Earth Ideas

Laura Mahler

These are long-form, unscripted interviews with Academics, Scientists & Journalists about their areas of research. Forming a series of in-depth conversations with fascinating people, with loads to say about the current state of the world, everything that came before us, and everything that could be still to come. FOLLOW Insta @earthideas.podcast Twitter @ideas_earth

  1. 12/11/2020

    How Special Is The Earth? | with Dr Elizabeth Tasker | PODCAST #21

    Dr Elizabeth Tasker is an astrophysicist who studies exoplanets: extra-solar planets - those worlds that exist, function and potentially support life outside of our own solar system.     We talked about methods & theories in discovering and learning about exoplanets, the search for a planet similar to Earth, and the very exciting near future of space technologies & discoveries.    0:00 Elizabeth's career journey  9:51 First exoplanet discovery  17:00 Detecting their compositions  29:24 How to we detect & guess?  34:52 Searching for water  36:53 Searching for life  44:29 The $.5bn Question  52:07 JAXA's next missions   This is a series of in-depth conversations with fascinating people, with loads to say about the current state of the world, everything that came before us, and everything that could be still to come.       We hope you enjoy.     Leave us a comment :)     SHARE SUBSCRIBE!     And come back next week for more.       If you found this episode valuable, please support me with caffeine to keep them coming https://www.buymeacoffee.com/lauramahler :)     Refs & Links:   Hayabusa 2 Asteroid samples landing: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-55201662 The Planet Factory: https://www.elizabethtasker.com/planetfactory Elizabeth's Links:    https://twitter.com/girlandkat  https://twitter.com/nexssmanyworlds  https://www.elizabethtasker.com/  Our Socials:     https://twitter.com/ideas_earth  https://twitter.com/llcmahler  https://www.instagram.com/earthideaspodcast  https://www.instagram.com/laura.mahler

    58 min

  2. 11/26/2020

    What Can Indigenous Languages Teach Us? | with Dr Lindsay Morcom | PODCAST #20

    Dr Lindsay Morcom (Ardoch Algonquin First Nation) is a linguist and researcher of aboriginal languages and teaching. She works actively in language revitalisation techniques and advocates for decolonising education. Indigenous languages hold knowledge, histories & ways of thinking about their lands and culture that do not easily translate into western vocabularies and, as hundreds of languages die out every year, people like Lindsay work to make sure they are received by their heirs.    0:00 Introduction to Lindsay  5:07 Urban language revitalisation  12:46 How do you think First Nation Canadians feel about their language?  19:06 Can we have true direct synonyms or translations?  25:42 Isolate languages  28:19 Reconstructing languages  33:24 Lindsay's approach to revitalising & teaching languages  42:00 How are indigenous languages changing & updating?   44:10 Lindsay's latest research   This is a series of in-depth conversations with fascinating people, with loads to say about the current state of the world, everything that came before us, and everything that could be still to come.       We hope you enjoy.     Leave us a comment :)     SHARE SUBSCRIBE!     And come back next week for more.       If you found this episode valuable, please support me with caffeine to keep them coming https://www.buymeacoffee.com/lauramahler :)     Refs & Links:   https://www.ted.com/talks/lindsay_morcom_a_history_of_indigenous_languages_and_how_to_revitalize_them Lindsay's Links:    https://educ.queensu.ca/lindsay-morcom https://educ.queensu.ca/atep  Our Socials:    https://twitter.com/ideas_earth  https://twitter.com/llcmahler  https://www.instagram.com/earthideaspodcast  https://www.instagram.com/laura.mahler

    48 min

  3. 11/17/2020

    How Do We Understand The Brain? | with Prof Matthew Cobb (PART 2) | PODCAST #19.5

    Prof Matthew Cobb is a zoologist and researcher into animal behaviours through their sense of smell (including ours!) On the side, he explores further his work in science with writing books on the history of science. His newest, The Idea Of The Brain: A History, explores how we come to define & thus attempt to understand the brain and all its complexities, and how we must continually reinvent our approach to doing as we learn more & more about how the brain works.  We talked about historical understandings of the physical human brain and our cognitive abilities, the metaphors used over time for the brain, and new research & research methods that are revealing the limitations of our previous discussions on the brain. The 1st half of this podcast focuses on Matthew's research into the sense of smell, so is available separately in the previous episode :)   0:00 How did you get inspired for your new book?   6:05 Comparing the brain to a computer  10:15 Do we need a new metaphor for the brain?  14:45 Smell in the brain  20:40 How is the brain divided up?   26:30 What are you writing now? This is a series of in-depth conversations with fascinating people, with loads to say about the current state of the world, everything that came before us, and everything that could be still to come.     We hope you enjoy.    Leave us a comment :)    SHARE SUBSCRIBE!    And come back next week for more.     If you found this episode valuable, please support me with caffeine to keep them coming https://www.buymeacoffee.com/lauramahler :) Refs & Links:  https://www.research.manchester.ac.uk/portal/cobb.html Matthew's Links:   https://twitter.com/matthewcobb The Idea Of The Brain: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/51719771-the-idea-of-the-brain Smell: A Very Short Introduction: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/52049783-smell  Our Socials:    https://twitter.com/ideas_earth  https://twitter.com/llcmahler  https://www.instagram.com/earthideaspodcast  https://www.instagram.com/laura.mahler

    34 min

  4. 11/12/2020

    What Is Smelling? | with Prof Matthew Cobb (PART 1) | PODCAST #19

    Prof Matthew Cobb is interested in animal behaviour & psychology, and seeks his answers through research into the sense of smell.   We talked about what effect Covid could be having which is causing a loss of smell and taste, how smell differs across the diversity of life, and what looking into smell can tell us about the effects of today's anthropogenic changes.   0:00 COVID & loss of smell  14:30 Can you regain loss of smell?  18:20 How do you study smell?  30:35 Pheromones  40:50 Global & cultural differences in smelling  48:25 Effects of anthropogenic changes The 2nd half of this podcast focuses on Matthew's work in the history of science, so is available separately in the next episode.    This is a series of in-depth conversations with fascinating people, with loads to say about the current state of the world, everything that came before us, and everything that could be still to come.     We hope you enjoy.    Leave us a comment :)    SHARE SUBSCRIBE!    And come back next time for more.     If you found this episode valuable, please support me with caffeine to keep them coming https://www.buymeacoffee.com/lauramahler :) Refs & Links:  https://www.research.manchester.ac.uk/portal/cobb.html AS Barwich Smellosophy https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/51579757-smellosophy  Matthew's Links:   https://twitter.com/matthewcobb The Idea Of The Brain: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/51719771-the-idea-of-the-brain Smell: A Very Short Introduction: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/52049783-smell  Our Socials:    https://twitter.com/ideas_earth  https://twitter.com/llcmahler  https://www.instagram.com/earthideaspodcast  https://www.instagram.com/laura.mahler

    1 hr

  5. 10/28/2020

    Space Weather: Predicting The Sun's Seasons | with Dr Robert Wicks | PODCAST #18

    Dr Robert Wicks is a space physicist and specialist in natural and man-made hazards in our solar system. He is part of the team behind the ESA Solar Orbiter mission which aims to gather data about our sun's solar wind and polar regions, to better understand its magnetic fluctuations or 'seasons.'   We talked about space weather, the newest attempts to predict it (like Solar Orbiter), and the risks posed by the solar storms & coronal mass ejections that we currently can't well predict.  We then spoke about hot satellite real estate and the growing commercialisation of the space industry.     0:00 How has your teaching been affected by lockdown?  6:47 How has your research been affected?  11:00 International cooperation in space industry  17:20 Creating a space weather forecast  28:35 Historical geomagnetic storms  37:07 Effect of storms on satellites  43:44 The Kessler Syndrome & space junk  49:04 How do you feel about privatisation of industry?  01:02:33 What new mission would you start with unlimited funding? This is a series of in-depth conversations with fascinating people, with loads to say about the current state of the world, everything that came before us, and everything that could be still to come.     We hope you enjoy.    Leave us a comment :)    SHARE SUBSCRIBE!    And come back next week for more.     If you found this episode valuable, please support me with caffeine to keep them coming https://www.buymeacoffee.com/lauramahler :) Refs & Links:  https://www.esa.int/Science_Exploration/Space_Science/Solar_Orbiter  https://www.nasa.gov/content/goddard/parker-solar-probe  https://www.northumbria.ac.uk  https://www.northumbria.ac.uk/about-us/our-staff/w/robert-wicks/  http://interstellarprobe.jhuapl.edu https://ambasat.com  https://www.aac-clyde.space  https://www.ucl.ac.uk/mssl/  https://www.metoffice.gov.uk/weather/specialist-forecasts/space-weather   Robert's Links:   https://twitter.com/RobTWicks  https://www.northumbria.ac.uk/about-us/our-staff/w/robert-wicks/  Our Socials:    https://twitter.com/ideas_earth  https://twitter.com/llcmahler  https://www.instagram.com/earthideaspodcast https://www.instagram.com/laura.mahler

    1h 11m

  6. 10/20/2020

    Microbes Living In Extreme Environments | with Dr Aparna Banerjee | PODCAST #17

    Dr Aparna Banerjee is a microbiologist who works in the field of extremophiles - microbes who live & thrive in extreme environments. She's currently working on microbes that live in the Andean Hot Springs, and has previously studied those living in freezing Antarctic temperatures.   We talked about extremophile methods for survival, and then went on to talk about her work in levelling the STEM playing field for women and hard-to-reach would-be scientists. 0:00 Chile's Atacama Desert  6:12 Polymeric networks  12:46 Use in industry  19:34 Aparna's career journey  26:00 Microbe conservation  35:00 Lockdown's effect on microbes  38:49 Women in STEM  53:22 Microbes in space  56:30 The $.5bn Question This is a series of in-depth conversations with fascinating people, with loads to say about the current state of the world, everything that came before us, and everything that could be still to come.   Or you can WATCH this episode on Youtube at https://tinyurl.com/y6akmj2p We hope you enjoy.   Leave us a comment :)  SHARE SUBSCRIBE!  And come back next week for more.   If you found this episode valuable, please support me with caffeine to keep them coming https://www.buymeacoffee.com/lauramahler :) Aparna's Links:  https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Aparna_Banerjee3 Bioclues: http://bioclues.org/core-members/  https://twitter.com/AparnaMicrobio Our Socials:   https://twitter.com/ideas_earth https://twitter.com/llcmahler https://www.instagram.com/earthideaspodcast  https://www.instagram.com/laura.mahler

    1 hr

  7. 10/08/2020

    How Does An Ant Colony Live? | with Prof Deborah Gordon | PODCAST #16

    If you found this episode valuable, please support me with caffeine to keep them coming https://www.buymeacoffee.com/lauramahler :) Prof Deborah Gordon is a biologist at Stanford University and a world expert in the function and survival of ant colonies. Her research uses ant colonies to investigate and design other systems that also operate without central control such as the internet, the immune system, and the brain.  She is also concerned with how ants are adapting their behaviour in the Anthropocene and our changing climate.   This is a series of in-depth conversations with fascinating people, with loads to say about the current state of the world, everything that came before us, and everything that could be still to come.   Or you can WATCH this episode on Youtube at https://youtu.be/eIRhsL2C3Ck We hope you enjoy.   Leave us a comment :)  SHARE SUBSCRIBE!  And come back next week for more.   Deborah's Links:  Lab https://web.stanford.edu/~dmgordon/  Ted Talk https://tinyurl.com/yyg3x2zw   My Socials:  https://www.instagram.com/laura.mahler  https://www.instagram.com/earthideaspodcast

    1h 5m

  8. 10/01/2020

    How The Potato Changed The World | with Prof Rebecca Earle | PODCAST #15

    Professor Rebecca Earle is an historian of food & culture and is interested in all things of the everyday life of ordinary people - how their choices & activities have shaped and affected the global experience. She has written 2 whole books on the POTATO and how its glorious palatability in all kinds of dishes, and its brilliant caloric offering for a low land & water usage, changed the lives of people from Peru to China. We talk about her determination to shine the light of history away from the usual characters and tell those other stories, and how concerns of the current days (ecological destruction, political & social division, human rights) must ultimately affect historical research. 0:00 Being a Food Historian  5:51 Why were the Americas so blessed for crops?  14:24 Potatoes head to Europe  23:45 Potatoes take over the world  34:25 A different view of history  45:51 The $.5bn Question  50:11 Future for potatoes This is a series of in-depth conversations with fascinating people, with loads to say about the current state of the world, everything that came before us, and everything that could be still to come.   You can also WATCH this episode on Youtube at https://tinyurl.com/y6akmj2p  We hope you enjoy.   Leave us a comment :)  SHARE SUBSCRIBE!  And come back next week for more.   If you found this episode valuable, please support me with caffeine to keep them coming https://www.buymeacoffee.com/lauramahler :) Rebecca's Links:  https://warwick.ac.uk/fac/arts/history/people/staff_index/earle  https://www.amazon.co.uk/Feeding-People-Politics-Rebecca-Earle-ebook/dp/B0868QFW2V  https://www.amazon.co.uk/Potato-Object-Lessons-Rebecca-Earle/dp/1501344315  My Socials:  https://www.instagram.com/laura.mahler  https://www.instagram.com/earthideaspodcast

    1h 2m
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About

These are long-form, unscripted interviews with Academics, Scientists & Journalists about their areas of research. Forming a series of in-depth conversations with fascinating people, with loads to say about the current state of the world, everything that came before us, and everything that could be still to come. FOLLOW Insta @earthideas.podcast Twitter @ideas_earth

Information

  • Creator
    Laura Mahler
  • Years Active
    2K
  • Episodes
    23
  • Rating
    Clean
  • Copyright
    © Laura Mahler
  • Show Website
    Earth Ideas