NSF’s Discovery Files Podcast

From weather apps to maps, geographic information systems (GIS) are the computer-based tools that drive many modern-day conveniences. The U.S. National Science Foundation has played a central role in the technology's development and growth. NSF established the National Center for Geographic Information and Analysis (NCGIA) in 1988 and funded more than $83 million in grants in the last two years alone. We are joined by Jack Dangermond, who has served on advisory boards for NSF and NCGIA and alongside his wife Laura, who founded the Environmental Systems Research Institute, now known as ESRI, in 1969. Today, their proprietary software is among the most popular in the field. Dangermond discusses his role in the founding of NCGIA, how technology has transformed the field and the importance of conservation.

In the immune system, white blood cells help protect the body from viruses and bacteria. A subset known as macrophages offer great promise for cancer treatment. We are joined by Kolade Adebowale, a postdoctoral fellow at the Harvard John A. Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Sciences to hear about his macrophage studies, how they might be made more effective, and why we should be optimistic about the future of cancer treatment.

Since the discovery of incomplete dinosaur skeletons in the early 1800s, the collective knowledge about these creatures that roamed the Earth millions of years ago has grown dramatically. We are joined by Greg Erickson, a professor of anatomy and vertebrate paleobiology at Florida State University and curator at FSU's Biological Science Museum who shares how new Gorgosaurus discoveries impact what we know about ancient eating patterns, how he aged the famous Tyrannosaurus rex Sue, and his role in uncovering a lost world of arctic creatures that is changing what we know about dinosaurs.

Light catches the imagination and raises questions about phenomena such as rainbows or why the sky is blue from an early age. We are joined by Franklin Dollar, professor of physics and astronomy and associate dean of graduate studies in the School of Physical Sciences at University of California, Irvine to hear about how he uses extreme ultraviolet light and lasers to reproduce and study the plasma states and particle acceleration that occur in the most extreme corners of the universe.

The U.S. National Science Foundation's Center for Computer Assisted Synthesis is developing data science tools and computational workflows that aim to shape the future of synthetic chemistry. We are joined by Gabe Gomes, assistant professor of chemistry and chemical engineering at Carnegie Mellon University, to hear about the work being done at the facility and the revolutionary new tool his team has developed, Coscientist.

From the Viking age to a Cold War military installation revealing insights into the ice age, advances in artificial intelligence, and looks at black holes and gravitational waves in the depths of space, these are just some of the stunning findings produced by U.S. National Science Foundation-supported researchers in 2023. As we start a new year, we're looking back at some memorable moments from the past year's shows.

Humans have always looked up to the sky and wondered about the stars and what life may be out there. Astronomers are using tools such as the U.S. National Science Foundation’s Green Bank Observatory and the Karl G. Jansky Very Large Array to search for radio waves, technosignatures sent from distant stars. David DeBoer, a research astronomer at the University of California, Berkeley joins to explain how Breakthrough Listen is leading this effort and how the Collaboration for Astronomy Signal Processing and Electronics Research is advancing the technology behind it.

Blue whales are the largest animals to ever inhabit the planet and were hunted to near extinction in the era of commercial whaling. Since the 1960's, these giants have been protected but continue to be considered endangered and are seldom seen. Kate Stafford, an associate professor and bio-acoustician at Oregon State University's Marine Mammal Institute, joins today to explain how a film brought her to the Republic of Seychelles to locate blue whales using their vocalizations, share insights into whale song and explain how she hears climate change.

The U.S. National Science Foundation's Graduate Research Fellowship Program (GRFP) has helped ensure the quality, vitality and diversity of the scientific and engineering workforce by recognizing and supporting outstanding graduate students since 1952. Kyle Johnson, a doctoral student at the University of Washington, joins us to talk about his work with robotics, his GRFP experience and how he inspires the next generation.

The ubiquity of plastic materials in modern life has meant that plastic debris can be found everywhere. A subset of these environmental contaminates, smaller than a sesame seed, are called microplastics, and an even smaller subset of those are called nanoplastics. We are joined by Lauren Pincus, an environmental chemist and post-doctoral fellow at Princeton University, to learn about plastic degradation, how it interacts with inorganic materials in the environment and what we might do to help prevent it.

The U.S. National Science Foundation has invested over half a billion dollars to establish the National AI Research Institutes. We are joined by D.K. Panda, from the AI Institute for Intelligent Cyberinfrastructure with Computational Learning in the Environment; Giovanni Vigna, from the AI Institute for Agent-based Cyber Threat Intelligence and Operation; Yiran Chen, from the AI Institute for Edge Computing Leveraging Next Generation Networks; Ness Shroff, from the AI institute for Future Edge Networks and Distributed Intelligence; and Tess DeBlanc-Knowles, staff associate for technology policy and strategy in NSF's Directorate for Technology, Innovation and Partnerships, to hear how these institutes will drive cutting-edge innovations in AI and how society will benefit from this research.

The HistoryMakers is the world's largest searchable oral history archive, featuring the first-person accounts of over 3,000 African American people from a wide variety of disciplines, including a special subset of STEM community members under a project called "ScienceMakers." Founder Julieanna Richardson tells us about early challenges, memorable moments along the journey and how the Library of Congress is now housing the collection.

The U.S. National Science Foundation has invested over half a billion dollars to establish the National AI Research Institutes. We are joined by Aarti Singh from the AI Institute for Societal Decision Making; Amy McGovern from the AI Institute for Research on Trustworthy AI in Weather, Climate, and Coastal Oceanography; Ashok Goel from the National AI Institute for Adult Learning and Online Education; Vikram Adve from the Artificial Intelligence for Future Agricultural Resilience, Management, and Sustainability Institute; and Michael Littman, division director for Information and Intelligent Systems in NSF's Computer and Information Science and Engineering Directorate, to hear how these institutes will revolutionize the frontiers of AI and how society will benefit from these innovations.

A team of researchers at the NSF-supported EduceLab are working to revolutionize digital restoration. They are investigating the Herculaneum Scrolls, ancient writings that were carbonized in the Mount Vesuvius eruption of 79 C.E. We are joined by EduceLab principal investigator Brent Seales, a computer science professor at the University of Kentucky, to hear about imaging the fragile scrolls, using advanced computer technology to process the data and how the Vesuvius Challenge is revealing words.

Insects play vital roles in the ecosystem, but some species can be pests and home infestations can raise serious health issues. Coby Schal, a professor of entomology at North Carolina State University, joins to share his expertise of how moths and cockroaches communicate, their impacts as pests and strategies for controlling them.

Today's guest is approaching the grand problem of energy by developing thermal energy batteries. Asegun Henry is a professor in the Massachusetts Institute of Technology Department of Mechanical Engineering, where he also directs the Atomistic Simulation & Energy Research Group. His work has earned him a Guinness World Record and recently an Alan T. Waterman award, the nation's highest honor for early-career scientists and engineers.

An understanding of the structure, composition and processes involved in erupting volcanoes and the ways lava flow can help better mitigate the effects of these environmental hazards. Our guest is Stephan Kolzenburg, assistant professor at the University at Buffalo, who joins us to share what makes volcanoes active, how researchers study lava flow in the field and ways to study it from a lab.

Eclipses have captured the imagination throughout history. Carrie Black, a program director in the Division of Astronomical Sciences at the U.S. National Science Foundation who oversees operations of the National Solar Observatory, joins us to discuss eclipse phenomena and share facts about the sun and how we use tools such as the Daniel K. Inouye Solar Telescope to observe it.

Timothy Tharp, assistant professor at Marquette University; Danielle Hodgkinson, postdoctoral fellow at University of California, Berkeley; and Andrew Christensen a senior graduate student at UC Berkeley all contributed to the success of the Alpha-g experiment at the European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN), testing gravity's effect on antimatter. We'll hear about what roles they played, challenges they faced and what's next for the group.

The Antihydrogen Laser Physics Apparatus (ALPHA) collaboration is an international group working with antihydrogen atoms at the European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN), to understand the fundamental symmetries between matter and antimatter. We are joined by professors Joel Fajans and Jonathan Wurtele, NSF-supported researchers at the University of California, Berkeley, to announce the breakthrough results of an experiment looking to understand gravity's effect on antimatter.

Ahead of a special announcement coming later this week, Kevin M. Jones, the William Edward McElfresh Professor of Physics Emeritus at Williams College and a program manager in the Division of Physics at the U.S. National Science Foundation joins to explain what antimatter is, what happens when it comes into contact with other matter, and why you might win a Nobel Prize if you could figure out why it’s so rare.

In the United States there are over 95 million heads of cattle, but their known history stretches beyond the farms and cowboys of the Wild West back into the galleons of Spanish colonists. Nicolas Delsol, a postdoctoral associate at the Florida Museum of Natural History joins to explain how he traced their arrival in the Americas.

Airborne Phased Array Radar will provide a generational leap in severe storm and climate research. Wen-Chau Lee, APAR chief scientist and senior scientist at National Center for Atmospheric Research Earth Observing Laboratory, joins to discuss radar use in storms, improving modeling and why sometimes it’s better to collect data from inside of a storm.

After an incident as a young water polo player, Nicholas Cecchi began investigating brain injury. We’ll hear about how an early study resulted in a rule change, approaches to analyzing the severity of hits and impacts in sports, and how he used an NSF Graduate Research Fellowship to develop liquid shock absorbers for football helmets in the Camarillo Lab at Stanford University.

Yuzhang Li, assistant professor in chemical and biomolecular engineering at UCLA, is working to create the next generation of batteries. We'll learn about why lithium is volatile and how knowing the true shape of lithium will impact the development of safer and more powerful batteries.

Cryptofauna are creatures that live hidden among microhabitats. Our guest is Paul Sikkel, a research professor at the University of Miami’s Rosenstiel School of Marine, Atmospheric and Earth Science who has discovered two species of Gnathiid isopods. We’ll hear about these creatures' life cycles, their role in the marine food web, and why Sikkel named them after musicians Bob Marley and Jimmy Buffett.

William Anderegg, director of the Wilkes Center for Climate Science & Policy and associate professor in The University of Utah School of Biological Sciences, joins to discuss how forest ecosystems are reacting to climate change. He is a 2023 recipient of the Alan T. Waterman Award, the nation's highest honor for early-career scientists and engineers.

Extreme weather events are increasing every year and wildfires are getting worse. We speak with Phil Higuera, a professor of fire ecology at the University of Montana, to explore the causes and consequences of wildfires and how they are impacting people and the environment.

A major initiative at the NSF, is broadening participation in STEM. Our guest today, Natalie S. King, a science educator at Georgia State University founded the I AM STEM program in 2017 which has served over 2,000 K-12 children and their families across 22 U.S. States, Canada, and the Caribbean. Her work was recently recognized with the Alan T. Waterman Award, the nation’s highest honor for early-career scientists and engineers.

A new integrated HPV DNA screening platform could transform cervical cancer screening around the globe. We'll speak with Kathryn Kundrod, who helped develop the test as an NSF Graduate Research Fellowship recipient at Rice University, to learn about the challenges with cancer screening and how researchers are working to prevent it.

A new polymer-based material with electrical and magnetic properties that can autonomously heal itself has been demonstrated by NSF-supported chemical engineers at Stanford University. We speak with co-author Christopher B. Cooper to learn more about this innovative work being done at the Stanford Nano Shared Facilities.

Thanks to the efforts of the NSF-Supported Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory and NANOGrav Physics Frontiers Center scientists have confirmed the existence of gravitational waves. We are joined by Kip Thorne, to hear about his role in the detection of gravitational waves, his experience being awarded a Nobel Prize and how time travel might be possible.

Thanks to the efforts of the U.S. National Science Foundation's NANOGrav Physics Frontiers Center a new milestone in gravitational wave detection can be revealed. We speak with Stephen Taylor of Vanderbilt University; Maura McLaughlin of West Virginia University; and Xavier Siemens of Oregon State University, to learn more about their breakthrough.

From black holes and fast repeating bursts to James Webb Space Telescope breakthroughs and the search for extraterrestrial life, space has been a hot topic this past year. Joe Pesce, an astrophysicist with the U.S. National Science Foundation, joins us to talk about all things space in a special episode recorded live.

The University of Washington's Center for Research and Education on Accessible Technology and Experiences (CREATE) is working towards a world with fewer problems and more solutions for people with disabilities. We are joined by CREATE collaborators Jennifer Mankoff and Heather Feldner to hear about their projects and the difference they are making.

During the Cold War, a U.S. military installation called Camp Century was carved out of the ice sheet in Greenland. One of the camp’s projects was drilling a near mile-long ice core, which in the subsequent decades went missing. We are joined by Paul Bierman, a geologist and professor at the University of Vermont, who will tell us about the secretive base, where the missing ice core was found and the staggering discovery he found at the bottom of the core.

Shwetak Patel leads the University of Washington Ubiquitous Computing Lab, which develops innovative sensing systems for health, sustainability and novel interactions. He will tell us about his experience bringing devices to market, mentoring the next generation and where sensors are headed next.

Cori Lathan has always had an interest in technology. She has spent her career inventing, founding and running a company, Anthrotronix, and inspiring STEM interest in future generations through robotics. Her recent book, "Inventing the Future: Stories from a Techno Optimist" explores the possibilities of tomorrow through her 20-year career journey. She joins us to discuss some of her inventions, how NSF support has helped her along the way, and her optimism for the future.

Jason Freeman, professor of music and Brian Magerko, professor of digital media at Georgia Tech had an idea for a music-based learning environment to engage students in STEM by coding. EarSketch has gone on to reach over a million users, has been used in more than 5,000 schools in all 50 states and over 180 countries and has collaborated with music partners such as Pharrell, Young Guru, Common and Richard Devine. We'll hear from Jason Freeman, Brian Magerko, and Richard Devine on how it became a success.

The vast wilderness of Antarctica has many secrets, and to reveal some, you must dig down into the subglacial environment. We are joined by Matthew Siegfried and Ryan Venturelli from the Colorado School of Mines to learn about their involvement in SALSA, the Subglacial Antarctic Lakes Scientific Access project.

Horses evolved in North America, but ancient populations died off during the last ice age. We are joined by William Taylor, assistant professor, and curator of archaeology at the University of Colorado Boulder, to learn about how horses impacted the shaping of the American West.

A recurring dramatic trope in film and television relates to the trolley problem, wherein a dilemma arises in which choice must be made to save one or another. We are joined by Joshua Greene, a professor of psychology at Harvard University, who has spent much of his career studying moral judgment and decision-making.

Jooyoung Lee, a doctoral student at Penn State’s College of Information Sciences and Technology, joins us to talk about her research on plagiarism from language models in popular online chatbots.

The landmark first image of a black hole, at the center of the Messier 87 galaxy, has received a makeover with the help of machine learning. Lia Medeiros, an astrophysicist at the Institute for Advanced Study joins to discuss how she used PRIMO to reach the full resolution of the Event Horizon Telescope and what impacts it will have on black hole physics.

Spiros Michalakis is manager of outreach and a staff researcher at Caltech’s Institute for Quantum Information and Matter, an NSF Physics Frontiers Center. He joins us to discuss his role representing the U.S. for World Quantum Day; quantum states as a natural language; the challenges in communicating complex ideas; and where he hopes to see the field go in the future.

In a landmark development for neuroscience, an interdisciplinary team has completed the first full map of an insect brain, revealing synaptic connections and valuable insights into how the brain operates. We are joined by Joshua Vogelstein, associate professor of biomedical engineering at Johns Hopkins University to learn about the obstacles in processing and analyzing big data; the links between animal intelligence, artificial intelligence, and machine learning; and where he’s hoping to take his research in the future.

The NSF Engineering Research Center for Hybrid Autonomous Manufacturing Moving from Evolution to Revolution will accelerate the development and deployment of intelligent, autonomous manufacturing systems, enabling mass customization in local production facilities. We are joined by co-principal investigators Glenn Daehn and Jian Cao, as well as NSF Director Sethuraman Panchanathan, Assistant Director for Engineering Susan Margulies, and ERC Program Director Sarit Bhaduri.

Representation is vital for inspiring the next generation, and the fields of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics are no different. Today we are joined by Karen Marrongelle, the NSF’s chief operating officer to talk about her career in mathematics, leadership in education and efforts being made to bolster the future STEM workforce.

Peggy Giordano has studied cognitive transformation and the dynamics of desistance for many years. Her work at Bowling Green State University in Ohio led to a 2021 Stockholm Prize in Criminology. We’ll hear about her study that follows subjects from adolescence into adulthood looking at social influences on the long-term cessation of violence, including the effects of intimate partner and family dynamics, and what behavioral changes are needed for successful cessation to occur.

The video game and television adaptation, The Last of Us, has created a lot of interest in the parasitic fungi Ophiocordyceps. We're joined by Charissa De Bekker, assistant professor of biology at Utrecht University in the Netherlands, to learn about the different kinds of Cordyceps, her experience studying their parasitic relationship with ants, and the zombie-like behavior that is exhibited as the fungus develops.