Third Pod from the Sun

Tales from the (manus)crypt: This is the end

Horror stories (especially movies) have a tradition of long series capstoned by an “ending” movie. Halloween Ends. Friday the 13th: The Final Chapter. THE Final Destinati

Tales from the (manus)crypt: The sound of screams

There’s something powerful about the sound of a scream. Whether it pierces the silence of an empty building or rings out through a crowded room, it forces you to stop wha

Tales from the (manus)crypt: Zombie-making fungi

Carolyn Elya is the Zombiologist in Chief, aka incoming Assistant Professor in Molecular and Cellular Biology at Harvard University. She’s been obsessed with parasites fo

Tales from the (manus)crypt: Volcanic video games

One of the scariest things for scientists is watching entertainment media portray your field of study inaccurately—the horror! Flood resilience officer and social volcano

Tales from the (manus)crypt: Mind-controlling mushrooms

The video game and TV show “The Last of Us” captivated audiences with the concept of a fungal pandemic. The story is set in a world ravaged by a fungus that infects peopl

Tales from the (manus)crypt: Evolved bloodsuckers

We're diving into the intriguing world of vampire bats and their unique genetic adaptations to a blood-based diet. Shenglin Liu is a researcher at the Senckenberg Natural

Tales from the (manus)crypt

It’s that time of year again! For many of us, temperatures are cooling, leaves are changing, Pumpkin Spice Lattes are…latte-ing. While that all sounds lovely, it’s also s

Invisible forces: Weathering the (academic space) storm

As a young child in India, Nithin Silvadas picked up Carl Sagan’s Cosmos, and it may have changed his life. From that moment on, he was enraptured with they universe. An

Invisible forces: Gravity of the (Venus) situation

What goes up must come down, right? Well, what if things go up and come down slightly slower than you might expect? Are there balloons attached? Filled with helium? Are

Invisible forces: Through the cloud of atmospheric aerosols

If you’re a scientist in an oceanography department, you’re probably studying the ocean, right? Well, part of your job might be studying things like phytoplankton, the ti

Invisible forces: Fielding Earth's magnetic mysteries

What was the first big project you worked on at your job? An important report? An interesting experiment? How about helping to build a satellite? Ashley Greeley, resear

Invisible forces: Sharpening our cosmic vision

When you look up into the night sky, what do you see? Is it a clear picture? Do you see anything at all? What if we could enhance our view of the cosmos and develop techn

Invisible forces

We’re journeying into the mysterious world of invisible forces that shape our lives in ways we often overlook for our next series! Join us as we, explore nuclear energy,

Fieldwork rocks: Icy balloons & (natural) gaseous fumes

What do Antarctica, Nepal, South Korea, and rural NE Pennsylvania all have in common? They’re all places where Doug Goetz of UC Boulder’s Laboratory for Atmospheric and S

Fieldwork rocks: Can it be accessible for all?

The mountains are calling! But the trail to get there is pretty bumpy…can everyone come along? When we imagine a geologist striding through the mountains, carrying heavy

Fieldwork rocks: Tree rings of the Civil War

Many of us know that tree rings can tell us how old a tree is. But there’s so much more we can learn from these seemingly simple lines.  In the mid 1800’s, right before

Fieldwork rocks: Marooned on purpose

You might think of a deserted island when you picture being marooned, but for some geology researchers the island is their research ship. To collect samples of rocks and

Fieldwork rocks: Head in the (funnel) clouds

Every year between June and November, researchers take to the skies to better understand and measure hurricanes. Heather Holbach is part of NOAA’s Hurricane Research divi

Fieldwork rocks: From sea to quaking sea

Seismologist Margaret Boettcher has ventured to the depths of South African gold mines and the middle of the Pacific Ocean in a quest to find earthquakes that are predict

Fieldwork rocks: Picturing science

Joris De Raedt, a passionate scientific illustrator dedicated to capturing the beauty and significance of nature through his art, strives to foster a deep connection betw