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Episode 2- A Giant Leap for Frogkind

9729007497_2d4d8cc746We have two new hosts for this episode, Sivan and Matt co-host with Cameron. The discussion includes spider silk coated with carbon nanotubes, the Voyager 1 space probe leaving the solar system, Frank the Frog, the most accurate atomic clock to date, and architectural mishaps that put some people in hot water (har har).

 

 

 

1:30 we’re through with introductions and start talking about a story from FSU involving  spider silk coated with  nanotubes.

12:00 The Voyager 1 space exploration probe finally leaves the solar system (paper and Article).

13:00 HERE‘s the diagram we were talking about

21:25 Cameron confuses cosmology with crystallography

23:30 We discuss an unexpected passenger on the NASA LADEE Launch

26:25 Matt points out some interesting airport equipment

29:50 Otherwise, LADEE launch is pretty cool, and we don’t know how its pronounced.

33:30 We talk about the new world’s most accurate atomic clock.

37:00 Cameron didn’t read up on optical tweezers either… He isn’t exactly correct… Maybe you should read for yourself.

42:50 A new building in London is melting cars.

54:40 when Cameron said “voyager could keep going,” he meant that it could continue to operate. It will already keep flying until it hits enough stuff to stop it. because physics.

55:00 Goodnight everybody.

55:35 Listen for Matt’s pH joke!

 

Songs:

First Few Desperate Hours (from a cover album of The Mountain Goats’ Tallahassee)

Let’s go to the Moon – Groovie Ghoulies (This one is kind of hard to find…)

Time Bomb- The Format, from their EP

 The City that Never SleepsThe Wild (Free!)

 

Posted in Matt, podcast, Sivan.

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Pulse! 1 Glass, Graphene, and Magnesium

HSingle-molecule-glass-theory-vs-TEMere is the first LASER Pulse! episode. These are short 10-30 minute updates that will fit in between the regular fortnightly release schedule.   Today’s show briefly covers three new materials science news stories that otherwise wouldn’t make it to the full-length shows.

The topics we talk about are:

“Guinness Record: World’s Thinnest Glass Is Just Two Atoms Thick” – Science Daily

“3-D Graphene–Solar Power’s next Platinum?” – Michigan Tech

“Fuel-efficient cars, planes cheaper with Magnesium drawn from ocean” – Phys.org

The next full-length episode is ready to be released on Monday, September 30th.

Posted in podcast.

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Episode 1 – A Thin Veneer of Podcast

ar-2012-00232e_0007Here’s the very first episode of LASER!   Let us know what you think in the comments.  Today we discuss how ancient artifacts were gold coated, a new form of carbon called “carbyne,” and how scientific data is published and shared.

 

Show Notes:

2:30  Alex introduces himself as “The Slinky” instead of troll king.  Or, you know,  just using his name.

3:00 We have some trouble with Italian pronunciation, but eventually find out that we’re talking about the article:  “Ancient technology for metal coatings 2,000 years ago can’t be matched even today” (here’s the full paper)

9:25 Cameron can’t remember that the “nozzle” in extrusion is called a “die,” and he also doesn’t remember what calendering is.

10:40 We get to the “can’t be matched even today”  claim

21:25  Alex briefly explains how a cricket’s knee works

24:44 The gang drinks some homebrew cider

27:05  Cameron gets a little angry at famous carbon nanotube research groups

29:40 We stop arguing and get to the point. Emily inroduces  “New Form of Carbon is Stronger Than Graphene and Diamond”   and the paper is published on arxiv.org, so its available to everyone here!

35:49  Instead of discussing the actual article (“How to share Scientific Data“) Cameron mostly soapboxes about open access journals and publication of negative results (see PLOS and JUNQ)

and we discuss the Pub Peer service for commenting on academic papers.

47:45 Yes, you can grow carbon nanotubes with lasers.

48:14  Closing statements and our twitter account!

50:56 the blooper reel begins

 

Music for this episode:

Sunny Place, Shady People by Bomb the Music industry (free album)
A Shine To It by Laura Stevenson and the Cans
Cider for Breakfast by Great Cynics (http://kindoflikerecords.com/-website down at time of writing)
Riverside by The Wild (album also available for free)

Posted in Alex, Emily, podcast.

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Welcome to LASER

Welcome to LASER, the Materials Science Podcast.

 

We’ve started recording, and the first episode will be up at some point in the future.

Posted in Uncategorized.