Road Trip – Little Atoms: Recent Episodes
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On a rainy afternoon in Boston, Neil recorded the last interview of his month long American road trip, with astrophysicist Sara Seager. Sara Seager is the Class of 1941 Professor of Planetary Science and Physics at MIT. Her science research focuses on theory, computation, and data analysis of exoplanets. Her research has introduced many new ideas to the […]
During his time in Boston, Neil spent as Morning at MIT visiting with Seth Mnookin. Seth Mnookin is the Co-Director of MIT’s Graduate Program in Science Writing. His most recent book, The Panic Virus: The True Story Behind the Vaccine-Autism Controversy, won the National Association of Science Writers 2012 “Science in Society” Award. He is also the author of […]
On a warm spring day in Brooklyn, Neil attempts to interview astrophysicist Lucianne Walkowicz in the sculpture garden of the Pratt Institute, until the weather intervenes. Lucianne Walkowicz is the Henry Norris Russell Fellow in the Department of Astrophysical Sciences at Princeton, and a 2012 TED Senior Fellow. She studies stellar magnetic activity and its effects on […]
This show was recorded behind the scenes at the American Museum of Natural History at Central Park West in New York. There are three interviews with curators working at the museum. Ross MacPhee is a curator of Vertebrate Zoology in the Department of Mammalogy at the American Museum of Natural History. Known for his paleomammalogical research on island extinctions, he […]
In Cambridge, Mass. on his last day recording interviews, Neil paid a visit to writer Leslie Brunetta. Leslie Brunetta is a freelance writer whose articles have appeared in the New York Times, as well as on NPR and elsewhere. An English graduate of both Princeton and St. Catherine’s College, Oxford, she is the co-author of Spider Silk: Evolution […]
While passing through North Carolina, Neil paid a visit to Duke University in Durham, and spent a great afternoon talking to geneticist Misha Angrist. Misha Angrist is an assistant professor at the Duke University Institute for Genomic Sciences and Policy. His doctoral and postdoctoral work was in human genetics, and he was formerly a board-eligible genetic counselor. Misha […]
While in Boston, Neil spent an afternoon at the Church Lab at Harvard Medical School. George Church is a Professor of Genetics at Harvard Medical School and Professor of Health Sciences & Technology at Harvard and MIT, As well as a director of the U.S. Department of Energy Center on Bioenergy at Harvard & MIT and Director of the Center for Computational […]
On the journey from Washington DC to New York City, Neil stopped in at the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia to chat with Paul Offit. Paul Offit MD is the Chief of the Division of Infectious Diseases and the Director of the Vaccine Education Center at the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia. A pediatrician specializing in infectious diseases and an expert on […]
While in Cambridge, Massachusetts, Neil spent an afternoon talking cosmology at the apartment of the theoretical astrophysicist Priyamvada Natarajan. Priya Natarajan is a Professor in the Departments of Astronomy and Physics at Yale University. Her research is focused on exotica in the Universe – dark matter, dark energy and black holes. She is noted for her key contributions to two […]
In this episode, Neil drives to Chapel Hill, North Carolina, and visits with Dr Stephen Barrett. Dr Stephen Barrett is a retired psychiatrist who has achieved national renown as an author, editor, and consumer advocate. An expert in medical communications, Dr. Barrett operates Quackwatch, Autism Watch, and a number of other Web sites and edits Consumer Health Digest (a […]
While in Cambridge, Massachusetts, home of Harvard University and MIT, Neil spent an afternoon at the home of Ig Nobel Prize founder Marc Abrahams. Marc Abrahams is editor and co-founder of the science humour magazine Annals of Improbable Research and its website Improbable.com. He is the founder and master of ceremonies of the Ig Nobel Prize Ceremony, honouring achievements […]
This is a two part show recorded at the Los Alamos National Laboratory in Los Alamos, New Mexico. In the first part of the show Neil talks to LANL historian Alan Carr at the Bradbury Science Museum in central Los Alamos about the history of the town and the labs central role in the Manhattan Project. The second part of the show looks […]
This is the only interview in the Road Trip series conducted over the telephone. Neil was supposed to meet up with Ian Tattersall when he visited the American Museum of Natural History in New York City, but a late change in plans meant that the interview recorded from Neil’s hotel room in Chicago. Ian Tattersall was until […]
While in New York City, Neil attended a few events at the World Science Festival, including one at which a speaker was astrophysicist Britt Reichborn-Kjennerud. Before the talk Neil met up with Britt at her office at Columbia University and recorded this podcast. Britt Reichborn-Kjennerud received her PhD from Columbia University in 2010. During her graduate […]
Neil visits the University of California, Irvine and talks with Francisco Ayala in this episode. Francisco Ayala is University Professor and Donald Bren Professor of Biological Sciences at the University of California, Irvine. He received his Ph.D. in genetics from Columbia University. Ayala has been president and chairman of the Board of the American Association for the […]
During his visit to Caltech in Pasadena, Neil spoke briefly to Theoretical Physicist Kip Thorne. Kip Thorne was a student of the late John Wheeler, the renowned Princeton physicist who coined the term ‘black hole’. he was the Feynman Professor of Theoretical Physics at the California Institute of Technology (Caltech) until 2009 and one of the world’s leading experts on the astrophysical […]
While in New York City, Neil pays a visit to the Hayden Planetarium at the American Museum of Natural History, where he talks with Neil deGrasse Tyson. Neil deGrasse Tyson was born and raised in New York City where he was educated in the public schools right through to his graduation from the Bronx High School […]
This episode sees Neil making a visit to Asheville in North Carolina and talking with writer DeLene Beeland. DeLene Beeland is a freelance writer on science and nature, and the author of The Secret World of Red Wolves: A True Story of North America’s Other Wolf. This explores the natural history of red wolves from their evolutionary origins, to their […]
In this episode, Neil Travels to Glen Ellen, in Northern California and meets with musician and naturalist Bernie Krause. A former member of seminal folk band The Weavers, (he replaced Pete Seeger as guitarist), Bernie Krause became a pioneer of electronic music, studying at Mills College under Karlheinz Stockhausen and Pauline Oliveros, and later popularised the Moog synthesizer. As part of the duo […]
In this Road Trip podcast, Neil Denny pays a visit to Leonard Susskind in Palo Alto, California. Leonard Susskind has been the Felix Bloch Professor in theoretical physics at Stanford University since 1978. He is a member of the National Academy of Science and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and the recipient of numerous prizes including the […]
In this episode, Neil visits the University of Chicago and spends some time in the company of Jerry Coyne. Jerry Coyne is a professor in the Department of Ecology and Evolution at the University of Chicago, where he works on diverse areas of evolutionary genetics. His research focuses on the origin of new species, using the fruit fly (Drosophila) […]
In this episode, Neil pays a visit to the BEYOND Center for Fundamental Concepts in Science at Arizona State University in Tempe, Arizona. BEYOND is a pioneering center devoted to investigating the big questions of science and philosophy. Things like how the universe came to exist, where the laws of nature came from, how life began. The center is […]
While spending the day at Caltech, in Pasadena, CA. Neil spent some time talking with the former Director of NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory Edward Stone. Edward Stone joined Caltech as a research fellow in physics after receiving his Master of Science degree and Ph.D. in physics at the University of Chicago. Over the years, he held a variety of […]
The annual conference of the Orange County Freethought Alliance took place over the weekend of May 19th and 20th 2012 at the University of California, Irvine. Neil Denny attended the conference on the Saturday 19th May and talked to some of the speakers. This podcast features five short interviews. Richard Carrier is a writer for Internet Infidels and a historian of the […]
In this episode, Neil visits the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, and talks to theoretical physicist Sean Carroll. Sean Carroll has written papers on Dark Energy, Dark Matter, the physics of extra dimensions and alternative theories of gravity. He is also one of the founders of the group blog cosmicvariance, named one of the five top science […]
While still in Oakland, California, Neil visits the office of science writer Mary Roach. Mary Roach has written for the Guardian, Vogue, GQ, Salon, Wired, National Geographic and the New York Times Magazine. She is the author of Stiff: The Curious Life of Human Cadavers, Six Feet Over: Adventures in the Afterlife and Bonk: The Curious Coupling of Sex and Science. […]
In this week’s podcast, Neil Denny travels to Oakland, California, to the headquarters of the National Center for Science Education to talk to Eugenie Scott. Eugenie Scott is Executive Director of the National Center for Science Education. She has written extensively on the evolution-creationism controversy and is a past president of the American Association of Physical Anthropologists. […]
Andrew Snelling has a degree in applied geology from the University of New South Wales, and a doctorate in geology from the University of Sydney. He worked for the Australian mining industry for a number of years, before devoting his life to the study of “creation science“. He joined the Institute for Creation Research in 1998, and began […]
In this episode, Neil gets a guided tour of NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California, and talks to JPL scientist Kevin Hand. Kevin Hand is Deputy Chief Scientist of Solar System Exploration at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory. He is an astrobiologist and a planetary scientist, most concerned with studying the Jovian moon Europa. This has […]
In the first Interview of the Little Atoms Road Trip series, Neil Denny travelled to Mountain View, In the heart of Silicon Valley, to the SETI Institute, to meet Seth Shostak. Seth Shostak is Senior Astronomer at the SETI (The Search for Extra-terrestrial Intelligence) Institute. He is a frequent presenter of the Institute’s work in the […]
Between 12th May and 9th June 2012, Neil Denny will be embarking on a 6000 mile road trip across America. The aim of the trip to produce a series of podcasts which present a wide-ranging overview of science and skepticism from an American perspective. Neil will be interviewing scientists working on ground-breaking, cutting edge science, […]