Our Extreme Universe with Kimberly Arcand

In this episode of The Show About Science, Nate heads to the banks of the Chicago River to meet up with Melissa Pierce, PhD, the Technical Program Director at Current, a nonprofit water innovation hub. Together, they explore the complex world of urban water chemistry, focusing on the river's historical pollution problems and the measures taken to improve the water quality, in particular, an in-depth look at Current's H2Now program. In the second part of the episode, Nate travels to Washington, DC, to chat with Steve MacAvoy, PhD, a professor at American University. Steve's research has centered around studying the impact of urban infrastructure on river water chemistry and how the rising concentrations of specific chemicals are impacting our waterways.

Episode Resources:

H2NOW website: https://www.h2nowchicago.org/

Current's website: https://www.currentwater.org/

River Lab: https://www.currentwater.org/river-lab

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What it would really entail to conquer the relentless Martian elements, engineer a thriving, self-reliant biosphere, and craft life-preserving abodes within the alien realms of lava tubes?

Zach Weinersmith is the cartoonist behind the popular webcomic, Saturday Morning Breakfast Cereal. He, along with his partner in science, Kelly Weinersmith, have just published a new book entitled, 'A City on Mars', which explores the science behind settling the Red Planet.

In this episode of The Show About Science, Zach and Nate delve into the monumental challenges of constructing a metropolis on the Mars.

Learn more about 'A City on Mars': https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/639449/a-city-on-mars-by-kelly-and-zach-weinersmith/

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What happens when 21 kids sue the U.S. government for a dream of a world without climate change? On this episode of The Show About Science, Nate interviews Elizabeth Rusch about the kids who are working to make that dream a reality. Elizabeth is the author of the new book, "The Twenty-One, The True Story of the Youth Who Sue the U.S. Government Over Climate Change," which tells the story of 21 young climate activists supported by environmental lawyer, Julia Olson, who sue the government for actively supporting the fossil fuel industry.  

Learn more about Elizabeth Rusch at https://www.elizabethrusch.com/

Follow the case at https://www.ourchildrenstrust.org/

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The platypus is a fascinating animal that has perplexed generations of scientists. Now researchers are studying the platypus on the molecular level, and it's just as surprising.

Frank Grützner is a professor of genetics at the University of Adelaide. Frank studies the monotremes, a different lineage of mammals that includes the iconic egg-laying duck-billed platypus and short-beaked echidna. 

On this episode of The Show About Science, we talk about the genetic mysteries of the platypus and their potential for advancing medical science. It's a captivating journey into nature, genetics, and medical breakthroughs you won't want to miss.

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Dr. Kimberly Arcand is a Visualization and Emerging Technology Scientist at NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory at the Center for Astrophysics, Harvard, and Smithsonian.

In this episode of The Show About Science, Nate and Dr. Arcand dive into the mysteries of the universe illuminated by Chandra's use of X-ray light. From uncovering the intricacies of black hole cosmic recycling processes to exploring the aftermath of exploded stars and the mesmerizing pulsars emitting high-energy particles like cosmic lighthouses, this is a galactic tour like no other!

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Can sound help us understand the complex patterns in our universe? This question leads Nate to Symbolic Sound in Champaign, Illinois, where composer Carla Scaletti guides him on a journey where sound, music, and data intertwine in captivating and thought-provoking ways. Along the way, we'll meet Kimberly Arcand, who unveils the hidden melodies of space through her celestial soundscapes, delve into the fascinating world of protein folding with Martin Gruebele, and listen to the delicate dance of DNA with Mark Temple.

This episode was inspired by a fantastic LA Times article entitled The Sounds of Science by Sumeet Kulkarni. https://www.latimes.com/science/story/2023-02-03/the-sounds-of-science

Kimberly Arcand is a visualization scientist and emerging technology lead at NASA’s Chandra X-ray Observatory with the Center for Astrophysics, Harvard & Smithsonian.

Martin Gruebele is a professor at the University of Illinois where he leads the Gruebele Group.

Carla Scaletti is an experimental composer, designer of the Kyma sound design language and co-founder of Symbolic Sound Corporation.

Mark Temple is a Senior Lecturer in Molecular Biology in the School of Science at the Western Sydney University (WSU). Mark also created a web app that lets anyone plug and play their own DNA that’s been sequenced by a company such as 23andMe or Ancestry.com.

Web App: http://dnasonification.org/index.html
Myrtle Rust performance: https://youtu.be/n_3edKbfmbg

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Brian Selznick is an illustrator and author best known for his books The Invention of Hugo Cabret, Wonderstruck, and The Marvels and Kaleidoscope. Brian joins Nate on this episode of The Show About Science to talk about the science behind his latest book, Big Tree. The book follows two small sycamore seeds, Merwin and Louise, who are looking for a safe place to grow while trying to save the entire world. Brian's research into fossil species, climate change, fungal hyphae and paleobotany form the backbone of this mesmerizing journey from the Cretaceous period to present day.

Learn more about Brian, Big Tree, and his other books: https://www.thebrianselznick.com

Transcript:
https://theshowaboutscience.com/2023/04/18/100-big-tree-with-brian-selznick

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The CZ Biohub’s inspiring story began when Priscilla Chan asked Stephen Quake a seemingly impossible question: “Is it possible to cure, prevent, and manage disease in our children’s lifetime?”.

In 2016, the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative, founded by Priscilla and Mark Zuckerberg, set out to answer that question with a bold new mission.

On the final installment of our CZ Biohub series, Priscilla and Stephen join Nate to talk about the work being done at Biohub, and how understanding human biology is the key to unlocking powerful medical treatments and cures. Through their commitment to the cause, they are showing that anything is possible.

Priscilla Chan is co-founder and co-CEO of the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative (CZI).
Stephen Quake is Head of Science at the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative, where he oversees CZI’s science grant programs, technology development, and the CZ Biohub Network. Stephen is also a professor at Stanford University.

Learn more about CZ Biohub: https://www.czbiohub.org/about/#history-amp-mission

Listen to more episodes from our CZ Biohub series:
https://theshowaboutscience.com/2023/02/12/099-accelerating-science-to-eradicate-disease-with-priscilla-chan-and-stephen-quake/

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On the third installment of our CZ Biohub series, we visit a lab nicknamed "Le Petit Hotel de Poisson" (The Tiny Fish Hotel) where scientists are using zebrafish as a model organism to study human development. Along the way, we'll meet Loïc A. Royer, who leads a team at Biohub including Merlin Lange and Shruthi VijayKumar who are using something called a light-sheet microscope to document the incredible complexity of individual cells as they develop into fully functioning organisms. Manu Leonetti and Sandy Schmid from previous CZ Biohub episodes also join us on the tour.

Watch a video created with the light sheet microscope here: https://theshowaboutscience.com/2023/02/12/the-tiny-zebrafish-hotel/

Learn more about the zebrafish research at the CZ Biohub: https://zebrahub.ds.czbiohub.org/

Learn more about the CZ Biohub:
https://www.czbiohub.org/

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This is the second episode of our four part series focused on the CZ Biohub in San Francisco where scientists are working to cure, prevent, or manage disease by the end of the century.

In this episode, we meet Quantitative Cell Science group leader Manu Leonetti. Manu and his team are using "genetic glowsticks" to map all 20,000 proteins in a single human cell. Their flagship project – OpenCell – is a library of fluorescently engineered cell lines to define the locations and interactions of human proteins within our cells.

You can see the images Manu describes in the episode here: https://opencell.czbiohub.org

Watch this video to learn more about OpenCell: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6j4fpV-q-Io

Listen to the first episode of our CZ Biohub series: https://on.soundcloud.com/1XALJ