Blue Dot

Blue Dot, named after Carl Sagan's famous speech about our place in the universe, features interviews with guests from all over the regional, national and worldwide scientific communities. Host Dave Schlom leads discussions about the issues science is helping us address with experts who shed light on climate change, space exploration, astronomy, technology and much more. Dave asks us to remember: from deep space, we all live on a pale, blue dot.

Best of Blue Dot: Musings on the Moon with author Christopher Cokinos

Host Dave Schlom finds a kindred spirit with Christopher Cokinos, author of the new book, Still as Bright: An Illuminating History of the Moon from Antiquity to Tomorrow.

11-11
51:38

Blue Dot: What your tummy has to say: a conversation with Elsa Richardson

Host Dave Schlom visits with Elsa Richardson, an academic at the University of Strathclyde, Glasgow. Her new book, Rumbles: A Curious History of The Gut is a fascinating journey through the story of our ongoing quest to understand the process of digestion.

10-25
51:38

Blue Dot: Mars science in 2024: Perseverance and Curiosity rovers and Mars Odyssey orbiter

We get an update on NASA's explorations of Mars in 2024 as Host Dave Schlom visits with two scientists and an engineer from the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California. We checked in on the Perseverance Rover, which has been exploring Jezero Crater since February 2021, with Deputy Project Scientist Katie Stack Morgan.

10-18
51:38

Blue Dot: The real science of the Yellowstone Volcano Observatory

Host Dave Schlom is joined by Michael Poland, Scientist in Charge of the United States Geological Survey's Yellowstone Volcano Observatory.

10-11
51:37

Blue Dot: On the road: A visit to the Park Fire burn scar

Host Dave Schlom is joined by Producer Matt Fidler as they travel up California Highway 36E to visit the communities of Mineral and Mill Creek.

10-04
51:37

Best of Blue Dot: The Rescue Effect: a conversation with author and environmental scientist Michael Mehta Webster

Host Dave Schlom visits with NYU Environmental Studies Professor Michael Mehta Webster to discuss his book, The Rescue Effect: The Key to Saving Life on Earth. Webster is an environmental scientist with a fascinating take on how nature has built in mechanisms that serve to preserve species and ecosystems in times of stress or disruptions.

09-27
51:37

Blue Dot: The Klamath River flowing freely again and the science driving it

Blue Dot takes an in-depth look at the science behind the Klamath dam removal project, one of the largest of its kind ever attempted.

09-13
51:37

Best of Blue Dot: The process of subduction with geophysicist Magali Billen, UC Davis

Host Dave Schlom visits with UC Davis Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences geophysics professor Magali Billen to talk about one of Earth's most dynamic and complex processes, subduction.

09-06
51:37

Blue Dot: The most fascinating creature on the planet? Hummingbirds with Dr. Christopher Clark

Host Dave Schlom is joined by UC Riverside biologist and hummingbird expert Christopher Clark for a fascinating and in-depth look at the lives of the smallest of birds.

08-30
51:38

Blue Dot: Fire and ice: a look at the Cascade volcanoes

Host Dave Schlom is joined by scientists from the United States Geological Survey's Cascades Volcano Observatory in Vancouver, Washington, for an overview of the iconic cones sheathed in snow and ice and the geologic hazards they represent.

08-23
51:38

Blue Dot: Lessons to learn about fire on the landscape: a conversation with pyrogeographer Zeke Lunder

In a conversation recorded while the Park Fire was raging in the foothills and mountains of Northern California, Host Dave Schlom visits Zeke Lunder.

08-09
51:36

Blue Dot: State of the oceans report with NASA oceanographer and climate scientist Josh Willis

Host Dave Schlom visits with his good friend, Josh Willis. Josh is an oceanographer and climate scientist at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California. \

08-02
51:38

Best of Blue Dot: The amazing undersea world of sharks with Dave Ebert, aka "The Lost Shark Guy"

Host Dave Schlom visits with Dr. David Ebert, one of the world's foremost experts on sharks. Dave is the Director of the Pacific Shark Research Center at San Jose State University's Moss Landing Marine Laboratories.

07-26
51:36

Blue Dot: Meet the Beetles! A conversation with Caltech entomologist Joseph Parker

Host Dave Schlom visits with Dr. Joseph Parker, entomologist and beetle expert and head of the Parker Lab at the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena.

07-19
51:38

Blue Dot: The greatest photograph of all: Earthrise and the man who took it, William Anders

Blue Dot pays tribute to one of the most iconic photographs ever taken, Earthrise, taken by Apollo 8 astronaut William Anders on Christmas Eve, 1968.

07-12
51:37

Blue Dot: State of the lake: a conversation with UC Davis Tahoe Environmental Research Center scientists

Host Dave Schlom is joined by two scientists from the UC Davis Tahoe Environmental Research Center (TERC) to discuss the state of one of the crown jewels of the Sierra, Lake Tahoe.

07-05
51:36

Blue Dot: In memoriam: Blue Dot's 2022 tribute to Ed Stone

Blue Dot revisits an episode in which we profiled the amazing career of one of America's greatest space scientists, Ed Stone. Stone passed away on June 9 at the age of 88.

06-28
51:37

Blue Dot: 1906: The Great Northern California Earthquake Pt. 2

Blue Dot concludes its retrospective of the earthquake that struck Northern California on April 18, 1906.

06-21
51:37

Blue Dot: 1906: The Great Northern California Earthquake Pt. 1

Host Dave Schlom teams up with scientists from the United States Geological Survey for part one of a two-part in-depth look at the massive earthquake that struck Northern California on April 18, 1906.

06-14
51:37

Blue Dot: One of California's truly special places: Angelo Coast Range Reserve

Host Dave Schlom talks to Reserve Caretaker Peter Steel, whose grandparents Heath and Marjorie Angelo deeded the land to the Nature Conservancy in 1959, making it the first Nature Conservancy landholding in the western United States.

06-07
51:38

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