LASER: Materials Science Podcast

Jul 01 2020 26 ep. 54 mins 2k
LASER: Materials Science Podcast artwork

LASER-the Materials Science Podcast is a science and engineering podcast discussing science and engineering topics from a materials science perspective. Materials science is about things, and the stuff that makes up those things. We cover anything STEM related-–popular science news articles, recent journal papers, and buzzword topics–-in a casual, unscripted, discussion “journal club” style.

  Science  Education  Technology
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Episode 21 – Underground with Dr. Sarah Truebe

Jul 01 2020 51 mins  
Discussion of what we can learn form caves, how they are studied, and some ethics of studying sensitive cave features.

Episode 20 – Room Temperature Superconductivity Controversy

Aug 16 2018 36 mins  
Discussion about recent controversy surrounding a claim of room temperature superconductivity. Very exciting claims, but because it isnt verified and there are some questions about the manuscript, this is treated almost as a review of the pre-print, with a short description of data issues found by Brian Skinner.

Episode 19 – 2015 Perihelion Edition

Feb 03 2015 57 mins  
Welcome to 2015! This year's perihelion edition was recorded on the day which the earth is closest to the sun. We cover a diverse list of important scientific and engineering happenings from 2014, and even talk about a little biology and genomics research! (but don't worry, its mostly cool physics, space, and engineering stuff.)

Episode 18 – Space Space Space

Oct 14 2014 55 mins  
This week we discuss Space X and Boeing contracts to transport NASA astronauts to the International Space Station by 2018, and some new luxuries that will soon be available on the ISS; a 3-D printer, and an espresso machine!

PULSE! #4 – Better Coffee Through Chemistry

Jun 19 2014 23 mins  
Most coffee-particular people already know that the quality of the water you use is important for good coffee, but a recent paper describes how affecting the specific hard mineral content can have important changes in the relative extraction of specific flavor and strength affecting chemicals in your brew. We discuss the basics of coffee preparation, and the conclusions of the pape

Episode 17 – Life, The Universe, and Frogs

Jun 05 2014 71 mins  
This week on LASER we discuss a realistic computer simulation of a universe, a proposed mechanism for why tin whiskers are destroying our most sensitive computers, and GaInSn liquid metal used to reconnect severed nerves in frogs.

Episode 16 – Sun & Surf

May 16 2014 60 mins  
For our first episode of the summer on LASER: Let's Agree Science & Engineering are Rad, we discuss our own Chris' recently-accepted paper about inorganic ZnS window layers on organic solar cells. These increase the efficiency, and help protect the cell from environmental damage. We then talk about the NRL Press release describing long-chain hydrocarbon fuel (jet fuel) they have ma

LASER Pulse! #3 – The Heartbleed

Apr 15 2014 22 mins  
This week's LASER Pulse! is about the Heartbleed computer vulnerability. We cover the basics of the heartbleed bug, why its important, and mention that you really need to CHANGE YOUR PASSWORDS. Because this is a Pulse episode, there are little to no edits (just the intro and outro really), and the whole show is only about 20 minutes.

Episode 15 – Airships for the Future

Apr 09 2014 84 mins  
The cast of the Technically Speaking Podcast join us to talk with about the future of super rad airships for scientific use--similar to satellites! We also talk about a company planning a new method for extracting Lithium from geothermal vents, to meet the needs of the Tesla Giga-Factory.

Episode 14 – Filters and Photodetectors

Mar 26 2014 54 mins  
On Episode 14 of LASER we discuss using tree branches as water filters, a new type of super-thin room temperature infrared light detector that uses graphene, and the $1 Origami Microscope.