NSF’s Discovery Files Podcast

Eclipses have captured the imagination throughout history. Carrie Black, a program director in the Division of Astronomical Sciences at the U.S. National Science Foundation who oversees operations of the National Solar Observatory, joins us to discuss eclipse phenomena and share facts about the sun and how we use tools such as the Daniel K. Inouye Solar Telescope to observe it.

Timothy Tharp, assistant professor at Marquette University; Danielle Hodgkinson, postdoctoral fellow at University of California, Berkeley; and Andrew Christensen a senior graduate student at UC Berkeley all contributed to the success of the Alpha-g experiment at the European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN), testing gravity's effect on antimatter. We'll hear about what roles they played,...

The Antihydrogen Laser Physics Apparatus (ALPHA) collaboration is an international group working with antihydrogen atoms at the European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN), to understand the fundamental symmetries between matter and antimatter. We are joined by professors Joel Fajans and Jonathan Wurtele, NSF-supported researchers at the University of California, Berkeley, to announce the br...

Ahead of a special announcement coming later this week, Kevin M. Jones, the William Edward McElfresh Professor of Physics Emeritus at Williams College and a program manager in the Division of Physics at the U.S. National Science Foundation joins to explain what antimatter is, what happens when it comes into contact with other matter, and why you might win a Nobel Prize if you could figure out why...

In the United States there are over 95 million heads of cattle, but their known history stretches beyond the farms and cowboys of the Wild West back into the galleons of Spanish colonists. Nicolas Delsol, a postdoctoral associate at the Florida Museum of Natural History joins to explain how he traced their arrival in the Americas.

Airborne Phased Array Radar will provide a generational leap in severe storm and climate research. Wen-Chau Lee, APAR chief scientist and senior scientist at National Center for Atmospheric Research Earth Observing Laboratory, joins to discuss radar use in storms, improving modeling and why sometimes it’s better to collect data from inside of a storm.

After an incident as a young water polo player, Nicholas Cecchi began investigating brain injury. We’ll hear about how an early study resulted in a rule change, approaches to analyzing the severity of hits and impacts in sports, and how he used an NSF Graduate Research Fellowship to develop liquid shock absorbers for football helmets in the Camarillo Lab at Stanford University.

Yuzhang Li, assistant professor in chemical and biomolecular engineering at UCLA, is working to create the next generation of batteries. We'll learn about why lithium is volatile and how knowing the true shape of lithium will impact the development of safer and more powerful batteries.  

Cryptofauna are creatures that live hidden among microhabitats. Our guest is Paul Sikkel, a research professor at the University of Miami’s Rosenstiel School of Marine, Atmospheric and Earth Science who has discovered two species of Gnathiid isopods. We’ll hear about these creatures' life cycles, their role in the marine food web, and why Sikkel named them after musicians Bob Marley and Jimmy Buff...

William Anderegg, director of the Wilkes Center for Climate Science & Policy and associate professor in The University of Utah School of Biological Sciences, joins to discuss how forest ecosystems are reacting to climate change. He is a 2023 recipient of the Alan T. Waterman Award, the nation's highest honor for early-career scientists and engineers.

Extreme weather events are increasing every year and wildfires are getting worse. We speak with Phil Higuera, a professor of fire ecology at the University of Montana, to explore the causes and consequences of wildfires and how they are impacting people and the environment.

A major initiative at the NSF, is broadening participation in STEM. Our guest today, Natalie S. King, a science educator at Georgia State University founded the I AM STEM program in 2017 which has served over 2,000 K-12 children and their families across 22 U.S. States, Canada, and the Caribbean. Her work was recently recognized with the Alan T. Waterman Award, the nation’s highest honor for early...

A new integrated HPV DNA screening platform could transform cervical cancer screening around the globe. We'll speak with Kathryn Kundrod, who helped develop the test as an NSF Graduate Research Fellowship recipient at Rice University, to learn about the challenges with cancer screening and how researchers are working to prevent it.

A new polymer-based material with electrical and magnetic properties that can autonomously heal itself has been demonstrated by NSF-supported chemical engineers at Stanford University.  We speak with co-author Christopher B. Cooper to learn more about this innovative work being done at the Stanford Nano Shared Facilities.

Thanks to the efforts of the NSF-Supported Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory and NANOGrav Physics Frontiers Center scientists have confirmed the existence of gravitational waves.  We are joined by Kip Thorne, to hear about his role in the detection of gravitational waves, his experience being awarded a Nobel Prize and how time travel might be possible.

Thanks to the efforts of the U.S. National Science Foundation's NANOGrav Physics Frontiers Center a new milestone in gravitational wave detection can be revealed. We speak with Stephen Taylor of Vanderbilt University; Maura McLaughlin of West Virginia University; and Xavier Siemens of Oregon State University, to learn more about their breakthrough.

From black holes and fast repeating bursts to James Webb Space Telescope breakthroughs and the search for extraterrestrial life, space has been a hot topic this past year. Joe Pesce, an astrophysicist with the U.S. National Science Foundation, joins us to talk about all things space in a special episode recorded live.

The University of Washington's Center for Research and Education on Accessible Technology and Experiences (CREATE) is working towards a world with fewer problems and more solutions for people with disabilities. We are joined by CREATE collaborators Jennifer Mankoff and Heather Feldner to hear about their projects and the difference they are making.

During the Cold War, a U.S. military installation called Camp Century was carved out of the ice sheet in Greenland. One of the camp’s projects was drilling a near mile-long ice core, which in the subsequent decades went missing. We are joined by Paul Bierman, a geologist and professor at the University of Vermont, who will tell us about the secretive base, where the missing ice core was found and...

Shwetak Patel leads the University of Washington Ubiquitous Computing Lab, which develops innovative sensing systems for health, sustainability and novel interactions. He will tell us about his experience bringing devices to market, mentoring the next generation and where sensors are headed next.

Cori Lathan has always had an interest in technology. She has spent her career inventing, founding and running a company, Anthrotronix, and inspiring STEM interest in future generations through robotics. Her recent book, "Inventing the Future: Stories from a Techno Optimist" explores the possibilities of tomorrow through her 20-year career journey. She joins us to discuss some of her inventions, h...

Jason Freeman, professor of music and Brian Magerko, professor of digital media at Georgia Tech had an idea for a music-based learning environment to engage students in STEM by coding. EarSketch has gone on to reach over a million users, has been used in more than 5,000 schools in all 50 states and over 180 countries and has collaborated with music partners such as Pharrell, Young Guru, Common and...

The vast wilderness of Antarctica has many secrets, and to reveal some, you must dig down into the subglacial environment. We are joined by Matthew Siegfried and Ryan Venturelli from the Colorado School of Mines to learn about their involvement in SALSA, the Subglacial Antarctic Lakes Scientific Access project.

Horses evolved in North America, but ancient populations died off during the last ice age. We are joined by William Taylor, assistant professor, and curator of archaeology at the University of Colorado Boulder, to learn about how horses impacted the shaping of the American West.

A recurring dramatic trope in film and television relates to the trolley problem, wherein a dilemma arises in which choice must be made to save one or another. We are joined by Joshua Greene, a professor of psychology at Harvard University, who has spent much of his career studying moral judgment and decision-making.