Celebrate America Right with the 5 Best Podcast Episodes of the Week

Most podcasts—even those about outer space—are recorded on Earth. This week, host Miles Traer collected audio from NASA missions to stitch together an interplanetary soundscape. Hear the whirrs and clunks of moving across Mars’ surface, the Tibetan singing bowl-like tones of Uranus’ rings, the eerie whistles moving towards the heliopause. Best listened to with good headphones, at night.

Tales from a Westeros Geologist

Westeros Geologic Map cropped

Day 1 – Planet… Hodor

Well, the gateway seems to have worked. I won’t bore you with the details, but we seemed able to rip open a hole in the cosmos and travel through the interdimensional portal to this strange place. The gateway engineers back on Earth seemed pretty confident that I would make it to Westeros, but until I saw the Weirwood trees, I wasn’t so sure. I guess I owe them a gin and tonic when I get back.

In case you’re wondering, I’m here to survey the geology of this planet. I tried to ask a few people around here if the planet had a name, but they looked pretty dead, so I guess I shouldn’t have expected an answer. I’ll go ahead and call it something that totally doesn’t mean anything like a phrase garbled and transported through time. I’ll call it Planet Hodor.

Based on the smoldering stones and the freezing temperatures, I’m guessing I’m near Winterfell. Doesn’t look like anybody’s around, so I should probably find a place out of sight in case the Starks, Boltons, or anyone else comes by. Continue reading Tales from a Westeros Geologist

Sounds of Space

When we think of space, we typically think of beautiful images taken by powerful telescopes and interplanetary rovers. We think of the rings around Saturn; the giant red spot on Jupiter; or Martian rover selfies. But what does the surface of Mars sound like? What haunting melody should we expect from our Sun? And what do these sounds teach us about our cosmic neighborhood? On today’s episode, we journey on an audio tour of the solar system, built from a rich library of sounds recorded and converted from satellite and rover data. So put on a pair of headphones and join us for a voyage of exploration and discovery as we explore the Sounds of Space.