365 Days of Astronomy - Weekly Edition

In order to live in space, we'll need to live in a habitat that simulates the temperature, pressure and atmosphere of Earth. And one of the most interesting ideas for how to do this will be with inflatable habitats. In fact, there are a few habitats in the works right now, including one attached to the International Space Station.

When you think of a robot, you're probably imagining some kind of human-shaped machine. And until now, the robotic spacecraft we've sent out into space to help us explore the Solar System look nothing like that. But that vision of robots is coming back, thanks to a few new robots in development by NASA and other groups.

On Monday, August 21, 2017, there's going to be a total eclipse of the Sun, visible to path that goes right through the middle of the United States. You should be making plans to see this, and we're here to help you know where to go and what to do.

For the final episode in our 3-part episode about animals in space, we look at the largest animals to go to orbit. And I'll just warn you now, this is going to be a really sad episode.

Last week we talked about how the smallest creatures behave in space, but now we move up in size a little to small animals, like mice. What missions have they flown on, and how does microgravity affect their biology?

We've talked about animals traveling to space in the past, but it's time to take another look, with many other creatures making the trip to the void. Today we're going to talk about the spineless insects and arthropods, and those tough as nails waterbears – tardigrades.

For this historic 444th episode of Astronomy Cast, we talk about fractals. Those amazing mathematical visualizations of recursive algorithms. What are they, how do you get them? Why are they important?

Want to travel the world but you don't have a lot of money? No problem, your continent is drifting across the surface of the Earth right now. In a few million years, you'll reach your destination.

There are regular volcanoes, and then there are the supervolcanoes. Massive calderas of hot magma of incomprehensible size. Bad news, these things explode randomly and catastrophically. Worse news, there are a bunch around the Earth.

We always want to talk about how we can make Mars more Earth like, but the reality is that we're making Earth more Venus-Like. We're Venusforming Earth. What are the various factors we're impacting on a global scale, and how can we fix them?

We know humans are having an impact on planet Earth, but what if we really put our backs into it, and intentionally tried to change the entire planet? Either to make it better, or to fix some terrible mistake we've made. The technique is called geoengineering. Could it work?

We love to destroy the universe, and also rebuild it. Today we begin a new series where we destroy and rebuild. Let's talk about some existential threats we face, and ways we could recover, starting with the sword of Damocles hanging over our head: killer asteroids!

Surf's up! Today we're going to be talking about one of the most devastating natural disasters out there: tsunamis. We're talking huge waves that wreck the seashore. But it turns out, there many ways you can get a tsunami, and one of those has to do with space.

If we look back into the geologic record of the Earth, it appears that our planet’s magnetic field flips polarity every few hundred thousand years or so. Why does this happen? When’s it supposed to happen next? Is it dangerous?