it will do and how it is the scientific successor to, rather than the replacement for, the Hubble Space Telescope. We chatted with Dr. Amber Straughn, one of the project scientists on Webb, to learn about what this new observatory will bring to the scientific community. We also talked about Amber’s own research, how she uses Hubble data, and what she hopes to get out of Webb data in the future.

As science educators, encouraging critical thinking and skepticism is something we think is really important. We interviewed the "Bad Astronomer," Dr. Phil Plait, to get his thoughts on the subject. He is a trained scientist who used to work at NASA Goddard... but now he works full-time as a science writer and a public advocate for good science. In Part 1 of our interview with Phil, we learned why he started blogging about hoaxes and misconceptions, about the importance of asking "why," and ended with the start of an intriguing discussion about how the trend today in entertainment is for scientists to actually be the heroes and the good guys. This podcast is Part 2 of our interview (with two more to come), in which Phil shares his experiences with the TV shows The Big Bang Theory and Mythbusters, and tells us why he gets such joy out of teaching people about how great science is.