The most recent episode of the Ask Dr. Universe podcast looks toward the stars, featuring Washington State University astronomer Michael Allen. Listeners will learn what astronomy is, how amateur astronomers contribute to the field, and what life outside Earth might be like. Allen deftly unravels the story of a single gold atom — AKA Glynda the gold atom — as she travels through the universe and reveals what that means for all the atoms that make up everyone on Earth.
“If you perform a little bit of a calculation, you can discover that pretty much any atom — like any little piece of you — has probably been through at least one star in its total history,” Allen said.
The episode is the 13th installment of the “How Do You Science” series, which aspires to answer a young reader’s question about what scientists do in real life. Previous episodes explore what it means to be a neuroscientist, an undergraduate student researcher, a developmental psychologist, a fish veterinarian, a postdoctoral researcher, a science writer, an entomologist and an educational psychologist.
The Ask Dr. Universe program is a service of WSU with the goal of connecting upper elementary and middle school-aged kids with science and the university. In addition to the podcast, Dr. Universe works with WSU faculty and expert alumni to answer science questions sent in by curious readers in a weekly column.
Is there extraterrestrial life somewhere out there in the vast universe? Cougs and their kittens can explore that mystery by listening to the “Meet an Astronomer” episode.
