Blue Dot: Recent Episodes
Dave Schlom, Matt Fidler
Blue Dot, named after Carl Sagan's famous speech about our place in the universe, features interviews with guests from all over the regional, national and worldwide scientific communities. Host Dave Schlom leads discussions about the issues science is helping us address with experts who shed light on climate change, space exploration, astronomy, technology and much more. Dave asks us to remember: from deep space, we all live on a pale, blue dot.
Host Dave Schlom is joined by Geoff Williams, author of the new book, The Summer of Death: The Great Heat Wave of 1936 and the Making of Modern America.
Host Dave Schlom is joined by British author Michael Bond, author of the new book, Animate: How Animals Shape the Human Mind. Bond specializes in writing about psychology and human behavior and in this masterful work, he goes back to the very beginnings of humanity's relationship with the animal world.
Host Dave Schlom explores the world of biochar and ways to remove carbon from the landscape with Pyrolysis engineer Joe Polin and policy expert Nora Cohen Brown from Charm Industrial.
Host Dave Schlom is joined by Liliane Burkhard, a geophysicist and planetary scientist at the University of Bern in Switzerland, to discuss a recent study linking earthquakes on two of Southern California's major faults.
To mark the nation's 250th birthday, host Dave Schlom is joined by California State University Chico geography professor Don Hankins to discuss what California would have been like in 1776.
Host Dave Schlom gets to delve into his favorite pastime, fly fishing, with two of his heroes -- Mike Mercer and Bryan Quick from The Fly Shop in Redding, California.
Host Dave Schlom is joined by two scientists from the SETI Institute in Mt. View, California, to talk about one of hisfavorite celestial phenomena -- comets.
Host Dave Schlom is joined by neuroscientist and animal intelligence advocate Dr. Lori Marino, who was recently named the 2026 winner of the Frank Drake Award by the SETI Institute in Mountain View, California.
Host Dave Schlom is joined by nature and wildlife photographer Tom Murphy for an in-depth conversation about his life and career.
Host Dave Schlom is joined by science educator and author Trisha Muro to discuss her new book, It's (Just) Rocket Science: Exploring Physics Through Spaceflight Missions.
Host Dave Schlom is joined once again by Joe Gaydos and Bob Friel from the SeaDoc Society based on Orcas Island in the Pacific Northwest.
Blue Dot's host Dave Schlom is joined by Canadian conservation biologist and marine bird expert Louise K. Blight to talk about her new book, Where The Earth Meets The Sky: A Story of Penguins, People, and Place in Antarctica.
Blue Dot host Dave Schlom takes a look at rivers from space and on the ground in this fluvial episode.
Host Dave Schlom is joined by Pulitzer Prize finalist and New York Times best-selling author Scott Weidensaul to talk about his latest book, The Return of the Oystercatcher.
Host Dave Schlom is joined by Charles Schneider, a Connectivity Program Manager for California Trout, to discuss the human and natural history of California's third-largest watershed, the Eel River.
Blue Dot presents a special program produced during the Artemis 2 mission to take an in-depth look at the science objectives for the historic lunar mission, which launched from the Kennedy Space Center on April 1, 2026, and flew by the Moon on April 6.
Host Dave Schlom is joined by California Institute of Technology Philosophy Professor Chip Sebens for an engaging look at how philosophical thought and methodology can help unravel the mysteries of modern Physics.
Blue Dot goes down on the farm by visiting with folks from California State University, Chico's Center for Regenerative Agriculture and Resilient Systems (CRARS).
Host Dave Schlom is joined by David Ebert, Director of San Jose State University's Pacific Shark Research Center to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the movie Jaws.
Host Dave Schlom discusses one of his favorite topics, California's volcanoes, with two United States Geological Survey staff members from the USGS California Volcano Observatory based at Moffett Field in the San Francisco Bay Area.
Blue Dot marks three years of operation of the magnificent James Webb Space Telescope. NASA Webb Project Manager Mike Davis joins host Dave Schlom for an overview of the telescope's operation and unique capabilities that have surpassed the expectations of the astronomical community.
Host Dave Schlom and Producer Matt Fidler go out in the field and in the studio to learn about the story of a major restoration on Big Chico Creek in Chico, California's historic and precious Bidwell Park.
Host Dave Schlom is joined by two University of California at Davis researchers and the state's gray wolf coordinator to learn more about how California's steadily growing wolf population is affecting cattle ranchers and communities in rural Northern California.
Host Dave Schlom is joined by scientists from the United States Geological Survey's Cascades Volcano Observatory in Vancouver, Washington, for an overview of the iconic cones sheathed in snow and ice and the geologic hazards they represent.
Executive Director Scott Black joins host Dave Schlom for a brief history and overview of the Xerces Society.
Host Dave Schlom visits with Kim Frank, author of the book, "Elephants in the Hourglass."
Host Dave Schlom visits with recently retired TV meteorologist Bill Martin. Bill grew up in Paradise, Calif., and went on to a legendary, Emmy winning career as a television meteorologist on KTVU Channel 2 in Oakland, Calif.
Host Dave Schlom visits with UK-based author Jules Howard to discuss his book, Infinite Life: The Revolutionary Story of Eggs, Evolution, and Life on Earth.
British journalist Jennifer Lucy Allan joins Blue Dot host Dave Schlom to discuss her new book, Clay: A Human History.
Host Dave Schlom visits with nature and wildlife writer Sy Montgomery, whose Soul of An Octopus was a National Book Award finalist, about her latest work, What The Chicken Knows: A New Appreciation of the World's Most Familiar Bird.
Host Dave Schlom is joined by guests from the Scripps Institution of Oceanography at the University of San Diego to profile the ocean science being done at one of the world's most important and historic places to study our blue planet.
Host Dave Schlom is joined by Sam Davidson from Trout Unlimited and Brandy McDaniels from the Pit River Nation for an in-depth look at the newly designated Sáttítla Highlands National Monument.
Blue Dot continues its series of profiles for the United States Geological Survey's volcano observatories with a visit to the granddaddy of them all -- the Hawaiian Volcano Observatory (HVO) on the big island of Hawaii.
Host Dave Schlom is joined by NASA planetary scientist Kevin Hand for a fascinating, in-depth (pun perhaps intended) look at the search for life in the oceans of alien worlds like Jupiter's moon Europa and the Saturnian satellite Enceladus.
Host Dave Schlom is joined by Zeke Spooner, a Ph.D student at the UC Davis Bodega Marine Laboratory, to discuss microplastics.
Host Dave Schlom is joined by two researchers who have connections to UC Davis's Bodega Marine Laboratory on the Northern California coast.
Host Dave Schlom visits with two UC Davis professors to discuss one of the most important yet problematic elements on the Periodic Table: Carbon.
In the wake of the massive Southern California wildfires, Blue Dot turns its scientific lens on the role fire has played on our planet and how that is changing along with the climate.
Host Dave Schlom finds a kindred spirit with Christopher Cokinos, author of the new book, Still as Bright: An Illuminating History of the Moon from Antiquity to Tomorrow.
Host Dave Schlom visits with Elsa Richardson, an academic at the University of Strathclyde, Glasgow. Her new book, Rumbles: A Curious History of The Gut is a fascinating journey through the story of our ongoing quest to understand the process of digestion.
We get an update on NASA's explorations of Mars in 2024 as Host Dave Schlom visits with two scientists and an engineer from the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California. We checked in on the Perseverance Rover, which has been exploring Jezero Crater since February 2021, with Deputy Project Scientist Katie Stack Morgan.
Host Dave Schlom is joined by Michael Poland, Scientist in Charge of the United States Geological Survey's Yellowstone Volcano Observatory.
Host Dave Schlom is joined by Producer Matt Fidler as they travel up California Highway 36E to visit the communities of Mineral and Mill Creek.
Host Dave Schlom visits with NYU Environmental Studies Professor Michael Mehta Webster to discuss his book, The Rescue Effect: The Key to Saving Life on Earth. Webster is an environmental scientist with a fascinating take on how nature has built in mechanisms that serve to preserve species and ecosystems in times of stress or disruptions.
Blue Dot takes an in-depth look at the science behind the Klamath dam removal project, one of the largest of its kind ever attempted.
Host Dave Schlom visits with UC Davis Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences geophysics professor Magali Billen to talk about one of Earth's most dynamic and complex processes, subduction.
Host Dave Schlom is joined by UC Riverside biologist and hummingbird expert Christopher Clark for a fascinating and in-depth look at the lives of the smallest of birds.
Host Dave Schlom is joined by scientists from the United States Geological Survey's Cascades Volcano Observatory in Vancouver, Washington, for an overview of the iconic cones sheathed in snow and ice and the geologic hazards they represent.
In a conversation recorded while the Park Fire was raging in the foothills and mountains of Northern California, Host Dave Schlom visits Zeke Lunder.
Host Dave Schlom visits with his good friend, Josh Willis. Josh is an oceanographer and climate scientist at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California. \
Host Dave Schlom visits with Dr. David Ebert, one of the world's foremost experts on sharks. Dave is the Director of the Pacific Shark Research Center at San Jose State University's Moss Landing Marine Laboratories.
Host Dave Schlom visits with Dr. Joseph Parker, entomologist and beetle expert and head of the Parker Lab at the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena.
Blue Dot pays tribute to one of the most iconic photographs ever taken, Earthrise, taken by Apollo 8 astronaut William Anders on Christmas Eve, 1968.
Host Dave Schlom is joined by two scientists from the UC Davis Tahoe Environmental Research Center (TERC) to discuss the state of one of the crown jewels of the Sierra, Lake Tahoe.
Blue Dot revisits an episode in which we profiled the amazing career of one of America's greatest space scientists, Ed Stone. Stone passed away on June 9 at the age of 88.
Blue Dot concludes its retrospective of the earthquake that struck Northern California on April 18, 1906.
Host Dave Schlom teams up with scientists from the United States Geological Survey for part one of a two-part in-depth look at the massive earthquake that struck Northern California on April 18, 1906.
Host Dave Schlom talks to Reserve Caretaker Peter Steel, whose grandparents Heath and Marjorie Angelo deeded the land to the Nature Conservancy in 1959, making it the first Nature Conservancy landholding in the western United States.
Host Dave Schlom visits with NYU Environmental Studies Professor Michael Mehta Webster to discuss his book, The Rescue Effect: The Key to Saving Life on Earth. Webster is an environmental scientist with a fascinating take on how nature has built in mechanisms that serve to preserve species and ecosystems in times of stress or disruptions.
Host Dave Schlom visits with UC Davis Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences geophysics professor Magali Billen to talk about one of Earth's most dynamic and complex processes, subduction.
In this very special episode, Host Dave Schlom visits with three researchers who were part of an incredible series of experimental communications with a humpback whale off the coast of Alaska.
Bald and golden eagles are some of the most magnificent birds in North America. Host Dave Schlom is joined by Michelle Hawkins, Director of The California Raptor Center at UC Davis, for an in-depth look at eagles, from their amazing conservation success story to the threats they still face from humans.
Host Dave Schlom finds a kindred spirit with Christopher Cokinos, author of the new book, Still as Bright: An Illuminating History of the Moon from Antiquity to Tomorrow.
Host Dave Schlom visits with best-selling author and award-winning anthropologist Meredith F. Small to talk about her new book, Here Begins The Dark Sea: Venice, a Medieval Monk and the Creation of the Most Accurate Map of The World.
Host Dave Schlom visits with one of the world's foremost experts on sharks, Dr. David Ebert.
Host Dave Schlom investigates the world of vultures and condors with the Director of the UC Davis California Raptor Center, Michelle Hawkins.
Host Dave Schlom is joined by Bloomberg News science reporter Loren Grush to talk about her new book, The Six: The Untold Story of America's First Women Astronauts.
In the conclusion of Blue Dot's two part look at the state of the Drake Equation in 2024, Host Dave Schlom is once again joined by special co host Bill Diamond, President and CEO of the SETI Institute in Mountain View, California.
Host Dave Schlom is joined by special co-host Bill Diamond, President and CEO of the SETI Institute, for an in-depth look at the state of the famous Drake Equation.
Host Dave Schlom is joined by Sky and Telescope magazine senior contributing editor Rick Fienberg to preview the big celestial event coming up soon, the total solar eclipse on April 8, 2024.
Host Dave Schlom visits with guests from River Partners, a conservation organization born of a vision of farmers with conservation interests who sought more of a cooperative rather than confrontational approach to watershed restoration projects.
Host Dave Schlom visits with French archaeologist and paleoanthropologist Ludovic Slimak about his multi-decadal research into Neanderthals. Author of the new book, The Naked Neanderthal: a New Understanding of The Human Creature (Pegasus Books), Slimak is one of the world's foremost experts on these enigmatic and often misrepresented beings that disappeared from Earth about 40,000 years ago.
CSU Chico Professor of Physics Kendall Hall joins Host Dave Schlom once again as a special co-host. They talk to her father, Raymond, who is also a physics professor.
Host Dave Schlom looks at some interesting ways the University of California's Natural Reserves System is used for education and scientific research.
Host Dave Schlom is joined by Rosanna Xia, environmental journalist for the Los Angeles Times to discuss her book, California Against The Sea: Visions for Our Vanishing Coastline.
In this very special episode, Host Dave Schlom visits with three researchers who were part of an incredible series of experimental communications with a humpback whale off the coast of Alaska.
Two scientists join host Dave Schlom to discuss the Surface Water and Ocean Topography (SWOT) mission which launched in December of 2022.
SETI Institute meteor astronomer Peter Jenniskens joins host Dave Schlom to take a deep dive into the science of meteors and meteor showers. Dr. Jenniskens is the author of the authoritative Atlas of Earth's Meteor Showers, a comprehensive and professional-level compilation of all we currently know about meteor showers and the comets they originate from.
Host Dave Schlom and Michael examine the incredible forests of the Klamaths with two Cal Poly Humboldt professors who are deeply involved in studying them, Lucy Kerhoulas and Rosemary Sherriff.
In the first of a special two-part series, Host Dave Schlom is joined by Michael Kauffmann, co-editor and publisher of The Klamath Mountains: A Natural History.
Host Dave Schlom sits down with one of his favorite people, Lassen Volcanic National Park Superintendent Jim Richardson, on the eve of his retirement from the National Park Service.
Blue Dot delves into the world of iceberg science and the latest ideas on using them as sources of freshwater for the future as Host Dave Schlom interviews Ohio State University Professor Matthew Birkhold, author of Chasing Icebergs: How Frozen Freshwater Can Save The Planet.
Host Dave Schlom is joined by Bloomberg News science reporter Loren Grush to talk about her new book, The Six: The Untold Story of America's First Women Astronauts.
Host Dave Schlom is joined by special guest and co-host Katie Mackey Harris for a look at the world of aquaculture in the western United States. Harris is the President and General Manager of Mt. Lassen Trout, a family-owned company and trout farm operation in Northern California.
Host Dave Schlom is joined by special co-host Kendall Hall, an assistant physics professor at CSU Chico, for a very special conversation with one of America's greatest planetary scientists, Heidi Hammel. Also joining us is Stefanie Milam, Deputy Project Scientist for Planetary Science for the James Webb Space Telescope.
Host Dave Schlom visits with Rolling Stone contributing editor and author Jeff Goodell about his latest book, The Heat Will Kill You First: Life and Death on a Scorched Planet.
Family plays a pivotal role in this episode with Yurok tribal member and environmental engineer Brook M. Thompson. Brook shares how her strong ties to family and community have shaped her work, bringing traditional indigenous practices to mainstream science. Also, Producer Matt Fidler and his father Rich, talk about Matt's grandfather, Harold Fidler, who was a pivotal part of the US Army's role working with UC Berkeley scientists on the Manhattan Project, the subject of the new Christopher Nolan film, Oppenheimer.
Host Dave Schlom sits down for a visit with world-renowned fly fishing and travel photographer Val Atkinson.
Host Dave Schlom visits with two-time World Series champion and four-time MLB All-Star Hunter Pence about the nonprofit organization he and his wife Alexis have founded: Healthy Planet Project.
Host Dave Schlom investigates two of the components that make up most of the universe -- dark matter and dark energy.
Host Dave Schlom visits with best-selling author and award-winning anthropologist Meredith F. Small to talk about her new book, Here Begins The Dark Sea: Venice, a Medieval Monk and the Creation of the Most Accurate Map of The World.
In this episode, Host Dave Schlom visits with managers from NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida to find out what goes into launching America's Artemis missions to the Moon with the Orion spacecraft perched atop the Space Launch System (SLS).
Host Dave Schlom has a fascinating conversation with Dr. Pascal Lee, a planetary scientist from the SETI Institute and NASA's Ames Research Center in Mountain View, CA.
Host Dave Schlom concludes our two-part look back at the first and only exclusively American space station, Skylab, which was crewed by three teams of astronauts in 1973.
Blue Dot host Dave Schlom is joined by space journalist Emily Carney and Apollo astronaut Rusty Schweickart in part one of our look back at the only all-American space station -- Skylab.
In this episode, Host Dave Schlom tackles a topic much in the news lately, how to safely and ethically use our public lands and waters. Dave visits with National Park Service spokesperson Ana Beatriz Cholo from the Santa Monica Mountains National Recreation Area in Los Angeles.
Host Dave Schlom visits with author Patrick Dean about his new book, Nature's Messenger: Mark Catesby and His Adventures in a New World. Dean's book reveals that the 18th-century British naturalist, who preceded John James Audubon, recorded his observations in America of the stunning array of flora and fauna he found there.
Host Dave Schlom revisits with California Institute of Technology Professor of Aeronautics and Medical Engineering Mory Gharib and Chris Roh from Cornell University about their new paper published in the MIT journal Leonardo.
Host Dave Schlom investigates two of the components that make up most of the universe -- dark matter and dark energy.
Host Dave Schlom sets his sites on some cosmic mysteries -- the physics of black holes and the latest discovery of a cluster of galaxies closer to the birth of the universe than any yet detected.
Host Dave Schlom is joined by special co-host Kendall Hall, an assistant physics professor at CSU Chico, for a very special conversation with one of America's greatest planetary scientists, Heidi Hammel. Also joining us is Stefanie Milam, Deputy Project Scientist for Planetary Science for the James Webb Space Telescope.
Blue Dot investigates the concept of the Blue Economy, using ocean resources in a more responsible, sustainable way as being practiced in the small coastal town of Fort Bragg, California.
It's almost an all-Navy show as Host Dave Schlom talks to Liliana Villarreal, Director of the Artemis II landing and recovery Director and US Naval aviator Lt.Thomas Logan about joint efforts between NASA and the Department of Defense to safely recover the four Artemis II astronauts when they return from the first lunar mission in over 50 years.
Host Dave Schlom visits with UC Davis climate and environmental scientist Hannah Palmer and colleague Veronica Vriesman, a marine scientist and paleontologist at Oberlin College in Ohio.
Host Dave Schlom visits with world-class mountain and ice climber and all-around great Mom Majka Burhardt. Majka is the leader of Legado, an NGO devoted to stewardship for indigenous people around the world and the special places they live. She is the author of the new book, More: Life on the Edge of Adventure and Motherhood.
Bestselling science fiction author Kim Stanley Robinson joins Dave to talk about his book, a work of nonfiction, The High Sierra: a Love Story.
Host Dave Schlom visits with an array of guests that are involved in major watershed restoration projects being conducted by the conservation organization California Trout.
Host Dave Schlom talks about one of his favorite things in life: dogs. British Author Jules Howard joins him to talk about his latest book, Wonderdog: The Science of Dogs and Their Unique Friendship with Humans.
Host Dave Schlom visits with California Institute of Technology Professor of Aeronautics and Medical Engineering Mory Gharib and Chris Roh from Cornell University about their new paper published in the MIT journal Leonardo.
Host Dave Schlom visits with one of the true heroes of environmental activism in the U.S. and the world -- Bill McKibben.
Host Dave Schlom visits with environmental journalist Erica Gies about her new book, Water Always Wins: Thriving in an Age of Drought and Deluge. The San Francisco Bay area native chronicles the stories of "water detectives," scientific investigators trying to piece together how natural hydrologic systems functioned before human engineering disrupted them through damming, channeling and otherwise trying to control water.
Blue Dot delves into the world of iceberg science and the latest ideas on using them as sources of freshwater for the future as Host Dave Schlom interviews Ohio State University Professor Matthew Birkhold, author of Chasing Icebergs: How Frozen Freshwater Can Save The Planet.
Blue Dot examines the state of the Chinook salmon fishery in Northern California and the west coast from three perspectives.
Host Dave Schlom takes us into the fascinating and vitally important world of groundwater science. Journalist and author of the book Water Always Wins introduces us to the concept of paleo valleys and introduces us to Dr. Graham Fogg, Emeritus Professor of Hydrogeology at UC Davis.
Host Dave Schlom has a most enjoyable visit with kindred spirit Sy Montgomery. A naturalist, adventurer, and accomplished author, Montgomery begins by discussing her deep dive (which for the falcon above would be called a stoop) into falconry in her latest book, The Hawks Way.
Host Dave Schlom visits with two very special people. Kendra Atleework is the author of Miracle Country: a Memoir of a Family and a Landscape, and her father, Robert Atlee (find out why their names are just a little different by listening!), the publisher of Sierra Maps.
Host Dave Schlom visits with Aberdeen, Scotland-based author Esther Woolfson about her book, Between Light and Storm: How We Live with Other Species.
Blue Dot investigates the concept of the Blue Economy, using ocean resources in a more responsible, sustainable way as being practiced in the small coastal town of Fort Bragg, California.
Host Dave Schlom gets to visit with three people from one of his favorite businesses on the planet: Sierra Nevada Brewing Company.
Host Dave Schlom visits with British-born Thailand resident Fred Hogge about his new book, Of Ice and Men: How We've Used Cold to Transform Humanity.
We conclude our Apollo @50 series of looks at the Apollo missions to the Moon with looks back and forward.
Blue Dot's Apollo@50 series nears its conclusion with part one as we take a look back at the final lunar mission, Apollo 17.
Host Dave Schlom is joined by Producer Matt Fidler as Blue Dot returns to Lassen Volcanic National Park one year after the massive Dixie Fire.
Blue Dot Host Dave Schlom talks to the three winners, out of 14,000 entrants for the Future Engineers/NASA Artemis Moon Pod Essay Contest.
Blue Dot spotlights the amazing career of one of America's greatest space scientists, Ed Stone. Stone was the Project Scientist for the Voyager missions for 50 years, overseeing the historical tour of the outer solar system's gas giants and their retinue of icy moons and now exploring interstellar space.
Host Dave Schlom talks about one of his favorite things in life: dogs. British Author Jules Howard joins him to talk about his latest book, Wonderdog: The Science of Dogs and Their Unique Friendship with Humans.
Host Dave Schlom visits with one of the true heroes of environmental activism in the U.S. and the world -- Bill McKibben.
Host Dave Schlom is joined by Clare Fieseler, the co-author of a new National Geographic kids book, No Boundaries: 25 Women Scientists and Explorers share Adventures, Inspiration and Advice.
Host Dave Schlom visits with Oxford University climate scientist Tim Woollings about his book, Jet Stream: a Journey through our Changing Climate.
Host Dave Schlom visits with Dee O'Hara, the "nurse to the astronauts." Hired by NASA in November 1959, Dee was a pivotal health care provider, deeply trusted by the astronauts and their families.
Host Dave Schlom is joined by Canadian geophysicist and fellow science communicator Mika McKinnon to talk about their mutual passion for the Earth Sciences, especially geology!
Host Dave Schlom visits with folks from the newly renamed Cal Poly Humboldt about their marine biology programs.
Host Dave Schlom visits with folks from the newly renamed Cal Poly Humboldt about their marine biology programs.
Host Dave Schlom gets to talk to his teenage crush, English vocalist Annie Haslam from the progressive/art-rock band Renaissance. Also, he visits with musician, engineer, and creator Daniel Belquer to talk about his work with vibrations to create immersive experiences for concert-goers.
Host Dave Schlom gets to talk to his teenage crush, English vocalist Annie Haslam from the progressive/art-rock band Renaissance. Also, he visits with musician, engineer, and creator Daniel Belquer to talk about his work with vibrations to create immersive experiences for concert-goers.
Bestselling science fiction author Kim Stanley Robinson joins Dave to talk about his latest book, a work of nonfiction, The High Sierra: a Love Story.
Bestselling science fiction author Kim Stanley Robinson joins Dave to talk about his latest book, a work of nonfiction, The High Sierra: a Love Story.
Host Dave Schlom is joined by Producer Matt Fidler as Blue Dot returns to Lassen Volcanic National Park one year after the massive Dixie Fire.
Host Dave Schlom is joined by Producer Matt Fidler as Blue Dot returns to Lassen Volcanic National Park one year after the massive Dixie Fire.
Host Dave Schlom checks out the findings from a new NASA instrument flying aboard the International Space Station called ECOSTRESS.
Host Dave Schlom gets a chance to revisit one of his favorite topics -- the twin Voyager spacecraft that began their explorations of the outer solar system and now interstellar space -- 45 years ago.
Host Dave Schlom visits with grant winners from a NASA program designed to boost and accelerate science and engineering programs with potential space applications at Minority Serving Institutions (MSI).
Host Dave Schlom is joined by special co-host Kendall Hall, astronomer and physics professor at California State University Chico as we dive into the first images and science coming out of the James Webb Space Telescope.
Host Dave Schlom visits with Dee O'Hara, the "nurse to the astronauts." Hired by NASA in November 1959, Dee was a pivotal health care provider, deeply trusted by the astronauts and their families.
Host Dave Schlom visits with award-winning journalist and author Simon Barnes. For decades Barnes was one of the main sportswriters for the Times of London and also penned a column on wildlife conservation issues.
Host Dave Schlom talks to three contributors to the book NASA and The Long Civil Rights Movement. Recently published for the first time as a paperback, the book is a collection of essays that came out of a symposium that drew on the expertise of historians to examine NASA's role in the deep south (and beyond) during the height of the space race and to the present day.
Host Dave Schlom investigates an effort in the Persian Gulf to bring scientists together to protect and further study this politically and ecologically diverse region.
Blue Dot takes a trip to the Red Dot as Dave talks to British geologist/geophysicist and science fiction writer Simon Morden.
Host Dave Schlom is joined by eclipse guru Gordon Telepun to talk about the upcoming total solar eclipse on April 8, 2024.
Host Dave Schlom talks to wildlife veterinarian Joe Gaydos from the Sea Doc Society (a research center on Orcas Island in the Salish Sea off the Washington Coast) and UC Davis along with NOAA marine wildlife biologist Dawn Noren as they examine the lives and deaths of one of the Earth's apex predators: Killer Whales.
Host Dave Schlom talks to Arizona State University marine conservation biologist about his new book: Why Sharks Matter: A Deep Dive with the World's Most Misunderstood Predator.
Dave talks to scientists from the Nature Conservancy, NASA, and the University of California Santa Barbara in this special look at a cooperative new study called SHIFT for "Surface Biology and Geology High-Frequency Time Series."
Host Dave Schlom visits with James Zimring, Professor of Experimental Pathology at the University of Virginia.
Host Dave Schlom visits with award-winning journalist and author Simon Barnes. For decades Barnes was one of the main sportswriters for the Times of London and also penned a column on wildlife conservation issues.
Host Dave Schlom is joined by Canadian geophysicist and fellow science communicator Mika McKinnon to talk about their mutual passion for the Earth Sciences, especially geology!
Host Dave Schlom visits with the 2022 recipient of the Frank Drake Award from the SETI Institute, Dr. Shelley Wright.
Host Dave Schlom welcomes back California State University at Chico Pyrogeographer Don Hankins.
Blue Dot's Apollo @50 series continues with part two of our look back at the flight of Apollo 16 in April of 1972.
Blue Dot's signature Apollo@50 series continues with the fifth lunar landing mission, Apollo 16. In April of 1972, the crew of Commander John Young, Lunar Module Pilot Charlie Duke, and Command Module Pilot Thomas "Ken" Mattingly set out for the most ambitious science mission to date to explore the mysteries of the Descartes Highlands.
Host Dave Schlom gets to talk to his teenage crush, English vocalist Annie Haslam from the progressive/art-rock band Renaissance.
Host Dave is joined by special guest co-host Dr. Kendall Hall (Professor of Physics CSU Chico) to visit with James Webb Space Telescope science team member Dr. Charles Beichman, the Executive Director of NASA's Exoplanet Science Institute at CalTech in Pasadena.
Blue Dot's Dave Schlom talks with two of the researchers whose proposals have been selected as well as the acting executive overseeing the program for NASA HQ.
Weather is an important part of the daily lives and commerce of the U.S. In charge of keeping us apprised and safe is the National Weather Service. Dave talks to Meteorologist in Charge Michelle Mead and Warning Coordination Meteorologist Courtney Carpenter from the National Weather Service's Sacramento, CA office.
Host Dave Schlom visits with three members of the SETI Insitute based in Mountain View, California. Since its inception in the early 1980s, the institute has sought an answer to a fundamental question: are we alone in the Universe?
Host Dave returns to his alma mater, CSU Chico, to find out about some of the research being done by Chemistry and Environmental Science students.
Host Dave Schlom takes a break from the heavy issues of climate change, drought, etc. to have some fun with his two favorite sports journalists, 49ers Insider and 49ers Host Laura Britt.
Host Dave Schlom gets to talk about one of his favorite topics, spaceflight history, with NASA/JPL Historian Eric Conway.
Host Dave Schlom helps profile two NASA missions, one about to begin and one that has just been completed.
Host Dave Schlom visits with former Chico/Redding market TV meteorologist Kris Kuyper about his take on the winter's on again off again weather, then a visit with Jay Lund, co-Director of the UC Davis Center for Watershed Science.
Host Dave Schlom welcomes back California State University at Chico Pyrogeographer Don Hankins. They talk about Don's background as a member of the plains Miwok people and how indigenous people around the world are trying to reassert using fire as a healing tool for landscapes that are meant to burn and have for millennia.
Host Dave Schlom revisits a chat with Northwestern University neuroscientist Nina Kraus about her work on the science of sound and its importance to our brains.
Host Dave is joined by special guest co-host Dr. Kendall Hall (Professor of Physics CSU Chico) to visit with James Webb Space Telescope science team member Dr. Charles Beichman, the Executive Director of NASA's Exoplanet Science Institute at CalTech in Pasadena.
Host Dave Schlom is joined by award-winning investigative journalist Katie Worth (PBS Frontline) to talk about her in-depth look at this issue in her new book Miseducation: How Climate Change is Taught in America.
Host Dave Schlom talks to geologist and author John Dvorak about his book: How The Mountains Formed: A New Geological History of North America.
This holiday, Blue Dot takes a look back at the 50th anniversary of the Apollo program with a look at the very first mission to the Moon -- Apollo 8.
Host Dave Schlom gets to visit with three people from one of his favorite businesses on the planet: Sierra Nevada Brewing Company.
Host Dave Schlom takes a trip down memory lane and visits his alma mater, CSU Chico, to check out the new science building.
Host Dave Schlom checks in on the Mars rovers, first with Perseverance systems engineer and planetary scientist Vivian Sun as they discuss the rover's operations in Jezero Crater searching for signs of ancient life.
In this very special episode, Dave talks to the daughter of the man he likes to call "the patron saint of Blue Dot," Carl Sagan.
Host Dave Schlom talks to two scientists studying the solar system but in very different ways.
Host Dave Schlom visits with author Nicholas Crane from his home in rural England to talk about the adventures and at times misadventures of a group of 12 academicians and military advisors trying to measure one degree of latitude at the equator. It's a rollicking story filled with colorful characters set amidst the 18th century Andes region of modern-day Ecuador.
Host Dave Schlom chats with Tim James about his new book, Astronomical: From Quasars to Quarks the Science of Space at its Strangest.
Host Dave Schlom visits with Brendan Byrne, space reporter for NPR affiliate WMFE in Orlando, Florida about a very busy 2021 in the space business with commercial flights by Virgin Galactic, Blue Origin and SpaceX.
Host Dave Schlom visits Northwestern University neuroscientist Nina Kraus to chat about her work on the science of sound and its importance to our brains.
Host Dave Schlom and producer Matt Fidler were the first two journalists allowed into Lassen Volcanic National Park after the Dixie Fire, the largest single fire in California history, burned through a large swath of the park in August 2021.
Host Dave Schlom talks to Curis Knight from CalTrout about that organization's 50 years of work restoring trout habitat and using science-based policy to ensure that our fisheries remain viable.
Host Dave Schlom visits with the Sustainability Director at the Monterey Bay Aquarium, Claudia Pineda Tibbs as they discuss the many ways that the iconic oceanic environmental education facility fosters responsible ways to conduct its outreach and operations.
Host Dave Schlom talks to geologist and author John Dvorak about his new book: How The Mountains Formed: A New Geological History of North America.