Blue Dot

In this very blue episode of Blue Dot, we feature one of the world's most innovative and visited public aquariums, the Monterey Bay Aquarium on world famous Cannery Row.

Host Dave Schlom is joined by two special guests to tell the story of the now-fully restored Western Flyer.

Host Dave Schlom is joined by Mark Shelhamer, former Chief Scientist of the Human Research Program at NASA's Johnson Space Center in Houston and current director of the Johns Hopkins Human Spaceflight Laboratory in Maryland.

Host Dave Schlom is joined by Charles Schneider, a Connectivity Program Manager for California Trout, to discuss the human and natural history of California's third-largest watershed, the Eel River.

Host Dave Schlom is joined by two representatives from The Nature Conservancy in California to discuss the importance of dark skies as a natural resource.

Host Dave Schlom is joined by Mark O'Connell, whose screenwriting credits include Star Trek: The Next Generation and Deep Space Nine, to talk about his non-fiction book, The Year Science Changed Everything: 1957's International Geophysical Year and the Future of Our Planet.

Host Dave Schlom is joined by science educator and author Trisha Muro to discuss her book, It's (Just) Rocket Science: Exploring Physics Through Spaceflight Missions.

Host Dave Schlom is joined by world renowned neuropsychologist and psychoanalyst Mark Solms. Dr. Solms is the author of the new book, The Only Cure: Freud and the Science of Mental Healing.

Host Dave Schlom is joined by a longtime friend of Blue Dot, Josh Willis from NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena. Josh is an oceanographer who uses NASA's armada of Earth monitoring satellites to study ocean heights, temperatures and currents.

Host Dave Schlom is joined by British humorist and financial writer Dominic Frisby.

Host Dave Schlom is joined by Oregon State marine geologist Chris Goldfinger to take an in-depth look at the West Coast's two most dangerous faults, the San Andreas and Cascadia.

Host Dave Schlom is joined by Geoff Williams, author of the new book, The Summer of Death: The Great Heat Wave of 1936 and the Making of Modern America.

Host Dave Schlom is joined by British author Michael Bond, author of the new book, Animate: How Animals Shape the Human Mind. Bond specializes in writing about psychology and human behavior and in this masterful work, he goes back to the very beginnings of humanity's relationship with the animal world.

Host Dave Schlom explores the world of biochar and ways to remove carbon from the landscape with Pyrolysis engineer Joe Polin and policy expert Nora Cohen Brown from Charm Industrial.

Host Dave Schlom examines an environmental issue exploding in eastern California.

Host Dave Schlom is joined by Liliane Burkhard, a geophysicist and planetary scientist at the University of Bern in Switzerland, to discuss a recent study linking earthquakes on two of Southern California's major faults.

To mark the nation's 250th birthday, host Dave Schlom is joined by California State University Chico geography professor Don Hankins to discuss what California would have been like in 1776.

Host Dave Schlom gets to delve into his favorite pastime, fly fishing, with two of his heroes -- Mike Mercer and Bryan Quick from The Fly Shop in Redding, California.

Host Dave Schlom is joined by two scientists from the SETI Institute in Mt. View, California, to talk about one of hisfavorite celestial phenomena -- comets.

Host Dave Schlom is joined by neuroscientist and animal intelligence advocate Dr. Lori Marino, who was recently named the 2026 winner of the Frank Drake Award by the SETI Institute in Mountain View, California.

Host Dave Schlom is joined by nature and wildlife photographer Tom Murphy for an in-depth conversation about his life and career.

Host Dave Schlom is joined by British humorist and financial writer Dominic Frisby.

Host Dave Schlom is joined by science educator and author Trisha Muro to discuss her new book, It's (Just) Rocket Science: Exploring Physics Through Spaceflight Missions.

Host Dave Schlom is joined once again by Joe Gaydos and Bob Friel from the SeaDoc Society based on Orcas Island in the Pacific Northwest.

Blue Dot's host Dave Schlom is joined by Canadian conservation biologist and marine bird expert Louise K. Blight to talk about her new book, Where The Earth Meets The Sky: A Story of Penguins, People, and Place in Antarctica.