The Cosmic Controversy Podcast

Episode 67 --- Mysteries Of The Lunar Surface

Guest Benjamin Greenhagen, a planetary scientist at Johns Hopkins University’s Applied Physics Laboratory in Maryland, outlines the lunar surface’s remaining mysteries --

Episode 66 --- The Big Questions About The Cosmos And Our Existence

Guest Paul Davies, a theoretical physicist and director of the BEYOND Center at Arizona State University, gives an enlightening and fascinating interview on the true natu

Episode 65 --- The Future Of Supersonic, Hypersonic and Suborbital Passenger Flight

Guest Christopher Combs, an assistant professor of aerodynamics at the University of Texas at San Antonio, discusses current prospects for supersonic. hypersonic and even

Episode 64 --- The Long-Forgotten Tragedy Of The Arctic Airship Italia

Acclaimed U.K. journalist Mark Piesing chats about his first book N-4 DOWN:  THE HUNT FOR THE ARCTIC AIRSHIP ITALIA (Harper-Collins) which tracks the long-forgotten histo

Episode 63 --- Getting Real About the Social and Psychological Challenges of Long-Term Space Missions

Guest Sheryl L. Bishop, a social psychologist and professor emeritus at the University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston gets real about what we need to make happen if

Episode 62 --- The Link Between Ancient Astrochemistry And Life On Earth

Guest Edwin (Ted) Bergin, professor of astronomy and Chair of the Dept. of Astronomy at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor, discusses whether our existence in this s

Episode 61 --- Could A Snowball Earth Happen Again?

University of Chicago associate professor Dorian Abbot chats about his research on the controversial Snowball Earth Hypothesis.  That is, the idea that at least twice in

Episode 60 --- Why Our Human Brain Is Undeniably Unique In The Cosmos

Our civilization and technology as we know it owes itself to a fluke of evolution that enabled the development of human intelligence.  It’s a marvelous and nuanced intell

Episode 59 --- Einstein’s Little-Appreciated Window Onto Far Flung Exoplanets

Darren DePoy, Professor of Astronomy and Associate Dean for Research at Texas A&M University in College Station, talks about using one of Einstein’s little-known and unde

Episode 58 --- How The Unsung ‘Moon Buggy’ Saved The Final Three Apollo Missions

Guest Earl Swift, a former reporter for The Virginian-Pilot and New York Times bestselling author of “Chesapeake Requiem” discusses his brand-new book “Across the Airless

Episode 57 --- Why Our Earth Is Still One Of A Kind

University of Washington paleontologist Peter Ward, co-author of the famed non-fiction title, “Rare Earth:  Why Complex Life Is Uncommon In The Universe" is my guest.  He

Episode 56 --- The Case For Antimatter Propulsion

Guest Gerald Jackson, former Fermilab physicist and advanced propulsion entrepreneur chats about his plans for an Antimatter Propulsion interstellar robotic probe.  First

Episode 55 --- How Ford’s Tri-Motor Airplane Helped Create The Airline Industry of Today.

Matt Anderson, the John and Horace Dodge Curator of Transportation at The Henry Ford Museum in Dearborn, Michigan, speaks candidly about the early days of The Ford Motor

Episode 54 --- What Nearby Stellar Open Clusters Are Still Teaching Us

Marc Pinsonneault, a professor of astronomy at The Ohio State University in Columbus, and an expert on stellar open clusters, chats about some of the most famous star clu

Episode 53 --- John Glenn, JFK and the Cold War's New Frontier

Historian and former Clinton presidential speechwriter Jeff Shesol chats about his new book, “Mercury Rising: John Glenn, John Kennedy and the New Battleground of the Col

Episode 52 --- The Unexpected Origins of Life's Genetic Code

Guest Ben K.D. Pearce, a Ph.D student in astrophysics and astrobiology at McMaster University in Toronto, and an expert on the origins of life’s building blocks here on E

Episode 51 --- Our Sun's Ultimate Endgame

Villanova University astrophysicist Edward Sion, an expert on stellar white dwarfs chats about our Sun’s own endgame and planet Earth’s ultimate future which may end in c

Episode 50 --- How Humans Can Use Bioengineering To Move Off-World

Geneticist Christopher Mason chats about his new book, “The Next 500 Years:  Engineering Life to Reach New Worlds” from MIT Press.  We discuss both the nuts and bolts and

Episode 49 --- The Dangerous Downside of Airliner Automation

Guest commercial pilot and author Jack Hersch talks about his 2020 book, “The Dangers of Automation in Airliners:  Accidents Waiting to Happen.”  It’s both a fascinating

Episode 48 --- Mapping Laniakea, Our Home Supercluster Of Galaxies

World-renowned, University of Hawaii cosmologist Brent Tully on 50 years of mapping the nearby universe which includes our own home supercluster ‘Laniakea.’  Tully candid