Superheroes of Science

Are there habitable planets outside of our solar system? Dr. Ravi Kopparapu, Planetary Scientist at NASA Goddard, explains that almost every star in our galaxy has a planet around it. This means there may be 100 billion planets in our Milky Way galaxy! Most of these planets range between the sizes of Earth and Neptune. Data available to exoplanet scientists is limited to what can be collected thro...

What is medicinal chemistry? Delmis Hernandez, PhD candidate (focusing in organic chemistry) in the Department of Chemistry at Purdue University, describes the process of studying the skeletal structure of compounds in an effort to develop new medicines to fight cancer. Medicinal chemists identify the parts of a compound that are most effective as a medicine, but watch out for PAINS! These compoun...

What might clouds on other planets, even planets outside our own solar system, look like?  Alexandria Johnson, Assistant Professor of Practice and Research in the Department of Earth, Atmospheric and Planetary Sciences at Purdue University discusses the process of analyzing a few pixels of light, detected by telescopes, in order to study cloud formation on exoplanets. With a focus on sub-Neptune p...

Brian Bates, owner of Bear Creek Organic Farm, suggests thinking about organic farming in terms of an overall broad system that includes biodiversity, soil health, and water quality. Over the last five years, organic food has accounted for the fastest growing segment in the food industry. The biggest challenge in American organic agriculture? We don't grow enough organic food in America to satisfy...

Dr. Monika Bleszynski, Research Scientist and Adjunct Professor at the University of Denver, discusses some of the harmful impacts of road salt along with potential alternatives. There are many negative impacts of the bioaccumulation of salt in environments near roadways, including damage to plant life, physiological drought, and the buildup of salt in our water reservoirs. By studying organisms w...

Yadu Pokhrel is an Associate Professor in the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering at Michigan State University. In this episode, Pokhrel explains different types of droughts: meteorological, agricultural, and hydrological; and that computer models help predict when and where droughts might occur. He also discusses how droughts might impact many people, even if there is not a water sh...

Lindsey Britt is a Product Formulator for Procter & Gamble where she creates (and patents!) beauty products. Currently, Britt is the lead formulator for natural products at Procter & Gamble. In this episode, she explains the chemistry behind product development at P&G and teaches us about the different types of sweat, along with how deodorants and antiperspirants work. 

Dr. Avinash Bala, Research Associate at the University of Oregon and Founder of Perceptivo, noticed something about the way owls responded to unexpected stimuli. The owl's pupil noticeably dilates each time it detects an unexpected sound. By studying this pupil dilation response, which is part of the Orienting Response, Bala and colleagues have discovered ways to apply this response toward the cre...

Rick Clark, 5th generation farmer from Williamsport, Indiana, is taking a systematic approach to regenerative farming. Improving soil health by supporting the microbial biome has allowed Rick to remove tillage and take away the need for applying lime, phosphorus, and potassium. He is working toward achieving a balance within the soil, which encourages his crops to thrive. Rick discusses the practi...

Honey bees will be foraging for food this spring and you can help! Anne Morningstar, Co-owner, Co-founder, Lead Beekeeper and Brand manager of Bear Creek Organic Farm, offers insight into the life cycle of honey bees, hive management, and helpful suggestions about small things each of us can do to help honey bees and all pollinators.   Learn more about Bear Creek Organic Farm: https://bearcreekorg...

Kathy Lamb Kozenski, the Executive Director of the Geography Educators Network of Indiana, explains that g eography is more than just making a map; it is telling a story. We can use story maps to visually tell a story. Story maps use a geographic reference tied to some sort of data. Kathy explains Geographic Information Systems (GIS) and the layers in today's mapping software. The video also walks...

Kristen Mori, a Machine Learning Engineer with the Houston Astros, joins us for this episode. Kristen explains what machine learning is and how it's used in major league baseball to track player stats.

Matthew DeVerna, Ph. D. student, from the Observatory on Social Media (OSoMe) at Indiana University discusses many aspects of "misinformation". These include things like 'fake news', some types of memes, rumors or unverified information, the intent of a post, and disinformation. Below are some of the tools that the Observatory on Social Media at IU have created to help users sieve through informat...

Jill Newton, Associate Professor of Mathematics Education at Purdue University joins us to discuss her career path that led her to become a professor at Purdue University. She also discusses some of the mathematical patterns in cultures that she has visited. Jill challenges a common perception of what mathematicians look like and presents a number of career possibilities in the math sciences.

Dr. Andrew Flachs, Assistant Professor of Anthropology at Purdue University, has returned to discuss ways people impact the environment. Andrew shows us and explains areas that have been sustained farming for nearly thousands of years in South India. He then takes us to Southeastern Europe to discuss the labor and history that has gone into creating landscapes that we can see today. Finally, we di...

Dr. Andrew Flachs is an Assistant Professor of Anthropology at Purdue University. In this part one of a two-part interview, Andrew explains the four areas of anthropology. These four areas comprise the study of what it is to be human

Dimitrios Giannios, Associate Professor of Physics and Astronomy at Purdue University uses different wavelengths of light from the electromagnetic spectrum to study the universe.  Dimitrios takes the time to explain the electromagnetic spectrum, wavelength bands. We learn about how an astrophysicist uses these wave bands to study neutron stars, pulsars, black holes, and other things in the univers...

Tiffany Lyle, Assistant Professor of Veterinary Anatomic Pathology at Purdue University , speaks about the importance of the blood-brain barrier and ways that this barrier can be damaged from diseases like cancer. Lyle's lab focuses on finding new ways to address and treat metastatic tumors, particularly tumors in the brain, and improve drug therapy and quality of life for cancer patients. 

Erica Carlson, theoretical physicist and 150th Anniversary Professor of Physics and Astronomy at Purdue University. Carlson discusses conductors, superconductors, and implications of research on superconductors toward solving the energy crisis. Carlson also describes how electrons can demonstrate states of matter.

Matthew Ward, Research Assistant Professor of Biomedical Engineering at Purdue University and Adjunct Assistant Professor of Clinical Medicine at the Indiana University School of Medicine, joins us this week to discuss his work with medical devices (neurostimulators) to understand how to communicate with the nervous system. By gaining a better understanding of how, where, and when to stimulate the...

Catherine Searle, Assistant Professor in the Department of Biological Sciences at Purdue University, researches disease ecology. Searle discusses native and invasive species, pathogens, and two specific systems that her lab studies: amphibians and daphnia. 

Chris Uyeda, Associate Professor in the Department of Chemistry at Purdue University, researches catalysts and catalytic reactions that are useful to the development of new drug molecules. The Uyeda lab focuses on using abundant (and less expensive) elements for catalysis.

Dr. Seema Mattoo, Assistant Professor in Biological Sciences at Purdue, researches prokaryotic and eukaryotic cells and Fic proteins. Mattoo explains proteins, HYPE, and folding of proteins. The Mattoo lab is collaborating with many science professionals, trying to find an early treatment of Parkinson's disease.

Tony Rice, NASA Ambassador for NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, discusses the moon. He discusses phases of the Moon and leads into some of the backgrounds in the various names of the different Moons that we see. These include the synodic month, sidereal month. Harvest Moon, Blue Moon, and the math behind them. We discover just how long "Once in a Blue Moon" really is. We learn about Supermoon, wh...

Colin Gray is an Assistant Professor in the computer graphics technology department in Purdue Polytechnic Institute. He is the program lead for user the experience design program. In this episode, we learn about User Experience (UX) design and some of the ways that social media and web sites are actively manipulating people.