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After decades of development, the Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope is preparing to launch. Once in orbit, Roman will conduct the widest surveys of the universe ever attempted, probing the nature of dark energy, discovering thousands of new exoplanets, and capturing images of billions of galaxies. In this episode, we sit down with Julie McEnery, senior project scientist for Roman at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center, and Jason Rhodes, project scientist for Roman at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, to explore what the telescope will reveal and how scientists around the world will be able to access and work with its data. Plus, in What's Up, we look at Roman's coronagraph and what it will take for the Habitable Worlds Observatory to push that technology far enough to image Earth-like worlds around Sun-like stars. Discover more at: https://www.planetary.org/planetary-radio/2026-nancy-grace-romanSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
How do you build a telescope to study something you can't see? Neil deGrasse Tyson and Paul Mecurio sit down with Jason Rhodes, senior research scientist at JPL, to explore the Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope and its search for answers on dark energy and dark matter. NOTE: StarTalk+ Patrons can listen to this entire episode commercial-free here: https://startalkmedia.com/show/the-hunt-for-dark-energy-with-jason-rhodes/ Thanks to our Patrons Bullseye, Steve Klein, Mr. G, Rachel Cecil, James Langfels, Amanda Dalton, Mark Robinson, Heyyo, Joshua Clark, Ava, Oliver Thomas, Daniel Treherne, Adam, David Fulps, Hanspeter, Derelict Doug, Maryrose, Robert Latta 3Rd, Benjamin Dudley, Henry De Sosa, AKlight47, Ray, Sarah Storie, Priest Of Forgotten Gods, Yamil Lopez, Patrick Nisius, Jay, Carey-Donois, pupperoni jo, Antonio Codato, slash128, Deedra Hansen, Benjamin Briggs, E, Anita, Gustavo Almeida Neves, Elissa Yoder, Alex, John Nawrocki, preston frizz, Brian Kaiser, Chad Perkins, Junkyard Monk, Lance Steinberg, Dumisani Yishvahk Tembe, Bruno Vieira, Jes Hughson, John Brocklesby, I'm Dave, Darryl Gillespie, Isa, Myopic Philomath, Mo Al-Sheikhly, Stuart, Duane McCurdy, Regina Anavy, Bob Lux, and Vino Miranda for supporting us this week. Subscribe to SiriusXM Podcasts+ to listen to new episodes of StarTalk Radio ad-free and a whole week early.Start a free trial now on Apple Podcasts or by visiting siriusxm.com/podcastsplus. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.
Education On Fire - Sharing creative and inspiring learning in our schools
Today I'm chatting with Amanda Lee Falkenberg, an internationally acclaimed Australian composer, pianist and creator of The Moons Symphony — a groundbreaking orchestral work recorded with the London Symphony Orchestra under Marin Alsop, with choral forces recorded separately at Abbey Road Studios.Amanda's work bridges science, music and storytelling, developed in close collaboration with NASA planetary scientists and astronomers. She's also the founder of Lunar (Learning under New Artistic Regimes), an immersive educational platform blending planetary science, music and art to spark curiosity in learners of all ages.In this conversation we trace the whole journey: from stumbling across an article on the "ten weirdest moons," through a cold email to a NASA scientist that led to a presentation at JPL, to the pandemic-era twist that finally brought the LSO, Marin Alsop and Abbey Road into alignment. We talk about why she built Lunar as a course rather than a one-off concert, what she's learned from planetary scientists about resilience and the long game, and how a childhood love of John Williams became the unlikely throughline for a project rooted entirely in science fact.Key TakeawaysA cold email can change everything. Amanda's project only reached NASA because she sent an unsolicited message into what she calls "the black hole email" — with no expectation of a reply.Passion projects don't need permission to start. She began researching and composing years before she had a scientist, an orchestra, or a plan for education — the vision came first.Interdisciplinary learning resonates because real life isn't siloed. Music, science and storytelling aren't separate subjects to her — they're one experience, and that's exactly why Lunar works across age groups from teenagers to retirees.Resilience is the throughline of both music and science careers. Amanda draws a direct parallel between the decades-long timelines of NASA missions and the "10,000 hours" of a musician's path — both require staying in it for the long game.Setbacks can create the conditions for a breakthrough. Covid cancelled her original recording dates — and then, months later, cleared Marin Alsop's schedule enough to make the recording finally happen.You don't need a background in either subject to benefit. Lunar is designed so that participants need no prior knowledge of music or science — just curiosity.Chapters:00:02 - Exploring the Moon Symphony with Amanda Lee Falkenberg01:54 - The Journey of the Moon Symphony12:48 - Interdisciplinary Education: Bridging Science and Art15:15 - The Journey of the Lunar Program24:21 - The Journey to Collaborate with NASA29:21 - The Impact of COVID on the Project34:31 - The Journey of Passion Projects39:55 - The Long Game: Resilience in Music and Sciencehttps://www.moons-symphony.com/https://www.moons-symphony.com/gateway-to-lunar▶️ YouTube
The 365 Days of Astronomy, the daily podcast of the International Year of Astronomy 2009
Dr. Al Grauer hosts. Dr. Albert D. Grauer ( @Nmcanopus ) is an observational asteroid hunting astronomer. Dr. Grauer retired from the University of Arkansas at Little Rock in 2006. travelersinthenight.org From December 2025. Today's 2 topics: - Dr. Lance Benner of NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory headed up a team of scientists who used the 70 meter antenna at NASA's Goldstone Deep Space Communications Complex to bounce RADAR beams off of the asteroid Florence as it made a close approach to Earth in September of 2017. The RADAR images these researchers obtained reveal that Florence consists of a 2.8 mile diameter primary asteroid which is orbited by two small moons. - Venus and Earth are similar in size, composition, density, and mass. Unfortunately, our sister planet Venus is an example of a place where green house gases have created an extreme situation. Venus's thick carbon dioxide atmosphere has a surface pressure 90 times that of Earth. It would crush a submarine. Additionally, the thick atmospheric blanket holds in the heat causing Venus's surface temperature to be 864 F, hot enough to melt lead. We've added a new way to donate to 365 Days of Astronomy to support editing, hosting, and production costs. Just visit: https://www.patreon.com/365DaysOfAstronomy and donate as much as you can! Share the podcast with your friends and send the Patreon link to them too! Every bit helps! Thank you! ------------------------------------ Do go visit http://www.redbubble.com/people/CosmoQuestX/shop for cool Astronomy Cast and CosmoQuest t-shirts, coffee mugs and other awesomeness! http://cosmoquest.org/Donate This show is made possible through your donations. Thank you! (Haven't donated? It's not too late! Just click!) ------------------------------------ The 365 Days of Astronomy Podcast is produced by the Planetary Science Institute. http://www.psi.edu Visit us on the web at 365DaysOfAstronomy.org or email us at info@365DaysOfAstronomy.org.
Trevor Barry — the Outback Astronomer — is a world-renowned planetary imager whose backyard observatory in Broken Hill, NSW, produces scientific-grade Jupiter and Saturn data used by NASA. In this episode of Astrophiz, host Brendan O'Brien travels to the outback to sit down with Trevor at his custom-built observatory. Discover how a former mining tradesman built a 16-inch high-resolution planetary telescope with a 32-point mirror cell and Peltier-cooled optics — and why Broken Hill's flat outback terrain produces some of the best planetary seeing on Earth. From tracking Saturn's electrical storms for NASA's Cassini mission to winning the ASA Berenice and Arthur Page Medal and ALPO's Walter H. Haas Award, Trevor breaks down the exact capture, derotation and processing workflow behind his NASA-grade data. IN THIS EPISODE: -Introduction: Arriving in Broken Hill - From the Mines to the Night Sky: the "aha" moment - Building the First Telescope: storm water pipe & a trip into the roses - Why Broken Hill Delivers World-Class Seeing - Inside the Observatory: the 32-point mirror cell & Peltier-cooled optics - First Contact with NASA: discovering an electrical storm on Saturn - From Pretty Pictures to Scientific Data: capture & processing protocols - The Thrill of Discovery: Jupiter's real-time impact scar - A Dream Fulfilled: two nights on the twin Keck telescopes, Mauna Kea - Mission Control at JPL: meeting Dr Carolyn Porco - Advice for Amateurs: where to send your data - Earning Trust in the Professional Community - Looking Ahead: the 2028 total solar eclipse & Saturn's Great Vortex - The Golden Mic: sharing the wonder with the next generation Full transcript & images: https://astrophiz.com Trevor's book "Outback Astronomer": available online & in all good bookstores Trevor's 60 Minutes feature: tinyurl.com/trevorbarry Astrophiz is an independent, ad-free science podcast running since 2016. If you enjoyed this episode, please leave a review on Apple Podcasts or Spotify, or share it with a friend who loves the cosmos. #Astrophiz #TrevorBarry #PlanetaryImaging #Astrophotography #Saturn #Jupiter #NASA #Cassini #BrokenHill #Astronomy #OutbackAstronomer #JPL
A weekly magazine-style radio show featuring the voices and stories of Asians and Pacific Islanders from all corners of our community. The show is produced by a collective of media makers, deejays, and activists. For this episode of “Obbligato,” a show dedicated to AAPI classical musicians, composers, and scholars, host Isabel Li interviews Indian American composer Reena Esmail, who blends Hindustani musical themes with western classical compositional styles. Music in this episode: – This Love Between Us “Prayers for Unity”: II. [Sikhism] – Lacrimosa (from Malhaar: a Requiem for Water) – Terra infirma: IV. roaming the ghost forest Transcript Isabel Li: I'm Isabel Li, here for a new edition of “Obbligato,” which explores the AAPI community in the classical music world. Today, we're featuring the Indian American composer Reena Esmail and her unique compositions that blend Hindustani music with Western classical styles and how she writes music about religion, spirituality, and even environmentalism. Welcome, Reena, to Apex Express. Reena Esmail: Hey! It's so great to be here. IL: My first question for you is one that's probably a little bit loaded, but how do you identify and what's your story? RE: I don't know, it's interesting because I work in many different situations, and I think I always identify as the thing that isn't whatever the dominant situation is that I work in. Right? So it's like when I'm in America, I identify as an Indian American. When I'm in India, I identify as an American. When I'm working in Western classical music, I'm the person who knows stuff about Hindustani music. When I'm working in Hindustani music, I'm the person who knows stuff about Western music. So really. Actually, I think of identity not as a fixed thing, but as how you, um, delineate yourself, how you're unique in the situation you're in. You know, it's interesting because especially in the case of Asian Americans, Asia is such a broad thing, right? There are so many more East Asians in Western classical music than there are South Asians. Certainly in my generation. You know, I was surrounded by Chinese, Korean, some Japanese people who were always, you know, playing the piano when I was playing the piano. And, um, there really was not many other Indian people. And, you know, I'll, I'll actually say that even within India, um, you know, if you look at me in America, I'm just Indian. If you look at me in India, I have a very unusual lineage, which is that my dad is from the region of Gujarat and his family is Muslim. My mom is from the region of Goa and her family is Catholic. And so because of that, when I was expressing interest in music, My mom was the one who had more of kind of a musical knowledge in her family, even though there's no professional musicians in her family. So because Goa was colonized by Portugal, there is this element of Western classical music in Goan culture. And so because of that, my mom was like, oh, let's give her guitar lessons, let's give her piano lessons. And so that's how I landed up in Western classical music as opposed to doing Indian classical music. Um, so yeah, I kind of went through the Western classical scene. I was very interested in being a pianist. And, you know, I'm glad that I'm glad I'm a failed pianist in all honesty, because I see what my colleagues who are real, you know, professional pianists have to go through. And I just don't think I have what it takes to do that. It's really an intense job. Um, but when I was in high school, um, one of my theory teachers kind of said, hey, you know, you might be a composer. It seems like you think like a composer thinks, why don't you try composing and why don't you try writing things down? and one thing led to another. And basically a year and a half to two years after studying, I got one of a very few spots in the undergrad program in composition at Juilliard. And that was a point where my parents kind of said, okay, you know, we don't know a lot about the music world, but it seems like if she got into Juilliard, she's probably like somewhat good at this. Maybe we should kind of see how this goes. And, you know, from there on, I pursued composition. IL: And when and why did you start to study Indian classical music, which is a big element in your compositions now? RE: Yeah, absolutely. So I think it's interesting because in every generation, I've seen so much change in how the diaspora views itself. And certainly when I was growing up, you know, I know this is hard to believe, but there were not if you were an Indian going to school, you were kind of the only one. If you were an Indian music, you were kind of the only one. So there was this element where when I went to Juilliard, um, there were I to my knowledge, two Indians in the entire school, me and an actress who had actually come from Calcutta. And so people were trying to, you know, make conversation with me and they'd be like, well, you know, do you do stuff with Indian classical music? And I would just be like, no, I'm trying so hard to even write music for orchestra and, you know, string quartet and all the things that my peers are trying to do. Like, is that not enough? Because I'm Indian, I also have to be doing all this other stuff. And so I resisted it for a long time because I was just trying so hard to do one thing well. But then, you know, I think what, what made me kind of unique is that, you know, I stood out, I was Indian and then, you know, when I was young, that felt really cool. The older I got, the more I thought, well, you know, I know I'm from this culture that has incredible music and I know it when I hear it, I know nothing about it, and maybe I should actually pursue it. And so I really separately kind of started meeting Indian musicians who lived in New York, and I would just ask them questions, and I got to know them. And I realized that while we didn't share a type of music, we did share a culture and we did share a love of music because it is interesting that the culture of Indian classical music is actually quite similar to the culture of Western classical music. You know, you study with a teacher over a really long period of time. You're practicing for hours a day. The kind of personality that would love Western classical music would also love Indian classical music. And so I just made friends with some of these Indian classical musicians. And of course, being a composer, I thought, why don't I put them in my music? You know, how do I do that? And so it was really just curiosity that led me down that path. And for many years, that path was very separate. Because again, I know it's very hard to believe now, but there was a time where people really did not want these cultures to be combined, and people just really looked down on cultures that were not, you know, the dominant Western European classical culture. And so I kept them really separate. And even when I started combining them, people were like, oh, that's sweet. She does stuff with Indian music, you know? And it was really not taken seriously. It's only really in the last decade that people have been embracing other musical cultures. And I mean, how glad I am that that's happening. But it was very, very hard fought and very separate at first. IL: And on that note, how do you navigate the unique challenges of composing with both these cultures in mind, but also being situated in the United States, where people come from all different backgrounds? And how do you as a composer approach that in this context? RE: I mean, I think it's interesting because first of all, I am musically bilingual now, so I can. I went to India, I studied Indian classical music. Seriously. I still work with Indian classical musicians very closely. And so, you know, I can be working on a piece that has Indian classical musicians in it, and I can turn to them and immediately speak in their language and their musical language. And then I can turn to the Western musicians and speak in their musical language. So every single piece I write, especially the ones that involve Indian classical musicians. There is a way through those pieces, both through the Western lens and through the Indian lens. And so I think I'm working in a position where I actually do know how to speak both those languages. And when you do speak both those languages, you know, just the way that if you speak any two, you know, verbal languages, you would know that there are sounds that are cognates. And so you're like, oh, I say the sound. So maybe and it means one thing in one culture and one thing in another culture. But you know that that sound is the same. And so with musical language, you can actually use those musical cognates to connect across cultures by saying, just listen for this thing. And when you listen for this thing, interpret it through the lens of your own culture. So that's certainly how I work. But, you know, I mean, again, I want to say that's not the only way to work. I don't think that you have to be, you know, I mean, again, there's probably most people who are listening to this probably have one musical culture and then maybe they know much less about the other musical culture. That is also fine. You know, you don't need to be an expert in order to want to explore and, and love a thing that's just, you know, where I am because it's the, the center of my musical practice. IL: Well, let's hear a selection from Reena Esmail's oratorio, “This Love Between Us.” This is the second movement titled Sikhism. David Hill conducts Juilliard415 with the Yale Schola Cantorum. [MUSIC: This Love Between Us “Prayers for Unity”: II. Sikhism] IL: That was Sikhism, the second movement from the oratorio This Love Between Us by Reena Esmail, who is here in conversation with me today on KPFA for APEX Express. Something that I really found interesting in especially your work — and I'm sure this has been asked many times, but This Love Between Us: Prayers for Unity. This oratorio that you wrote, beautiful work where you use words from the seven major religions of India. And each movement of the choral work is also named after a different religion. In what ways did you adhere to or challenge norms of spiritual music? Because religion is so religion and music are so deeply tied together. How did you challenge those norms or how did you express those norms when you wrote this work? RE: You know, I think it's interesting because my own spiritual background is very kind of multi spiritual multi-faith. But like I said, my, my father is, is my father's side of the family is Muslim. My mom's side of the family is Catholic. My husband is Hindu. All of them grew up in a very singular practice in each of their religions. But for me, I grew up, you know, around my mom and my dad and then, you know, my husband later. And just there's a part of me that takes in the essence of each of these spiritual traditions. And, you know, I'm trying to kind of find what feels true to me in each of those places. And so to me, you know, this love between us is, is a place where I'm trying to essentially say, yes, we express things differently through whatever cultural, uh, history, that language or that that religion emerged through. And yet we're all trying to get at that same numinous thing. And, you know, I mean, I'm not saying, oh, all religions are the same. Definitely not. You know, there's, there's many different ways to practice things. And, you know, your unique way into your spirituality is your own. And that's, that's amazing. But also, we all kind of our cultures form religions for a certain reason, and it's because we want to try to understand things that are beyond ourselves. And so that's essentially what the piece is saying. So I know I'm sure there are purists who are like, you shouldn't be combining these things, but, you know, there's always going to be purists who do that and there's a role for that. But that's not really my role. So, I mean, I picked the pieces and I picked the religion specifically because of the numbers of people who practice that religion currently within India. And so it is like the largest, um, populations, you know, like Hinduism, Islam, Buddhism, all, all of those things. And then there's one little tiny religion, Zoroastrianism. And while they are not, there's not many of them within India. They are the ones who are practicing Western classical music in India. So people like Zubin Mehta and all, they are Parsis that are Zoroastrians. So I thought, you know, it's important to include them too, because it's a piece that involves a lot of Western classical musicians. IL: I'm wondering now, as a composer who's working with music of different languages and religions and origins and also evoking a lot of these spiritual truths that are pretty universal in nature. What is your view on the function of music? There's the platitude that music is a universal language. Do you how to what extent do you agree with that? RE: You know, yeah, it's hard to, to, um, to think of music as a universal language. But I think sometimes we, how can I say this? It's such a broad question. When we are working in a form that isn't completely narrative, it gives us a little more chance to get at things that don't have to follow logically after one another. They're just feelings that we're able to feel. And I like working even when there are words, you know, there are certainly words in all of these, these, uh, pieces in this love between us. But I feel like sometimes we just feel something within us. And, you know, I experience this a lot when I have a piece performed, people will come up to me and say like, oh, this made me feel like this. And then the next person will come up to me and say, oh, this made me feel exactly the opposite thing. And I, I really love that we can have those experiences. And, you know, recently it's been really interesting because people have been asking these questions like interviewers, you know, before performances will be like, well, what do you want the audience to feel? And I'm like, oh, I don't want to answer that question. I want you to feel whatever you feel. There's nothing right to feel. And often, I mean, I'm not the one to ask. I'm so close to the music because when I'm listening, I'm thinking like, okay, was that C sharp in tune? Okay, you know, that's what I'm feeling. And I certainly don't want them to feel that. So I don't know. I think it's, it's just exciting to see how when we get out of these, what we should do this and this is the right thing to do. And this is the only way to do it. Um, how do we behave? And there are so few spaces left where if we don't say exactly the right words at the right time to the right people, you know, if we don't have exactly the right opinions that everyone around us has, We are so condemned and music might be one of the last places that we're allowed to feel whatever's inside of us. IL: Mhm. That's really interesting to think about. I think art in general is very beautiful because it allows people to interpret it in many different ways. I think for your music, you really draw on cultural specificity in terms of Hindustani music. What advice would you give to other young composers or also maybe artists of different mediums in creating that balance between specificity and universality? RE: Yeah, I think the thing is that the way into a deep practice is specificity. You know, I know people have asked me like, oh, you've done stuff with Indian music. Are you going to do stuff with other music? And I'm like, gosh, there's still so much to explore. I could have like three lifetimes and still not explore everything I want to explore just in the relationship between Indian and Western classical music. I mean, goodness knows I have four degrees in Western classical music, and I still am barely scratching the surface of it. Right. So I kind of feel like specificity is important because it allows you to access depth. And yet, you know, when you are specific about a certain thing, um, like for instance, like a scholar who only speaks Italian, I mean, they're going to know more than someone who maybe speaks five words of each language, right? So they can transfer over at a higher level and make more sophisticated points and understand the world with a more universal lens if they've gone really deep on one thing. So I would say, you know, to young composers, to young musicians, pick one practice and know it really, really well and deeply become go as far as you possibly can and then, you know, try to see if you can find relations between your primary practice and a different practice. Um, and I mean, some people, you know, I know in this generation that's coming up, that's like in their teens and twenties, there are South Asian, uh, kids who are here whose parents have come from India that are learning Indian and Western classical music side by side. And I think that's great. I mean, that's awesome. But I would also say make sure you don't just learn halfway. Both of those things, you know, if you're going to learn them, if at least with one thing, try to go as absolutely far as you can. IL: Let's hear another example of Reena Esmail's bilingual musicality with her work, Malhaar: A Requiem for Water, which was recorded fairly recently. The vocalist is Graycen Gardner with the choir conducted by Amy Fogerson. [MUSIC: Lacrimosa (from Malhaar: a Requiem for Water)] IL: Composer Reena Esmail used Indian classical instruments in that work, titled Malhaar: A Requiem for water. The vocalist was Graycen Gardner, with the choir conducted by Amy Fogerson. Percussionist was Rohit Panchakshari. I'm Isabel Li in conversation with composer Reena Esmail on this edition of Apex Express here on KPFA 94.1 FM. So when you integrate Hindustani classical Hindustani music, Indian classical music and those instruments into your scores, did you happen to did you have to develop a way to translate the notation of those notes in Western classical music notation, or vice versa? RE: Yeah, it it begs the greater question of what is notation for? Right? Because notation is essentially a way for Western musicians who read notation to look at a thing and be able to associate sounds with that thing. And so when I'm notating for Western classical musicians, I'm saying, okay, what is a cellist typically seeing and what are they doing based on what they're seeing? And then how can I take that language that they know really well that they play in Bach suites, that they play in Elgar, Cello Concerto, whatever it is, how can I take that language and just move it, you know, a couple degrees outward so that they're able to express different things, right? And so it's very much a psychological thing. You know, it's not a science the way that we think of it as and we learn it as this, oh, you know, eighths and sixteenths, and they divide this way. There's a lot you can do just to make someone feel a certain way with notation. On the other hand, if I'm writing for a sitar or tabla, the question is what? What is the role of the notation? Because the role of the notation for tabla player who has only Hindustani training and doesn't read music. It's certainly not for the tabla player that I'm doing the notation. Usually what I'll do is sit down with the tabla player in a, you know, more Hindustani style and say, hey, this is what I want. I want you to have like six overtones of teental. It should be at this tempo, blah, blah, blah. And they're like, oh, got it. I see what you want me to do. Right? And so all you need to figure out is the alignment points with the Western classical musicians. And so then the notation I put in the score is not really for them. It's for a conductor, for the Western musicians to be able to understand what they are doing and to be able to cue them in and help them kind of be in dialogue to one another. So it's interesting because, I mean, these days now I'm finding that there are tabla players who are both Indian and Western classical trained, and they want a part, but parts are not a thing. When I first wrote This Love Between Us, there were no parts for the tabla and sitar player. I actually had a cue sheet that I would actually point to as they were going, so that they knew, you know, what the different cues were because a part, you know, counting rests and stuff is not going to help them at all. So I think it's mostly trying to understand how is someone perceiving something and how can you give them the information they need in the most seamless way possible so that you can express what you want to express? IL: I love how technical that entire rundown was. I also wanted to talk a bit about your work, Terra Infirma, which is pretty recent. I had the honor of attending the premiere of Terra Infirma, a harp concerto that you composed based on your experiences with the Los Angeles fires in January of 2025. Um, it was such a wonderful work. I personally really loved hearing how you musically depicted the progression of a wildfire from despair to hope. It's also not the first environment based piece that you've written. YYou've written, for example, Earth Speaks in 2015. How do you approach composing works that are so rooted in environmentalism? And of course, have, have the undertones of speaking to the larger climate crisis at hand? RE: The thing that is interesting is, you know, someone was asking me about that piece, you know, you, you're, they're asking like, how do you kind of deal with activism in your work? And I was saying like, you know, I don't really think of myself as an activist because I think these issues are so fundamental to all of us, right? It's like you turn on your tap and you're just afraid that there's only going to be so long before water stops coming up. That's not, um, it doesn't feel like activism. It just feels like, you know, fear and it feels like we're tapping into these human emotions where people are so worried about what's going to happen. We don't really know what to do. And I think, you know, with anything, most people who have fear about things, you're going to just clam up if you feel that it's too, um, too much to deal with. And it is I mean, the environmental crisis is so huge that I think most people are just clamming up. And I guess, you know, what is our role as musicians? I think it's maybe to have some moments where we're not just like on our phones, seeing pictures of things burn down and freaking out where we can actually take some time to just reflect and be with one another. Because if we're going to solve this, it's going to be together and we need to come to some kind of like calm understanding of what is happening. And so a lot of my pieces are not accusatory. They're not, you know, pointing a finger. They're not supposed to rile people up. They're supposed to actually depict that experience of what it feels like to really sit with a hard thing for a long time and come to terms with it and then figure out how to move forward. And that's certainly the case with Terra Infirma and certainly the case with my Requiem. Certainly the case with curiosity, like you were saying, it's from Earth Speaks, which is many years ago. And that piece actually talks about the, the Pasadena institution's. It was actually for an organization called Pasadena Master Chorale. They commissioned the work many years ago. And what's so funny is I now live in Pasadena. I live in Altadena, up in the hills. So it's I wasn't living here at the time, but it is, you know, a place where many scientific institutions like the U.S. Geological Survey, you know, JPL, Caltech, all these places that are really exploring the environment in important ways are based. And so the piece kind of honors that and honors how we can interact positively with our environment. We can get data, we can find ways to do things that are, I mean, beyond my understanding, you'd have to ask a scientist, but but I just love that that we're in this place that sees the environment as something to understand more deeply instead of something that's just going to turn on us at a certain point. IL: Certainly. And I'm really curious, because Terra Infirma is also a work that was paired with multimedia animation and performance. Was there anything in your compositional process that differed when you're collaborating across these different mediums? RE: Yeah. So it's interesting because so the, there was, there were projections that were happening. And also in addition to that, it was a harp concerto, but a harp concerto where the harpist was also playing percussion. And so there were some elements that were so different than what would be typically like if harpist was like, I want a concerto. You would just be like, okay, you know, she sits there, she plays these notes. They're in that one position. That's all fine. Um, there was so much more, you're right with this piece than with, um, with my normal pieces. Um, and to me it's both, how can I say this? There's, there's such a different way I have to think about it, but I think that way starts with collaboration. So Yolanda Kondonassis, the incredible harp player, and Camilla Tassi, who was the production designer. These are people I know well and I've had multiyear relationships with. And so when you're thinking about how to build something, you're totally aware of what their work is like. I knew kind of the not even what Camilla's projections were going to look like, but the way that they interact with things. We've done projects together before. And so I pretty much had the sense of how she was going to respond. And I knew what she needed to know in order for her to do her work and make things kind of match up with one another. And then also with Yolanda, a lot of the stuff I put in that was like harp and percussion together. It wasn't something that I was making her do, right? It were things that we came up with together. We've spent so long workshopping things in percussion studios in, um, you know, we've met in all these different cities and we're basically like banging things against a harp and doing, you know, just so much experimentation. So for every technique you see in the concerto, you, um, you basically there's like ten things that we didn't do that didn't put in. So you're really only seeing the best of all the kind of crazy stuff that we tried. So I do think the thing is that when you're trying to invent something new and you're trying to invent new styles and new techniques, I mean, you can think of anything, but you're trying to find the things that A practically work and B allow the performers and the artists to really express themselves. So I found that I was actually choreographing the piece before I was composing it, um, that I had to figure out, okay, where are these percussion setups going to be? What are the instruments that I want? Okay. Are these chimes going to be like over her head? Or is she going to have to reach really far to get them? Are they going to be near the low end of the harp? Things like that that seem so practical. But the difference between having to reach out far and slowly versus having to like, quickly swat something near your ear, right? It makes a different choreography. And so I thought that way first. And then I kind of put the notes and rhythms and melodies and stuff in. IL: Let's now hear a selection from Reena Esmail's Terra Infirma. This is the fourth movement titled “Roaming the Ghost Forest.” Yolanda Kondonassis is the harpist with the Interlochen Center for the Arts Orchestra. [MUSIC: Terra infirma: IV. roaming the ghost forest] IL: The harpist was Yolanda Kondonassis with the Interlochen Center for the Arts Orchestra, playing the fourth movement of Terra Infirma by composer Reena Esmail. I'm Isabel Leigh, and in this episode of Apex Express, I'm joined by Reena Esmail, the composer, in conversation about her music and her approach to making art. Something else that I really was fascinated with on your on your Instagram account. You actually made a post a while back that I found to be very powerful. It's pinned as the letter to the young artists' immigrant parents. It's such an empathetic message that I also really relate to as a daughter of immigrants in the arts. And you kind of argue that these children's pursuit of the arts is a tribute to their parents immigrant struggles. Um, what motivated you to write this letter? RE: You know, I'm so glad you asked about that because so much has changed since I wrote that letter in a really good way. You know, first of all, I will say that when I wrote that letter, if you weren't a child of, you know, like Asian immigrant parents, you. And actually, I think this is true for most immigrant parents who, you know, have kind of given up everything to move to America so that their kids can explore all these opportunities they wouldn't get in their country of origin. When I first wrote this letter, it was really just, I felt like I was saying something really new. And now I think what's really interesting is that we have both parents who understand this and, um, kind of almost this parody way of seeing what Asian parents are like. Right. For me, one thing that I, that just makes my heart sing is the comedy of Zarna Garg. I don't know if you know who she is, but she is like an Indian American comic and she plays this role of being like this very typical Indian parent. And I will say, my parents weren't really like this because again, they were two different religions and married one another. So they were already quite open minded. But like 99% of Indian parents and even my parents, sometimes they have this thing of like, well, ‘why are you going into this?' Like you should make money, you should do this stuff. And I feel like, um, since Zarna's comedy came into the world, it's such an easy way to just point a finger at that and say, hey, this is what we're really dealing with as Indian immigrants. And, you know, we all just laugh at it. And I find that, you know, sometimes my friends who are just, you know, white Americans who have been in this family has been in this country for many generations. They don't get it. But like anyone who's a child of immigrant is like, oh yes, I completely understand what she's saying. So we have that. And I think that's really healthy and awesome. And she's very talented. Um, and on the other hand, I found that when I was first going into music and I mean, I, you know, when I was 18 and I was going to go to Juilliard, my parents were certainly supportive and curious and wanted me to do whatever they thought I might be good at enough to make a living and didn't want to optimize for, oh, you need to earn the most money or you need to, etc. but most other Indians around us were like, oh my God, she's so smart. Why is she like wasting her life doing music? You know, that was kind of the dominant narrative. And so I had to become very good at explaining why. And imagine my complete disbelief when I would go to conservatory and meet people whose parents had encouraged them to do music. I was like, what is happening? Like, we're like, there'd be four siblings and all of them would be in the arts. And I was like, oh wait, you're not the black sheep of your family. Like, I mean, half of my family, I don't think really knows what I do still even. Right? And so to me, it was so important to provide some kind of context. And like you said, it's like to, to come to this country and be an immigrant and to come with a lot of skills, but to have to just work in silence for so many years with no congratulation, with no one just constantly propping you up. That is what being an artist is. And you know, it's only maybe the past 10 years of my career that I've even been visible to people. Before that, it was just me doing my thing and like, no one cared about it. It was not not glamorous at all. And for me, that's what built the kind of strength in me to be able to sustain the career that I have now. And so I think if it had been a little too easy, I don't know that I would be able to handle, um, the, what I have now. So I think what's great though is that the Indian parents of kids who are teenagers and in their twenties nowadays are not coming to me being like, oh my God, what do I do with this kid who wants to be a musician? I've failed as a parent. Which again, for those of you who are not Asian, this is totally a true thing out there. They will come to me and say, hey, look, my, my child doesn't wants to be a musician. I want to help them. I can't tell like, are they good at this? Where should they be? Can you help me understand things? And that is really what my parents did. And I will, you know, kind of go further to say — PBS did a special on me a number of years ago, and I insisted on putting my parents in this special because I wanted people to see what it looked like to have really encouraging Indian parents who, again, they weren't going in blind. They were. They would go to my teachers and be like, well, I mean, is she good? Can she do this? We don't know what these answers are. Can you help us understand? And they really relied on the right people to be able to help me get to places that they couldn't get, but they also weren't just immediately dismissive of it. And that's what allowed me to kind of have a massive advantage, because I didn't have to also go back to school and do a medical degree. Or like most of my my peers of my age actually did. So I wanted to put them on that special to actually show that that is possible. And I'm seeing more and more that it is. There are many more parents like that now. And oh my goodness, I love every one of them. IL: That's wonderful. When you look back at your compositional career and how everything has changed since then, how do you think your work has evolved? RE: Oh, so you mean like since I began being a composer? IL: Yeah. Or maybe in the past ten years, even. RE: Yeah. It's interesting because I think one of the big inflection points in my work was when I did my Fulbright in India. So before that, I really didn't know very much about Indian classical music. And then the year before that, I really started to get deeper and started to integrate my Indian and Western classical world with one another. And then, you know, I from 2011 to 2012, I went to India and what was so different was actually seeing the music in its culture and actually getting to participate as an Indian in India, studying Indian classical music. Right. Because there's no filter. You're not going through a Western filter. You're just there in this culture. And I know that many of my Indian teachers, they kind of had this attitude of like, look, we don't know what kind of music you were doing before, but we're so glad you're here and studying your own music. And this is great. And so there wasn't this sense of having to go through another culture to get to their, their music. And to me, that really changed things because I don't see myself as writing music. That's one through the conduit of the other. I just see it as two streams that are equally incredible and equally independent, and they just meet each other in these interesting places. IL: And looking ahead into the future, is there an ensemble or an artist who you haven't worked with before that you'd love to work with? Ooh. It's interesting because, like, almost everyone who comes to mind is not a musician. Um, I've worked with so many. I mean, truly, I've been so lucky to work with musicians like Gil and Orli Shaham. Yolanda Kondonassis. I'm writing a piece for Hilary Hahn and Matthias Goerne right now. It's I mean, just like literally anyone who I could ever ask to work with, I have. I don't know. I mean, to me, it's like, gosh, someone like Misty Copeland would be amazing. Like, you know, there are so many actors like the world of Indian/South Asians in comedy and in drama and stuff like that is just incredible. People like Mindy Kaling who have done incredible things to me, people like that are just going outside of just music would be fascinating to me. IL: Absolutely. And I will put a link to your website, as well as the links to the music that will also be aired on this in this episode on KPFA.org, so our listeners can learn more about you and your wonderful work. Well, Reena, thank you so much for your time and thank you for talking to me today. RE: Absolutely. The post APEX Express – 8.06.26 – Obbligato – In Conversation with Composer Reena Esmail appeared first on KPFA.
Wie pakt de titel, wie wordt de revelatie en welke ploegen staan voor een cruciaal seizoen? In deze grote seizoensvoorbeschouwing schuift Club Brugge-verdediger Brandon Mechele aan. Hij blikt vooruit op de titelverdediging, vertelt over zijn sterke WK met de Rode Duivels en zijn nieuwe leven als kersvers vader. Samen met Sporza-radiocommentator en voetbaldier Tom Boudeweel nemen we alle achttien ploegen onder de loep en zetten we je klaar voor de aftrap van het nieuwe Jupiler Pro League-seizoen.
Astronomy Daily S05E159 — Wednesday, 5 August 2026. In this episode: a power-saving “Big Bang” keeps Voyager 2 doing science, direct-to-phone satellites reach orbit, Curiosity finds a vast honeycomb field on its 14th Martian anniversary, and NASA's Aspera prepares to hunt the universe's missing gas. ① Voyager 2's “Big Bang” power save • JPL engineers freed up power by simultaneously switching off certain devices and substituting lower-power alternatives, while keeping the spacecraft warm enough to operate. • The Voyagers run on radioisotope thermoelectric generators (RTGs) and lose ~4 watts per year as their plutonium decays; after nearly 50 years, power margins are razor-thin. • The move keeps three instruments — magnetometer, plasma wave subsystem and cosmic ray subsystem — running at least a year longer; the same swap is planned for Voyager 1. • Voyager 2 crossed the heliopause in Nov 2018 and is now >13 billion miles (21 billion km) from Earth; its southerly path means it is commanded via the Canberra Deep Space Network dish. Source: NASA/JPL Voyager blog, 4 Aug 2026 · science.nasa.gov/blogs/voyager ② AST SpaceMobile BlueBird 11–13 • Three next-generation direct-to-smartphone satellites launched on a Falcon 9 from Cape Canaveral (liftoff targeted 3:42 a.m. EDT, 5 Aug; backup 5:10 a.m.). • Their phased-array antennas span ~2,400 sq ft — the largest commercial arrays ever deployed in low Earth orbit — and connect to standard, unmodified phones. • They deliver nearly double the peak download speed of the first-generation BlueBirds (which hit ~98.9 Mbps to a phone); the company targets beta service later in 2026. Source: AST SpaceMobile / Space.com, Aug 2026 · confirm deployment before publish ③ Curiosity's “sea of polygons” + 14 years • Curiosity found its largest-ever field of honeycomb-like polygonal fractures (each ~4–8 cm across) in a valley nicknamed “Valle Grande” on Mount Sharp. • The 360° panorama was captured on 19–20 June from 340 images; the polygons wrap around a ~6 m butte nicknamed “Miraflores.” • Such patterns point to ancient water — drying mud, wet–dry cycles, or compaction — consistent with lakes and streams once present on Mount Sharp's foothills. • Today, 5 August, is Curiosity's 14th landing anniversary (landed 5 Aug 2012). Source: NASA/JPL, announced ~29 Jul 2026 · jpl.nasa.gov ④ NASA's Aspera (mission preview) • Aspera is a shoebox-sized NASA Pioneers smallsat launching NET 15 Aug on a Rocket Lab Electron from Mahia, New Zealand. • It is the first NASA astrophysics mission to map the circumgalactic medium — hot gas around galaxies — in ultraviolet light, tracing the “missing baryons.” • Led by Carlos Vargas at the University of Arizona, one of the youngest principal investigators in NASA history. Source: NASA Pioneers / Rocket Lab, 2026 · rocketlabcorp.com ⑤ Skywatch • Tonight (5 Aug): Last Quarter Moon; Mars forms a triangle with Elnath and cluster M35 (binoculars help). • 12 Aug: total solar eclipse (Arctic–Greenland–Iceland–northern Spain; partial for parts of the US) — not visible from Australia; use ISO 12312-2 eclipse glasses. • 12–13 Aug: Perseid peak under a New Moon (NH-favoured); plus a six-planet pre-dawn alignment. • SH targets: eta-Eridanids peak 7 Aug; Sagittarius star fields; deep partial lunar eclipse 27–28 Aug (Americas + parts of Europe/Africa). Source: NASA Skywatching “What's Up” Aug 2026; Sky & Telescope; timeanddate.comBecome a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/astronomy-daily-latest-space-news--5648921/support.Sponsor Details:Ensure your online privacy by using NordVPN. To get our special listener deal and save a lot of money, visit www.astronomydaily.io/nordvpn. You'll be glad you did!Get the best secure and private email on the planet. Stop your Government, google and who knows who else spying on every email you write. Do what we did and use ProtonMail. They beleive in privacy and there are no ads in their business model...yet they still provide a free forever service. Check them out and get out special deal at www.astronomydaily.io/protonmailBecome a supporter of Astronomy Daily by joining our Supporters Club. Commercial free episodes daily are only a click way... Click HereThis episode includes AI-generated content.
A friend's son, 13, has just been released from his JPL team for physicality, not football ability.In this episode I share the advice I gave, what I'd do if it was my own child, and why the obvious first move (gym work, extra one-to-ones) can actually hold kids back.A must-listen for any football parent who's been here or worried they might be.Subscribe for more from Shouting from the Sidelines.Join a Foot-Tech Academy session at foot-techacademy.co.uk or explore our coaching courses at onlinefootballcourses.com.
Barak Bussel is one of the few people operating simultaneously at three levels of the quantum stack: deploying private capital into hardware and software companies through 7i Capital, chairing the strategic board of a major university quantum center, and helping stand up the physical infrastructure — a 700,000 square foot research park on the site of the former Westside Pavilion — meant to convene academia, industry, national labs, and startups in one place. He is also a physicist by training, which changes the kind of diligence questions he asks.We recorded this at the KPMG Tech and Innovation Symposium in Deer Valley, only weeks after the most consequential stretch of quantum news in years: Oratomic's $300M Series A (the largest first institutional round in quantum history, with 7i in the syndicate), a Google Quantum AI paper cutting Shor's algorithm resource estimates to around 500,000 physical qubits on superconducting hardware, and two June 2026 White House executive orders on quantum innovation and post-quantum cryptography. If you want to understand how a serious investor is actually pricing risk, timelines, and ecosystem-building in this moment, this is the conversation.What We Get IntoWhy 7i backed Oratomic's aggressive "no intermediate product, straight to fault tolerance" strategy, and how Barak thinks about betting on teams versus theses in deep techHow recent architecture and QLDPC error correction advances have compressed physical-to-logical qubit ratios, and what that means for near-term resource estimates for Shor's algorithmWhy a lesser-noticed April 2026 Google Quantum AI paper on quantum-assisted memory reduction for classical AI workloads may matter as much as the Shor's-focused headlinesWhat "patient capital" actually looks like when a connector problem eats two years of a portfolio company's roadmapThe Bell Labs template as a serious operating model for the UCLA Research Park: convening academia, industry, government, and startups in a single physical footprintThe historical resonance of UCLA sending the first ARPANET packet in 1969 and what that suggests about where quantum networking work should be anchoredHow Kedma's error mitigation work with IBM's Heron II and RIKEN pushed a 51-qubit Ising model simulation to the edge of what's classically tractableHow Barak reads the June 2026 executive orders and the federal role — enabling infrastructure rather than picking winners — against the scale of Chinese government fundingResources & LinksGuest & OrganizationsBarak Bussel bio — UCLA CQSE Strategic Board — Official page covering Barak's role as Board Chair and his physics and venture background.7i Capital — Barak's deep tech venture firm, investing across quantum, AI, semiconductors, cybersecurity, robotics, clean energy, and space.UCLA Center for Quantum Science and Engineering (CQSE) — The multidisciplinary center Barak chairs, spanning physics and engineering research.Barak Bussel on LinkedIn — Where Barak has publicly flagged the Oratomic investment and the June 2026 executive orders.The Oratomic Round and Recent BreakthroughsOratomic raises $300M Series A — The Quantum Insider — Confirms 7i Capital in the syndicate for the largest-ever first institutional round in quantum computing.Oratomic Series A deep dive — Quantum Computing Report — Technical breakdown of the reconfigurable neutral-atom architecture and full investor syndicate.Oratomic's "no intermediate product" strategy — MLQ.ai — Analysis of Oratomic's bet against the QuEra/Pasqal early-revenue playbook.QEDMA raises $26M Series A — Quantum Zeitgeist — 7i portfolio company Kedma's error mitigation round with IBM participation, referenced in Barak's Ising model results.Policy and Market ContextWhite House EO: "Ushering in the Next Frontier of Quantum Innovation" — One of the two June 22, 2026 executive orders Barak discusses.Sidley Austin analysis of the June 2026 quantum EOs — Legal explainer covering both the innovation EO and the post-quantum cryptography mandate.Cloudflare on the accelerated post-quantum timeline — Notes that Q-Day estimates have moved in response to Google and Oratomic breakthroughs.PitchBook Q2 2026 Quantum Computing Funding Report — Record 2025 VC totals and Q1 2026 liquidity data relevant to Barak's exit thesis.UCLA Research Park and Regional EcosystemUCLA launches SoCal Quantum Alliance — The regional coalition Barak references, with founding members including Caltech, JPL, Boeing, IBM, and Cisco.Quantum Innovation Hub at the UCLA Research Park — Preview of the 40,000 square foot lab space and the broader research park vision Barak describes.Quantum Innovation Hub Director appointment — Prof. Jason Petta named to lead the QIH, one of the founding anchors of the research park.Key Quotes & InsightsOn patient capital in hardware: "You're producing a new chip… all of a sudden a year and a half has passed." Barak's example of a photonics company that spent two years solving a flex connector problem is a useful ground truth for anyone modeling quantum hardware timelines.On the role of universities: Industry has scale — the ability to throw 500 engineers at a problem. Academia brings "the quiet depth to think very deeply about a problem over an extended period of time, two or three generations ahead."On resource estimates: The gap between the original 20-million-qubit Shor's estimates and the recent Google Quantum AI paper suggesting ~500,000 physical qubits on superconducting hardware, plus Oratomic's neutral-atom approach at the ten-thousand-qubit scale, represents a genuine compression of the fault-tolerance horizon.On the underappreciated Google paper: An April 8 paper on using quantum processors to reduce memory requirements for massive classical data sets is, in Barak's view, the first rigorous demonstration that quantum could bend the exponential curve of AI compute demand.On government's role: "Typically in the U.S., government is not the best at picking the winners and losers in the marketplace. But it's great at enabling." The El Segund...
In this episode of the NVus Alien Podcast, Heather Woodward begins a three-part investigation into the mysterious deaths and disappearances of eleven scientists whose work spanned aerospace engineering, plasma physics, astronomy, chemistry, and biomedical research. After spending more than three months researching publicly available information, Heather examines a series of cases that have fueled speculation across the internet while separating documented facts from unanswered questions. Rather than presenting conclusions, this series explores recurring themes, timelines, and scientific fields that appear throughout these cases. Part One focuses on five individuals whose work intersected with organizations including NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), Caltech, MIT, and Novartis.Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/nvus-alien--4798594/support.
We've heard time and time again about the burnt out tech employee who quits a stable job to chase the dream. This time we're exploring the reverse!Daniel "Tafo" Lee has lived more careers than I can count on two hands. JPL engineer, coach to Melee god Mang0, Yahoo Esports show host, CLG General Manager, the internet's Tetris teacher, Web3 economist, Andreessen Horowitz, and now, at 37, starting over in big tech. He's no stranger to the creator economy and his honest take on who should actually pursue it might save you five years of your life.In this ep, we talk about:→ how he coached a Melee god while working full time at NASA JPL→ the ultimatum from his wife that finally made him quit and move to Esports→ why 90% of streamers won't make it, and why minimum wage might be the better option→ betting on yourself at 37: relearning how to code from scratch in the AI era→ and how becoming a dad made him reevaluate the value of his timeThis episode is for anyone who's ever been told to follow their passion and quietly wondered if that advice is a trap. Tafo is proof that the real flex isn't dying on one hill but maybe knowing when to walk away towards the next one.→ Find Tafo:https://www.instagram.com/tafokintshttps://www.linkedin.com/in/daniellee912https://x.com/tafokintsSubmit your Coworker Confessions
Algumas das luas de Júpiter e Saturno têm sido objetos de interesse da astrobiologia há tempos. Novas missões estão a caminho para explorar alguns desses satélites e procurar condições de habitabilidade que podem estar em grandes oceanos debaixo da superfície. Aqui na Terra, o estudo de organismos que vivem e se reproduzem em ambientes considerados extremos, os extremófilos, pode ajudar a entender como a vida pode se adaptar a condições de temperatura extremamente baixa, entre outros estressores. Para tratar do tema, o repórter Danilo Albergaria conversou com as pesquisadoras Amanda Bendia e Maria Eduarda Nascimento, ambas do Instituto Oceanográfico da USP, Rosaly Lopes, da NASA e Douglas Galante, do Instituto de Geociências, também da USP. Este é o terceiro episódio de uma série produzida pelo Danilo, com apoio do Programa Mídia Ciência, da FAPESP. _________________ Roteiro Danilo: Nos dois primeiros episódios do podcast Oxigênio dedicados à astrobiologia, falamos da busca por vida em exoplanetas e em Marte. Desde os anos 60, Marte foi o objeto que mais capturou as atenções dos cientistas interessados em entender se a vida pode ter surgido e persistido em outros lugares do sistema solar. Mas esse panorama tem mudado nas últimas décadas. Desde as missões Galileo e Cassini, algumas das luas que orbitam Júpiter e Saturno entraram no rol de mundos com potencial de oferecer condições habitáveis à vida como a conhecemos. Novas missões espaciais estão a caminho ou em fase final de preparação para explorar algumas das luas dos gigantes gasosos. Entre os seus objetivos está entender melhor as potenciais condições de habitabilidade nos grandes oceanos debaixo da superfície dessas luas – ou seja, os cientistas querem saber se esses lugares oferecem condições suficientes para que seres vivos sobrevivam. Nesse episódio, eu entrevistei quatro cientistas que trabalham direta ou indiretamente com isso. Com eles, vamos explorar o que sabemos – e o que ainda não sabemos – sobre as luas geladas do sistema solar. Será que pode existir vida nesses lugares? É isso o que muita gente que pesquisa astrobiologia quer saber. [Vinheta] Danilo: Algumas das missões mais importantes da exploração espacial do presente e do futuro próximo estão destinadas às luas de Júpiter e Saturno. Vamos falar primeiro das que vão explorar a vizinhança de Júpiter. A sonda JUICE, acrônimo para “explorador das luas geladas de Júpiter” em inglês, foi lançada pela ESA (a agência espacial europeia) em 2023 para explorar Ganimedes, Calisto e Europa, três das quatro luas de Júpiter chamadas de galileanas. O quarteto foi observado pela primeira vez há mais de 400 anos por Galileu Galilei. A não ser pela nossa própria Lua, nenhuma lua do sistema solar é visível a olho nu. Galileu foi o primeiro a observar as luas de Júpiter usando um telescópio, invenção recente que tinha sido aprimorada por ele. As luas galileanas de Júpiter são relativamente grandes. Embora ainda sejam objetos bem menores do que a Terra, Ganimedes e Calisto são um pouco maiores do que a nossa Lua, enquanto a Europa é um pouco menor. A quarta lua, a Io – um verdadeiro inferno vulcânico, e que não estava no radar de estudos da missão de 2023 como as demais, é praticamente do mesmo tamanho da nossa Lua. A JUICE está a caminho do sistema joviano, ou seja, Júpiter e suas luas, mas ainda se encontra na vizinhança da Terra. Ela deve se aproximar de novo de nós para pegar embalo com a gravidade do nosso planeta, que vai estilingar a sonda para o sistema solar externo. A JUICE deve chegar aos arredores de Júpiter em julho de 2031. Outra sonda, a Europa Clipper, da NASA, foi lançada em outubro de 2024 para investigar, como o nome sugere, a lua Europa, a mais interessante das luas de Júpiter. A estilingada da Europa Clipper, ao passar perto da Terra, vai acontecer um pouco depois da passagem da JUICE – vai ser em dezembro de 2026, mas a Clipper deve chegar antes à vizinhança de Júpiter, em abril de 2030. A Clipper vai orbitar Júpiter e passar bem pertinho da superfície de Europa umas 50 vezes. Além das duas missões ocidentais, a China está planejando lançar uma sonda em 2029 para chegar a Júpiter em 2035 e explorar as luas Calisto e Ganimedes. Por que tanto interesse nessas grandes luas de Júpiter? Como eu já indiquei no começo do episódio, existem muitos indícios e evidências indiretas de que Europa, Calisto e Ganimedes têm enormes oceanos debaixo de uma espessa superfície gelada. A estimativa é de que cada uma dessas três luas tenha corpos de água líquida maiores do que todos os oceanos terrestres. Conversei sobre isso com o Douglas Galante, professor do Instituto de Geociências da USP e um dos pioneiros da astrobiologia no Brasil – ele é vice-coordenador do AstroLab, da USP, o primeiro laboratório dedicado à pesquisa em astrobiologia no país, fundado em 2011 por Douglas, pelo químico Fabio Rodrigues, atual coordenador do laboratório, e pelo Ivan Paulino-Lima, que hoje é pesquisador na NASA. Douglas: Uma coisa sempre interessante quando a gente pensa nessas luas geladas que eu sempre falo é que a gente adora falar que a Terra é o planeta água, algo que ficou popularizado, e a gente esquece de pensar que nessas luas de Júpiter e Saturno a gente tem mais água do que aqui na Terra. É em cada uma delas. Então a gente é muito presunçoso. Europa, os modelos mostram que ela pode ter um oceano de 100 quilômetros de profundidade. A gente não consegue imaginar o que são 100 quilômetros. O ponto mais profundo aqui na Terra, da Fossa das Marinas, são 11 quilômetros. Imagina 10 vezes mais. Danilo: Ganimedes, a maior lua de todo o sistema solar, deve ter um oceano seis vezes maior do que todos os oceanos da Terra combinados. Mas esses enormes corpos de água líquida não estão na superfície das luas, e sim debaixo de superfícies congeladas que podem chegar a centenas de quilômetros de espessura. Júpiter está cinco vezes mais distante do Sol do que a Terra, e o frio a essa distância do Sol impossibilita a existência de água líquida na superfície das luas. O Douglas chamou a atenção para o fato de que essas luas estendem possível habitabilidade para além da região em que a Terra orbita, mais próxima do Sol e que permite água líquida na superfície. Douglas: Mas o que eu acho super interessante, que eu sempre coloco, é que as luas dão um indicativo de habitabilidade que é maior do que a gente conhecia. Quando a gente olha os conceitos de habitabilidade tradicionais, que definem a zona de habitabilidade estelar, que é a presença de água líquida na superfície, as luas são ambientes crípticos que obtêm energia para manutenção da água líquida a partir da interação gravitacional com seus planetas hospedeiros. Danilo: Ok, mas se a superfície é gelada demais para ter água líquida, como esses oceanos podem existir? A explicação é a seguinte: o decaimento radioativo dos elementos que formam o núcleo das luas gera calor considerável de forma mais ou menos constante, parecido com o que acontece com o núcleo da Terra. Mas isso é só parte da explicação. Entra, então, o chamado “aquecimento de maré”. Conforme a lua se desloca na órbita do planeta gigante, a atração gravitacional do planeta não é uniforme: como a órbita não é circular, mas elíptica (ou “ovalada”), as luas às vezes estão um pouco mais perto e às vezes um pouco mais longe do planeta. Isso produz um efeito de “estica e puxa” que estica e comprime a lua, e isso gera calor entre as suas camadas internas. Também entra aí o fato de que as órbitas de Ganimedes, Io e Europa estão em ressonância, ou seja, enquanto a Io completa uma volta, a Europa completa duas, e a Ganimedes, quatro, o que aumenta a excentricidade de suas órbitas (ou seja, estica um pouco a elipse). Nesse processo, a própria variação na distância entre as luas gera uma interação gravitacional que contribui para o efeito de aquecimento de maré. Além disso, a provável presença de sais nos oceanos faz com que o ponto de congelamento diminua, mantendo a água em estado líquido. A JUICE e a Europa Clipper serão importantes para entender melhor as superfícies das luas e colher dados indiretos que indiquem algumas características desses oceanos, incluindo informações sobre se eles oferecem condições habitáveis para a vida como a conhecemos. Água líquida é uma das condições necessárias. Mas como os cientistas vão fazer para saber o que mais pode haver nesses oceanos? [Música] Danilo: Para entender como os cientistas vão fazer para saber mais sobre as luas geladas, eu conversei com a Rosaly Lopes, que é diretora de ciências planetárias do JPL, o Laboratório de Propulsão a Jato da NASA. Ela teve atuação importante na missão Galileo, que explorou as luas de Júpiter entre 1995 e 2003. Rosaly: Eu trabalhei na missão Galileo e a missão Galileo foi que descobriu que a Ganimedes e a Europa tinham oceanos de água líquida debaixo de uma crosta de gelo, principalmente Europa. Aí o pessoal fica muito entusiasmado porque Europa, nós sabemos que tem calor no interior, tem sinais de criovulcanismo, criovulcanismo é o vulcanismo que traz essa água líquida do interior para a superfície. E são três coisas essenciais para existir vida, vida como a nossa: água, energia, como calor, como vulcanismo, e material orgânico. Nós não sabemos muito sobre o material orgânico em Europa. Sabemos mais em Encélado e Titã, por exemplo. Eu também trabalhei na missão Cassini. Mas a missão que está indo agora para a Europa vai estudar justamente os depósitos da superfície para ver se é material orgânico ou não. Danilo: Encélado e Titã são luas de Saturno, e a Cassini foi a missão da NASA que explorou o sistema saturniano entre 2004 e 2017. Vamos falar delas daqui a pouco. Por ora, o que a Rosaly falou sobre possível criovulcanismo (ou vulcanismo gelado) em Europa é importante porque pode ser um dos mecanismos pelos quais parte do oceano do interior poderia ser expelida em enormes plumas de vapor de água e gelo. Não é algo completamente diferente de vulcões expelindo o magma do manto terrestre para a superfície. A Europa Clipper carrega instrumentos capazes de fazer medições que vão ser usadas para distinguir se essas plumas contêm material vindo do oceano profundo ou de pequenos reservatórios mais próximos da superfície. As pistas de criovulcanismo na superfície incluem anomalias de temperatura em determinadas regiões – mais quentes do que o esperado – além da presença de características que lembram fluxos de erupções ou de derretimento de geleiras aqui na Terra. Aliás, junto com a ausência de crateras de impacto de grande porte, isso indica que a superfície de Europa é jovem, devendo ter entre 50 e 100 milhões de anos. Em comparação, a superfície de Marte e da nossa Lua, formadas há bilhões de anos, tem muitas dessas grandes crateras, o que indica que a superfície não se renova. Ao examinar a superfície de Europa com a Clipper, os cientistas vão poder fazer inferências sobre seu interior. Mas a sonda não vai pousar na superfície da lua. Em vez disso, ela vai orbitar Júpiter e fazer 44 rasantes sobre Europa. Douglas: Na verdade, ela não vai nem orbitar a Lua, ela vai ficar fazendo flybys em volta da Lua, vai fazer rasantes na Lua, e quando ela faz esses rasantes, ela faz uma série de imagens de alta resolução, faz medidas espectroscópicas para medir a composição, mas ela não vai, de fato, acessar diretamente o potencial oceano líquido que existe ali debaixo. E daí todo mundo pergunta, mas porque a gente não simplesmente pousa na superfície da Lua, faz um furo, mede a água e vê o que tem ali e pega um atum europeano, sei lá. Então isso é uma coisa complicada, porque o oceano de Europa tem 100 km de profundidade. A crosta, a gente fala que é uma crosta fina, mas fina, de 10 km de espessura. A gente tem que lembrar que as calotas polares aqui no nosso planeta têm de 4 a 4,5 quilômetros de profundidade. Danilo: Pesquisadores estão explorando a potencial habitabilidade de oceanos de subsuperfície das luas analisando os seres vivos encontrados em condições muito adversas, extremas. A Amanda Bendia é professora do Instituto Oceanográfico da USP e coordenadora do ExtreMar, o Laboratório de Extremófilos Marinhos do instituto. Extremófilos são microrganismos capazes de viver em condições extremas e a Amanda é especialista em extremófilos marinhos de ilhas vulcânicas da Antártida. Lá existem fumarolas submarinas habitadas por micróbios adaptados a um ambiente com variação extrema de temperatura. Ela destaca o problema de conceber como microrganismos poderiam se adaptar às pressões muito altas que o oceano de Europa deve ter. Amanda: Aqui na Terra, falando de extremófilos, a gente já encontrou vida nos mais extremos possíveis, desde a profundidade máxima do oceano até a mais alta atmosfera. Só que a profundidade máxima do nosso oceano é perto de 11 quilômetros, que fica naquela região das fossas marianas. Em Europa, é estimado que o ponto mais fundo seja ali perto de 100 quilômetros, então é 10 vezes quase mais profundo do que a nossa maior profundidade. Então, é um desafio a gente tentar entender como uma forma de vida ali poderia sobreviver a uma alta pressão como essa. Danilo: A Maria Eduarda Nascimento é doutoranda orientada pela Amanda, também no Instituto Oceanográfico da USP. A pesquisa dela envolve criar modelos computacionais para entender como possíveis comunidades de microrganismos poderiam subsistir no interior de oceanos de subsuperfície de luas geladas por meio de quimiolitoautotrofia – que é um nome sofisticado para descrever como alguns micróbios aqui na Terra se alimentam de compostos inorgânicos – como minerais e rochas – sem precisar de oxigênio e da luz do Sol. Os oceanos das luas geladas podem estar em contato com um interior quente e isso, dependendo dos elementos e compostos disponíveis, pode sustentar vida microbiana quimiolitoautotrófica. A gente vai falar disso daqui a pouco, porque a Maria também conversou comigo sobre alguns dos instrumentos da Europa Clipper. Maria: Ela tem o REASON, que é um radar para ver o quão grande é essa crosta de gelo e a estrutura. Ele tem um magnetômetro que é pela deformação no campo magnético que a gente sabe que tem um oceano, que a água salgada do mar acaba mexendo nesse campo eletromagnético, que a gente sabe que os elétrons da água salgada criam essa deformação no campo. Então a gente tem esse, que daí vai dizer quanto profundo é, vai dizer quão realmente muito profundo é. Qual é a salinidade? Vai ter um espectrômetro de massa também na Europa Clipper, então vai analisar esses gases na atmosfera por espectrometria. Danilo: A Clipper não vai ter como procurar diretamente por sinais de vida, buscando bioassinaturas, mas vai ser capaz de colher dados que vão poder indicar se o oceano é habitável ou não. Morando há décadas nos Estados Unidos, a Rosaly fala das bioassinaturas no inglês, biosignatures. Ela também falou sobre alguns dos instrumentos da Europa Clipper. Rosaly: Tem um que nós chamamos MASPEX, que é um espectrômetro de massa. Ele vai poder analisar gases perto de Europa. Se tiver pluma trazendo material do interior, isso vai ser uma beleza. Se não tiver pluma, aí depende de quanto material deve ter saído do interior. Também tem um Surface Dust Analyzer, que pode analisar partículas de poeira, dust é poeira. E existem sempre em todos os planetas e luas pequenos impactos de micrometeoritos e que estão colocando para fora partículas da superfície de Europa. Então, esse instrumento vai analisar a composição dessas partículas. E também, se tiver pluma no interior, colocando material para a superfície, também esse instrumento vai ser muito importante. Nós vamos saber, por exemplo, mais sobre a espessura da crosta de gelo, se tem plumas trazendo material do interior para a superfície, se tem depósitos dentro da crosta de gelo que são, digamos, líquidos, que em vez de estar abaixo no oceano, estão mais perto da superfície. Está saindo algum material e nós sabemos que tem composição e cor diferente em umas regiões que chamam de Chaos Terrains, regiões caóticas, onde mais material veio do interior. E poder analisar a composição desse material, se tem material orgânico ou não. Então, [a sonda] vai também nos dizer muito mais sobre a lua Europa. Mas não é uma missão para detectar a vida, nem biosignature. Danilo: Diferentemente da Clipper, a JUICE (lançada pela ESA, a agência espacial europeia) não vai prospectar somente Europa, mas também Ganimedes e Calisto. Na verdade, o foco principal da missão da agência espacial europeia é a maior lua de todo o sistema solar, Ganimedes, a única que tem campo magnético próprio. A sonda vai orbitar essa grande lua, mirando entender sua estrutura interna, buscando mais informações sobre a extensão de sua crosta gelada, o volume de seu oceano, e caracterizar seu campo magnético. A sonda também vai fazer rasantes sobre Europa e Calisto para identificar locais mais interessantes para o pouso de futuras missões. O objetivo declarado da missão é entender as condições de habitabilidade oferecidas pelas três luas jovianas. Mas, claro, as luas de Júpiter não são as únicas que interessam para a astrobiologia. [Música] Danilo: Orbitando Saturno estão dois mundos que vêm chamando a atenção dos pesquisadores interessados na busca por vida fora da Terra há décadas: Titã e Encélado. Titã é a maior lua de Saturno – no sistema solar, ela só é menor do que a Ganimedes. Vamos falar de Titã daqui a pouco. Encélado é uma lua pequena – ela ainda tem tamanho mais do que suficiente para, com a própria gravidade, ter se tornado um objeto redondo, mas tem 15% do diâmetro da nossa Lua. A superfície dela, congelada, quase inteiramente branca com detalhes azulados, foi observada de perto pela primeira vez em 1980 e 81 quando as sondas Voyager visitaram o sistema saturniano. Se já era intrigante, Encélado se tornou um dos objetos mais interessantes do sistema solar com os indícios de que ela, também, possui um oceano de subsuperfície. A sonda Cassini, que começou a explorar o sistema de Saturno em 2004, observou Encélado ejetando plumas de materiais que devem compor esse oceano. Em três oportunidades, em 2008, 2012 e 2015, a Cassini deu rasantes – a uns 50 quilômetros de distância da superfície de Encélado – passando pelas plumas para analisar o que tinha ali. A Rosaly, que trabalhou na missão, falou um pouco sobre os achados. Rosaly: Encélado, o que é muito interessante é que esse líquido está em contato direto com o interior, a crosta do interior, porque foram detectados sais na pluma. Então, quer dizer que esse material está vindo direto do oceano. E nós sabemos que o oceano está em contato com o interior, que tem material orgânico também, sílica. Então, esse material está vindo direto do oceano até a superfície e você pode, digamos, colher esse material, voar pela pluma e colher o material. Danilo: Com a Cassini, descobrimos indícios de que o oceano de Encélado tem materiais orgânicos e os seis elementos químicos essenciais para a vida: carbono, hidrogênio, oxigênio, nitrogênio, fósforo e enxofre. Eu também pedi para a Amanda explorar um pouco mais o que sabemos do oceano de Encélado a partir das plumas. Ela vai mencionar algo muito importante: as fontes hidrotermais. Amanda: lá em Encélado é legal que tem umas plumas que são ejetadas em direção à superfície. E aí a Cassini passou de rasante nessas plumas que ficam geralmente ali no Polo Sul, de Encélado, e detectaram partículas de sílica. Esse tipo de partícula só poderia ser formado em temperaturas altas. Então, eles começaram aí uma discussão de que teriam fontes hidrotermais no fundo do oceano de Encélado. Isso é muito entusiasmante, porque a vida aqui na Terra, uma das grandes hipóteses, que é uma das mais aceitas pela comunidade científica, é que a vida teria se originado em fontes hidrotermais do oceano primitivo da Terra. Porque tem todos esses componentes químicos que geram um gradiente químico. A vida poderia obter energia, produzir energia a partir desse gradiente. Danilo: Até a década de 1970 ninguém sabia da existência das fontes hidrotermais no fundo dos oceanos terrestres. A crosta terrestre tem fissuras. Quando essas fissuras estão no assoalho oceânico, a água entra em contato com o magma próximo, o que gera verdadeiras chaminés, fumarolas. Nessas fontes, na escuridão do fundo oceânico, ecossistemas inteiros existem graças a microrganismos que conseguem produzir sua própria matéria orgânica a partir de substâncias inorgânicas, como compostos de enxofre, nitrogênio e ferro. A Amanda e a Maria falaram um pouco deles. Amanda: Tem não só micro-organismos bem específicos desses ambientes, mas até animais associados, porque os microrganismos sustentam a vida nesses locais, porque eles fazem um tipo de metabolismo que chama quimiossíntese. Que é um tipo de metabolismo que a gente tem todas as evidências de que era o metabolismo das primeiras formas de vida que existiram aqui. Eles conseguem obter energia a partir desses compostos químicos à base de enxofre, por exemplo. E aí, a partir dessa energia, eles conseguem fixar o CO2, que nem as plantas fazem a partir da luz. Fixam CO2 para produzir as moléculas orgânicas, eles conseguem, a partir da energia dessas rochas, desses compostos inorgânicos, fixar esse carbono e produzir, sintetizar essas moléculas orgânicas, então são produtores primários do fundo do oceano que sustentam a vida nesse oceano profundo. Então essas fontes hidrotermais são como se fossem oásis para essa vida de ambiente extremo em mar profundo. Maria: Eles estão lá respirando nitrogênio, respirando ferro, outros elementos. Então eles demonstram que essas similaridades, considerando o tempo também, por exemplo, Enceladus acredita que esse oceano esteja mais ou menos presente há um bilhão de anos, é tempo para a vida conseguir se adaptar a esse ambiente. Então, é plausível imaginar que se a gente tem um substrato quimiossintético, como por exemplo para a nossa vida aqui nas fontes hidrotermais, é plausível a gente imaginar que nesses outros mundos, onde existem essas condições alienígenas parecidas com o que a gente tem aqui, também exista vida. Danilo: Além disso, o metano está entre os materiais orgânicos detectados em Encélado. Isso é mais um motivo para entusiasmo com o potencial de habitabilidade do oceano de Encélado. Amanda: Mas o legal do metano é que eles viram que provavelmente naquela camada fria de gelo tem clatrato de metano nas fissuras. Porque tem vários modelos que mostram a formação desse tipo de clatrato de metano, que são moléculas de metano que em volta tem moléculas de água congeladas, resumindo. E aqui na Terra a gente tem condições de oceano profundo e de subsuperfície pela alta pressão. Em temperatura baixa, a gente também tem hidrato de metano, que é abundante em algumas regiões de mar profundo, em subsuperfície. E aí, aqui na Terra, a gente tem nessas regiões de subsuperfície, eventualmente esse clatrato de metano pode vir mais em direção à superfície e exsudar esse metano. E a gente tem uma rica diversidade de arqueias que conseguem utilizar esse metano, arqueias e bactérias também, mas a gente vê que tem especificamente arqueias que conseguem metabolizar esse metano, consumir esse metano, são chamadas de metanotróficas. E aí é um grupo que hoje a gente já sabe que está espalhado na Terra, em todas as regiões de exsudação de metano, e que é muito adaptado a conseguir… Utilizar esse metano para obter energia nesses ambientes. Então a gente sabe que o metano também é um indicativo superlegal como uma fonte de energia para um possível metabolismo metanotrófico. [Música] Danilo: Eu não consigo decidir qual dessas luas é a mais interessante, mas eu sei que primeira a ter despertado minha curiosidade desde que li o livro Pálido Ponto Azul, do astrônomo Carl Sagan, é Titã. Então, vamos, finalmente, falar dela, a maior lua de Saturno. Titã foi observada pela primeira vez pelo astrônomo holandês Christian Huygens, com um telescópio que ele mesmo projetou, em 1655. Essa, que é a segunda maior lua do sistema solar, tem uma característica muito peculiar: Titã tem uma atmosfera muito espessa, e é tão densa que a pressão atmosférica em sua superfície é 50% maior do que a da Terra. Quando a sonda Voyager 1 passou pelo sistema saturniano em 1980, pela primeira vez os seres humanos puderam ver que a atmosfera de Titã oculta a superfície no espectro da luz visível. A Voyager também conseguiu caracterizar a atmosfera, composta principalmente de nitrogênio, com traços de metano e a presença de algo que vem semeando a imaginação de muita gente: moléculas orgânicas complexas. A sonda Cassini levou consigo um módulo nomeado em homenagem ao Christian Huygens. Quando a Cassini chegou perto de Titã, ela soltou a Huygens em direção à lua. Em janeiro de 2005, a Huygens desceu pela atmosfera muito densa de Titã, abriu um paraquedas e pousou. Por pouco mais de uma hora, a Huygens conseguiu fazer imagens da superfície, confirmando uma suspeita antiga dos astrônomos: como a Terra, Titã tem líquido estável na superfície. Mas não é água. Com temperatura média por volta de 180 graus Celsius negativos, a superfície de Titã tem lagos de hidrocarbonetos, ou seja, matéria orgânica. São lagos de metano e etano em estado líquido. Chove metano em Titã. Como? O Douglas explica. Douglas: Nessas temperaturas, o etano e o metano que fazem a atmosfera já conseguem ser condensados. Todo mundo já viu aqui um botijão de cozinha, de butano, butano propano, que dentro do botijão o gás está líquido. Você abre a torneirinha ali, a mangueira, sai líquido. E ele prontamente, quando chega na atmosfera, ele expande e forma gás. Então, quando você comprime gases, eles podem condensar e se tornar líquidos. Eles mudam de fase. A mesma coisa acontece lá. Com a alta pressão lá, a pressão é duas vezes a pressão aqui da Terra. E baixa temperatura, eles condensam, formam líquido. Então, ela tem oceanos, rios, lagos de metano e etano. E lentamente esse metano e etano vão evaporando, indo para a atmosfera. Na alta atmosfera eles se condensam de novo e formam nuvens. E essas nuvens podem chover ou nevar metano e etano. Então você tem um ciclo hidrológico, metanológico, completo de ciclagem de metano e etano na superfície. Danilo: Quando esse material orgânico abundante em Titã interage com a radiação ultravioleta do Sol, ela forma polímeros orgânicos – moléculas compostas de cadeias muito extensas de carbono e hidrogênio. O Sagan deu o nome de tolinas para essas macromoléculas orgânicas muito abundantes em Titã. Douglas: Além disso, tem essas tolinas que formam hidrocarbonetos mais complexos. Por isso que normalmente o próprio [Carl] Sagan dizia isso: Titã pode não ser o melhor lugar para a vida como a gente conhece, mas pode existir alguma coisa de vida como a gente não conhece. Acima de tudo ela é um excelente laboratório de química prebiótica, porque você tem esse monte de moléculas orgânicas se formando, se complexificando e interagindo que pode dar os primeiros passos. Então grande parte das missões para ir para Titã ou para estudar Titã estão relacionadas com essa parte de química prebiótica. Esse é o principal argumento. Mas a própria missão que talvez vá em 2028, a Dragonfly, ela tem a proposta de procurar as duas coisas, de procurar resquícios, presença de água líquida, porque existe alguma água na superfície, mas normalmente na forma de gelo, ela vai buscar esse gelo e buscar por eventuais sinais de vida como a gente conhece, vida baseada em célula, coisas que a gente conhece. Danilo: A Dragonfly é uma missão da NASA em fase final de preparação. É uma espécie de drone do tamanho de um carro pequeno que vai explorar Titã. Deve até mesmo ser capaz de fazer pequenos voos pela atmosfera da lua. O lançamento da Dragonfly está previsto para julho de 2028 e a ela deve chegar em Titã em 2034. O que ela poderia encontrar lá, que seja de interesse astrobiológico? Será que Titã não poderia ter algum tipo de vida muito diferente da terrestre, com um maquinário bioquímico diferente? Douglas: A gente não conhece nada aqui na Terra que viva e que tenha metabolismo nessas temperaturas baixas, mas é cogitado. A Dragonfly também vai procurar por indícios de vida como a gente não conhece, algum desequilíbrio químico, alguma bioassinatura termodinâmica que possa indicar algum tipo de vida como a gente não conhece. Danilo: Procurar pelo tipo de vida que a gente conhece, a terrestre, já é um desafio – se é que algo do tipo da vida terrestre existe fora da Terra. Um desafio ainda maior é procurar por vida como a gente não conhece. Tem muita coisa que a gente não sabe sobre a própria vida terrestre – como ela surgiu, por exemplo. Mas isso é o que sabemos que não sabemos – em outras palavras: é o desconhecido conhecido. Quando falamos em vida como não conhecemos, deve haver um espaço ainda maior de possibilidades que ignoramos e que nem sequer conseguimos conceber. É uma forma de ignorância dupla: nem sequer sabemos o que não sabemos. No próximo episódio, vamos voltar para a nossa vizinhança do sistema solar e olhar para um planeta gêmeo da Terra: Vênus. Ambos têm praticamente o mesmo tamanho, mas Vênus é um verdadeiro inferno, com uma superfície quente a ponto de derreter chumbo. Seria possível haver qualquer coisa viva lá? Na superfície, muito provavelmente não. Mas nas nuvens mais altas, a temperatura é bem mais amena. Em 2020, cientistas alegaram ter detectado fosfina, que aqui na Terra é produzida por seres vivos, uma possível bioassinatura nas nuvens altas de Vênus. Isso reacendeu o interesse astrobiológico no nosso vizinho infernal e novas missões estão em desenvolvimento para explorar a atmosfera ultradensa de Vênus. A pesquisa, o roteiro, a produção e a narração foram feitas por mim, Danilo Albergaria. A revisão do episódio foi da Simone Pallone, coordenadora do Oxigênio. A edição de áudio é do Guilherme Lopes, aluno do curso de Midialogia e estagiário da Coordenadoria de Centros e Núcleos Interdisciplinares de Pesquisa, a Cocen. As vinhetas do Oxigênio foram criadas por Elias Mendez. Este podcast foi produzido com apoio da Fapesp, por meio da bolsa Mídia Ciência, para divulgação do projeto Pontes interdisciplinares para a compreensão da vida no Universo: o Núcleo de Apoio à Pesquisa e Inovação em Astrobiologia e o Laboratório de Astrobiologia da USP. Você encontra a gente no site oxigenio.comciencia.br, no Instagram e no Facebook, basta procurar por Oxigênio Podcast. Se gostou deste episódio, indique para seus amigos e amigas. [VINHETA DE ENCERRAMENTO]
Two hot Jupiters presented at the 248th American Astronomical Society meeting push our understanding of exoplanet atmospheres to the extreme. Research Scientist Tiffany Kataria from NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory shares new JWST observations of HD80606 b, the "Roasted Planet,”a gas giant on one of the most eccentric orbits ever discovered. Assistant Professor Lisa Dang of the University of Waterloo joins to discuss CoRoT-2 b, a young, inflated hot Jupiter whose hottest point shows up in an unexpected location on the exoplanet, possibly because the planet hasn't fully tidally locked with its star yet. Then Chief Scientist Bruce Betts joins for What's Up to explore atmospheric super-rotation, winds that outrun the worlds they ride on. Discover more at: https://www.planetary.org/planetary-radio/2026-hot-jupitersSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Space missions are searching for evidence of extra-terrestrial life. CrowdScience listener George in Kenya wants to know what could be up there, and if there's a risk it could harm humanity. With rovers currently analysing samples on Mars, missions searching for the building blocks of life on Jupiter's icy moons, George's concern that there could be diseases in space is timely. Presenter Anand Jagatia sets out to try and find an answer while keeping his feet on the Earth. He meets astrobiologist Dr Michaela Musilova, who runs experiments to try and understand what kinds of microbes could survive on other planets. In her work at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, she recreates Mars-like environments that test lifeforms' resilience to the rigours of the Red Planet. And if there are harmful pathogens in space, how do we make sure these missions don't bring them back to Earth? Anand talks to ‘planetary protection officer' Silvio Sinibaldi from the European Space Agency, who explains what experts are doing to protect us. He helps Anand get suited and booted in specialist clothing so they can enter a highly sterile environment called a ‘clean room', where things being sent to space are built. He also meets Paul Meacham, former chief engineer on the Rosalind Franklin Rover. The rover is being sent to Mars to try to determine whether life ever existed there, and even whether it still does. Paul shows us around the Airbus Defence and Space site where his team built the rover and explains high-tech measures to avoid contamination. And what would a programme on space be without an astronaut? Anand meets Kate Rubins, who spent 300 days on the International Space Station. While she was there, she ran experiments investigating what happens to microbes in space. It turns out that microbes affect humans differently in orbit to how they affect us on Earth. Presenter: Anand Jagatia Producer: Tom Bonnett Editor: Ben Motley(Photo : 3D render of the Coronavirus Covid-19 floating in the air with astronaut wearing space suit. - stock photo- Credit: Artur Debat via Getty Images)
The man who invented solid rocket fuel and helped found the Jet Propulsion Laboratory spent his nights performing sex rituals in a Pasadena mansion with a struggling science fiction writer named L. Ron Hubbard, trying to incarnate a goddess who would give birth to the Antichrist.EPISODE BLOG PAGE (includes sources): https://weirddarkness.com/RocketMagicREAD or DOWNLOAD the full transcript of this episode: https://weirddarkness.tiny.us/9enkrtn5FEATURED STORIES IN THIS EPISODE: The creator of Scientology, L. Ron Hubbard, was so fascinated by the occult, he believed he was the actual devil himself… and was even upset when his own son turned out to not be the antichrist. (The Devil L. Ron Hubbard) *** Scientology is already scary and mysterious – which may not be surprising once you learn how much black magic had to do with its creation. (Scientology and the Occult) *** A house in the Altamaha River Swamp in Georgia becomes darker and more dangerous than the swamp itself. (A Terrifying Haunting in Georgia) *** Was a well known UFOlogist murdered shortly before a scheduled speech he was about to give? (The Bleached Computer of a UFO Researcher) *** Some believe we all have a guardian angel watching over us. One infamous yet respected witch hunter many years ago wrote that we all – each one of us – have a personal demon. And many people believed him. (The Demon Witch Hunter) *** For some time now, Area 51 has been seen as ground zero for conspiracies and government coverups. However, a plot of land in Utah has started to attract much of the same kind of attention. Welcome to Dugway – also known as Area 52. (Welcome to Area 52)CHAPTERS & TIME STAMPS (All Times Approximate)…00:00:00.000 = The Foreboding00:01:37.371 = Show Open00:03:45.021 = Rocket Fuel, Sex Magic, and the Birth of Scientology00:25:54.957 = A Terrifying Haunting In Georgia ***00:34:49.445 = The Demon Witch Hunter00:46:33.406 = The Bleached Computer of a UFO Researcher ***00:50:09.122 = Area 5201:00:20.603 = Show Close*** = Begins immediately after inserted ad breakLISTEN ON PODCAST APPS: Look for this podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, iHeart Radio, Amazon Music, Pandora, TuneIn Radio, and other podcast apps. Get a list of free listening apps here: https://weirddarkness.com/wdapps*No AI Voices Are Used In The Narration Of This Podcast*SOURCES and RESOURCES:“Scientology and the Occult” by Annalee Newitz: http://bit.ly/31KIGnA“The Devil L. Ron Hubbard” by Jacob Shelton: http://bit.ly/2ISSjIy“A Terrifying Haunting In Georgia” by Brent Swancer: http://bit.ly/2Ip9m5Y“The Bleached Computer of a UFO Researcher” by Paul Seaburn: http://bit.ly/2KpSyhm“The Demon Witch Hunter” by Melissa Brinks: http://bit.ly/2MXHdaf“Welcome to Area 52” by Hannah Collins: http://bit.ly/2WNDFY1(Over time links may become invalid, disappear, or have different content. I always make sure to give authors credit for the material I use whenever possible. If I somehow overlooked doing so for a story, or if a credit is incorrect, please let me know and I will rectify it in these show notes immediately. Some links included above may benefit me financially through qualifying purchases.)WeirdDarkness® is a registered trademark. Copyright ©2026, Weird Darkness.Originally aired: January, 2019Weird Darkness moves through black magic, hauntings, demonology, unsolved death, and government secrecy in this episode, running from the occult roots of Scientology to a Utah military base that has earned the nickname Area 52.It opens with L. Ron Hubbard, the science fiction novelist who founded Scientology, and the claim from his own eldest son — Lafayette Ronald Hubbard, Jr., who left the church in 1959 and renamed himself Ronald DeWolf — that black magic sat at the inner core of the religion. In a 1983 Penthouse interview, DeWolf described a father deeply involved in the occult who did not worship Satan so much as believe he was Satan, the Beast 666 incarnate. The story runs through Hubbard's obsession with Aleister Crowley and the Ordo Templi Orientis, the "moonchild" ritual he and rocket scientist Jack Parsons attempted in Pasadena to conceive an astral child and bring the goddess Babalon into the world, the poltergeist activity that followed at the Parsons house, the alleged OT Level VIII passage in which Hubbard claimed the Antichrist mantle for himself, the numerology hidden in the New Era logo's two sixty-degree triangles, and the shared contempt both Hubbard and Crowley held for psychoanalysis even as both leaned on hypnosis and past-life regression to control their followers.From there the episode digs into Jack Parsons himself — the college-dropout chemist who invented solid rocket fuel, helped found the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, and claimed to have summoned Satan at thirteen. Drawing on John Carter's Sex and Rockets: The Occult World of Jack Parsons and Lawrence Wright's Going Clear: Scientology, Hollywood, and the Prison of Belief, the story follows Parsons through the Pasadena mansion he filled with pagans, artists, and writers; the bonfires that drew police reports from the neighbors; the arrival of Hubbard, who slept with Parsons' girlfriend Betty; the red-headed artist Marjorie Cameron, whom both men decided was Babalon made flesh; Crowley's own disgust at the pair, whom he dismissed as goats in a letter; and the boat-buying scheme in Florida that cost Parsons his last twenty thousand dollars. Parsons died in 1952 handling explosives on his front porch, two years after Dianetics made Hubbard famous.Next comes the Surrency haunting, one of the most heavily witnessed poltergeist cases on record. In October of 1872, sawmill operator Allen Surrency returned to his two-story farmhouse on the edge of the Altamaha River Swamp in Georgia to find tumblers sliding off the slab, crockery shattering on the floor, and bricks, irons, and potatoes falling through the rooms of his own house. The activity never let up: clocks spinning backward, mirrors exploding, utensils bending in the family's hands, a pan of biscuits levitating out of the oven and flying out the back door, hot bricks raining down on his daughter Clementine, an andiron chasing his son across the room and then returning itself to the fireplace. Hundreds of visitors — reporters and a minister among them — watched objects fly in plain view. The haunting followed the family when they moved away, stopped abruptly with Allen's death in 1877, and the house burned down in 1925, leaving nothing behind but the orb of light still reported along the town's railway tracks.The episode then turns to Peter Binsfeld, the sixteenth-century German witch hunter whose enthusiasm for torture was matched by his taste for taxonomy. His De confessionibus maleficorum et sagarum laid out the Seven Princes of Hell — Lucifer for pride, Beelzebub for gluttony, Satan for wrath, Belphegor for sloth, Mammon for greed, Asmodeus for lust, and Leviathan for envy — and argued that each living person is shadowed by a personal demon who knows their habits intimately, the dark counterpart to a guardian angel. Binsfeld held that women were more prone to witchcraft, that girls under twelve and boys under fourteen were usually too young to be guilty, and that anyone who claimed to have seen a witch shapeshift had been deceived by the Devil.The unsolved death of British ufologist Max Spiers follows. Spiers died in Poland on July 16, 2016, days before a scheduled conspiracy conference appearance and shortly after reportedly vomiting two liters of black liquid, having texted his mother that he was in trouble and to investigate if anything happened to him. His death was ruled natural causes. At a pre-inquest review at Guildhall in Sandwich, Kent, in August of 2018, lawyers for his mother Vanessa Bates revealed that his laptop had been wiped clean and his phone's SIM card erased or removed before being returned to the family, with Spiers found dead on the couch of his girlfriend Monika Duval and the four-day inquest set for the Archbishops Palace in Maidstone.The episode closes at Dugway Proving Ground, the 800,000-acre Utah military installation that UFO researchers call Area 52. Founded during the second World War for biological and chemical weapons work, Dugway is best known for the 1968 VX nerve agent test that drifted into Skull Valley and killed thousands of sheep, an incident the Army compensated farmers for without accepting blame. Freedom of Information requests filed by MuckRock founder Michael Morisy surfaced records of entomological munitions — mosquitoes loaded with what the Army called inert pathogens and released over American civilian populations — and of soldiers used as test subjects. The story takes in the 2011 disappearance of Joseph Bushling, whose empty car, hat, and shoes turned up sixty-five miles from the main gate with no body ever found; the runway in the base's southern expansion that never appears on Dugway's own maps; Lockheed engineer Don Phillips and former CEO Ben Rich on flying saucer technology; and Steven Greer's claim in The Sirius Project that trillions in defense funding has been siphoned into a shadow government beyond the reach of the Department of Defense.
Through the commercialization of life-preserving technologies, NASA remains at the heart of health solutions.
We look at the life and death of Jack Parsons, a rocket scientist by day, occultist by night, and the conspiracies surrounding his death. Support us directly: https://www.redwebpod.com In the 1920s and 30s, space travel seemed like something only possible in science fiction. But there were those who believed, who pushed, and who worked to establish the foundation of rocketry. One of those men scandalized the industry, working as a self-taught chemist by day, and an occultist by night. With a life full of drugs, parties, and black magick, he brought a whole new definition to “mad scientist." Today, we're diving into the conspiracies behind the untimely death of JPL co-founder, Jack Parsons. Sensitive topics: Mentions of sexual assault, abuse, suicide, relationships with a minor, bodily harm Our sponsors: Factor - Head to http://Factormeals.com/redweb50off and use code redweb50off to get 50% off and free daily greens per box!Quince - Go to http://quince.com/redweb for free shipping and 365-day returns. This show is brought to you by BetterHelp. Sign up and get 10% off at http://BetterHelp.com/redweb Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Belief Hole | Conspiracy, the Paranormal and Other Tasty Thought Snacks
An expert panel joins the show to tackle the question of alien/UFO disclosure—one of the most controversial and potentially consequential topics of our time.Returning to the program are Phil Catalano, former NASA/JPL scientist; Loretta Ivory, college professor and researcher; and Jay Weidner, filmmaker, author, and founding member and former Director of Content at Gaia TV. Together, they engage in a lively discussion exploring the evidence, theories, and unanswered questions surrounding disclosure. Why is the mainstream media suddenly willing to discuss UFOs and non-human intelligence after decades of ridicule and dismissal? Is this a genuine shift toward transparency, or is there something else at play? What might disclosure actually look like, and why does it appear to be happening now? Throughout this thought-provoking conversation, the panel shares unique perspectives, intriguing facts, historical context, and competing. Whether you're a skeptic, a believer, or simply curious, this discussion will challenge assumptions and encourage deeper thinking about what may lie ahead. Join us for another engaging discussion as we explore the UFO question, the future of disclosure, and what it could mean for humanity's understanding of reality itself.Find Jay Weidner at https://jayweidner.com
CreepGeeks Podcast Episode 363 INTRO You're listening to CreepGeeks Podcast! This is Season 10, Episode 363 External Values Cult, UFO Demons, Deadly Danger in NC Parks, and Octopuses Use Mirrors Welcome to CreepGeeks Podcast! We broadcast paranormal news and share our strange experiences from our underground bunker in the mountains of Western North Carolina. THIS EPISODE IS BROUGHT TO YOU BY BARLEY'S BITES Barley's Bites Barley's Bites is dedicated to providing top-quality, home-made dog treats for every doggo to enjoy. Our treats are made with fresh, healthy ingredients and no harmful chemicals, ensuring your pet receives the best possible nutrition. Jack loves them, and the dog neighbors approve. Made in New Mexico! Thanks, Kristen and Dave, for sending Jack and us some tasty treats! Barley's Bites: Exclusive offer for CreepGeeks Listeners- Barley's Bites would like to offer all CreepGeeks Podcast listeners 20% off their orders with code "CreepGeeks" at checkout. Your favorite anomalous podcast hosts are Greg and Omi Want to support the podcast? Join us on Patreon: CreepGeeks Paranormal and Weird News is creating Humorous Paranormal Podcasts, Interviews, and Videos! Get our new Swag in our Amazon Merch Store: https://amzn.to/3IWwM1x Get Starlink for Rural Internet Access Starlink | Residential Hey Everyone. You can call the show and leave us a message! 1-575-208-4025 Use Amazon Prime's Free Trial! Did you know YOU can support the CreepGeeks Podcast with little to no effort? It won't cost you anything! When you shop on Amazon.com using our affiliate link, we receive a small percentage. It doesn't change your price at all. It helps us keep the coffee and gas flowing in the Albino Rhino! CreepGeeks Podcast is an Amazon Affiliate CheapGeek and CreepGeeks Amazon Page's Amazon Page Support the Show: CreepGeeks Swag Shop! Website- CREEPGEEKS PARANORMAL AND WEIRD NEWS Hey everyone! Help us out! Rate us on iTunes! CreepGeeks Paranormal and Weird News Podcast on Apple WARNING: This Podcast May Contain Bioengineered and Cell-Cultivated Food Products. Stanley Milford Navajo Rangers Book- The Paranormal Ranger: A chilling memoir of investigations into the paranormal in Navajoland https://amzn.to/3ZhzG8m Interested in Past Lives or Past Life's Journeying- RC Baranowski. Past Life Journeying: Exploring Past, Between, and Future Lives Past Life Journeying: Exploring Past, Between, and Future Lives - Kindle edition by Baranowski, R. C.. Religion & Spirituality Kindle eBooks @ Amazon.com. Over on our Patreon- Patron's Messages- Welcome, Patrons and new Patrons- New Lake Shawnee Haunted Amusement Park Video is available! Brown Mountain Lights Brown Mountain Lights Geological Survey- Here's a thought: Are Brown Mountain Lights caused by lithium? 1-800 Number Comments- Fate Magazine - Fate Magazine Did you know that #creepgeeks is ranked- FeedSpot- 10 Best North Carolina News Podcasts You Must Follow in 2025 10 Best North Carolina Technology Podcasts You Must Follow in 2025 GoodPods- Best Fortean Podcasts [2025] Top 3 Shows - Goodpods Best Bigfoot Podcasts [2025] Top 30 Shows - Goodpods Greg's Pen Tangent -The Sharpie S-Gel in Copper: https://amzn.to/4gNatda CreepGeeks Podcast NEWS: Omi- Into the Shadows of McDowell County Haunted Hollers of McDowell County What are we doing, what're we up to? Listener Messages- Washington priest removed as exorcist after linking UFOs to work of demons | Catholicism | The Guardian Y'all might be interested in this as it has UFO/UAP, exorcists, and about a gazillion conspiracy theories: Recently, the exorcist for the D.C./Maryland diocese, Monsignor Stephen Rossetti, was fired for his remarks on a recent podcast about aliens and UFOs. Everyone is in an uproar because Monsignor is a powerhouse in the exorcism and spiritual warfare communities and highly respected. The reasons for his firing are, at best, confusing. McElroy said that Rossetti's remarks 'gravely undermined' the Church's teachings. The funny thing is, there is nothing in the Catechism that speaks directly to or about the subject, and there are no formal doctrinal or traditional teachings on the subject either! This is where the conspiracies begin: * Cardinal Robert McElroy, the archbishop of Washington, is the one responsible for Rossetti's firing, and he has a lot of questionable situations attached to him to start with. Is his firing of Rossetti personal, or is there something or someone else behind McElroy calling the shots? And why? * Rossetti is the second exorcist this year to have controversy. Earlier this year, another prominent exorcist, Father Chad Ripperger, came under fire and had his life threatened after appearing on the Shawn Ryan Show. * Rossetti is not just a Catholic priest. He is a Monsignor - which means it is an honorary papal title given as recognition for service to the Church. This alone lends credit to Rossetti's services to and in the Church. But, it doesn't stop there. He holds a PhD in psychology and is a licensed psychologist, was a Carthusian monk, and the best bit: served as an officer in the USAF as an intelligence officer. The dude has a lot going on that might make some people uncomfortable. With UAP/UFO disclosure being a hot topic right now, along with all the missing/deceased folks from Los Alamos and JPL, and now we have TWO exorcists who have made comments about UFOs and BOTH have been dealt harsh blows as a result, everyone is asking: WTH is going on?! Again, thought y'all would may be interested in this; if not, no harm, no foul Last Episode Follow-Up: UFO POLL Maybe when the percentage of believers we'll get disclosure? CBS News poll finds most Americans believe extraterrestrial life exists – and some think it's already here WORLD NEWS: WEIRD NEWS: Eternal Values Cult Who Was Frederick von Mierers? All About the "Bring Me the Beauties" Cult Leader Who Claimed to Be an Alien HBO series revisits Lake Lure's connection to Eternal Values 'model cult' N.C. Park Pests Found Carrying Bacteria Linked to Scrub Typhus CRYPTID: BFRO Report 81207: Motorists observe a sasquatch on the edge of a dark road 11 NW of Spartanburg Not too far from Haunted Poinsett Bridge Fascinating Haunted Places In SC: The Poinsett Bridge PARANORMAL: Tacoma church daycare burglary suspect claims he was 'ghost hunting' | king5.com Not too far from Haunted Poinsett Bridge Fascinating Haunted Places In SC: The Poinsett Bridge UFO /UAP: SCI-FI NEWS: Uhura Wrongful Death Suit SCIENCE: 'Hope in a bottle' for a deadly cancer and the firefly gene that lit the way | Popular Science TECH AI: Watch: AI Robot Begs for Money on Busy Street TIKTOK: NATURE: Cricket Apocalypse Descends on Western U.S. New Mexico 2014 https://duckduckgo.com/?q=LOCUSTS+SWARM+NEW+MEXICO+2014&atb=v468-1&ia=web Octopuses use mirrors to find food they cannot see | ScienceDaily *AD BREAK* READ: If you like this podcast, subscribe on YouTube, follow on Spotify, review on Apple Podcasts, support on Patreon, and connect with us on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram @CreepGeeks. 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Creep Geeks Podcast (@creepgeekspod) • Instagram photos and videos Omi Salavea (@craftedintent) • Instagram photos and videos CreepGeeks Podcast (@creepgeekspodcast) TikTok | Watch CreepGeeks Podcast's Newest TikTok Videos Need to Contact Us? Email Info: contact@creepgeeks.com Attn: Greg or Omi Want to comment on the show? omi@creepgeeks.com greg@creepgeeks.com Business Inquiries: contact@creepgeeks.com CreepGeeks Podcast Store Music is Officially Licensed through Audiio.com. Artist: Paper Tiger / Song Name: Knollwood / License# 1227348319 #creepgeek #bigfoot #mattrife #creepgeeks Tags: WNCbigfoot NC bigfoot sighting, Bigfoot, Ghost, Appalachianhotblob, Paranormal, CreepGeeks,
What if the question nobody in the room could answer became the business you spent a decade building? In this episode, Tyler Ryan, founder of LTV Numbers and former NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory engineer, shares how a physics degree, a baseball bleacher conversation, and a single moment at a business event in 2018 led him to build a software company that helps online entrepreneurs finally see what has been invisible in their own data for years. Tyler didn't set out to build an analytics company. He set out to start something, anything, that would let him use his engineering brain in a business context. What he found was that the people around him needed him more than they knew. And one relationship in particular taught him the single most important lesson he has ever learned about business partnerships. [00:03:30] What He Does and Who He Serves Founder of LTV Numbers, a software platform for online course creators, coaches, and digital businesses Helps businesses understand customer lifetime value at day 0, 30, 60, 90, and beyond Serves e-commerce, info product, and online businesses that sell to customers more than once [00:07:00] How He Got Here Dad was a career musician; that entrepreneurial mindset shaped Tyler from an early age Majored in physics at UCLA; got his master's in mechanical engineering Landed an internship at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory through a bleacher conversation at a high school baseball game Fell in love with coding through that internship and knew he would use it to build something [00:09:00] The Startup Apartment and the Fork in the Road Left NASA with a college friend to build a company in a Burbank apartment Spent two years going all in with zero revenue; nearly exhausted all savings His co-founder went back to Google; Tyler refused to quit Emptied retirement and investment accounts to join masterminds and get into the right rooms [00:12:00] The Moment That Built a Business Was the only tech person in a room full of fitness coaches and online business owners Started helping people with websites and automations for free without thinking anything of it With less than 30 days of money left, announced he was offering tech consulting to the group Made $3,000 in seven days; that was the proof of concept that changed everything [00:14:30] The Event That Crystallized Everything: Joel Marion Attended Craig Valentine's Perfect Life Retreat in 2018 and watched a talk by Joel Marion of BioTrust Marion asked 400 entrepreneurs how many knew their LTV at day 0, 30, 60, 90, and 180 by product, funnel, and traffic source Four hands went up; their businesses were doing $15M, $25M, $35M, and $50M Marion said: the reason we scaled BioTrust from zero to nine figures in 18 months was because we knew that answer better than anyone [00:17:30] What Inspires Him: Lifting the Fog Was an engineer who knew nothing about business; that insecurity held him back for years Sees brilliant business people constrained not by their ability but by their visibility Loves the moment a business owner finally sees what has been invisible for years Mission: make data-driven decision-making the default for every online business [00:20:00] Client Impact: Joe DiGalbo and Live Anabolic Joe was one of his earliest LTV Numbers clients; they met in the original mastermind Joe's fitness business had been stuck at $5 million a year for three years After deep work on LTV visibility and scaling decisions, the company hit $13 million last year Has been on a weekly call with Joe for years; Joe is one of his favorite people in the world [00:23:30] The First Relationship That Changed Everything: Steven Cornford Steven was the father of a high school baseball teammate; Tyler ran into him in the bleachers a year after graduation One conversation about physics led to an internship at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory that summer That internship introduced him to programming and set the entire trajectory of his career The lesson: say yes early to opportunities you can't fully see; the path reveals itself later [00:25:00] The Relationship That Healed Everything: Joe DiGalbo Got into several business partnerships from a place of desperation and insecurity Partners looked great on paper but produced negative results; the company went backwards Joe was different; not because of his skill set but because of who he is as a person That relationship taught him to over-index on character and values, not skills [00:28:00] The Compound Effect of One Great Relationship Joe introduced him to Robbie, a mentor and advisor who became a close friend Has been on a weekly three-way call with Joe and Robbie for years Robbie's company is finishing an acquisition; a new chapter together may be forming One great person leads to more great people; pour into the relationship without needing to see where it goes [00:37:30] Final Word: Seven Minutes of Terror and Knowing Your Numbers Was in the JPL auditorium when the Curiosity Mars rover landed in the early 2010s Due to signal delay, the auditorium was only finding out what had already happened as they listened When mission control said "touchdown confirmed" the entire auditorium burst into tears The rover landed within a mile of its target after flying through space entirely on its own; that is what knowing your numbers makes possible KEY QUOTES "Your skill set determines your potential. But if your visibility is terrible, you are going to operate well below that potential." - Tyler Ryan "I could partner up with a person I loved with very little marketing skills, who would run through a wall for me, and they probably would have produced a better outcome." - Tyler Ryan "Once you find that one person where you're like, I don't know how, but I would want to work with this person on anything, just keep pouring into it. It might be three years later, but it changes your life." - Tyler Ryan CONNECT WITH TYLER RYAN Website: https://www.ltvnumbers.com LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/tylerjryan Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/thetylerjryan Thanks for tuning in! If you liked my show, please LEAVE A 5-STAR REVIEW, like, and subscribe! Find me on: Apple Podcasts | Spotify | iHeart Radio | Stitcher
Marina Jurica is a Croatian-American who worked for NASA's JPL, is a meteorologist for CBS, and a trained opera singer. In this episode of the All Things Croatia Podcast, Marina talks about her incredible career and her love for Croatia, including the viral moment where she sang the Croatian National Anthem in the midst of thousands of booing England fans. She also was the MC for the Croatian National Football Team as they geared up to start to the World Cup in the USA! https://www.instagram.com/marinajuricainspace/?hl=en
Welcome back to Astronomy Daily! In today's episode, Anna and Avery cover six of the biggest stories in space and astronomy for Friday June nineteenth, twenty twenty-six — from a salty surprise on a mysterious pink world to a little rover completing a marathon on Mars. Story 1: JWST Reveals Salty Clouds on the 'Pink Planet' GJ504b Northwestern University astronomers have used the James Webb Space Telescope to finally crack open the spectrum of GJ504b — the so-called 'Pink Planet' 57 light-years away. The discovery, published in The Astronomical Journal on June 18, reveals an atmosphere filled with exotic chemistry and salt clouds unlike anything previously observed. At just 550°F, it's the coldest planetary-mass companion ever directly imaged. Whether it's a giant planet or a brown dwarf remains an open question, but its salty skies are a first for astronomy. Study led by Aneesh Baburaj, Northwestern University's CIERA. Story 2: Astronomers Solve the Mystery of Black Holes' Delayed Radio 'Burps' Using the NSF's Very Large Array, a team led by Kate Alexander (University of Arizona) has found that roughly 40% of all tidal disruption events — moments when a supermassive black hole shreds a passing star — produce a powerful delayed radio burst months to years after the initial flare. The study, announced June 16, also identifies a chemical fingerprint in early optical spectra that can predict which black holes are likely to produce these late-stage outbursts, giving astronomers a roadmap for long-term monitoring. Story 3: SpaceX Launches NROL-179 — the 14th NRO Proliferated Architecture Mission SpaceX launched NROL-179 from Vandenberg Space Force Base in the early hours of June 19, making it the 14th mission dedicated to building out the National Reconnaissance Office's 'proliferated architecture' — a constellation of small, resilient surveillance satellites. It was the 71st Falcon 9 launch of 2026. Mission details including satellite count and orbit remain classified. Story 4: Astrobotic Unveils Griffin-1: NASA's Moon Base II Lander Pittsburgh-based Astrobotic publicly revealed its Griffin-1 lunar lander on June 15, ahead of environmental testing at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory. Designated 'Moon Base II' by NASA, Griffin-1 is a 650kg-capacity infrastructure-class lander targeting the lunar south pole region. It will carry 10 payloads from 6 nations, led by Astrolab's FLIP rover (500kg), and is scheduled to launch on a SpaceX Falcon Heavy in Q4 2026. Astrobotic has been recently acquired by Voyager Technologies. Story 5: Lucy Reveals the Life Story of Double-Lobed Asteroid Donaldjohanson Results from NASA's Lucy spacecraft's April 2025 flyby of asteroid 52246 Donaldjohanson were published in Science on June 18. The study, led by Simone Marchi (Southwest Research Institute), reveals a contact binary with a surface over 40 million years old and a younger neck (under 20 million years) built by slow-motion landslides triggered as sunlight gradually braked the asteroid's rotation from a few hours to its current 252.6-hour period. Donaldjohanson is likely a fragment of the Erigone family's parent body, destroyed ~155 million years ago. Story 6: Perseverance Rover Completes a Marathon Distance on Mars NASA's Perseverance rover has driven more than 26.2 miles (42.2 km) on Mars since landing in Jezero Crater in February 2021 — completing a marathon distance. The rover continues science operations beyond the crater's western rim, studying some of the oldest rocks in the mission's history. Perseverance is approaching Opportunity's all-time distance record of 45.16 km for a rover on another world. Mission operations are funded through at least 2028. Links & References • JWST Pink Planet (GJ504b): The Astronomical Journal, June 18 2026 — Northwestern University / CIERA • TDE Radio Burps: NSF VLA / University of Arizona — Kate Alexander et al., announced June 16 2026 • NROL-179: space.com / spaceflightnow.com — launched June 19 2026 • Griffin-1: astrobotic.com / spacenews.com / spaceflightnow.com — unveiled June 15 2026 • Lucy / Donaldjohanson: Science journal, June 18 2026 — Simone Marchi, Southwest Research Institute • Perseverance Marathon: space.com — June 18 2026Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/astronomy-daily-space-news-updates--5648921/support.Sponsor Details:Ensure your online privacy by using NordVPN. To get our special listener deal and save a lot of money, visit www.bitesz.com/nordvpn. You'll be glad you did!Become a supporter of Astronomy Daily by joining our Supporters Club. Commercial free episodes daily are only a click way... Click HereThis episode includes AI-generated content.
A landmark episode packed with discoveries at the cutting edge of space and astronomy. Webb and Hubble redefine a category of stellar object, JWST delivers unprecedented chemistry data from an extreme exoplanet, a 21-year-old NASA observatory faces a daring robotic rescue, a multi-telescope image reveals an ancient galactic supernova, China's Tianwen-2 zeroes in on a possible fragment of our own Moon, and astronomers detect the chemical fingerprint of a planet swallowed by its star. Story 1: Webb & Hubble Rewrite History: Terzan 5 Is a 'Bulge Fossil Fragment' Using the James Webb Space Telescope and archival data from Hubble spanning 12 years, researchers have definitively reclassified Terzan 5 — a stellar system 22,000 light-years away in Sagittarius — from a globular cluster to an entirely new class of object: a 'bulge fossil fragment.' Four distinct generations of stars have been identified within Terzan 5, formed 12.5 billion, 4.7 billion, 3.8 billion, and 2.5 billion years ago. Unlike a typical globular cluster with a single ancient stellar population, Terzan 5 repeatedly formed new stars by retaining the gas and heavy elements expelled by its own supernovae. Astronomers believe Terzan 5 is a surviving relic of the primordial clumps that merged to form the Milky Way's central bulge billions of years ago — a living fossil of galaxy formation. Results were presented at the 248th American Astronomical Society meeting and published in Astronomy & Astrophysics. Source: NASA / ESA / STScI press release, 16–17 June 2026 Story 2: JWST Catches the 'Roasted Exoplanet' HD 80606 b in the Act Astronomers using the James Webb Space Telescope's MIRI instrument have observed the extreme exoplanet HD 80606 b experiencing a temperature increase of 1,100°F (600°C) during its close approach to its host star. HD 80606 b is a gas giant four times the mass of Jupiter on a highly elliptical 111-day orbit. The JWST study — led by Tiffany Kataria of NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory — also detected specific atmospheric chemical signatures including methane and carbon dioxide, enabling detailed study of how the planet's chemistry shifts under extreme heating. This is the most detailed look yet at an atmospheric response to a rapid, intense heating event. Results were presented at the 248th AAS meeting in Pasadena, California. Source: NASA / JPL press release, 16–17 June 2026 Story 3: Swift's Rescue Mission Cleared for Launch: LINK on the Pad NASA's Neil Gehrels Swift Observatory, which has studied gamma-ray bursts and other high-energy cosmic events since 2004, is facing re-entry as its orbit decays under increased solar activity. NASA contracted Katalyst Space Technologies in September 2025 to build and launch a robotic servicing spacecraft — called LINK — to boost Swift to a higher orbit. LINK is now encapsulated inside a Northrop Grumman Pegasus XL rocket, which has been attached to the Stargazer L-1011 carrier aircraft and is en route to Kwajalein Atoll in the Marshall Islands for launch later in June 2026. This will be the final flight of the Pegasus XL — the world's first privately developed orbital launch vehicle, which first flew in 1990. Its air-launch capability is uniquely suited to reaching Swift's unusual low-inclination orbit. Source: NASA press release and media teleconference, 17 June 2026 Story 4: Possible Supernova Remnant at the Galactic Centre A striking multi-telescope composite image released as NASA's Astronomy Picture of the Day on 18 June 2026 reveals a possible supernova remnant near the galactic centre — a blue X-ray-emitting structure whose light is estimated to have reached Earth approximately 1,700 years ago, in the third century CE. The image combines X-ray data from NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory and ESA's XMM-Newton (the blue structure), radio data from the MeerKAT telescope in South Africa (the large red cloud), and optical background star data from the PanSTARRS telescopes in Hawaii. Source: NASA APOD, 18 June 2026. Image credit: NASA/CXC/UCLA/Z. Zhu et al.; ESA/XMM-Newton; MeerKAT; PanSTARRS Story 5: China's Tianwen-2 Closes In on Earth's 'Quasi-Moon' China's Tianwen-2 spacecraft — launched in May 2025 — performed its primary orbit insertion burn at asteroid 469219 Kamoʻoalewa on June 7, 2026, and has since been performing fine adjustment burns tracked by amateur radio astronomers in Germany and the Netherlands. China's space agency has released no official updates. Kamoʻoalewa is a 40–100 metre quasi-satellite of Earth, orbiting the Sun in a path that keeps it perpetually near our planet. Its reflectance spectrum resembles weathered lunar rock, fuelling a theory that it is a fragment blasted from the Moon by an ancient impact — though a competing theory holds that it is an ordinary inner asteroid belt migrant. Sample collection is scheduled to begin July 4, 2026. Tianwen-2 will depart Kamoʻoalewa in April 2027, with the sample return capsule landing in Inner Mongolia in late November 2027. A new paper in Nature Communications (June 2026) challenges the lunar-origin theory, suggesting Kamoʻoalewa may instead originate from the Flora asteroid family. Source: SpaceNews, Scientific American, Nature Communications, June 2026 Story 6: A Star That Ate a Planet: TOI-5882's Chemical Fingerprint Astronomers led by Brooke Kotten of the University of Michigan have identified a chemical imbalance between the two stars of binary system TOI-5882, located approximately 1,300 light-years away. One star is enriched in elements characteristic of rocky planetary material — including iron, silicon, and magnesium — while its companion is not. Because binary stars form from the same gas cloud and should have identical initial compositions, this difference is interpreted as evidence that one star subsequently ingested at least one planet. The amount of enrichment suggests the equivalent of several Earth masses of rocky material was consumed. Source: Phys.org / University of Michigan, June 15, 2026 Connect With Us Website: astronomydaily.io Social: @AstroDailyPod (X / Instagram / TikTok / Tumblr) Network: Bitesz.com Podcast NetworkBecome a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/astronomy-daily-space-news-updates--5648921/support.Sponsor Details:Ensure your online privacy by using NordVPN. To get our special listener deal and save a lot of money, visit www.bitesz.com/nordvpn. You'll be glad you did!Become a supporter of Astronomy Daily by joining our Supporters Club. Commercial free episodes daily are only a click way... Click HereThis episode includes AI-generated content.
Saturn's moon Titan is one of the most Earth-like worlds in our Solar System, with a dense nitrogen atmosphere, weather cycles, methane rivers, and vast organic dune fields. It also happens to be the perfect place to fly a drone. NASA's Dragonfly mission is doing exactly that, sending a car-sized, nuclear-powered rotorcraft to explore Titan's surface starting in 2034. With just two years until launch, the team is deep in the work of making it happen. This week, we're joined by two members of the Dragonfly team from the Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory. Felipe Ruiz is the mission's lead rotor engineer and mechanical implementation lead, responsible for designing the eight-rotor system that will carry Dragonfly across Titan's skies. Zibi Turtle is the mission's principal investigator, a planetary scientist whose career has spanned missions from Galileo to Cassini to Europa Clipper. Together, they walk us through the engineering challenges of flying a thousand-kilogram rotorcraft in an alien atmosphere, how the team is testing and validating the design here on Earth, and what the spacecraft's instruments will look for on Titan's surface. Then Bruce Betts, our chief scientist, joins us for What's Up, where we pay tribute to the Ingenuity Mars helicopter and the legacy of the first powered, controlled flight on another world. Discover more at: https://www.planetary.org/planetary-radio/2026-engineering-of-dragonflySee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
This episode was brought to you by Mouser, our go-to source for electronics parts for any hobby or prototype. Click HERE to discover how hydrogen fuel cells are helping power the next generation of electric aircraft and making sustainable aviation a reality. Become a founding reader of our newsletter: http://read.thenextbyte.com/ As always, you can find these and other interesting & impactful engineering articles on Wevolver.com.
Today's episode covers six stories spanning cosmic mysteries, lunar exploration, robotic rescue missions, cutting-edge space medicine, and what's happening in your own night sky tonight. 1. JWST Solves the "Little Red Dots" Mystery Four years after the James Webb Space Telescope began spotting strange, compact red objects in the ancient universe, scientists have a definitive answer. A team led by Vasily Kokorev at the University of Texas at Austin published the most detailed spectrum ever obtained of one of these objects — GLIMPSE-17775 — in The Astrophysical Journal on June 10. The data confirms these objects are supermassive black holes in their furious early growth phase, wrapped in dense cocoons of hot gas that disguise them. The universe is not broken — the little red dots were just very well hidden. 2. Astrobotic Unveils Griffin-1 Lunar Lander Pittsburgh-based Astrobotic publicly unveiled its Griffin-1 lunar lander on June 15 at the Moonshot Museum. NASA selected Griffin as the vehicle for its Moon Base II mission. The lander will carry Astrolab's FLIP rover and payloads from multiple nations — including Australia — to the lunar South Pole, targeting launch on a SpaceX Falcon Heavy in late 2026. Griffin-1 heads to JPL for environmental testing this month. 3. Robotic Rescue Mission for NASA's Swift Observatory NASA's 22-year-old Neil Gehrels Swift Observatory is losing altitude fast due to accelerated solar activity. A startup called Katalyst Space Technologies has built a robotic spacecraft — LINK — in under a year, and it's now integrated into a Northrop Grumman Pegasus XL rocket ready for launch from Kwajalein Atoll, Marshall Islands, later this month. If successful, LINK will boost Swift's orbit and extend its life — while pioneering on-orbit servicing capabilities. 4. SpaceX CRS-34 Dragon Departs the ISS NASA's 34th SpaceX commercial resupply mission departed the ISS today, June 16, carrying blood stem cells, bioprinted organ and cartilage tissue, DNA-inspired cancer treatment materials, and cryogenic fuel storage experiment data. Splashdown off California is expected June 17. 5. Tonight's Sky: Moon Meets Three Planets A stunning western sky show is on offer tonight — a crescent Moon appearing between Mercury and Jupiter about an hour after sunset, with brilliant Venus also on display. Mercury reached its greatest eastern elongation on June 15, making this the best time of its current apparition to spot it. Tomorrow evening the Moon drifts to sit beside Venus. 6. Space Weather: CME Glancing Blow A coronal mass ejection from June 12 is expected to deliver a glancing blow to Earth on June 16-17. Active geomagnetic conditions (Kp up to 4) are forecast, with a chance of minor G1 storm conditions. High-latitude aurora watchers in the Southern Hemisphere may see some activity. Links & Further Reading • GLIMPSE-17775 study — The Astrophysical Journal (June 10, 2026) • Astrobotic Griffin-1 mission info: astrobotic.com • NASA Swift Boost mission: science.nasa.gov/mission/swift/swift-boost-mission • ISS research blog: nasa.gov/blogs/spacestation • Space weather: spaceweather.gov | NOAA Space Weather Prediction Center Find us at astronomydaily.io | Follow: @AstroDailyPodBecome a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/astronomy-daily-space-news-updates--5648921/support.Sponsor Details:Ensure your online privacy by using NordVPN. To get our special listener deal and save a lot of money, visit www.bitesz.com/nordvpn. You'll be glad you did!Become a supporter of Astronomy Daily by joining our Supporters Club. Commercial free episodes daily are only a click way... Click HereThis episode includes AI-generated content.
Sam, Dylan, and Dark Smith are back to break down: Dark Smith showing up barefoot like a giant hobbit, Sam spiraling in shame over the ravioli Dana keeps using to fatten up the pig, the show cracking the top 100 most-hyped on all of YouTube, the explosive New York Times report on the White House freaking out over the Epstein files and the cabinet huddling in the Situation Room to figure out how to get the big guy out from under it, Sam officially declaring himself a moderate solo anarchist who's never voting again while spiraling on the LA mayoral race, the Trump administration allegedly forcing New Mexico to shut down the Zorro Ranch investigation, Taylor McMahon's wall-to-wall-nuts YouTube essay arguing Epstein wasn't just a blackmail operation but the latest link in a 600-year chain of ritualistic child sacrifice, Epstein hoarding stolen petroglyphs, Catholic death bells, and Mecca cloth to charge his fake-door demon-summoning temple, the Crowley to Jack Parsons to L. Ron Hubbard to JPL pipeline and Sam's perfect Satanist-Scientologist-Nazi joke that builds NASA, the 600-year pattern running through Gilles de Rais's 800 child victims, the Affair of the Poisons, and Belgian monster Mark Dutroux running his ring from inside jail, Trump declaring the Iran war over a day before the SpaceX IPO and the tech bubble about to burst, Bari Weiss taking over CNN after gutting 60 Minutes on Bloody Thursday, Sam's theory that Jerry Seinfeld is the Bari Weiss of comedy, Peter Thiel's new "Objection" startup using AI to judge journalism for billionaire victims, and Crumbl releasing a dirty soda with 186 grams of sugar that simply has to be outlawed. Subscribe and give us that sweet brown hype. Occult Rituals in Epstein Files Video Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J0Yh8-h5Ie0 Grab Tickets To Sam Tripoli's Live Shows At: https://samtripoli.com/events/ Albuquerque, NM: 6/13 Austin, TX: 6/18 Miami, Fl: 7/31-8/1 Lawerence, KS: 9/17-9/19 Tulsa, OK: 10/9-10/10 Dallas, TX: 11/07 New Orleans, LA: 11/13 - 15 Austin, TX: DEC 11th-13th: Buy Our Merch or Sam Will Fight You: https://conspiracy-social-club-aka-deep-waters.myshopify.com/ Subscribe to the Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/AkaDeepWaters Check out Dylan's instagram - @dylanpetewrenn Check out Deep Waters Instagram: @akadeepwaters Check out Bad Tv podcast: https://bit.ly/3RYuTG0 THANK YOU TO OUR SPONSORS: BLUECHEW GOLD Go to BlueChew.com and use promo code "DEEP" to get your 3rd month free
Headlines for June 10, 2026; Report from Tehran: Amid More U.S./Iran Bombing, Trump Warns Iran Is ”DEAD…Will Pay the Price”; The Shocking Secrets of MSG’s Surveillance Machine: Noah Shachtman on Knicks’ Owner James Dolan; Trump Admin Guts Vital Sea Monitoring, “Tears Out the Eyes and Ears of Science”: David Helvarg; “I Was Just Forced to Resign from NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory”: Climate Scientist Peter Kalmus
Between budget battles, proposed grant rule changes, and an exploding Blue Origin rocket, there's a lot to cover in U.S. space policy right now. Jack Kiraly, The Planetary Society's director of government relations, joins host Sarah Al-Ahmed to walk through a cascade of developments affecting NASA and the broader U.S. science community, including a proposed rule change at the Office of Management and Budget that would hand control of federal research grant decisions to political appointees, bypassing the peer review process that has underpinned U.S. science for decades. Kiraly also discusses a major reorganization at NASA, a new competition for the management of the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, the fallout from the New Glenn explosion, and what it means for the future of Artemis. Plus, in What's Up, the names of the Artemis III crew are revealed. Discover more at: https://www.planetary.org/planetary-radio/2026-us-space-science-in-fluxSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Headlines for June 10, 2026; Report from Tehran: Amid More U.S./Iran Bombing, Trump Warns Iran Is ”DEAD…Will Pay the Price”; The Shocking Secrets of MSG’s Surveillance Machine: Noah Shachtman on Knicks’ Owner James Dolan; Trump Admin Guts Vital Sea Monitoring, “Tears Out the Eyes and Ears of Science”: David Helvarg; “I Was Just Forced to Resign from NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory”: Climate Scientist Peter Kalmus
Tech News and Commentary Dave and Chris discuss NASA opening bids for the Jet Propulsion Laboratory management contract, some EVs reaching over 400 miles of range, the XM-30 and its Ai, and more. “News Pick of the Week” with Ralph Bond Back in 1981, when the US Army replaced the venerable M113 armored personnel carrier […]
Once certified for spaceflight, these next generation computer processors will be incorporated into mission hardware and adapted for Earth-based industries.
If you have information regarding missing hiker Monica Reza, contact the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department (LASD) Homicide Bureau – Missing Persons Unit at (323) 890-5500. Detective Rincon or Detective Sanchez are leading the investigation, and you can also reach out to the Crescenta Valley Station at (818) 248-3464. Today we are talking about a missing person's case out of LA County. Her family is begging for her disappearance to be remembered and revisited so that the investigation stays active. They want to know what happened to their loved one, Monica Jacinto Reza.The DetailsMonica Reza was a brilliant and fit 60 year old woman. In the early morning hours of June 22nd, 2025, she'd dropped off her car at the house of one of two hiking companions, people she knew from the yoga studio she went to, and they carpooled to the trailhead near Mount Materman in the Angeles National Forest.As the crow flies, the trailhead is 30 miles from the city of angels. Monica was an avid hiker, she might have been 60 years old, but she was lean and fit. As the three ascended, one of the companions, the only other female, decided to bail out. The elevation and aggressive climb didn't seem to agree with her. She told Monica and the male that she'd stick around the area and meet them on their descent. But that would be the last time she saw Monica.About 9am, Monica and the male summited Mount Waterman. The companion shared the photo of Monica there, and another taken some feet down from there beside a lightning-struck tree. That male wasn't in the photos, and none with him on the summit were ever released to the public. Neither was his name.Curiously, the male took off at a jogging pace down the mountain. And Monica Reza followed close behind. I say curiously, because seasoned hikers said the terrain on that part of the trail was too riddled with dead pine needles, too rocky and too steep to make jogging safe. But the metadata shows that's the pace they traveled.Before they'd reached their other companion, who still waited for them, the trail forked left and right. The male hiker told rescuers later that he signaled to Monica to take the right fork and she waved in return, seeming to understand the instruction. And here's where Monica Reza went missing. He looked back ten or so minutes later, and Monica was no longer behind him. The male said he doubled back, calling for Monica, which their female friend reported hearing from below them, but still no Monica. He looked around, called out and soon met up with the female companion. Alarmed, they kept looking and soon, by luck, ,encountered a group of five people, one of which was a regular volunteer for search and rescue. By 11am, they'd reported Monica missing to authorities. There was a multi-county, multi-jurisdiction response to the call. Soon people were combing the trail and mountainside. Search dogs were enlisted. A helicopter with FLIR was used. The takeaway is there was an immediate reSend us Fan MailSupport the showSupport Curious Cat, an independent, human-made podcast!Anxious about AI? Take two minutes to contact your local politician and ask them to tap the brakes on this technology. Still worried? Contact one of the orgs below and get involved. But for today, hug your kid, cook food and really breathe in deep as it simmers, walk in nature, brush a cat, donate to the food bank, brew a cup of tea, or draw a five-minute portrait of your dog. ***Is AI the Devil? on Substack!***Hero Organizations:80,000 HoursCenter for Humane TechnologiesState of Surveillance, an organization that helps foster online privacyBuy Curious Cat Podcast a Coffee!
Satanic NASA conspiracy theories launch headfirst into the absolute brain-rot of the internet to expose the "Satanic origins" of rocket science. If you want to understand how devil-worshipping explosives nerd Jack Parsons became the bizarre link between Aleister Crowley, Scientology founder L. Ron Hubbard, and the Apollo program... then this episode is your ultimate deep dive!So is NASA anti-Christian, or are conspiracy theorists just bad at spelling? This week, Judas and Lexi tackle the wild history behind the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) and the literal sex cults that fueled early American rocketry. We track Jack Parsons' "Suicide Squad" testing rockets at Devil's Gate on Halloween, uncover the truth behind L. Ron Hubbard running off with Parsons' money to buy yachts, and find out what really happens when two lonely occult nerds get together with some sacred tablets.But we don't stop at the 1940s sex magic. We go deep into modern internet lunacy, exploring why Flat Earth weirdos think the NASA logo vector is actually a serpent's tongue, the "Apollo vs. Apollyon" demon panic from the Book of Revelation, and the truth behind Project Blue Beam's fake second coming. From a 1960s tracking network acronym literally spelling out "SATAN," to the hilarious math behind why trolls claim "NASA" is just "Satan minus the T," we prove that demonizing science has always been the ultimate coping mechanism for dummies.Support the ShowWe're missing more than just the 'T' here! Want to help us afford more letters so we can continue gloating about our secret devil-worshipping space agenda? Plus, unlock our epic, exclusive mini-bio on Jack Parsons' entire unhinged life! Sign up as a Patron today to keep the rocket fuel burning. Join the Cult on Patreon HereWhat's Next?Missed our foundational episodes on occult history? Go back and map out the rest of the madness by diving straight into our deep dive on the wickedest man in the world. Listen to Episode 126 on Aleister Crowley: HereSend us Fan MailSupport the showWelcome, Sinners! We're building a cult — the good kind. No robes, just laughs. Catch every blasphemous episode: Listen Here Wear your heresy: Merch Store Support the pod & unlock Hoots songs: Patreon Your reviews, shares, and smart-ass comments keep the cult alive.
A disturbing pattern has emerged around a growing list of missing and dead scientists who reportedly held clearances or worked in sensitive fields. In this members episode, Tony, Derek, and Jack examine whether these cases are isolated tragedies or pieces of a much larger operation hidden behind government secrecy. The conversation moves through Huntsville, JPL, Los Alamos, Wright-Patterson, anti-gravity research, nuclear secrecy, UAP disclosure, and the possibility that some discoveries were never meant to reach the public. As the dots begin to connect, the question becomes less about coincidence and more about control. Were these scientists silenced because of what they knew, what they saw, or what they were helping build? This raw discussion pushes into the tension between classified technology, spiritual deception, and the need to stay anchored in Christ while staring into the darkness.Please pray for Tony's wife, Lindsay, as she battles breast cancer. Your prayers make a difference!If you're able, consider helping the Merkel family with medical expenses by donating to Lindsay's GoFundMe: https://gofund.me/b8f76890
¿Qué pasaría si te dijéramos que uno de los hombres que ayudó a llevar a la humanidad rumbo a la Luna… también practicaba magia negra, rituales ocultistas y veía la ciencia como una extensión de la hechicería? Esta semana en Leyendas Legendarias exploramos la vida de Jack Parsons, químico brillante, pionero de la propulsión sólida, cofundador del Jet Propulsion Laboratory y una de las mentes que ayudaron a encender la era espacial… mientras por las noches se sumergía en rituales, ocultismo y versos de Aleister Crowley su historia parece una película de Guillermo del Toro. También puedes escucharnos en Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Amazon Music o tu app de podcasts favorita. Apóyanos en Patreon:https://www.patreon.com/leyendaspodcast Apóyanos en YouTube:https://www.youtube.com/c/leyendaslegendarias/join Visita nuestra página para ver contenido extra:https://www.leyendaslegendarias.com Síguenos:https://instagram.com/leyendaspodcasthttps://www.tiktok.com/@leyendaspodcasthttps://twitter.com/leyendaspodcasthttps://facebook.com/leyendaspodcast #Podcast #LeyendasLegendarias
¿Qué pasaría si te dijéramos que uno de los hombres que ayudó a llevar a la humanidad rumbo a la Luna… también practicaba magia negra, rituales ocultistas y veía la ciencia como una extensión de la hechicería? Esta semana en Leyendas Legendarias exploramos la vida de Jack Parsons, químico brillante, pionero de la propulsión sólida, cofundador del Jet Propulsion Laboratory y una de las mentes que ayudaron a encender la era espacial… mientras por las noches se sumergía en rituales, ocultismo y versos de Aleister Crowley su historia parece una película de Guillermo del Toro. También puedes escucharnos en Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Amazon Music o tu app de podcasts favorita. Apóyanos en Patreon:https://www.patreon.com/leyendaspodcast Apóyanos en YouTube:https://www.youtube.com/c/leyendaslegendarias/join Visita nuestra página para ver contenido extra:https://www.leyendaslegendarias.com Síguenos:https://instagram.com/leyendaspodcasthttps://www.tiktok.com/@leyendaspodcasthttps://twitter.com/leyendaspodcasthttps://facebook.com/leyendaspodcast #Podcast #LeyendasLegendarias
Over the last few years, more than a dozen government scientists and other employees of secret government labs have either gone missing or disappeared under mysterious circumstances. Some believe these unusual occurrences are tied to UFOs, nuclear research, or some other deep state project. Is there a grand conspiracy underway? Or is the explanation something less extraordinary?Check out our new True Crime Substack the True Crime Times Check out our other show The Prosecutors: Legal Briefs for discussion on cases, controversial topics, or conversations with content creators.Get Prosecutors Podcast Merch Join the Gallery on Facebook Follow us on TwitterFollow us on Instagram Check out our website for case resources: Hang out with us on TikTokSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.
On April 12th, 1961, Yuri Gagarin became the first human in space. Sixty-five years later, we celebrated that milestone at Griffith Observatory in Los Angeles, CA. We began on the lawn of Griffith Observatory, where host Sarah Al-Ahmed spoke with exhibitors about the tools, dreams, and technology that drive space exploration. Laura Tomlin, CEO of Space for Teachers, shares how microgravity research projects inspire the next generation. Robotics engineer Kalind Carpenter from NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) walks us through the machines he’s helping to build to explore the moon and beyond. Software engineer David Hernandez from Blue Origin describes the work happening at Club for the Future to get young people excited about space. Research scientist Robert Green from JPL talks about the invention of imaging spectroscopy and how it’s used to unlock the secrets of distant worlds. And aerospace engineer Andy Sadhwani, who flew to space aboard Virgin Galactic, reflects on seeing Earth from above and what the Artemis II astronauts experienced. We then move inside for Yuri's Night's evening stage show, where the focus shifts to human experience and the overview effect. Cinematographer and polar explorer Jannicke Mikkelsen, Norway's first astronaut, shares her experience as part of the first crew to orbit over both Earth's north and south poles. Space philosopher Frank White, author of "The Overview Effect," leads a panel discussion with actress Nadine Nicole from The Expanse and commercial space explorer Christopher Huie about what happens to humans when we see Earth from space. Finally, NASA astronaut Ron Garan brings it all together with a powerful vision of our planet's fragility, our interconnectedness, and humanity's potential when we work together. The episode closes with Bruce Betts' What's Up segment, revealing a little-known story about what went wrong during Yuri Gagarin's historic first flight. Discover more at: https://www.planetary.org/planetary-radio/2026-yuris-night-2026See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Eleven scientists. Twelve, if you count the latest. All dead or missing. All tied to classified nuclear programs, aerospace research, UAP disclosure, or the deepest corners of America's top secret defense infrastructure. And now the FBI, the House Oversight Committee, the Department of War, and the Department of Energy are all circling the same question. Is this a coincidence, or a coordinated purge of the people who know too much?What if the witnesses to disclosure are being erased before disclosure ever happens?On this Slingshot Nation live we walk through the full list, the timeline, and the names you're not supposed to connect. A retired Air Force major general who vanished out of his Albuquerque home without his phone or glasses. An MIT plasma and fusion director shot dead outside his own house. A JPL materials scientist who patented the super-alloys used in the reusable rockets flying right now. A decorated test pilot and his entire family gone in a single plane crash. Los Alamos. Caltech. NASA JPL. Kansas City National Security Campus. Wright-Patterson. The same labs, the same clearances, the same silence.Congress is calling it a national security threat. The White House is calling it "pretty serious stuff." Mainstream outlets are calling it coincidence. We're going to look at the pattern they don't want you to see. The aerospace black projects, the UAP disclosure witnesses, the foreign adversary angle, the Blue Origin and SpaceX connections, and the spiritual warfare dimension underneath all of it.Because if a great deception is coming, the first people to disappear would be the ones who could expose it.Please pray for Tony's wife, Lindsay, as she battles breast cancer. Your prayers make a difference!If you're able, consider helping the Merkel family with medical expenses by donating to Lindsay's GoFundMe: https://gofund.me/b8f76890Become a member for ad-free listening, extra shows, and exclusive access to our social media app: theconfessionalspodcast.com/joinThe Confessionals Social Network App:Apple Store: https://apple.co/3UxhPrhGoogle Play: https://bit.ly/43mk8kZTony's Recommended Reads: slingshotlibrary.comIf you want to learn about Jesus and what it means to be saved: Click HereMy NEW Website: tonymerkel.comBigfoot: The Journey To Belief: Stream HereThe Meadow Project: Stream HereMerkel Media Apparel: merkmerch.comSPONSORSSIMPLISAFE TODAY: simplisafe.com/confessionalsGHOSTBED: GhostBed.com/tonyQUINCE: quince.com/tonyRUMBLE WALLET: https://rumblewallet.onelink.me/bJsX/Confessionals CONNECT WITH USWebsite: www.theconfessionalspodcast.comEmail: contact@theconfessionalspodcast.comMAILING ADDRESS:Merkel Media257 N. Calderwood St., #301Alcoa, TN 37701SOCIAL MEDIASubscribe to our YouTube: https://bit.ly/2TlREaIReddit: https://www.reddit.com/r/theconfessionals/Discord: https://discord.gg/KDn4D2uw7hShow Instagram: theconfessionalspodcastTony's Instagram: tonymerkelofficialFacebook: www.facebook.com/TheConfessionalsPodcasTwitter: @TConfessionalsTony's Twitter: @tony_merkelProduced by: @jack_theproducer
Before the Long Beach Grand Prix, the guys got to tour JPL. Plus, Alex was inducted into the Long Beach Walk of Fame. Alex recaps his race, then Hinch and Rossi discuss the new push to pass scandal, and more! +++ Off Track is part of the SiriusXM Sports Podcast Network. If you enjoyed this episode and want to hear more, please give a 5-star rating and leave a review. Subscribe today wherever you stream your podcasts. Want some Off Track swag? Check out our store! Check out our website, www.askofftrack.com Subscribe to our YouTube Channel. Want some advice? Send your questions in for Ask Alex to AskOffTrack@gmail.com Follow us on Twitter at @askofftrack. Or individually at @Hinchtown, @AlexanderRossi, and @TheTimDurham. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.
Perry Marshall is one of the world's most sought-after business strategists and the author of ten books. He helped lay the foundations for modern digital advertising through his early Google advertising work, and his reinvention of the Pareto Principle has been published in Harvard Business Review. He also founded the $10 million Evolution 2.0 Prize, announced at London's Royal Society, and his 80/20 Curve is used by NASA's Jet Propulsion Lab as a productivity tool. Perry has advised companies across hundreds of industries and brings an engineer's rigor to marketing, strategy, and the science of what truly drives results. Perry joined host Robert Glazer on the Elevate Podcast to discuss why the 80/20 Rule is so valuable and how leadership can leverage it. Thank you to the sponsors of The Elevate Podcast Shopify: shopify.com/elevate Masterclass: masterclass.com/elevate Framer: framer.com/elevate Indeed: indeed.com/elevate Notion: notion.com/elevate Blinkist: blinkist.com/elevate QuickBooks: quickbooks.com/billpay Ethos: ethos.com/elevate Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Were the foundations of modern rocketry only developed in laboratories or did Jack Parson's occult dabbling have any influence? Joined by Graham of Grimerica & loyal MPS listener James, we propell into the wild life of Jack Parsons—a founding figure of NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, pioneer of solid rocket fuel, and a man just as devoted to Aleister Crowley's Thelema as he was to science. Parsons wasn't just helping launch rockets—he was conjuring something far more esoteric that might just be manifesting today... Exclusive Content and Ways to Support: Support me on Substack for ad-free content, bonus material, personal chatting and more! https://substack.com/@monicaperezshow Become a PREMIUM SUBSCRIBER on Apple Podcasts for AD FREE episodes and exclusive content! True Hemp Science: https://truehempscience.com/ PROMO CODE: MONICA Find, Follow, Subscribe & Rate on your favorite podcasting platform AND for video and social & more... Website: https://monicaperezshow.com/ Substack: https://substack.com/@monicaperezshow Rumble: https://rumble.com/user/monicaperezshow Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/c/MonicaPerez Twitter/X: @monicaperezshow Instagram: @monicaperezshow Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
This week Stacey tells us about the eerie disappearances and deaths of eight scientists since 2024: Frank Maiwald, Anthony Chavez, Monica Reza, Melissa Casias, William “Neil” McCasland, Jason Thomas, Carl Grillmair, and Nuno Loureiro, tied to sensitive NASA, JPL, Los Alamos, and defense research that's fueling wild media speculation and conspiracy theories.Sources:https://www.pma.caltech.edu/news/caltech-mourns-the-passing-of-carl-grillmair-19592026https://www.ibtimes.co.uk/unexplained-deaths-us-defence-research-1787733https://www.legacy.com/us/obituaries/legacyremembers/frank-maiwald-obituary?id=55630404https://www.reddit.com/r/UnsolvedMysteries/comments/1s3egzy/the_disappearance_of_anthony_chavez_78_from_los/https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mPmMWeY9A54https://thesentinel.network/p/the-blind-spot-rocks-are-falling?r=71h4wehttps://losalamosreporter.com/2025/05/12/social-media-pages-voice-concern-about-anthony-tony-chavez-of-los-alamos-last-seen-may-4/https://www.reddit.com/r/socalhiking/comments/1rvhyir/full_investigation_into_the_monica_reza/https://www.justice.gov/usao-ma/media/1422471/dl?inlinehttps://www.cbsnews.com/boston/news/mit-professor-nuno-loureiro-murder-new-reports/https://www.providencejournal.com/story/news/crime/2025/12/19/claudio-neves-valente-what-to-know-about-brown-university-mit-shooter/87842042007/https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c86v3g9z572ohttps://people.com/missing-scientist-was-struggling-with-parents-deaths-when-he-vanished-11928113https://people.com/body-found-lake-believed-belong-scientist-missing-3-months-11928819https://www.legacy.com/us/obituaries/name/jason-thomas-obituary?id=61184839https://nypost.com/2026/02/26/us-news/caltech-astrophysicist-carl-grillmairs-accused-killer-stalked-property-before-fatal-shooting/https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neil_McCaslandhttps://x.com/TMBSPACESHIPShttps://www.justice.gov/epstein/files/DataSet%209/EFTA00582627.pdfSupport the show
Wildfires have become more frequent and more destructive in recent years, increasingly threatening communities on the edges of — and sometimes within — our cities. What was once considered a distant risk is now a reality for millions of people living in urban areas.In this week's episode, both of our storytellers share their experiences with wildfires and the ways those encounters impacted them.Part 1: When wildfires erupt in Los Angeles, Tracy Drain's work on the Europa Clipper mission is suddenly at risk. Part 2: As a child, Victoria Dinov lives through a historic wildfire that stays with her long after the ashes settle. Tracy Drain is a systems engineer who has helped to develop, test and operate a variety of robotic spacecraft over the past 25 years. A life-long learner, she loves encouraging people to nurture their curiosity and explore the wonders that surround us. She serves on the planning committee for the National Academy of Science's Science and Entertainment Exchange and the advisory board for the University of Kentucky Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering department. As a National Geographic Explorer, she takes audiences on a tour of our universe in her National Geographic Live show "Cosmic Adventures." In her spare time, she enjoys reading, taking long walks, watching random shows (primarily sci-fi, documentaries and Korean dramas) and studying languages - Spanish and… Korean! (If you see her on the street, please don't hesitate to teach her a joke in either of these languages.) Tracy works at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory where she is currently the Chief Engineer for the Europa Clipper mission. Victoria Dinov is a graduate student at Stanford studying energy science and engineering. She is passionate about providing data-driven research promoting the expansion of clean energy technologies. Her experiences with climate change in her hometown of San Diego inspired her to pursue a career focused on promoting clean energy for a healthier future for all.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.
Were the foundations of modern rocketry only developed in laboratories or did Jack Parson's occult dabbling have any influence? Joined by Graham of Grimerica & loyal MPS listener James, we propell into the wild life of Jack Parsons—a founding figure of NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, pioneer of solid rocket fuel, and a man just as devoted to Aleister Crowley's Thelema as he was to science. Parsons wasn't just helping launch rockets—he was conjuring something far more esoteric that might just be manifesting today... Exclusive Content and Ways to Support: Support me on Substack for ad-free content, bonus material, personal chatting and more! https://substack.com/@monicaperezshow Become a PREMIUM SUBSCRIBER on Apple Podcasts for AD FREE episodes and exclusive content! True Hemp Science: https://truehempscience.com/ PROMO CODE: MONICA Find, Follow, Subscribe & Rate on your favorite podcasting platform AND for video and social & more... Website: https://monicaperezshow.com/ Substack: https://substack.com/@monicaperezshow Rumble: https://rumble.com/user/monicaperezshow Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/c/MonicaPerez Twitter/X: @monicaperezshow Instagram: @monicaperezshow Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Brett Adcock is a technology entrepreneur focused on building companies in robotics, artificial intelligence, and aerospace. Born and raised on a third-generation farm in central Illinois, he developed an early fascination with technology and building systems from the ground up. After attending the University of Florida, he set out to tackle ambitious, capital-intensive industries with the goal of reshaping transportation, labor, and human-machine collaboration. At 26, Adcock founded Vettery, an AI-powered talent marketplace that matched thousands of companies with highly qualified candidates. The company scaled rapidly and was acquired in 2018 for $110 million by The Adecco Group, the world's largest recruiting firm. In 2018, he founded Archer Aviation to develop electric vertical takeoff and landing (eVTOL) aircraft aimed at transforming urban air mobility. During his time leading the company, Adcock helped architect, engineer, and flight-test five generations of aircraft, vertically integrating key technologies including flight software, electric motors, actuation systems, and battery systems. Archer secured a $1.5 billion partnership with United Airlines and positioned itself at the forefront of next-generation aviation. In 2022, Adcock founded Figure, where he serves as Founder & CEO. Figure is building general-purpose humanoid robots designed to address global labor shortages and work alongside humans in manufacturing, logistics, warehousing, retail, and the home. Backed by leading investors including Andreessen Horowitz and Sequoia Capital, the company has raised billions in venture capital and is focused on deploying embodied AI systems at scale. He is also the founder of Cover (2023–present), an AI security company developing non-intrusive scanners in partnership with NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory. The technology is designed to passively detect concealed weapons in crowded environments, with the goal of improving public safety without invasive screening. Follow the market: https://polymarket.com/event/ai-bubble-burst-by Shawn Ryan Show Sponsors: SpotOn GPS Fence — trusted by Shawn Ryan for his dog Stanley. The most reliable GPS dog fence: 100% secure from backyard to backcountry with virtual boundaries you control from your phone. No wires, no digging. Sets up in minutes, any size, any shape, anywhere. Learn more: https://spotonfence.com/srs Sign up for your $1 per month trial today at https://shopify.com/srs Get 20% off Rho Nutrition Liposomal NAD+ for clean, sustained energy and sharper focus with code SRS at https://rhonutrition.com/discount/SRS risk-free 60-day money-back guarantee. If you're serious about selling to the Department of War, go to https://SBIRAdvisors.com and mention Shawn Ryan for your first month free. Brett Adcock Links: X - https://x.com/adcock_brett IG - https://www.instagram.com/brett_adcock WEB - https://www.brettadcock.com LI - https://www.linkedin.com/in/brettadcock Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
A retired U.S. Air Force general vanishes without a trace. A rocket scientist disappears mid-hike. And a series of deaths and disappearances begin to form a chilling pattern. One that leads back to Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, a site long linked to advanced aerospace research and enduring UFO lore. In this special episode of Somewhere in the Skies, Ryan and the Sentinel Network investigate the disappearance of William Neil McCasland and a growing web of scientists and defense personnel connected through the Air Force Research Laboratory, Los Alamos National Laboratory, and NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory. All operating at the intersection of national security, advanced technology, and the unexplained. As the cases unfold, unsettling connections emerge between propulsion research, detection systems, and individuals working at the highest levels of classified programs. Featuring original reporting from the Sentinel Network, this episode explores whether these events are tragic coincidences, or part of a deeper, hidden struggle over next-generation aerospace technology and possibly UFO/UAP materials themselves. This is more than a mystery. It's a pattern. And the search for answers is only just beginning. Based on original investigation and reporting by The Sentinel Network. Visit them at: http://thesentinelnetwork.substack.com For any information on Monica Reza, contatc Detectives Shannon Rincon and Richie Sanchez at (323) 890-5500. Anyone with information about this case can also contact Crime Stoppers anonymously at (800) 222-8477 If you have information about William Neil McCasland, text BCSO to 847411 or call (505) 468-7070. If you have information about the death of Carl Grillmair, contact the Sheriff's Homicide Bureau at (323) 890-5500. Anonymous tips: Crime Stoppers at (800) 222-8477. If you have information about the Wright-Patterson incident, contact Lt. Jason Moore of the Miami County Sheriff's Office at (937) 440-6085 ext. 3991. Please take a moment to rate and review us on Spotify and Apple. Follow Suzanne on X: https://x.com/csuzannelanders Book Ryan on CAMEO at: https://www.cameo.com/ryansprague51?utm_campaign=profile_share Patreon: http://www.patreon.com/somewhereskies ByMeACoffee: http://www.buymeacoffee.com/UFxzyzHOaQ PayPal: sprague51@hotmail.com Substack: https://ryansprague.substack.com/ All Socials and Books: https://linktr.ee/somewhereskiespod Email: ryan.sprague51@gmail.com SpectreVision Radio: https://www.spectrevision.com/podcasts Opening Theme Song by Septembryo Closing Song by Per Kiilstofte Copyright © 2026 Ryan Sprague. All rights reserved. #truecrimestories #truecrime #missing #uap #disclosure #missingperson #alien #aliens #aerospace #technology #science #somewhereintheskies Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices