Point of Discovery

Can Tiny Bubbles Help Save the Planet?

mairhart@austin.utexas.edu (Christine Sinatra, Marc Airhart) — Thu, 22 May 2025 22:05:36 +0000

Seagrasses are more efficient at storing carbon in the soil or sediment, acre for acre, than a tropical rainforest. That could make them a powerful tool for slowing the rapid rise of atmospheric CO2. The ability to quantify how much carbon a specific seagrass bed stores over time could help governments, businesses and environmental groups better manage these natural carbon sinks. Ken Dunton, a marine biology professor and Preston Wilson, an engineering professor may have found one weird trick to measuring carbon storage in seagrass beds: listening to the sound of tiny bubbles.

With current technologies, being able to accurately measure how much carbon a seagrass bed stores from year to year takes a lot of time, people and money. It requires going out and physically digging up plants and sediments and bringing them back to the lab and spending days analyzing them—and doing this repeatedly over time.

The new method Dunton and Wilson are developing relies on a simple idea: As seagrasses turn sunlight into energy, they absorb carbon dioxide from the water, store the carbon in their roots and other tissues and release the oxygen back into the water, some in the form of bubbles. The more bubbles a seagrass plant emits during the day, the more carbon it stores. By continuously measuring the sound intensity, they can infer how much carbon is stored over time.

Episode credits

Our theme music was composed by Charlie Harper

Other music for today’s show was produced by: Podington Bear

Cover image: Concept for a new way to infer carbon storage in seagrass beds using sound intensity recorded with hydrophones (black). Illustration credit: 5W Infographics.

About Point of Discovery

Point of Discovery is a production of the University of Texas at Austin's College of Natural Sciences and is a part of the Texas Podcast Network. The opinions expressed in this podcast represent the views of the hosts and guests, and not of The University of Texas at Austin. You can listen via Apple Podcasts, Spotify, RSS, Amazon Podcasts, and more. Questions or comments about this episode or our series in general? Email Marc Airhart.

Introducing: AI for the Rest of Us

mairhart@austin.utexas.edu (Marc Airhart) — Thu, 30 May 2024 17:08:09 +0000

We’re celebrating the launch of “AI for the Rest of Us”, a podcast to help get you up to speed on the essentials of artificial intelligence. Every two weeks, we’ll sit down with UT faculty experts and get them talking, in simple terms, about how AI might transform healthcare, work, the ways we learn and how we make big decisions.

Co-hosts are Marc Airhart, science writer and podcaster in the College of Natural Sciences and Casey Boyle, associate professor of rhetoric and director of UT’s Digital Writing & Research Lab.

Listen via Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Podcasts, RSS, or anywhere you get your podcasts. You can also listen on the web at aifortherest.net.

About Point of Discovery

Is Cosmology in Crisis?

mairhart@austin.utexas.edu (Christine Sinatra, Marc Airhart) — Thu, 11 Apr 2024 21:30:38 +0000

Over the past year and a half, data and images from the James Webb Space Telescope, or JWST, have been flooding in. And floating around in that sea of data (and from other instruments over the past 20 years) are at least three big problems: There appear to be too many big, bright galaxies, too soon after the Big Bang. No one can agree on how fast the universe is (or was) expanding. And we don’t know what most of the universe is made of.

The University of Texas at Austin brought together a panel of astronomy and physics faculty members to debate and discuss the meaning of these emerging problems in the data. The panelists were Kim Boddy, Mike Boylan-Kolchin, Karl Gebhardt, Can Kilic and Julian Muñoz. Have a listen and then decide: is cosmology really in crisis?

For a deeper dive into some of the issues raised in this episode, head over to this recently released video from the American Museum of Natural History’s Isaac Asimov Panel Debate, titled: “JWST’s Cosmic Revolution.” It features Mike Boylan-Kolchin, UT alum Neil DeGrasse Tyson and others.

Research related to today’s debate:

James Webb Space Telescope Images Challenge Theories of How Universe Evolved

Cosmic Dawn: The JWST is Changing our Calculus of the Cosmos

Hobby-Eberly Telescope Reveals Galaxy Gold Mine in First Large Survey

Did the James Webb telescope ‘break the universe’? Maybe not

Episode credits

Our theme music was composed by Charlie Harper

Other music for today’s show was produced by: Podington Bear

Cover image: JWST’s image of spiral galaxy NGC 628, which is 32 million light-years away in the constellation Pisces. The spiraling filamentary structure looks somewhat like a cross section of a nautilus shell. Read more. Credit: NASA, ESA, CSA, STScI, Janice Lee (STScI), Thomas Williams (Oxford), and the PHANGS team.

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A Once-in-Many-Centuries Event

mairhart@austin.utexas.edu (Christine Sinatra, Marc Airhart) — Fri, 8 Mar 2024 13:31:56 +0000

Here in the U.S., many of us are eagerly awaiting the April 8th, 2024 total solar eclipse, the last of its kind to cross our paths (at least in the contiguous U.S.) until the year 2045. Austin, Texas, where we produce Point of Discovery, is right in the path of totality. And this eclipse feels even more special because the last total solar eclipse in Austin happened before there was an Austin, in the year 1397.

On today’s show, we talk to bird biologist Peter English about the strange ways that animals respond to solar eclipses; biologist David Ledesma about the plants and animals that lived in Central Texas 600 years ago; and archaeologist Fred Valdez about what Native Americans might have made of that last solar eclipse.

Resources for watching the April 8, 2024 solar eclipse

April 8 Total Solar Eclipse (McDonald Observatory)
Interactive Solar Eclipse Map for April 8
Total Eclipse of the Horns (UT Austin)
Totality (free, interactive phone app that tells you what the eclipse will be like for any location, which locations will experience totality and for exactly how long)
How to View a Solar Eclipse Safely (American Astronomical Society)
Solar Eclipse Across America (American Astronomical Society)

Dig deeper into eclipse science

Lunar and solar eclipses make animals do strange things

Episode credits

Select bird sounds from: Yasuni Soundscapes – Ecuador 2018, by Lang Elliott
Our theme music was composed by Charlie Harper
Other music for today’s show was produced by: Podington Bear
Cover image: The Sun’s corona shining brightly during a total solar eclipse in 2009. This media was created by the National Optical-Infrared Astronomy Research Laboratory (NOIRLab). Credit: Miloslav Druckmüller, Peter Aniol, Vojtech Rušin, Ľubomír Klocok, Karel Martišek, Martin Dietzel. Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

About Point of Discovery

The Heartbeat of the Estuary

mairhart@austin.utexas.edu (Christine Sinatra, Marc Airhart) — Fri, 8 Sep 2023 17:43:33 +0000

On today’s show we talk with Philip Souza, a Ph.D. student in the lab of Simon Brandl at the Marine Science Institute, and a Stengl-Wyer fellow. His research is focused on the sounds that fish along the Texas Gulf Coast make to attract mates or defend territory. He works in the Mission-Aransas Estuary near Port Aransas, whose oyster reefs and other habitats support rich communities of fish, many of which have a big impact on the Texas economy — including spotted sea trout, catfish, red drum and black drum. He’s developing ways to continuously record sound in the water to monitor the health of the ecosystem. As fate would have it, two years ago, his approach was put to the test.

Read a Q&A with Philip Souza

See a map of the Mission-Aransas Estuary

Learn more about the Mission-Aransas National Estuarine Research Reserve

Our theme music was composed by Charlie Harper

Other music for today’s show was produced by: Podington Bear

About Point of Discovery

I Know What You're Thinking

mairhart@austin.utexas.edu (Marc Airhart, Christine Sinatra) — Mon, 1 May 2023 14:35:32 +0000

On today’s show we talk with Alex Huth, assistant professor of neuroscience and computer science at The University of Texas at Austin, and Ph.D. student Jerry Tang about a new system that can read a person’s thoughts in real time and produce a stream of continuous text. The system they developed, called a semantic decoder, relies in part on the kind of AI model behind ChatGPT. It might one day help people who are mentally conscious yet unable to physically speak, such as those debilitated by strokes, to communicate intelligibly again. The scientists behind it are also wrestling with thorny issues this technology brings up, concerning privacy and the ethical use of AI.

Show Notes

If you liked this episode, check out our earlier episode featuring Alex Huth talking about an earlier iteration of this research.

Through the Good Systems initiative, The University of Texas at Austin is bringing together researchers from a broad range of disciplines to explore ways to ensure that artificial intelligence develops in a way that is beneficial, not detrimental, to humanity. Learn more about Good Systems here.

Episode Credits

Our theme music was composed by Charlie Harper

Other music for today’s show was produced by: Podington Bear

About Point of Discovery

Right Time, Right Place

mairhart@austin.utexas.edu (Marc Airhart, Christine Sinatra) — Tue, 13 Dec 2022 22:45:00 +0000

For graduate student Olivia Cooper, the successful launch of the James Webb Space Telescope, or JWST, comes at the perfect time to help launch her career studying galaxy evolution. Cooper works with University of Texas at Austin associate professor Caitlin Casey on the biggest project in JWST’s first year—COSMOS-Web—which is designed to take the deepest images of the universe to date and reveal some of the earliest galaxies to form after the Big Bang. We talk with Cooper about the breathtaking images JWST is collecting, the complicated legacy of the telescope’s namesake, why her fellow scientists are just as inspiring as JWST itself and what this moment means to her.

Show Notes

First images from the JWST: https://www.nasa.gov/webbfirstimages

Caitlin Casey’s full interview with KUT’s Texas Standard: https://www.texasstandard.org/stories/a-ut-researcher-is-behind-the-james-webb-telescopes-biggest-project-of-2022/

Read more about COSMOS-Web: https://arxiv.org/abs/2211.07865

Episode Credits

Our theme music was composed by Charlie Harper

Other music for today’s show was produced by: Podington Bear

About Point of Discovery

Neutralizing Crazy Ants

mairhart@austin.utexas.edu (Christine Sinatra, Marc Airhart) — Wed, 13 Jul 2022 21:05:57 +0000

Over the past 15 years or so, tawny crazy ants from South America have been popping up across the southeastern U.S. like paratroopers dropping in from an invading army. Where they take hold, they’re like an ecological wrecking ball and they cause headaches for homeowners. Podcast host Marc Airhart joined biologist Edward LeBrun in the Texas Hill Country to test a new weapon in the battle against the destructive tawny crazy ant.

Show Notes

LeBrun studies invasive species at the University of Texas at Austin’s Brackenridge Field Laboratory.

Watch a related video from UT News: Defending Texas from the Next Invasion

Episode Credits

Our theme music was composed by Charlie Harper

Other music for today’s show was produced by: Podington Bear

About Point of Discovery

A Physicist’s Search for Beauty

mairhart@austin.utexas.edu (Marc Airhart, Christine Sinatra) — Wed, 9 Mar 2022 17:33:14 +0000

In addition to original interviews, today’s episode features excerpts from three interviews:

On the Shoulders of Giants: Steven Weinberg and the Quest to Explain the World (2021), World Science Festival

Physicist Steven Weinberg on His Search for a "Final Theory" (1993), Fresh Air

The Bill Moyers Interview: Steven Weinberg (1990), Bill Moyers

Our theme music was composed by Charlie Harper

Other music for today’s show was produced by: Podington Bear

On Monday, March 21, UT Austin is hosting a memorial lecture in honor of Steven Weinberg, featuring his fellow Nobel Laureate, MIT’s Frank Wilczek. This event is free and open to the public, both in-person and virtually via Zoom. Find out more and register here.

Donate to the Physics Theory Group, in memory of Steven Weinberg

About Point of Discovery

Point of Discovery is a production of the University of Texas at Austin's College of Natural Sciences and is a part of the Texas Podcast Network. The opinions expressed in this podcast represent the views of the hosts, and not of The University of Texas at Austin. You can listen via Apple Podcasts, Spotify, RSS, Stitcher, Amazon Podcasts, or Google Podcasts. Questions or comments about this episode or our series in general? Email Marc Airhart.

About Point of Discovery

Remembering Steven Weinberg

mairhart@austin.utexas.edu (Marc Airhart, Christine Sinatra) — Mon, 21 Feb 2022 21:05:09 +0000

Donate to the Physics Theory Group, in memory of Steven Weinberg

In addition to original interviews, today’s episode features excerpts from two videos:

On the Shoulders of Giants: Steven Weinberg and the Quest to Explain the World (2021), World Science Festival

Interview with Professor Steven Weinberg (2001), Nobel Prize Committee

Our theme music was composed by Charlie Harper

Other music for today’s show was produced by: Podington Bear

About Point of Discovery

Point of Discovery is a production of the University of Texas at Austin's College of Natural Sciences and is a part of the Texas Podcast Network. The opinions expressed in this podcast represent the views of the hosts, and not of The University of Texas at Austin. You can listen via Apple Podcasts, Spotify, RSS, Stitcher, Amazon Podcasts, or Google Podcasts. Questions or comments about this episode or our series in general? Email Marc Airhart.

About Point of Discovery

Frog Pandemic

mairhart@austin.utexas.edu (Marc Airhart, Christine Sinatra) — Thu, 13 Jan 2022 16:27:16 +0000

Until COVID-19, few people alive today had experienced the chaos and destruction of a really bad pandemic, one that has at times ground businesses, schools and social lives to a near standstill and killed millions globally. But did you know that we aren’t alone in being battered by a global infectious disease? Frogs are also struggling through their own pandemic that, according to biologist Kelly Zamudio, has several eerie parallels with COVID-19. Perhaps our own encounters with a pandemic will give us new sympathy for our slimy, bug-eyed friends.

A 2019 study in Science found that a chytrid fungus has contributed to declines in about 500 frog species around the world. Read more: https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.aav0379

Our theme music was composed by Charlie Harper - https://www.charlieharpermusic.com/

Other music for today’s show was produced by: Podington Bear - https://www.podingtonbear.com/

About Point of Discovery

Point of Discovery is a production of the University of Texas at Austin's College of Natural Sciences and is a part of the Texas Podcast Network. The opinions expressed in this podcast represent the views of the hosts, and not of The University of Texas at Austin. You can listen to all our episodes at: https://point-of-discovery.simplecast.com/

Questions or comments about this episode, or our series in general? Email Marc Airhart at mairhart[AT]austin.utexas.edu

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BONUS: Presenting the Texas Podcast Network

mairhart@austin.utexas.edu (Marc Airhart) — Mon, 16 Aug 2021 14:43:02 +0000

To hear the full TX512 show, go to the episode from July 21, 2021 titled “The Texas Podcast Network”

Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/episode/2LENTUXmG4TTNhbc5mSNu2

Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-texas-podcast-network/id1541588194?i=1000529545464

Google: https://txsci.net/tx512

Texas Podcast Network: https://www.utexas.edu/texas-podcast-network

Music for today’s show was produced by:

Podington Bear -

https://www.podingtonbear.com/

About Point of Discovery

Point of Discovery is a production of the University of Texas at Austin's College of Natural Sciences and is a part of the Texas Podcast Network. The opinions expressed in this podcast represent the views of the hosts, and not of The University of Texas at Austin. You can listen to all our episodes at: https://point-of-discovery.simplecast.com/

Questions or comments about this episode, or our series in general? Email Marc Airhart at mairhart[AT]austin.utexas.edu

About Point of Discovery

The Case Against Spanking

Wed, 12 May 2021 00:00:00 +0000

Physical punishment, or spanking, is widely practiced in the U.S. and around the world, although it appears to be decreasing. Parents, caregivers and school administrators who use it say the goal is to prevent unwanted behaviors and teach children to make better choices. But does it actually work? And what long term effects does it have on the physical and mental health of people who are punished this way?

In today’s special episode, we’re teaming up with Ike Evans, producer of the Into the Fold podcast, to jointly interview one of the world’s experts on physical punishment, Liz Gershoff. She’s a professor in the University of Texas at Austin’s Department of Human Development and Family Sciences and the director of the Population Research Center. She’s been studying the effects of physical discipline on children for two decades and advocating for an end to the practice.

If you’re interested in digging deeper, check out Into the Fold Episode 22: Restorative Discipline in Schools: https://hogg.utexas.edu/into-the-fold-episode-22-restorative-discipline-in-schools

Listen to other great episodes of Into the Fold here: https://soundcloud.com/hoggfoundation

Music for today’s show was produced by:
Podington Bear - https://www.podingtonbear.com/

About Point of Discovery

Point of Discovery is a production of the University of Texas at Austin's College of Natural Sciences and is a part of the Texas Podcast Network. The opinions expressed in this podcast represent the views of the hosts, and not of The University of Texas at Austin. You can listen to all our episodes at: https://point-of-discovery.simplecast.com/

Questions or comments about this episode, or our series in general? Email Marc Airhart at mairhart[AT]austin.utexas.edu

About Point of Discovery

Do Sick Animals Socially Distance?

Wed, 3 Mar 2021 00:00:00 +0000

When we get sick, we change our social interactions—we keep away from others and we don’t share food. It turns out, humans aren’t the only species to do it.

According to a new review in the journal Science, when highly social animals — such as ants, mice and bats — get sick, their social interactions change, too. For example, sick vampire bats groom each other less, move less and call out less, and this may help reduce the spread of disease. It’s not active social distancing, but rather more like the way we humans are less active when we’re feeling lousy. Ants on the other hand are more proactive: when sick, they will actively self-isolate in a way that helps protect the rest of the colony.

By studying how social behavior changes in various animals, scientists are hoping to better understand the effectiveness of different strategies humans use, like social distancing, to combat the spread of diseases like COVID-19.

Today on the show we’ll meet Sebastian Stockmaier, a recently minted PhD scientist at the University of Texas at Austin, who has spent seven years studying vampire bats and how their social behaviors change when they feel sick.

Watch a video of a vampire bat tricked into feeling sick: https://youtu.be/lCr52sn76Wg

Watch a video of vampire bats “contact calling”: https://youtu.be/p9NcOGy8kJY

A collection of vampire bat videos: https://socialbat.org/videos/

Read the new review paper in the journal Science, “Infectious diseases and social distancing in nature”: https://science.sciencemag.org/content/371/6533/eabc8881

Music for today’s show was produced by:
• Podington Bear - https://www.podingtonbear.com/

Photo credit: Josh Moore, Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute.

About Point of Discovery

Artificial Intelligence Revs Up Evolution’s Clock

Mon, 12 Oct 2020 00:00:00 +0000

Evolutionary biologists never have enough time. Some of the most mysterious behaviors in the animal kingdom—like parenting—evolved over thousands of years, if not longer. Human lifespans are just too short to sit and observe such complex behaviors evolve. But computer scientists are beginning to offer clues by using artificial intelligence to simulate the life and death of thousands of generations of animals in a matter of hours or days. It’s called computational evolution.

One behavior that’s long baffled biologists is called mobbing, in which a gang of hyenas team up to steal prey from much more powerful lions. When UT Austin computer scientists Risto Miikkulainen and Padmini Rajagopalan simulated hyenas and lions on a virtual African savannah, they found something surprising.

Watch a video of real-life hyenas mobbing (courtesy of Michigan State U.): https://youtu.be/Rs7AXFa4sN0

Read more: Evolution of Complex Coordinated Behavior (July 2020)
https://www.cs.utexas.edu/users/ai-lab/downloadPublication.php?filename=http://nn.cs.utexas.edu/downloads/papers/rajagopalan.cec2020.pdf&pubid=127822

Music for today’s show was produced by:
• Podington Bear - https://www.podingtonbear.com/
• Pogmothoin (a.k.a. Tom Griffin) - https://freesound.org/people/pogmothoin/

Photo credit: Stephanie Dloniak.

About Point of Discovery

Point of Discovery is a production of the University of Texas at Austin's College of Natural Sciences. You can listen to all our episodes at @point-of-discovery .

Questions or comments about this episode, or our series in general? Email Marc Airhart at mairhart[AT]austin.utexas.edu

About Point of Discovery

Ask the COVID-19 Experts

Thu, 20 Aug 2020 00:00:00 +0000

We asked you, dear listeners, to send us your most burning questions about COVID-19. And you didn’t disappoint. You asked: When will it be safe for my 12-week-old baby to meet her grandparents? Can you catch it twice? Is the virus mutating and will that make it harder to develop vaccines?

In today’s episode, our three experts get to the bottom of these questions, and more. Meet our experts:

Professor Lauren Ancel Meyers is an epidemiologist and leader of the UT COVID-19 Modeling Consortium. Her team recently found that the virus was circulating in China and in Seattle, Washington weeks earlier than previously thought. (Read more: https://cns.utexas.edu/news/early-spread-of-covid-19-appears-far-greater-than-initially-reported )

Greg Ippolito is a research assistant professor of molecular biosciences and an expert on how our immune systems respond to pathogens. He is working with doctors at Houston Methodist Hospital to test the efficacy of a potential COVID-19 treatment called convalescent plasma therapy. (Read more: https://cns.utexas.edu/news/covid-19-convalescent-plasma-therapy-is-safe-with-76-of-patients-improving )

Jason McLellan is an associate professor of molecular biosciences whose team created a critical component in several COVID-19 vaccines currently in clinical trials. (Read more: https://cns.utexas.edu/news/covid-19-vaccine-with-ut-ties-arrived-quickly-after-years-in-the-making ) He and his team is also developing a therapy for COVID-19 based on special antibodies from llamas. (Read more: https://cns.utexas.edu/news/antibodies-from-llamas-could-help-in-fight-against-covid-19 )

Music for today’s show was produced by:
Podington Bear - https://www.podingtonbear.com/

About Point of Discovery

Point of Discovery is a production of the University of Texas at Austin's College of Natural Sciences. You can listen to all our episodes at @point-of-discovery .

Questions or comments about this episode, or our series in general? Email Marc Airhart at mairhart[AT]austin.utexas.edu

About Point of Discovery

The Next 50 Years: Anybody Out There?

Sun, 7 Jun 2020 00:00:00 +0000

In these next few decades, will humans finally find life in space? We asked University of Texas at Austin astronomer Caroline Morley and her answer just might surprise you. Morley shares her vision for the future in this latest episode of our miniseries, The Next 50 Years.

Check out more podcasts and essays in the Next 50 Years series: https://cns.utexas.edu/news/tags/the-next-50-years

Scientists from across UT Austin are joining forces in the hunt for life on other planets. Astronomers, geoscientists, chemists, biologists and aerospace engineers have pooled resources to form the UT Center for Planetary Systems Habitability, a cross-campus, interdisciplinary research unit. Learn more: https://cns.utexas.edu/news/university-welcomes-new-center-for-planetary-habitability

Have a question about COVID-19? We have experts on all aspects of the pandemic and the virus that causes it. Record your question and email it to us here: utexasscience@gmail.com Please keep your recordings to 20 seconds or less if you can. We’ll answer as many as we can on the next Point of Discovery podcast.

Music for today’s show was produced by:
Podington Bear - https://www.podingtonbear.com/
Chuzausen - https://freemusicarchive.org/music/Chuzausen

About Point of Discovery

Point of Discovery is a production of the University of Texas at Austin's College of Natural Sciences. You can listen to all our episodes at @point-of-discovery .

Questions or comments about this episode, or our series in general? Email Marc Airhart at mairhart[AT]austin.utexas.edu

About Point of Discovery

The Next 50 Years: A Model of Life on the Atomic Scale

Tue, 28 Apr 2020 00:00:00 +0000

Can we simulate life — in all its messy complexity and at the scale of each individual atom — in a computer? Even the most powerful supercomputers today can only simulate a tiny portion of a single living cell for a few nanoseconds. Carlos Baiz is a biochemist at the University of Texas at Austin who says it might someday be possible to simulate an entire living cell for hours or longer. But he says there are two big catches. Baiz shares his vision for the future in this latest episode of our miniseries, The Next 50 Years.

Check out more podcasts and essays in this series: https://cns.utexas.edu/news/tags/the-next-50-years

Music for today’s show was produced by:
Podington Bear - https://www.podingtonbear.com/
Chuzausen - https://freemusicarchive.org/music/Chuzausen

About Point of Discovery

Point of Discovery is a production of the University of Texas at Austin's College of Natural Sciences. You can listen to all our episodes at @point-of-discovery .

Questions or comments about this episode, or our series in general? Email Marc Airhart at mairhart[AT]austin.utexas.edu

About Point of Discovery

Science Amid the Social Distance

Fri, 27 Mar 2020 00:00:00 +0000

Daily life has changed for many of us due to the coronavirus pandemic. During this unusual time, when it’s harder to connect physically with important people in our lives, it can be helpful to step back and spend a little time thinking about the things that still bind us together, like the wonder of the natural world and the hope that scientists offer us as we take on societal challenges.

We’ve put together a compilation from our previous episodes that we hope will help you find some solace right now: in rediscovering life, the people we're closest with and the universe.

To listen to the full episodes that we drew these excerpts from, or to read the transcripts, visit the links below.

Beauty and the Yeast: https://cns.utexas.edu/news/beauty-and-the-yeast
The Science of Relationships: https://cns.utexas.edu/news/the-science-of-relationships
Can Sound Save a Fish?: https://cns.utexas.edu/news/can-sound-save-a-fish
Eyewitness to a Cosmic Car Wreck: https://cns.utexas.edu/news/eyewitness-to-a-cosmic-car-wreck
A Love Letter from Texas Scientists to the Periodic Table: https://cns.utexas.edu/news/a-love-letter-from-texas-scientists-to-the-periodic-table

Music for today’s show was produced by:
Podington Bear - https://www.podingtonbear.com/

About Point of Discovery

Point of Discovery is a production of the University of Texas at Austin's College of Natural Sciences. You can listen to all our episodes at @point-of-discovery .

Questions or comments about this episode, or our series in general? Email Marc Airhart at mairhart[AT]austin.utexas.edu

About Point of Discovery

The Next 50 Years: An A.I. Designed to Make Life Better

Tue, 10 Mar 2020 00:00:00 +0000

Artificial intelligence is becoming more and more a part of our daily lives. But will AI have mostly positive or negative impacts on society? Some potential unintended consequences include home service robots that accidentally break your fine china, or systems that increase the gap between the haves and the have-nots. Peter Stone co-leads the Good Systems initiative at the University of Texas at Austin, which is trying to hash out guiding principles for building AI systems that are more likely to have a positive impact and fewer unintended consequences. He shares his team’s vision for the future in this latest episode of our miniseries, The Next 50 Years.

Check out more podcasts and essays in this series: https://cns.utexas.edu/news/tags/the-next-50-years

Learn about the Good Systems initiative: https://bridgingbarriers.utexas.edu/good-systems/

Peter Stone also chaired the first technical report of the AI100 Study: https://cns.utexas.edu/news/experts-forecast-the-changes-artificial-intelligence-could-bring-by-2030

Music for today’s show was produced by:
Podington Bear - https://www.podingtonbear.com/
Chuzausen - https://freemusicarchive.org/music/Chuzausen

About Point of Discovery

Point of Discovery is a production of the University of Texas at Austin's College of Natural Sciences. You can listen to all our episodes at @point-of-discovery .

Questions or comments about this episode, or our series in general? Email Marc Airhart at mairhart[AT]austin.utexas.edu

About Point of Discovery

The Next 50 Years: Your Perfect Meal and Exercise Plan

Thu, 13 Feb 2020 00:00:00 +0000

Have you ever wondered why some people seem to be able to follow a specific diet or exercise plan and others fail? The answer might have to do with factors unique to each person, like their microbiomes and genetics. Geneticist Molly Bray is working toward a future where each person gets a diet and exercise plan optimized just for them. She shares her vision for how this would work in this latest episode of our miniseries, The Next 50 Years.

Check out more podcasts and essays in this series: https://cns.utexas.edu/news/tags/the-next-50-years

Learn about the ongoing TIGER Study, which explores how genes may alter a person’s response to exercise and diet interventions: http://tigerstudy.org/

Read about a 2015 summary report on the genetics of weight loss by some of the leading experts in this field, including Molly Bray: https://cns.utexas.edu/news/weight-loss-programs-tailored-to-a-person-s-genome-may-be-coming-soon

Music for today’s show was produced by:
Podington Bear - https://www.podingtonbear.com/
Chuzausen - https://freemusicarchive.org/music/Chuzausen

Have you heard our other news? Now you can listen to Point of Discovery on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/4bWQkQ9jBV0cyKeyqeKwdA

About Point of Discovery

The Next 50 Years: A Global Census of Life

Wed, 8 Jan 2020 00:00:00 +0000

We know absolutely nothing about roughly 80 percent of the different types of life on Earth. Biologist David Hillis aims to discover all those missing species—by some estimates 5 to 10 million—possibly in the next few decades. Sound impossible? He shares his vision for how this would work in this first episode of our new miniseries, The Next 50 Years.

Check out more podcasts and essays in this series: https://cns.utexas.edu/news/tags/the-next-50-years

Hillis, along with colleagues Derrick Zwickl and Robin Gutell, published a stunning new tree of life in 2003 based not just on the physical traits but also the genetics of 3,000 species from across all known groups of life. The unique circular layout which first appeared in the journal Science has come to be known as a Hillis plot.

To download a printable version of the Hillis plot and see tattoos and other artistic renderings, visit: http://www.zo.utexas.edu/faculty/antisense/DownloadfilesToL.html

Learn about the computational approaches that enabled this new type of tree of life: https://science.sciencemag.org/content/300/5626/1692.full and https://cns.utexas.edu/news/tree-of-life

Music for today’s show was produced by:
Podington Bear - https://www.podingtonbear.com/
Chuzausen - https://freemusicarchive.org/music/Chuzausen

Have you heard our other news? Now you can listen to Point of Discovery on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/4bWQkQ9jBV0cyKeyqeKwdA

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Coming Soon: A New Podcast Miniseries

Wed, 18 Dec 2019 00:00:00 +0000

If you've been listening to our podcast for a while, you probably have noticed that we haven't had a new episode for a few months. We’ve taken that time to step back and reflect on our show, both what has changed over the last few years (we’re now in our fifth year of production – yay!) and where we're going in the future. In this month’s episode, producer and host Marc Airhart chats with senior editor Christine Sinatra about the podcast. We also share some exciting news: we’re kicking off a new miniseries called The Next 50 Years. The first episode drops in January 2020. Stay tuned!

Music for today’s show was produced by:
Podington Bear - https://www.podingtonbear.com/

Have you heard our other news? Now you can listen to Point of Discovery on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/4bWQkQ9jBV0cyKeyqeKwdA

About Point of Discovery

Point of Discovery is a production of the University of Texas at Austin's College of Natural Sciences. You can listen to all our episodes at @point-of-discovery .

Questions or comments about this episode, or our series in general? Email Marc Airhart at mairhart[AT]austin.utexas.edu

About Point of Discovery

You Belong Here: What It Takes for Success in College

Fri, 20 Sep 2019 00:00:00 +0000

Why do so many first-year students struggle in college? Who is most likely to fail? And what can professors and staff do to help them get over the hump?

“I didn't know what was going on. And I just felt out of place as a whole,” said Ivonne Martinez, a first-year student at UT Austin who was in danger of failing Freshman Calculus. “I was like, What am I doing? And that kind of made me panic.”

In today’s show, math professor Uri Treisman and chemistry professor David Laude describe ways they support students through this difficult time, and psychologist David Yeager explains why these tactics work. We’ll also talk about the University of Texas at Austin’s ambitious goal to boost the number of students graduating within four years from 52 percent several years ago to 70 percent, and how they did it. (Read more: https://news.utexas.edu/2018/09/27/ut-austin-records-its-highest-four-year-graduation-rate/ )

By the way, all of the people in today’s show are featured in a great new book by author Paul Tough. It’s called “The Years that Matter Most: How College Makes or Breaks Us.” For a deeper dive, be sure and check it out: https://www.paultough.com/books/years-that-matter-most/

Music for today’s show was produced by:
Podington Bear - https://www.podingtonbear.com/
Finn’s Fandango

Have you heard the news? Now you can listen to Point of Discovery on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/4bWQkQ9jBV0cyKeyqeKwdA

About Point of Discovery

Point of Discovery is a production of the University of Texas at Austin's College of Natural Sciences. You can listen to all our episodes at @point-of-discovery .

Questions or comments about this episode, or our series in general? Email Marc Airhart at mairhart[AT]austin.utexas.edu

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Confronting RSV, a Shape-Shifting Killer

Thu, 1 Aug 2019 00:00:00 +0000

Virtually everyone contracts RSV (respiratory syncytial virus) as a child, but few people have even heard of it. It’s actually one of the leading causes of infectious disease deaths in infants. Now a team of researchers, including molecular biologist Jason McLellan, are using a radically new way to develop a potential vaccine against RSV. This method, called structure-based vaccine design, is already changing the way many vaccines are now being developed.

To see a cool image of the shape-shifting protein that holds the key to the new RSV vaccine, see the full story on our website at http://pointofdiscovery.org/

Read more about how this new vaccine’s design is revolutionizing vaccine design itself: https://science.sciencemag.org/content/342/6158/546.1

Music for today’s show was produced by:
Podington Bear - https://www.podingtonbear.com/

Have you heard the news? Now you can listen to Point of Discovery on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/4bWQkQ9jBV0cyKeyqeKwdA

About Point of Discovery

Better AI Vision to Help Save Lives

Mon, 17 Jun 2019 00:00:00 +0000

Kristen Grauman, professor of computer science at the University of Texas at Austin, and her team have taught an artificial intelligence agent how to do something that usually only humans can do—take a few quick glimpses around and infer its whole environment. That will be a critical skill for search and rescue robots that can enter a dangerous situation—like a burning building—and relay information back to firefighters or other personnel.

To see an animation of how the new AI agent creates a full view of the world from just a few glimpses, go to our press release at: https://cns.utexas.edu/news/new-ai-sees-like-a-human-filling-in-the-blanks

Music for today’s show was produced by:
Podington Bear - https://www.podingtonbear.com/

Have you heard the news? Now you can listen to Point of Discovery on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/4bWQkQ9jBV0cyKeyqeKwdA

About Point of Discovery

Point of Discovery is a production of the University of Texas at Austin's College of Natural Sciences. You can listen to all our episodes at @point-of-discovery .

Questions or comments about this episode, or our series in general? Email Marc Airhart at mairhart[AT]austin.utexas.edu

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A Machine That Understands Language Like a Human

Fri, 26 Apr 2019 00:00:00 +0000

One thing that sets humans apart from even the smartest of artificially intelligent machines is the ability to understand, not just the definitions of words and phrases, but the deepest meanings in human speech.

Alex Huth, a neuroscientist and computer scientist, is trying to build an intelligent computer system that can predict the patterns of brain activity in a human listening to someone speaking. If a computer could begin to extract the same kinds of meaning from a set of words as a human does, that might help explain how the human brain itself makes sense of language – and even pave the way for a speech aid for people who can’t speak.

Experience an interactive 3D map of the human brain showing which areas respond to hearing different words: https://gallantlab.org/huth2016/

Music for today’s show was produced by:
Podington Bear - https://www.podingtonbear.com/

Have you heard the news? Now you can listen to Point of Discovery on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/4bWQkQ9jBV0cyKeyqeKwdA

About Point of Discovery

Point of Discovery is a production of the University of Texas at Austin's College of Natural Sciences. You can listen to all our episodes at @point-of-discovery .

Questions or comments about this episode, or our series in general? Email Marc Airhart at mairhart[AT]austin.utexas.edu

About Point of Discovery

A Love Letter from Texas Scientists to the Periodic Table

Wed, 6 Mar 2019 00:00:00 +0000

We’re celebrating the 150th anniversary of the periodic table. Join us as we tour the cosmos, from the microscopic to the telescopic, with four scientists studying the role of four elements—zinc, oxygen, palladium and gold—in life, the universe and everything.

Emily Que is a chemist who helped capture, for the first time on video, zinc fireworks that burst from an egg when it’s fertilized by sperm. Astronomer Michael Endl is searching for chemical signs of life in the atmospheres of exoplanets. Kate Biberdorf (a.k.a. Kate the Chemist) found new ways to speed up chemical reactions using palladium. And physicist Aaron Zimmerman explains why the gold in your jewelry was probably forged in an ultraviolent explosion billions of years ago.

Watch zinc-spark fireworks: https://cns.utexas.edu/news/when-sperm-meets-egg-zinc-fireworks-on-display

Listen to our interview with Kate the Chemist on a previous Point of Discovery podcast: https://soundcloud.com/point-of-discovery/fun-with-chemistry

See a periodic table showing how each element was created: http://www.astronomy.ohio-state.edu/~jaj/nucleo/

Watch Kate the Chemist blow things up in honor of National Periodic Table Day: https://www.facebook.com/watch/?v=294826561181390

Hear more about the first neutron star collision captured by a gravitational-wave detector: https://soundcloud.com/point-of-discovery/cosmic-car-wreck

Music for today’s show was produced by:
Podington Bear - https://www.podingtonbear.com/
Chris Zabriskie - https://soundcloud.com/chriszabriskie
Dresden the Flamingo - https://soundcloud.com/dresdentheflamingo

Photo by Vivian Abagiu.

About Point of Discovery

Point of Discovery is a production of the University of Texas at Austin's College of Natural Sciences. You can listen to all our episodes at @point-of-discovery .

Questions or comments about this episode, or our series in general? Email Marc Airhart at mairhart[AT]austin.utexas.edu

About Point of Discovery

All in the (Scientific) Family

Mon, 25 Feb 2019 00:00:00 +0000

Scientists often talk about the people who mentored them, and the students and postdocs they supervise, in ways that sound like a family. Today, in the second of a two-part conversation, we listen in on two members of a well-known scientific lineage: Bill Press, a professor of computer science and integrative biology at the University of Texas at Austin and his former doctoral adviser, Kip Thorne, one of the recipients of the 2017 Nobel Prize in Physics for the discovery of gravitational waves.

Missed the first part of the conversation? Thorne and Press talked about what it’s like to be a scientist advising on a major Hollywood movie such as Interstellar (which just so happens to star UT Austin alum Matthew McConaughey)? Check it out here: https://cns.utexas.edu/news/bringing-real-science-to-the-big-screen

Special thanks to the family of Bryce DeWitt and Cécile DeWitt-Morette for their involvement in bringing Dr. Thorne to Austin for the inaugural Cécile Dewitt-Morette Memorial lecture in 2018. Watch a video of that lecture: https://youtu.be/0ypzGfHXHlw

Music for today’s show was produced by Mike Arnoult, Adrian Walther, Finn’s Fandango, and Sounds Like Sander.

Photo: Kip Thorne surrounded by students and other members of his lab at Caltech—his scientific family—circa 1972. At bottom left is Bill Press, Thorne’s former PhD student and now professor at the University of Texas at Austin. Other notable scientists include David Lee (bottom right), founder of Global Crossing Ltd. and current Board Chair of Caltech, and Alan Lightman (behind and to the right of Thorne), a physics professor at MIT, essayist and novelist. Photo courtesy of Bill Press.

About Point of Discovery

Bringing Real Science to the Big Screen

Tue, 22 Jan 2019 00:00:00 +0000

What’s it like for a scientist to work as an advisor on a major Hollywood film? In this first of a two-part conversation, Kip Thorne talks with his former graduate student Bill Press about the impact that a film like Interstellar can have on the public, balancing scientific accuracy and entertainment and what winning the Nobel Prize really says about a scientists’ worth. (BTW, Interstellar star Matthew McConaughey is also a UT Austin alum)

Stay tuned for part two of this conversation, when we’ll learn more about the rather famous scientific family tree that both Press and Thorne belong to, as well as what gravitational waves mean for the future of astronomical research.

Music for today’s show was produced by Podington Bear and used via a Creative Commons license.

About Point of Discovery

Point of Discovery is a production of the University of Texas at Austin's College of Natural Sciences. You can listen to all our episodes at @point-of-discovery .

Questions or comments about this episode, or our series in general? Email Marc Airhart at mairhart[AT]austin.utexas.edu

About Point of Discovery

Recap: A Big Week in Science

Fri, 5 Oct 2018 00:00:00 +0000

The first week of October is like a science-lover’s World Series: Each year, the spotlight falls on high-impact science, when day after day, a series of Nobel Prizes and other prestigious awards are announced all in one week. This has been an especially exciting week for us here in UT Austin’s College of Natural Sciences.

For the second year in a row, one of our alumni (James Allison) nabbed the Nobel Prize for physiology or medicine. What’s more, the Nobel Prizes given in the categories of physics and chemistry this year were also celebrated by scientists on campus, because the breakthroughs getting attention have implications for research happening right here. Finally, on Thursday, another big announcement came: the MacArthur Foundation announced it had awarded UT Austin chemist Livia Eberlin a MacArthur Fellowship, sometimes called “a genius award.”

So today on Point of Discovery, we're going to do something completely different. We’re bundling some past stories related to the science that’s been in the news this week for one "mega recap" episode.

Play ball!

About Point of Discovery

Point of Discovery is a production of the University of Texas at Austin's College of Natural Sciences. You can listen to all our episodes at @point-of-discovery .

Questions or comments about this episode, or our series in general? Email Marc Airhart at mairhart[AT]austin.utexas.edu

About Point of Discovery

Of Fruit Flies, Nobel Prizes and Genetic Discoveries that Change the World

Thu, 27 Sep 2018 00:00:00 +0000

Last year, University of Texas at Austin alumnus Michael Young won the Nobel prize for discovering the molecular mechanism behind circadian rhythms. Circadian clocks are critical for the health of all living things, acting as the internal timekeepers in plants and animals that help to synchronize functions like eating and sleeping with our planet’s daily rhythm of light and dark.

In today’s episode, Young reveals the series of lucky events that launched him into the forefront of circadian rhythm research, what’s really going on in your body when you experience jet lag and how insights from the lowly fruit fly might now help millions of people with sleep disorders.

About Point of Discovery

Point of Discovery is a production of the University of Texas at Austin's College of Natural Sciences. You can listen to all our episodes at @point-of-discovery .

Questions or comments about this episode, or our series in general? Email Marc Airhart at mairhart[AT]austin.utexas.edu

About Point of Discovery

Can We Build Machines that are Less Biased Than We Are?

Thu, 6 Sep 2018 00:00:00 +0000

Think about some of the most important decisions people make – who to hire for a job, which kind of treatment to give a cancer patient, how much jail time to give a criminal. James Scott says we humans are pretty lousy at making them.

“I think there is room for machines to come into those realms and improve the state of our decisions,” said Scott. “That's going to involve humans and machines working together, however, not simply treating these decisions the way you might treat a microwave oven just by punching in some numbers and walking away …”

Maybe machines can help us make better decisions. But ultimately, it boils down to the question: can we build machines that are less biased than we are?

What do you think?

You can head over to our website and leave a comment at the bottom of this month’s post: https://cns.utexas.edu/point/can-we-build-machines-that-are-less-biased-than-we-are

Have more general thoughts you’d like to share about our show? You can take our survey here: https://utexas.qualtrics.com/SE/?SID=SV_eUTDsDlYdmBBPBb

About Point of Discovery

Point of Discovery is a production of the University of Texas at Austin's College of Natural Sciences. You can listen to all our episodes at @point-of-discovery .

About Point of Discovery

Which Mental Superpower Would You Choose?

Thu, 28 Jun 2018 00:00:00 +0000

What if people who lost a particular brain function—say, an Alzheimer's patient who can no longer make new memories—had the same option as many people who’ve lost limbs or other body parts—the chance to use technology to supplement what’s no longer there? Or what if you could boost a healthy person's brain, essentially giving them mental superpowers, like the ability to become a Kung Fu master by downloading new skills directly to your brain?

Scientists are now working on brain-machine interfaces, systems that connect the human brain to a computer to do something neither the brain—nor the computer—can do alone. In this episode, we talk to neuroscientist Laura Colgin about the potential, and possible pitfalls, of these new technologies.

Tell Us What You Think

Hey, podcast listeners, we've set up an online survey where you can tell us what you like about the show, what could be better, and you can even tip us off to cool research going on right here at the university. You can get to the survey by going to: https://utexas.qualtrics.com/SE/?SID=SV_eUTDsDlYdmBBPBb

About Point of Discovery

Point of Discovery is a production of the University of Texas at Austin's College of Natural Sciences. You can listen to all our episodes at @point-of-discovery .

Questions or comments about this episode, or our series in general? Email Marc Airhart at mairhart[AT]austin.utexas.edu

About Point of Discovery

James Allison Eases Off the Brakes

Mon, 21 May 2018 00:00:00 +0000

Forty years ago, when James Allison had just gotten his PhD in biochemistry, he was intrigued by this far-out idea that was floating around about a new way to treat cancer. The idea—dubbed cancer immunotherapy—was to train the body’s immune system to attack cancer cells—the same way this system already goes after bacteria and viruses. He was one of the few people who actually believed it could work.

In today’s episode, Allison—an alumnus of the University of Texas at Austin and the chair of immunology at MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston—talks about the uphill climb to make cancer immunotherapy a reality. He also shows off his mad harmonica skills. Check out Allison playing harmonica with his band the Checkpoints: https://youtu.be/bsLwOAImzCs

And check out his performance with the legendary Willie Nelson: https://www.houstonchronicle.com/local/prognosis/article/Willie-Nelson-shares-stage-with-Houston-cancer-6886561.php

About Point of Discovery

Point of Discovery is a production of the University of Texas at Austin's College of Natural Sciences. You can listen to all our episodes at @point-of-discovery .

Questions or comments about this episode, or our series in general? Email Marc Airhart at mairhart[AT]austin.utexas.edu

About Point of Discovery

When Science Communication Doesn’t Get Through

Thu, 12 Apr 2018 00:00:00 +0000

Climate change, vaccinations, evolution. Scientists sometimes struggle to get their message across to non-scientists. On the latest episode of the Point of Discovery podcast, what communications research can teach us about why science communication sometimes backfires, and what scientists can do about it.

Today’s episode features Emma Dietrich, a PhD student in the Ecology, Evolution and Behavior graduate program at the University of Texas at Austin and a member of Austin Science Advocates. It also features Anthony Dudo, an associate professor in the Moody College of Communication at UT Austin who studies the science of science communication.

Point of Discovery is a production of the University of Texas at Austin's College of Natural Sciences. You can listen to all our episodes at @point-of-discovery .

Questions or comments about this episode, or our series in general? Email Marc Airhart at mairhart[AT]austin.utexas.edu

About Point of Discovery

A Score to Settle with Cancer

Fri, 2 Mar 2018 00:00:00 +0000

Jonathan Sessler was a college student when he was first diagnosed with Hodgkin’s lymphoma. Fortunately, he was also a chemistry major. After surviving radiation therapy, relapsing and then surviving extremely high doses of what he calls “rat poison” (a.k.a. chemotherapy), his oncologist challenged him: “You’re a chemist. Find new cancer drugs.”

In the four decades since, he’s founded two companies, one of which commercialized a blockbuster drug for leukemia and was sold for $21 billion. The other is working to develop a drug he invented to treat ovarian cancer, based on large molecules that deliver poisons to cancer cells and named after the Lone Star state: Texaphyrin. He knows the odds of bringing effective new cancer treatments to market are stacked against him, yet he tirelessly pushes ahead.

Last month, he spoke to producer Marc Airhart in front of a live audience at the annual meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science.

About Point of Discovery

Point of Discovery is a production of the University of Texas at Austin's College of Natural Sciences. You can listen to all our episodes at @point-of-discovery .

You can also subscribe via iTunes: https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/point-of-discovery-podcast/id1036884430?mt=2
or via our RSS feed: http://feeds.soundcloud.com/users/soundcloud:users:150441582/sounds.rss
or via Stitcher: www.stitcher.com/podcast/point-of-discovery
or via Google Play: https://play.google.com/music/m/Igc5ifenl2bn7e5n2klmrwah7qq?t=Point_of_Discovery

Questions or comments about this episode, or our series in general? Email Marc Airhart at mairhart[AT]austin.utexas.edu

About Point of Discovery

BONUS: Full Conversation with Three STEM Deans

Thu, 25 Jan 2018 00:00:00 +0000

We recently invited three leaders in science and engineering at the University of Texas at Austin to talk about the lack of diversity in their respective fields – and ways to tackle the problem. We featured highlights from their conversation in the previous podcast. The episode you’re listening to right now is the full conversation.

To hear the shorter, highlights episode, go to: https://soundcloud.com/point-of-discovery/tackling-science-and-engineerings-diversity-problem

About Point of Discovery

Point of Discovery is a production of the University of Texas at Austin's College of Natural Sciences. You can listen to all our episodes at @point-of-discovery .

Questions or comments about this episode, or our series in general? Email Marc Airhart at mairhart[AT]austin.utexas.edu

About Point of Discovery

Tackling Science and Engineering's Diversity Problem

Thu, 25 Jan 2018 00:00:00 +0000

The STEM fields – science, technology, engineering and math – have real work to do in terms of diversity. Right now, women make up only about 30 percent of the STEM workforce – and people identifying as black or Hispanic make up just 11 percent. What are the barriers to entry -- or the obstacles to staying in -- STEM? And how can we make sure smart, creative thinkers and problem solvers from diverse backgrounds feel welcome and included in these fields? We invited three leaders in science and engineering to a discussion about these issues to find out what places like the University of Texas at Austin are doing about it.

To hear the full conversation, listen to the bonus episode: https://soundcloud.com/point-of-discovery/bonus-full-conversation-with-three-stem-deans

About Point of Discovery

Point of Discovery is a production of the University of Texas at Austin's College of Natural Sciences. You can listen to all our episodes at @point-of-discovery .

Questions or comments about this episode, or our series in general? Email Marc Airhart at mairhart[AT]austin.utexas.edu

About Point of Discovery

The Language Brokers

Thu, 14 Dec 2017 00:00:00 +0000

Millions of children in the U.S. play a vital, but often overlooked, role in their families. These children of immigrants, known as “language brokers,” help their parents translate job applications, medical documents and bills into their native language. They also help them navigate a completely alien culture. Researchers like Su Yeong Kim, in the Department of Human Development and Family Sciences at the University of Texas at Austin, are debating whether being a language broker is good for children, or not.

About Point of Discovery

Point of Discovery is a production of the University of Texas at Austin's College of Natural Sciences. You can listen to all our episodes at @point-of-discovery .

Questions or comments about this episode, or our series in general? Email Marc Airhart at mairhart[AT]austin.utexas.edu

About Point of Discovery

Cosmic Car Wreck

Mon, 16 Oct 2017 13:56:09 +0000

Astronomers have long been able to watch the universe’s blockbuster special effects unfold in dazzling 3D Technicolor. But until now, it’s been like watching a silent movie. Today that all changes. Scientists announced this morning that they have for the first time ever detected both light and gravitational waves from a massive explosion in space caused by the collision of two super-dense neutron stars. On today’s show, we talk to astrophysicist Pawan Kumar about what this breakthrough means for his field.

Image: Artist’s illustration of two merging neutron stars. (Credit: NSF/LIGO/Sonoma State University/A. Simonnet)

About Point of Discovery

Point of Discovery is a production of the University of Texas at Austin's College of Natural Sciences. You can listen to all our episodes at @point-of-discovery .

Questions or comments about this episode, or our series in general? Email Marc Airhart at mairhart[AT]austin.utexas.edu

About Point of Discovery

Does This Look Like Cancer?

Thu, 7 Sep 2017 00:00:00 +0000

A team of scientists and engineers led by Livia S. Eberlin at The University of Texas at Austin has invented a powerful tool that rapidly and accurately identifies cancerous tissue during surgery, delivering results in about 10 seconds. The MasSpec Pen is an innovative handheld instrument that gives surgeons precise diagnostic information about what tissue to cut or preserve, helping improve treatment and reduce the chances of cancer recurrence. The research is described in the Sept. 6 edition of the journal Science Translational Medicine.

Learn more: https://cns.utexas.edu/news/scientists-new-device-accurately-identifies-cancer-in-seconds

About Point of Discovery

Point of Discovery is a production of the University of Texas at Austin's College of Natural Sciences. You can listen to all our episodes at @point-of-discovery .

Questions or comments about this episode, or our series in general? Email Marc Airhart at mairhart[AT]austin.utexas.edu

About Point of Discovery

When Will We Have Quantum Computers?

Tue, 11 Jul 2017 00:00:00 +0000

Quantum computers might sound like science fiction. A fully functioning quantum computer could complete calculations in a matter of seconds that would take a conventional computer millions of years to process.

Science fiction or not, they’re already here. Scientists at Google, Microsoft, IBM and elsewhere are building and studying them. At this point, they’re not very powerful. But Scott Aaronson, a theoretical computer scientist at the University of Texas at Austin, believes in the next few years, one of these teams may achieve something called quantum supremacy—the first demonstration of a quantum computer doing something faster than a conventional computer.

In this episode, Aaronson lays out a timeline of quantum computing advances, explains what kinds of things they’ll be able to do and even explore one potential downside—breaking the encryption we use to keep everything from credit card information and medical records private.

Image: The cooling system for Google’s superconducting quantum computer

About Point of Discovery

Point of Discovery is a production of the University of Texas at Austin's College of Natural Sciences. You can listen to all our episodes at @point-of-discovery .

Questions or comments about this episode, or our series in general? Email Marc Airhart at mairhart[AT]austin.utexas.edu

About Point of Discovery

Can Sound Save a Fish?

Mon, 24 Apr 2017 00:00:00 +0000

Gulf Corvina look pretty ordinary—they’re a couple of feet long and silvery. Yet the sounds they make—when millions get together to spawn—are a kind of wonder of the natural world. It’s also why they are in danger. Gulf Corvina live in only one place in the world—the Gulf of California. A decade ago, the Mexican government asked marine biologist Brad Erisman and his colleagues to study the Corvina. They were worried that heavy fishing might cause the population to collapse. When Erisman put a microphone in the water for the first time, he was blown away by the sounds he heard.

Learn More

Video: Spawning Aggregations (by Natural Numbers): https://youtu.be/bpLMCyx9cic
Video: Corvina Harvest, El Golfo (by Marine Ventures Foundation): https://vimeo.com/21330986
Biological and fisheries monitoring of the Gulf Corvina in the Upper Gulf of California (by dataMARES): http://datamares.ucsd.edu/eng/projects/fisheries/biological-and-fisheries-monitoring-of-the-gulf-corvina-in-the-upper-gulf-of-california/
Unmanaged Fishing at Spawning Sites Put Species, Economies at Risk (by UT Marine Science Institute): https://utmsi.utexas.edu/blog/entry/unmanaged-fishing-at-spawning-sites-put-species-economies-at-risk

About Point of Discovery

Point of Discovery is a production of the University of Texas at Austin's College of Natural Sciences. You can listen to all our episodes at @point-of-discovery .

Questions or comments about this episode, or our series in general? Email Marc Airhart at mairhart[AT]austin.utexas.edu

About Point of Discovery

Keeps Us on Our Toes

Wed, 15 Mar 2017 00:00:00 +0000

Worried that smart robots are taking over the world? You’ll be relieved to know they still have a long way to go. That is unless you’re an artificial intelligence researcher like Peter Stone. One big challenge facing robots that walk and run is that they fall over a lot. Take for example the annual RoboCup competition in which small human-like robots play soccer. Even with the best minds in computer science behind them, they’re about as graceful as toddlers. Now neuroscientist Michael Mauk thinks he has a solution. It could put robots one step closer to the ultimate goal of AI researchers: to build robots capable of beating human soccer champs.

We recently featured the work of Michael Mauk and four other neuroscientists in our annual Texas Scientist magazine. These scientists are searching for better treatments for epilepsy and Alzheimer’s, exploring how we make memories and learn new things, and revealing how wisdom emerges. Read the article here: https://www.texasscientist.cns.utexas.edu/articles/2017/1/2/unlocking-the-minds-mysteries

Watch UT Austin Villa’s robot soccer team win the 2012 RoboCup: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kc8ty9mog-I

Watch more videos of the UT Austin Villa robot soccer team: https://www.youtube.com/user/AustinVilla/videos

About Point of Discovery

Point of Discovery is a production of the University of Texas at Austin's College of Natural Sciences. You can listen to all our episodes at @point-of-discovery .

Questions or comments about this episode, or our series in general? Email Marc Airhart at mairhart[AT]austin.utexas.edu

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The Science of Relationships

Sat, 11 Feb 2017 00:00:00 +0000

In honor of Valentine’s Day, we’re speaking with Lisa Neff, a researcher studying what makes happy, healthy romantic relationships tick. Neff is an associate professor in the Department of Human Development and Family Sciences at the University of Texas at Austin. She answers several burning questions, including: What are the health benefits of romantic relationships? How can newlyweds avoid communication breakdowns that result from external stress? and, Do optimists make better partners?

Neff is recruiting volunteers for a new study focusing on the romantic relationships of seniors, called Relationship Experiences Across the Lifespan. She is specifically looking for residents in the Austin, Texas area who have begun a dating relationship in the past year and who are either aged 30 to 45 or 60 and over. Eligible couples can receive up to $150 as compensation for their time. To apply, send an email to: utrelationshipexperiences@gmail.com

More info: https://sites.cns.utexas.edu/realproject/home

About Point of Discovery

Point of Discovery is a production of the University of Texas at Austin's College of Natural Sciences. You can listen to all our episodes at @point-of-discovery .

Questions or comments about this episode, or our series in general? Email Marc Airhart at mairhart[AT]austin.utexas.edu

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Resetting the Alcoholic Brain

Sun, 22 Jan 2017 00:00:00 +0000

Adron Harris, director of the Waggoner Center for Alcoho and Addiction Research at The University of Texas at Austin, and his team mapped the differences in gene expression between an alcoholic's brain and a non-alcoholic's brain. They found that, as a person becomes dependent on alcohol, thousands of genes in their brains are turned up or down, like a dimmer switch on a lightbulb, compared to the same genes in a healthy person's brain. The scientists are now using an innovative technique to find drugs that can, in a sense, turn those switches back to their original settings and, they hope, revert an alcoholic's brain into a non-alcoholic brain. The work might help the millions of people who suffer with the emotional, financial and health consequences of alcoholism.

About Point of Discovery

Point of Discovery is a production of the University of Texas at Austin's College of Natural Sciences. You can listen to all our episodes at @point-of-discovery .

Questions or comments about this episode, or our series in general? Email Marc Airhart at mairhart[AT]austin.utexas.edu

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The Mighty Copepod

Thu, 15 Dec 2016 00:00:00 +0000

These teeny shrimp-like critters at the bottom of the ocean food web seem totally unimportant. But throw in an oil spill and some well-intentioned human intervention and they can have a huge impact, right up to the top of the food web, including sea turtles, dolphins and humans. Meet the mighty copepod.

About Point of Discovery

Point of Discovery is a production of the University of Texas at Austin's College of Natural Sciences. You can listen to all our episodes at @point-of-discovery .

Questions or comments about this episode, or our series in general? Email Marc Airhart at mairhart[AT]austin.utexas.edu

About Point of Discovery

Evolution Inspires Anthrax Cure

Fri, 21 Oct 2016 00:00:00 +0000

This fall marks the 15th anniversary of the U.S. anthrax letter attacks that sickened dozens of people and killed five. At the time, there was no effective treatment for a late stage infection. The attacks accelerated work already underway at the University of Texas at Austin. Brent Iverson, George Georgiou and Jennifer Maynard borrowed a page from Mother Nature's playbook to develop the world's first treatment for late stage inhalation anthrax.

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Take our short survey at: http://txsci.net/utpodcastsurvey

About Point of Discovery

Point of Discovery is a production of the University of Texas at Austin's College of Natural Sciences. You can listen to all our episodes at @point-of-discovery .

Questions or comments about this episode, or our series in general? Email Marc Airhart at mairhart[AT]austin.utexas.edu

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The Last First Planetary Mission

Mon, 12 Sep 2016 00:00:00 +0000

The New Horizons spacecraft brought humanity face to face with the last unexplored planet in our solar system: Pluto. What we're learning is amazing. But, time and again, the mission almost didn't happen. University of Texas at Austin alumnus Alan Stern describes the challenges, and the joys, of the last first mission to a planet.

For a complete transcript of this episode, visit our show page at: https://cns.utexas.edu/news/the-last-first-planetary-mission-audio

Tell Us What You Think

Take our short survey at: http://txsci.net/utpodcastsurvey

About Point of Discovery

Point of Discovery is a production of the University of Texas at Austin's College of Natural Sciences. You can listen to all our episodes at @point-of-discovery .

Questions or comments about this episode, or our series in general? Email Marc Airhart at mairhart[AT]austin.utexas.edu

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Bacterial BFFs or Frenemies?

Wed, 3 Aug 2016 20:37:41 +0000

About how long would you say the microbes living in your gut have been there? You might be surprised by what researchers discovered when they compared the microbes in our guts with those of our closest relatives, the great apes.

Tell Us What You Think

Take our short survey at: http://txsci.net/utpodcastsurvey

About Point of Discovery

Point of Discovery is a production of the University of Texas at Austin's College of Natural Sciences. You can listen to all our episodes at @point-of-discovery .

Questions or comments about this episode, or our series in general? Email Marc Airhart at mairhart[AT]austin.utexas.edu

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Looking Forward ... and Back: Podcast Updates

Mon, 11 Jul 2016 20:43:47 +0000

This summer, we're celebrating a milestone: one year of telling you science stories from the frontlines here at the University of Texas at Austin. In this episode, we give a sneak peek at upcoming shows, recap some highlights from the past year and invite you, the listener, to take a quick survey to let us know how we're doing. The survey is at: https://utexas.qualtrics.com/SE/?SID=SV_eUTDsDlYdmBBPBb

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Why is CGI in the Movies Still So Hard?

Tue, 31 May 2016 00:00:00 +0000

As the summer movie season kicks into high gear, we talk with a scientist about some of the challenges in simulating the way everyday objects behave on the big screen. Etienne Vouga's computer simulations have helped bring to life a wizard's hair in The Hobbit and clothing in Tangled.

To see examples of some of his simulations, go to: https://cns.utexas.edu/news/why-is-cgi-in-the-movies-still-so-hard

About Point of Discovery

Point of Discovery is a production of the University of Texas at Austin's College of Natural Sciences. You can listen to all our episodes at @point-of-discovery .

Questions or comments about this episode, or our series in general? Email Marc Airhart at mairhart[AT]austin.utexas.edu

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Here's What Research Did for Me, Student Stories

Sun, 10 Apr 2016 00:00:00 +0000

As the College of Natural Sciences’ Freshman Research Initiative celebrates its 10th anniversary, we speak to students and scientists about how doing research as freshmen and sophomores impacted them.

About Point of Discovery

Point of Discovery is a production of the University of Texas at Austin's College of Natural Sciences. You can listen to all our episodes at @point-of-discovery .

Questions or comments about this episode, or our series in general? Email Marc Airhart at mairhart[AT]austin.utexas.edu

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Jekyll and Hyde Bacteria

Sun, 20 Mar 2016 00:00:00 +0000

To study diseases, biologists often make models, for example, a rat with a disorder similar to Alzheimer's. With a good model, they can tinker with different variables and see if anything halts the disease, without the ethical limits of experimenting on actual humans. But scientists studying an especially nasty bacterium that tends to invade and breed out of control in the lungs of people with cystic fibrosis (CF) kept hitting dead ends in their search for a good model.

Pigs and rats that were genetically engineered to have the same gene defect that causes CF in humans didn't develop the disease. The same bacteria growing in standard media on a petri dish acted nothing like they did when they were in the lungs of a CF patient.

Marvin Whiteley, director of the LaMontagne Center for Infectious Disease at the University of Texas at Austin, decided to try a different approach.

About Point of Discovery

Point of Discovery is a production of the University of Texas at Austin's College of Natural Sciences. You can listen to all our episodes at @point-of-discovery . You can also subscribe via iTunes: https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/point-of-discovery-podcast/id1036884430?mt=2

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You can also tune in via Stitcher: www.stitcher.com/podcast/point-of-discovery

Questions or comments about this episode, or our series in general? Email Marc Airhart at mairhart[AT]austin.utexas.edu

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Saving the Bees

Fri, 19 Feb 2016 00:00:00 +0000

As bees sharply decline around the world, two researchers are taking very different approaches to understand -- and potentially reverse -- this troubling trend. One is studying the microbes that live inside bees and help protect them against infections. The other is studying the links between changing landscapes and bee health.

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You can also tune in via Stitcher: http://www.stitcher.com/podcast/point-of-discovery?refid=stpr

Questions or comments about this episode, or our series in general? Email Marc Airhart at mairhart[AT]austin.utexas.edu

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Pyramid Probe

Fri, 1 Jan 2016 00:00:00 +0000

What would you do if you had Superman's x-ray vision? In today's episode of the Point of Discovery Podcast, we talk to a physicist about how he's using his superhuman powers to explore the insides of ancient Mayan pyramids without digging. This cool infographic shows how it works: https://cns.utexas.edu/news/pyramid-probe

or via our RSS feed: http://feeds.soundcloud.com/users/soundcloud:users:150441582/sounds.rss

Questions or comments about this episode, or our series in general? Email Marc Airhart at mairhart[AT]austin.utexas.edu

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The Race for Dark Energy

Mon, 16 Nov 2015 00:00:00 +0000

What is the mysterious force that seems to be pushing the universe apart faster and faster? Scientists are racing to find the answers and along the way, might get a step closer to finding the "theory of everything."

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You can also tune in via Stitcher: http://www.stitcher.com/podcast/point-of-discovery?refid=stpr

Questions or comments about this episode, or our series in general? Email Marc Airhart at mairhart[AT]austin.utexas.edu

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The Case of the Missing Folate

Thu, 15 Oct 2015 00:00:00 +0000

When Richard Finnell first met her, Rachel was a nine-year-old girl with severe developmental delays. Her condition seemed to be caused by a deficiency in a critical B vitamin called folate. Yet she had plenty of folate circulating in her blood. Somehow it was vanishing before it got to her brain and spine. Eventually Finnell made a surprising discovery. He's now using new genetic tools like CRISPR to better understand her condition and test possible therapies.

Point of Discovery is a production of the University of Texas at Austin's College of Natural Sciences. You can listen to all our episodes at https://soundcloud.com/point-of-discovery . You can also subscribe via iTunes: https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/point-of-discovery-podcast/id1036884430?mt=2

or via our RSS feed: http://feeds.soundcloud.com/users/soundcloud:users:150441582/sounds.rss

Questions or comments about this episode, or our series in general? Email Marc Airhart at mairhart[AT]austin.utexas.edu

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Cocktail Party Effect

Thu, 3 Sep 2015 18:20:03 +0000

How do we manage to follow a conversation with a friend in the middle of a noisy room? Neuroscientists, like Nace Golding, are still working out the details—but what they've learned so far is pretty amazing.

Questions or comments about this episode or our series in general? Email Marc Airhart at mairhart[AT]austin.utexas.edu

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Fun With Chemistry

Mon, 29 Jun 2015 00:00:00 +0000

Meet chemistry lecturer Kate Biberdorf, founder of the wildly popular outreach program Fun With Chemistry. Learn more at: http://www.cm.utexas.edu/outreach/funwithchem

Questions or comments about this episode or our series in general? Email Marc Airhart at mairhart[AT]austin.utexas.edu

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Beauty and the Yeast

Mon, 1 Jun 2015 00:00:00 +0000

Despite a billion years of evolution separating us from the baker’s yeast in our refrigerators, hundreds of genes from an ancestor that we share live on nearly unchanged in us both, say biologists at The University of Texas at Austin.

Questions or comments about this episode or our series in general? Email Marc Airhart at mairhart[AT]austin.utexas.edu

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