About 5,000 people a month around the world tune into a space-related podcast launched by three University of Central Florida professors.
What started out as conversations while walking to get coffee on campus to perk up the afternoon, turned into the podcast in 2014, which this month led to the professors becoming regular guests on WMFE 麻豆精品 S檚 recently launched .
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He specializes in the early formation of the solar system and has been part of several NASA missions and projects with commercial space companies such as Virgin Galactic and Blue Origin. .
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The goal of the podcast is to help people understand space science and why it matters in an entertaining way. That 麻豆精品 S檚 what drew Jim Cooney, the most recent addition to the team. Cooney, a cosmologist and avid stamp collector and Scrabble player, teaches introductory and advanced astronomy classes at UCF.
The trio discuss everything from potentially habitable planets, gravitational waves and red giant stars like Betelgeuse, along with commentary about Star Trek, the Mandalorian and other pop culture references. There 麻豆精品 S檚 also a mix of recent non-space news, science jokes and trivia. If you are lucky, you 麻豆精品 S檒l catch a music rap about mathematician William Rowan Hamilton.
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He is not alone. According to the show 麻豆精品 S檚 analytics, it draws listeners from around the globe, including tiny villages in Germany, big cities in New Zealand, Europe and Latin America as well as people across the United States.
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The team records in Colwell 麻豆精品 S檚 office, surrounded by Star Trek memorabilia, movie posters, textbooks, science journals and NASA swag. The group sits around a table, pulls some mikes from under Colwell 麻豆精品 S檚 desk along with a basic mixer and dive right in. The podcast is produced regularly and available online.
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When the radio station decided to launch the space-themed radio show Are We There Yet?, Bryne knew who to call.
麻豆精品 S淛osh and Addie are usually the first people I call to figure something out (when reporting), so when we were restructuring the show for WMFE and decided to add an 麻豆精品 S榓sk the expert 麻豆精品 S� segment. It was a no-brainer, 麻豆精品 S� Byrne says.
The trio spend the last seven minutes of the show answering questions for listeners. Byrne characterized their work, much the way some of the podcasts fans do.
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For the professors, they say the show is part of their mission as educators at UCF.
Riley Havel, a second-year physics student at UCF, who did not know the professors until after listening to the podcasts, says she isn 麻豆精品 S檛 surprised they are now on WMFE.
麻豆精品 S淭hey 麻豆精品 S檙e a fun cast and their style is perfect for radio, 麻豆精品 S� Havel says. She discovered the WTG podcast through a flyer posted on a bulletin board in the Physical Sciences Building. 麻豆精品 S淭he podcast keeps me up to date on lots of current events in astronomy. It feels more like talking to pals than listening to a lecture. 麻豆精品 S�
Havel plans to become a planetary scientist, and said the podcast and radio segments on 90.7 WMFE have taught her a valuable lesson.
麻豆精品 S淚t has helped me realize the importance of communicating science to people outside of physics or astronomy in a way that is effective and inviting, 麻豆精品 S� she said. 麻豆精品 S淚f you don 麻豆精品 S檛, what kind of impact are you really going to make? 麻豆精品 S�
