Ever Wonder? from the California Science Center California Science Center

For the first few episodes of this podcast, we'll take you behind the scenes of the California Science Center to meet some of the people who design and develop exhibits.Imagine for a minute that you're visiting a science center or a museum. You're looking at an exhibit and… you probably have questions. Good thing there's some text posted nearby to help explain what's going on.These bits of interpretive text are called exhibit labels, and you can find them all over museums. If you've been to a...

The field of robotics has advanced a LOT over the past couple of decades, and part of that has to do with advances in the fields of computer science and artificial intelligence. Algorithms that help robots function and interact with the world are all around us, from the search engines we use to the facial recognition function in our phones.But these algorithms can have problems. This past September, for example, Twitter users discovered that photo previews, which use machine learning to crop ...

Before we go on break for the holidays, we’re releasing another bonus episode. We introduce Devin Waller, who will be joining the show as co-host for the next few episodes. As our first season wraps up, we answer a question from one of our listeners:Do you ever wonder why our galaxy is a spiral?And we also give a teaser of what’s coming next season! Have a question you've been wondering about? Send an email to everwonder@californiasciencecenter.org to tell us what you'd like to hear in f...

Giant sea bass. Desert tortoise. Leopard shark. These are all examples of creatures you can see on display when you visit the California Science Center. And just like you or me or any of the pets you might have at home, these critters can get sick.Do you ever wonder who takes care of all these different animals when they need to go to the doctor?In this episode, we're joined by Dr. Brittany Stevens, a veterinarian here at the Science Center. She'll tell us all about her vet exam room, how she...

We are starting a new series on robots! We've seen some pretty amazing advances in robotics in just the past few years. Maybe you've seen videos of humanoid robots that do backflips or robot hummingbirds that can hover in midair. Now, a video of a single back-flipping robot is pretty amazing. But what if you could get a whole team of robots--hundreds or even thousands of robots--to cooperate with each other? Do you ever wonder what would happen if robots worked together?Kirstin Petersen ...

In an earlier episode, we chatted with Isis Howard, who works at the Xerces Society for Invertebrate Conservation. She told us about the multi-generational migration of Monarchs across 3 different countries. Here she further explains why some monarchs live a few weeks, while other monarchs live 6 to 9 months! Ever Wonder... how some Monarchs live longer than others? Have a question you've been wondering about? Send an email or voice recording to the podcast t...