Finding asteroids before they find us

Two mysteries we can't stop thinking about: Is lightning actually caused by cosmic rays? And why don't birds play chess? Articles featured: “What Causes Lightning?” by Charlie Wood (also featured on The Quanta Podcast) and “Empire of flight” by Antone Martinho-Truswell. For show ...  Show more

When an invasive bug landed on the East Coast, people embraced the order to squish it to death. But what has all that squishing done to us? Guests: Julie Urban, professor in the entomology department at Penn State; Chelsea Batavia, community engagement coordinator with a PhD in f ...  Show more

How did the planets form? How did life happen? Where did Earth’s water come from? To answer questions like these, scientists used to go big—looking at planets, dwarf planets, and moons—but now small is the new big. Technology is zooming in on the pint-size stuff—asteroids, comets ...  Show more

SpaceTime Series 26 Episode 27 *The asteroid that almost swallowed a spacecraft It sounds like something out of a 1950s sci-fi movie, but it seems that the asteroid Bennu almost swallowed NASA’s Osiris-Rex spacecraft during its sample collection maneuver. *59 new exopla ...  Show more

*JUICE arrives at Kourou for launch to Jupiter The European Space Agency’s Jupiter Icy Moons Explorer spacecraft –JUICE – has arrived at the Kourou Space Port in French Guyana where it will be mated to it Ariane 5 rocket in preparations for launch in April on an eight year ...  Show more

How much junk can we accumulate in Earth's orbit before we seal off our world? Before we cut the planet off from the cosmos and doom civilization to a new dark age? In this episode, Robert and Julie look skyward to space exploration's garbage.