Point Of Discovery

Resources for watching the April 8, 2024 solar eclipseApril 8 Total Solar Eclipse (McDonald Observatory)Interactive Solar Eclipse Map for April 8Total Eclipse of the Horns (UT Austin)Totality (free, interactive phone app that tells you what the eclipse will be like for any location, which locations will experience totality and for exactly how long)How to View a Solar Eclipse Safely (American Astronomical Society)Solar Eclipse Across America (American Astronomical Society)Dig deeper into eclipse scienceLunar and solar eclipses make animals do strange thingsEpisode creditsSelect bird sounds from: Yasuni Soundscapes – Ecuador 2018, by Lang ElliottOur theme music was composed by Charlie HarperOther music for today’s show was produced by: Podington BearCover image: The Sun’s corona shining brightly during a total solar eclipse in 2009. This media was created by the National Optical-Infrared Astronomy Research Laboratory (NOIRLab). Credit: Miloslav Druckmüller, Peter Aniol, Vojtech Rušin, Ľubomír Klocok, Karel Mart

Read a Q&A with Philip SouzaSee a map of the Mission-Aransas EstuaryLearn more about the Mission-Aransas National Estuarine Research ReserveOur theme music was composed by Charlie HarperOther music for today’s show was produced by: Podington Bear

If you liked this episode, check out our earlier episode featuring Alex Huth talking about an earlier iteration of this research.Through the Good Systems initiative, The University of Texas at Austin is bringing together researchers from a broad range of disciplines to explore ways to ensure that artificial intelligence develops in a way that is beneficial, not detrimental, to humanity. Learn more about Good Systems here.Our theme music was composed by Charlie HarperOther music for today’s show was produced by: Podington Bear

First images from the JWST: https://www.nasa.gov/webbfirstimagesCaitlin Casey’s full interview with KUT’s Texas Standard: https://www.texasstandard.org/stories/a-ut-researcher-is-behind-the-james-webb-telescopes-biggest-project-of-2022/Read more about COSMOS-Web: https://arxiv.org/abs/2211.07865Our theme music was composed by Charlie HarperOther music for today’s show was produced by: Podington Bear

LeBrun studies invasive species at the University of Texas at Austin’s Brackenridge Field Laboratory.Watch a related video from UT News: Defending Texas from the Next InvasionOur theme music was composed by Charlie HarperOther music for today’s show was produced by: Podington Bear

In addition to original interviews, today’s episode features excerpts from three interviews:On the Shoulders of Giants: Steven Weinberg and the Quest to Explain the World (2021), World Science FestivalPhysicist Steven Weinberg on His Search for a "Final Theory" (1993), Fresh AirThe Bill Moyers Interview: Steven Weinberg (1990), Bill MoyersOur theme music was composed by Charlie HarperOther music for today’s show was produced by: Podington BearOn Monday, March 21, UT Austin is hosting a memorial lecture in honor of Steven Weinberg, featuring his fellow Nobel Laureate, MIT’s Frank Wilczek. This event is free and open to the public, both in-person and virtually via Zoom. Find out more and register here.Donate to the Physics Theory Group, in memory of Steven WeinbergAbout Point of DiscoveryPoint of Discovery is a production of the University of Texas at Austin's College of Natural Sciences and is a part of the Texas Podcast Network. The opinions expressed in this podcast represent the views of the hosts, and not

Donate to the Physics Theory Group, in memory of Steven WeinbergIn addition to original interviews, today’s episode features excerpts from two videos:On the Shoulders of Giants: Steven Weinberg and the Quest to Explain the World (2021), World Science FestivalInterview with Professor Steven Weinberg (2001), Nobel Prize CommitteeOur theme music was composed by Charlie HarperOther music for today’s show was produced by: Podington BearAbout Point of DiscoveryPoint of Discovery is a production of the University of Texas at Austin's College of Natural Sciences and is a part of the Texas Podcast Network. The opinions expressed in this podcast represent the views of the hosts, and not of The University of Texas at Austin. You can listen via Apple Podcasts, Spotify, RSS, Stitcher, Amazon Podcasts, or Google Podcasts. Questions or comments about this episode or our series in general? Email Marc Airhart.

Until COVID-19, few people alive today had experienced the chaos and destruction of a really bad pandemic, one that has at times ground businesses, schools and social lives to a near standstill and killed millions globally. But did you know that we aren’t alone in being battered by a global infectious disease? Frogs are also struggling through their own pandemic that, according to biologist Kelly Zamudio, has several eerie parallels with COVID-19. Perhaps our own encounters with a pandemic will give us new sympathy for our slimy, bug-eyed friends.A 2019 study in Science found that a chytrid fungus has contributed to declines in about 500 frog species around the world. Read more: https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.aav0379Our theme music was composed by Charlie Harper - https://www.charlieharpermusic.com/Other music for today’s show was produced by: Podington Bear - https://www.podingtonbear.com/About Point of DiscoveryPoint of Discovery is a production of the University of Texas at Austin's College of

To hear the full TX512 show, go to the episode from July 21, 2021 titled “The Texas Podcast Network”    Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/episode/2LENTUXmG4TTNhbc5mSNu2    Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-texas-podcast-network/id1541588194?i=1000529545464    Google: https://txsci.net/tx512 Texas Podcast Network: https://www.utexas.edu/texas-podcast-network Music for today’s show was produced by:Podington Bear - https://www.podingtonbear.com/ About Point of DiscoveryPoint of Discovery is a production of the University of Texas at Austin's College of Natural Sciences and is a part of the Texas Podcast Network. The opinions expressed in this podcast represent the views of the hosts, and not of The University of Texas at Austin. You can listen to all our episodes at: https://point-of-discovery.simplecast.com/Questions or comments about this episode, or our series in general? Email Marc Airhart at mairhart[AT]austin.utexas.edu

Physical punishment, or spanking, is widely practiced in the U.S. and around the world, although it appears to be decreasing. Parents, caregivers and school administrators who use it say the goal is to prevent unwanted behaviors and teach children to make better choices. But does it actually work? And what long term effects does it have on the physical and mental health of people who are punished this way?In today’s special episode, we’re teaming up with Ike Evans, producer of the Into the Fold podcast, to jointly interview one of the world’s experts on physical punishment, Liz Gershoff. She’s a professor in the University of Texas at Austin’s Department of Human Development and Family Sciences and the director of the Population Research Center. She’s been studying the effects of physical discipline on children for two decades and advocating for an end to the practice.If you’re interested in digging deeper, check out Into the Fold Episode 22: Restorative Discipline in Schools: https://hogg.utexas.edu/into-the

When we get sick, we change our social interactions—we keep away from others and we don’t share food. It turns out, humans aren’t the only species to do it. According to a new review in the journal Science, when highly social animals — such as ants, mice and bats — get sick, their social interactions change, too. For example, sick vampire bats groom each other less, move less and call out less, and this may help reduce the spread of disease. It’s not active social distancing, but rather more like the way we humans are less active when we’re feeling lousy. Ants on the other hand are more proactive: when sick, they will actively self-isolate in a way that helps protect the rest of the colony. By studying how social behavior changes in various animals, scientists are hoping to better understand the effectiveness of different strategies humans use, like social distancing, to combat the spread of diseases like COVID-19. Today on the show we’ll meet Sebastian Stockmaier, a recently minted PhD scientist at the Unive

Evolutionary biologists never have enough time. Some of the most mysterious behaviors in the animal kingdom—like parenting—evolved over thousands of years, if not longer. Human lifespans are just too short to sit and observe such complex behaviors evolve. But computer scientists are beginning to offer clues by using artificial intelligence to simulate the life and death of thousands of generations of animals in a matter of hours or days. It’s called computational evolution. One behavior that’s long baffled biologists is called mobbing, in which a gang of hyenas team up to steal prey from much more powerful lions. When UT Austin computer scientists Risto Miikkulainen and Padmini Rajagopalan simulated hyenas and lions on a virtual African savannah, they found something surprising. Watch a video of real-life hyenas mobbing (courtesy of Michigan State U.): https://youtu.be/Rs7AXFa4sN0 Read more: Evolution of Complex Coordinated Behavior (July 2020) https://www.cs.utexas.edu/users/ai-lab/downloadPublication.php?fi

We asked you, dear listeners, to send us your most burning questions about COVID-19. And you didn’t disappoint. You asked: When will it be safe for my 12-week-old baby to meet her grandparents? Can you catch it twice? Is the virus mutating and will that make it harder to develop vaccines? In today’s episode, our three experts get to the bottom of these questions, and more. Meet our experts: Professor Lauren Ancel Meyers is an epidemiologist and leader of the UT COVID-19 Modeling Consortium. Her team recently found that the virus was circulating in China and in Seattle, Washington weeks earlier than previously thought. (Read more: https://cns.utexas.edu/news/early-spread-of-covid-19-appears-far-greater-than-initially-reported ) Greg Ippolito is a research assistant professor of molecular biosciences and an expert on how our immune systems respond to pathogens. He is working with doctors at Houston Methodist Hospital to test the efficacy of a potential COVID-19 treatment called convalescent plasma therapy. (Rea

In these next few decades, will humans finally find life in space? We asked University of Texas at Austin astronomer Caroline Morley and her answer just might surprise you. Morley shares her vision for the future in this latest episode of our miniseries, The Next 50 Years. Check out more podcasts and essays in the Next 50 Years series: https://cns.utexas.edu/news/tags/the-next-50-years Scientists from across UT Austin are joining forces in the hunt for life on other planets. Astronomers, geoscientists, chemists, biologists and aerospace engineers have pooled resources to form the UT Center for Planetary Systems Habitability, a cross-campus, interdisciplinary research unit. Learn more: https://cns.utexas.edu/news/university-welcomes-new-center-for-planetary-habitability Have a question about COVID-19? We have experts on all aspects of the pandemic and the virus that causes it. Record your question and email it to us here: utexasscience@gmail.com Please keep your recordings to 20 seconds or less if you can. We’

Can we simulate life — in all its messy complexity and at the scale of each individual atom — in a computer? Even the most powerful supercomputers today can only simulate a tiny portion of a single living cell for a few nanoseconds. Carlos Baiz is a biochemist at the University of Texas at Austin who says it might someday be possible to simulate an entire living cell for hours or longer. But he says there are two big catches. Baiz shares his vision for the future in this latest episode of our miniseries, The Next 50 Years. Check out more podcasts and essays in this series: https://cns.utexas.edu/news/tags/the-next-50-years Music for today’s show was produced by: Podington Bear - https://www.podingtonbear.com/ Chuzausen - https://freemusicarchive.org/music/Chuzausen About Point of Discovery Point of Discovery is a production of the University of Texas at Austin's College of Natural Sciences. You can listen to all our episodes at @point-of-discovery . Questions or comments about this episode, or our series in g

Daily life has changed for many of us due to the coronavirus pandemic. During this unusual time, when it’s harder to connect physically with important people in our lives, it can be helpful to step back and spend a little time thinking about the things that still bind us together, like the wonder of the natural world and the hope that scientists offer us as we take on societal challenges. We’ve put together a compilation from our previous episodes that we hope will help you find some solace right now: in rediscovering life, the people we're closest with and the universe. To listen to the full episodes that we drew these excerpts from, or to read the transcripts, visit the links below. Beauty and the Yeast: https://cns.utexas.edu/news/beauty-and-the-yeast The Science of Relationships: https://cns.utexas.edu/news/the-science-of-relationships Can Sound Save a Fish?: https://cns.utexas.edu/news/can-sound-save-a-fish Eyewitness to a Cosmic Car Wreck: https://cns.utexas.edu/news/eyewitness-to-a-cosmic-car-wreck A L

Artificial intelligence is becoming more and more a part of our daily lives. But will AI have mostly positive or negative impacts on society? Some potential unintended consequences include home service robots that accidentally break your fine china, or systems that increase the gap between the haves and the have-nots. Peter Stone co-leads the Good Systems initiative at the University of Texas at Austin, which is trying to hash out guiding principles for building AI systems that are more likely to have a positive impact and fewer unintended consequences. He shares his team’s vision for the future in this latest episode of our miniseries, The Next 50 Years. Check out more podcasts and essays in this series: https://cns.utexas.edu/news/tags/the-next-50-years Learn about the Good Systems initiative: https://bridgingbarriers.utexas.edu/good-systems/ Peter Stone also chaired the first technical report of the AI100 Study: https://cns.utexas.edu/news/experts-forecast-the-changes-artificial-intelligence-could-bring-by

Have you ever wondered why some people seem to be able to follow a specific diet or exercise plan and others fail? The answer might have to do with factors unique to each person, like their microbiomes and genetics. Geneticist Molly Bray is working toward a future where each person gets a diet and exercise plan optimized just for them. She shares her vision for how this would work in this latest episode of our miniseries, The Next 50 Years. Check out more podcasts and essays in this series: https://cns.utexas.edu/news/tags/the-next-50-years Learn about the ongoing TIGER Study, which explores how genes may alter a person’s response to exercise and diet interventions: http://tigerstudy.org/ Read about a 2015 summary report on the genetics of weight loss by some of the leading experts in this field, including Molly Bray: https://cns.utexas.edu/news/weight-loss-programs-tailored-to-a-person-s-genome-may-be-coming-soon Music for today’s show was produced by: Podington Bear - https://www.podingtonbear.com/ Chuzause

We know absolutely nothing about roughly 80 percent of the different types of life on Earth. Biologist David Hillis aims to discover all those missing species—by some estimates 5 to 10 million—possibly in the next few decades. Sound impossible? He shares his vision for how this would work in this first episode of our new miniseries, The Next 50 Years. Check out more podcasts and essays in this series: https://cns.utexas.edu/news/tags/the-next-50-years Hillis, along with colleagues Derrick Zwickl and Robin Gutell, published a stunning new tree of life in 2003 based not just on the physical traits but also the genetics of 3,000 species from across all known groups of life. The unique circular layout which first appeared in the journal Science has come to be known as a Hillis plot. To download a printable version of the Hillis plot and see tattoos and other artistic renderings, visit: http://www.zo.utexas.edu/faculty/antisense/DownloadfilesToL.html Learn about the computational approaches that enabled this new t

If you've been listening to our podcast for a while, you probably have noticed that we haven't had a new episode for a few months. We’ve taken that time to step back and reflect on our show, both what has changed over the last few years (we’re now in our fifth year of production – yay!) and where we're going in the future. In this month’s episode, producer and host Marc Airhart chats with senior editor Christine Sinatra about the podcast. We also share some exciting news: we’re kicking off a new miniseries called The Next 50 Years. The first episode drops in January 2020. Stay tuned! Music for today’s show was produced by: Podington Bear - https://www.podingtonbear.com/ Have you heard our other news? Now you can listen to Point of Discovery on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/4bWQkQ9jBV0cyKeyqeKwdA About Point of Discovery Point of Discovery is a production of the University of Texas at Austin's College of Natural Sciences. You can listen to all our episodes at @point-of-discovery . Questions or comment