Ever Wonder? from the California Science Center

Horror movies, roller coasters, bungie jumping! Why do we sometimes enjoy the things that scared us? In this episode we chat with Arash Javanbakht, leading psychiatrist & neuroscientist at Wayne State University, who explains to us how fear can be treated and even be used as a motivator. Arash gives us insight into how fear and anxiety can actually work for us, the reasons behind fear, and eve...

As we reach the end of the year, the fall migration of monarchs brings ecological and cultural significance to the people of California and Mexico.  Butterflies are a common symbol for life and death in many places and it is believed that monarchs guide the spirits of our ancestors back during the day of the dead, better known as Día de los Muertos. But monarch butterflies can tell us so much more...

Here at the California Science Center in our Ecosystems gallery lies our kelp forest, holding 188,000-gallon tank with over 800 species! This kelp forest represents the type of ecosystem that you will find off the California coast and who better to help bring this kelp forest to life than our divers!   Do you ever wonder what divers do at the California Science Center?   In this episode we chat wi...

Last fall, we opened a brand-new exhibit called Fire! Science & Safety , which invites our guests to explore Casa Del Fuego, Apartment 911 as a fire danger detective, seeking out fire and burn hazards to make their families, pets, and homes safer—both inside the home, as well as outside threats like wildfires. It’s been pretty rainy in California lately, so wildfires have largely faded from th...

This summer, we opened a brand-new exhibit called Life! Beginnings in our World of Life gallery. Life! Beginnings invites our guests to discover how humans and all living creatures reproduce, develop, and pass on their genes in order to bring new life into the world. Through interactive and immersive experiences, guests can explore the human journey from conception to birth, see how a mother’s bod...

Folks often say that dogs are a human's best friend. The Science Center doesn't have any dogs on display (well at least not since our temporary Dogs! exhibit closed), but we sure do have lots of other terrestrial animals to take care of. And our keepers--the folks who do that work--really care about our animals. Do you ever wonder how keepers develop a relationship with the animals they...

When this episode airs, NASA will be just one day away from landing another rover on Mars. On February 18, the Perseverance rover will reach the surface of the Red Planet, capping off a journey that started with a rocket launch last July. In an earlier episode , we talked with Matthew Frost about Perseverance’s robot arm, and how it works to collect samples from the Martian surface. But that robot...

The deep sea is a mysterious place full of many different life forms! Some that may seem strange yet incredibly amazing to us. But how can we learn more about these creatures if the deep sea can be so hard to explore!?     Do you ever wonder what creatures live in the deep sea?      In today’s episode the Science Center interns; Nathan Arriaza, Gerardo Martinez, Jose Cornejo, and Jason Mejia have...

For the first few episodes of this podcast, we'll take you behind the scenes of the California Science Center to meet some of the people who design and develop exhibits. Imagine for a minute that you're visiting a science center or a museum. You're looking at an exhibit and… you probably have questions. Good thing there's some text posted nearby to help explain what's goin...

The field of robotics has advanced a LOT over the past couple of decades, and part of that has to do with advances in the fields of computer science and artificial intelligence. Algorithms that help robots function and interact with the world are all around us, from the search engines we use to the facial recognition function in our phones. But these algorithms can have problems. This past Septemb...

Before we go on break for the holidays, we’re releasing another bonus episode. We introduce Devin Waller , who will be joining the show as co-host for the next few episodes. As our first season wraps up, we answer a question from one of our listeners: Do you ever wonder why our galaxy is a spiral? And we also give a teaser of what’s coming next season!  Have a question you've been wondering a...

Giant sea bass. Desert tortoise. Leopard shark. These are all examples of creatures you can see on display when you visit the California Science Center. And just like you or me or any of the pets you might have at home, these critters can get sick. Do you ever wonder who takes care of all these different animals when they need to go to the doctor? In this episode, we're joined by Dr. Brittany...

We are starting a new series on robots! We've seen some pretty amazing advances in robotics in just the past few years. Maybe you've seen videos of humanoid robots that do backflips or robot hummingbirds that can hover in midair. Now, a video of a single back-flipping robot is pretty amazing. But what if you could get a whole team of robots--hundreds or even thousands of robots--to coope...

In an earlier episode, we chatted with Isis Howard, who works at the Xerces Society for Invertebrate Conservation.  She told us about the multi-generational migration of Monarchs across 3 different countries. Here she further explains why some monarchs live a few weeks, while other monarchs live 6 to 9 months!    Ever Wonder... how some Monarchs live longer than others?       Have a question you&a...

It’s been a year since NASA JPL’s Perseverance rover and Ingenuity helicopter landed on Mars on February 18, 2021 , bringing us spectacular new images and videos of The Red Planet. And in honor of this milestone for Percy and Ginny , we’re bringing you an unaired clip from our past interview with Hallie Abarca , a software engineer and former rover driver at JPL. She takes us behind the scenes of...

For the last three episodes of this podcast, we’ve been taking you behind-the-scenes of the California Science Center to meet some of the people who design and develop exhibits.  Many of you probably already love visiting science centers and museums. Odds are you have a favorite exhibit--something especially awe-inspiring or fun. Do you ever wonder how your favorite exhibit got made?  In this epis...

If you ever visit the kelp tank at the Science Center, you might notice that we have a complete ecosystem on display, including both predators and prey. So, naturally, people often ask our staff if the fish eat each other. Ever wonder if our kelp tank fish eat… other fish? It is a rare event. But to answer this question, we’re digging into our archives to bring you an unaired clip from our past in...

  On this first Ever Wonder? episode of the year, we would like to introduce you to California Science Center’s Curator of Life Science and Paleobiologist Lucy Chang.  In today’s episode, Lucy takes us on an exploration into the fascinating world of paleobiology, explaining to use how the fossilized remnants of ancient life hold the keys to understanding the vibrant ecosystems today.  Do you ever...

Today—September 15th, 2021—is an exciting day in the history of space travel. Today is the day SpaceX’s Inspiration4 is scheduled to launch. If successful, Inspiration4 will be the world’s first all-civilian mission to orbit the Earth, taking us one step closer to making space flight accessible to everyone—and not just highly trained professional astronauts. Do you ever wonder if YOU could go to s...

The Science Center has proudly displayed Space Shuttle Endeavour to our guests for the past ten years. Seeing the shuttle is amazing, but… Do you ever wonder what it felt like to fly Endeavour ? We talked to Chris Ferguson ( @Astro_Ferg ), a former Navy pilot and NASA astronaut who flew on three space shuttle missions, including one as commander of Endeavour  in 2008 . He shares a vivid play-by-pl...

As we reach the end of the year, the fall migration of monarchs brings ecological and cultural significance to the people of California and Mexico.  Butterflies are a common symbol for life and death in many places and it is believed that monarchs guide the spirits of our ancestors back during the day of the dead, better known as Día de los Muertos. But monarch butterflies can tell us so much more...

We are kicking off a new series on space exploration, which is particularly relevant this month because a new Mars rover named Perseverance is hurtling towards The Red Planet for its landing on February 18. And joining me along for the ride as co-host for this series is my Science Center colleague and planetary geologist Devin Waller. There is a lot of science to unpack here, so we’ll be talking t...

Earlier this year we spoke with Dr. Ryan Rampersaud, a professor of psychiatry at UC San Francisco to figure out if your gut can really talk to your brain. He told us about the microorganisms that live in your gastrointestinal tract, collectively known as your gut microbiome, and how they're able to send messages all the way up to your brain. Now, during that interview, Ryan mentioned that th...

We’re digging into our archives again to bring you more unaired vet stories from our past interview with Dr. Brittany Stevens , a veterinarian here at the Science Center. She takes care of all our animals when they get sick and need to go to the doctor. In her past episodes, Brittany told us about her vet exam room, how she cares for so many different animals, and even what it’s like to do surgery...

NASA is planning to launch a massive new rocket as part of the Artemis I mission to fly around the moon . Earlier this year, we talked to engineers Nate Perkins and Doug Bradley from Aerojet-Rocketdyne about the engines for that rocket. Although the rocket is new, NASA is reusing the same RS-25 engines that once powered the Space Shuttle. (In fact, two of the engines on Artemis I actually flew on...