Orbitals

A Bittersweet Farewell and Enthusiastic Hello: A New Science Podcast Is Headed Your Way!

We have some bittersweet news: Orbitals is coming to a close. BUT there's a new science podcast headed your way in 2022! It's called Tiny Matters, and it's a show about

🧪 Solutions 112 | The Sweet Chemistry of Vanilla Memories

If there's one flavor you can always count on, it's vanilla. Sweet, creamy, and nostalgic, it comes from a creeping orchid vine. But with increased demand, scientists are

🧪 Solutions 111 | A Walk Among the Sponges

Think the science behind sponges must be boring? You're so, so wrong. Shrink down to the microscopic level with us and take a walk among sponges designed to keep bacteria

Bacteria are cleaning up our toxic waste | Orbitals 410

Bacteria often get a bad rap, which is fair—they are responsible for diseases like strep throat, pneumonia, and tuberculosis, and antibiotic resistance is a legitimate th

🧪 Solutions 110 | What your raincoat and a hydrogen fuel cell have in common

Polymer membranes make everything from rain jackets to medical devices. But they're also integral parts of hydrogen fuel cells, powering cars that give off nothing but wa

The Great Molasses Flood of 1919 | Orbitals 409

When you hear the word "molasses" you probably imagine super slow-moving, brown-colored sweet stuff that you add to a cookie recipe. And that is what molasses usually loo

🧪 Solutions 109 | No 5G Without Chemistry

5G is coming… but can your phone handle it? Surprisingly, a lot of that comes down to the chemistry inside! Let's crack open your phone to figure out how chemistry is mak

Sweat: The Taboo Fluid That Keeps Us Alive | Orbitals 408

Sweat is this thing that many of us seem to loathe, but also pay a lot of money to do while being yelled at by professionals. So what is sweat? And why do we do it? And w

🧪 Solutions 108 | Antiviral Fabric: From Less-Smelly Socks to Life-Saving Masks

A team of researchers making workout gear that never stinks realized that their invention could actually have a bigger impact fighting a global pandemic. It all starts wi

It's Raining PLASTIC?! | Orbitals 407

In 2020, researchers discovered that more than 1,000 tons of plastic—that's over 100 million plastic water bottles worth—rains down on National Parks and wilderness in th

🧪 Solutions 107 | How Wood is Making Sunscreen More Effective

Many of us slather sunscreen on in the summer to keep sunburns at bay. But new materials can improve sunscreens without adding more of the sticky, greasy compounds we all

The Icepick Surgeon | Orbitals 406

Sam Kean's latest book, The Icepick Surgeon: Murder, Fraud, Sabotage, Piracy, and Other Dastardly Deeds Perpetrated in the Name of Science, dropped earlier this week. It'

🧪 Solutions 106 | Fermenting Pheromones and Phytases

How do you keep moths from munching on apples? By confusing them with a field full of mating pheromones brewed in a lab. The same fermentation strategy can also make enzy

Pretzel Perfume, Egg Foam, and the Number of Bubbles in Beer: Pub Chemistry | Orbitals 405

A lot has happened in the last year (understatement of the millennium), so we wanted to bring our listeners something a bit sillier than usual. In this episode we're talk

🧪 Solutions 105 | The New Molecules Making Vaccines More Effective

Vaccines help our immune system to learn to recognize invading pathogens before we ever get infected. But some vaccines include molecules that act like an extra alarm sys

Why Are Doctors Still Prescribing Opioids? | Orbitals 404

Over half a million people in the US have died from an opioid overdose over the last 20 years, and a lot of the time they were prescribed those opioids by a doctor. So wh

🧪 Solutions 104 | How Omega-3s from Algae Could Help Save Our Oceans

In this episode of Solutions, we're going to travel from mangrove coasts to outer space, to the middle of Nebraska, and even to Norway to answer the question of how micro

Combating The Climate Crisis: From Blackout Curtains to Feeding Cows Seaweed | Orbitals 403

April 22nd is Earth Day, so this month's episode is all about our warming planet--what the data are telling us about our planet's future, how scientists are working to fi

🧪 Solutions 103 | Boats Floating on Air and Solar Panel Crystal Balls: Lessons from Nature

We humans are pretty smart, but sometimes our best solutions to big problems are inspired by nature! We're talking to scientists about how deep-sea diatoms can inspire mo

Does Life Exist Beyond Earth? How Would We Know? | Orbitals 402

In today's episode, we're talking about life. What it is, how it started here on Earth, and how we're trying to find it in other parts of the universe.  Featuring NASA