NASA Astrobiology Magazine Podcast
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On life beyond Earth and the origin of life. Includes feature articles on a wide range of topics, including the discovery of new planets and terrestrial origins.
About Podcasting:
For those of you new to podcasting, Click Here to read our "Introduction to Podcasting" Article.
 Write a Review of NASA Astrobiology Magazine Podcast
  
personalmedia, February 17, 2006
Reviewer: personalmedia
from Indiana
The first daily podcast I reviewed was presented by an odd monotone female voice that sounded computer-generated. The content of the podcast relating to life on Mars was interesting, but the poor sound quality of the podcast was very distracting from the information presented.
The second NASA Astrobiology Magazine Podcast I reviewed was on the topic of establishing human bases on the moon. Again, the content of the podcast was intriguing, but the male voice presenting the information was broken up and monotone. Individuals who are fascinated with astronomy will probably find these podcasts worth listening to. The sound quality definitely needs improvement. It detracts from the excellent content of these podcasts.
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Podcast Website:
http://www.astrobio.net/news/index.php
Your Audio Sky Tour: June 2008
Monday, June 9, 2008
This month you have a chance to see three or four bright planets in the sky. June download this podcast and listen! Host: Kelly Beatty. (5MB MP3 download: running time: 5m15s)
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Your Audio Sky Tour: May 2008
Monday, May 4, 2008
Here's an introduction to the wonders of May evening sky, which features appearances by Saturn, Mars, and the elusive planet Mercury. Host: Kelly Beatty. (6MB MP3 download: running time: 6m17s)
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Your Audio Sky Tour: April 2008
Thursday, April 3, 2008
Here is an introduction to the wonders of January evening sky — Orion's last stand, Saturn and Mars, and plenty of springtime carnivores. Host: Kelly Beatty. (5MB MP3 download: running time: 5m46s)
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Your Audio Sky Tour: March 2008
Monday, March 10, 2008
Download this podcast to your MP3 player, and you'll be able to navigate the March evening sky like a seasoned stargazer. Find Mars, Saturn, Orion, the Twins of Gemini, and more. (6MB MP3 download: running time: 6m10s)
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Your Audio Sky Tour: February 2008
Tuesday, February 05, 2008
Use this easy-to-follow guide to enjoy what's up in the February sky: Venus and Jupiter dancing in the dawn, Mars riding high among winter's evening stars, and a total lunar eclipse. Host: Kelly Beatty. (5MB MP3 download: running time: 5m21s)
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Your Audio Sky Tour: December 2007
Monday, November 05, 2007
Download this podcast to guide you to the wonders of December's evening sky — like Orion leaping up over the eastern horizon with gleaming Mars by his side. Host: Kelly Beatty. (7MB MP3 download: running time: 7m20s)
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Finding Comet Holmes
Monday, November 05, 2007
Finding Comet Holmes and other great sky sights is a snap if you download this podcast to your MP3 player and head outdoors after dark.
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Life on Mars Gets Cold Shoulder
Friday, July 22, 2005
In the July 22 issue of the journal Science, Caltech graduate student David Shuster and MIT assistant professor Benjamin Weiss (formerly a Caltech student) report that their studies of Martian meteorites demonstrate that at least several rocks originally located near the surface of Mars have been freezing cold for four billion years. Their work is a novel approach to extracting information on the past climate of Mars through the study of Martian meteorites. In fact, the evidence shows that during the last four billion years, Mars has likely never been sufficiently warm for liquid water to have flowed on the surface for extended periods of time. This implies that Mars has probably never had a hospitable environment for life to have evolved, unless life could have gotten started during the first half-billion years of its existence, when the planet was probably warmer.
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Cassini Spies Enceladus' Rolling
Sunday, July 31, 2005
NASA's Cassini spacecraft has obtained new detailed images of the south polar region of Saturn's moon Enceladus. The data reveal distinctive geological features and the most youthful terrain seen on the moon. These findings point to a very complex evolutionary history for Saturn's brightest, whitest satellite..
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Proving the Case
Thursday, August 04, 2005
On Earth, methane is mostly produced by life. The recent detection of methane on Mars therefore has led to much speculation about the possibility for life on the Red Planet. The strategies that may resolve this issue are revealed in the final part of this series on martian methane.
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Tenth Planet Discovered
Friday, August 05, 2005
A planet larger than Pluto has been discovered in the outlying regions of the solar system. The planet is a typical member of the Kuiper belt, but its sheer size in relation to the nine planets already known means that it can only be classified as a planet.
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Nugget of an Idea
Friday, August 05, 2005
A new probe of embedded fossils may uncover what's really underneath a meteorite's surface.Astrobiologists, who search for evidence of life on other planets, may find a proposed Neutron/Gamma ray Geologic Tomography (NUGGET) instrument to be one of the most useful tools in their toolbelt.
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Mystery Methane Maker
Friday, August 05, 2005
The detections of methane in the martian atmosphere have challenged scientists to find a source for the gas, which is usually associated with life on Earth. One source that can be ruled out is ancient history: Methane can survive only 600 years in the martian atmosphere before sunlight will destroy it.
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Earth Bends Messenger
Saturday, August 06, 2005
This week's Earth flyby is the first of a number of critical mission milestones during MESSENGER's circuitous journey toward Mercury orbit insertion. MESSENGER will conduct the first orbital study of Mercury, the least explored of the terrestrial planets that include Venus, Earth and Mars.
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Methane on Earth
Saturday, August 06, 2005
In recent years, new information -- all of it relevant to the Mars debate -- has emerged about both biological and non-biological sources of Earth's methane.
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Snowball Earth
Sunday, August 07, 2005
For several years geologists have been gathering evidence indicating that Earth has gone into a deep freeze on several occasions, with ice covering even the equator and with potentially devastating consequences for life. The theory, known as "Snowball Earth," has been lacking a good explanation for what triggered the global glaciations.
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Interplanetary Whodunit
Sunday, August 07, 2005
Within the last few years, however, two simple chemicals intimately associated with life on Earth have been discovered on Mars. Large amounts of frozen water were discovered at the surface, and traces of methane appeared in the atmosphere.
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Five Easy Pieces
Sunday, August 07, 2005
We've had a lot of orbiters since the Mariner missions, and not only do we see water features in the land, but we also see evidence of tectonics, or possibly volcanic activity.
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Craters or Cradles?
Tuesday, August 10, 2005
Meteor impacts are generally regarded as monstrous killers and one of the causes of mass extinctions throughout the history of life. But there is a chance the heavy bombardment of Earth by meteors during the planet's youth actually spurred early life on our planet, say Canadian geologists
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Mars: Windows on the World
Wednesday, August 11, 2005
In their explorations of Mars, both the Spirit and Opportunity rovers found evidence that liquid water was once on the planet's surface. Joy Crisp, project scientist for NASA's Mars Exploration Rovers, discussed the rovers' long journey and their surprising discoveries at a public lecture on May 19, 2005.
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MRO Lifts Off Into Space
Friday, August 12, 2005
The Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO) launched this morning from Cape Canaveral, Florida. It will take seven months to reach Mars, arriving at the planet in March 2006.
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Moondust
Wednesday, August 17, 2005
Sending men to the Moon certainly changed the public perception of life on our own planet, thanks to the astronauts' photographs of the Earth looking like an illuminated blue marble suspended in the deep black emptiness of space.
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Triple A
Thursday, August 18, 2005
One of the thousands of asteroids orbiting the sun has been found to have a mini planetary system of its own.
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A Comet's Only Cameraman
Thursday, August 18, 2005
In recognition of those Mars Rover graphics in the PBS/NOVA program "Mars Dead or Alive," Maas just received an Emmy Award nomination. His next big project was to simulate the dramatic impact of a bullet-like probe with a icy comet for the recent mission, Deep Impact.
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Tulips on the Moon
Thursday, August 18, 2005
In this essay, Bernard Foing ponders what steps will need to be taken to establish future human bases on the Moon. The Moon has one-sixth of Earth's gravity and no atmosphere, but the difficulties of living there could be eased by something as beautiful and delicate as a flower.
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The Ends of the Earth
Thursday, August 18, 2005
Pamela Conrad, an astrobiologist with NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, has traveled to the ends of the Earth to study life. On June 16, 2005, Conrad gave a lecture entitled, "A Bipolar Year: What We Can Learn About Looking for Life on Other Planets by Working in Cold Deserts." In part 1 of this edited transcript, Conrad describes what sort of signs we could look for to see if there is life in an alien environment.
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A Milky Way Bar Please
Saturday, August 20, 2005
With the help of NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope, astronomers have conducted the most comprehensive structural analysis of our galaxy and have found tantalizing new evidence that the Milky Way is much different from your ordinary spiral galaxy.
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2029 A Near Miss Odyssey
Sunday, August 20, 2005
Scientists predict a near-miss when Asteroid 99942 Apophis passes Earth in 2029. An asteroid flies this close to the planet only once every 1,300 years. The chance to study it will help scientists deal with the object should it threaten collision with Earth.
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Proof of Life?
Monday, August 21, 2005
Conrad gave a lecture entitled, "A Bipolar Year: What We Can Learn About Looking for Life on Other Planets by Working in Cold Deserts." In part 2 of this edited transcript, Conrad describes how her work in cold deserts could aid the search for alien life.
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The Nuts and Bolts
Friday, September 2, 2005
GMT 8:00:00,
The Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter launched on August 12, and when it arrives at Mars it will search for evidence of water in the martian atmosphere, surface, and subsurface. This orbiter also will provide detailed surveys of the planet, identifying any obstacles that could jeopardize the safety of future landers and rovers.
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M Dwarfs: The Search for Life is On
Friday, September 2, 2005
M-dwarf stars, much smaller, dimmer and cooler than stars like our sun, are by far the most common type of star in our galaxy.
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The Lure of Europa
Friday, September 2, 2005
The discovery that Europa most likely has a cold, salty ocean beneath its frozen icy crust has put Europa on the short list of objects in our solar system that astrobiologists would like to study further
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Top of the Other World
Friday, September 2, 2005
When Spirit reached the base of the hills five months after landing, it immediately began finding rocks with wetter histories
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Building Life from Star-Stuff
Saturday, September 17, 2005
Life on Earth was made possible by the death of stars. Atoms like carbon and oxygen were expelled in the last few dying gasps of stars after their final supplies of hydrogen fuel were used up.
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Roving Mars
Saturday, September 17, 2005
The Mars Rovers Spirit and Opportunity are the Energizer Bunnies of planetary exploration. Designed to last for only 90 days, they are still going strong after nearly two years.
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Deciphering Mars: Follow the Water
Saturday, September 17, 2005
At the recent Earth System Processes II conference, Farmer gave a talk on the current state of understanding about Mars: what we know and what we'd like to know. In this, the first of a three-part series, he explains why "following the water" is central to NASA's program of Mars exploration..
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Deciphering Mars: The Current Decade
Saturday, September 17, 2005
At the recent Earth System Processes II conference, Farmer gave a talk on the current state of understanding about Mars: what we know and what we'd like to know. In this, the second of a three-part series, he discusses what scientists have learned from recent NASA and ESA missions to the red planet.
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Comet Cookbook
Saturday, September 17, 2005
Now, astronomers using data from NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope and Deep Impact have analyzed that soup and begun to come up with a recipe for what makes planets, comets and other bodies in our solar system..
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Earth's Wobble Burps
Saturday, September 17, 2005
Researchers have uncovered startling new evidence about an extreme period of a sudden, fatal dose of global warming some 180 million years ago during the time of the dinosaurs. The scientists' findings could provide vital clues about climate change happening today and in the future.
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Asteroid Riddling
Sunday, September 18, 2005
Ancient main belt asteroids identical in size to present-day asteroids in the Mars-Jupiter belt -- not comets -- hammered the inner rocky planets in a unique catastrophe that lasted for a blink of geologic time, anywhere from 20 million to 150 million years.
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By Design
Tuesday, September 21, 2005
Brother Guy Consolmagno, astronomer to the Vatican, discusses his views of the controversy over intelligent design, as well as the historical clashes between science and religion.
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The Living Worlds Hypothesis
Thursday, September 21, 2005
When the Cassini-Huygens mission parted Titan's smoggy veil, it revealed a familiar and yet utterly alien landscape, one where now-dry methane rivers carved out channels in mountains of ice. There's no evidence for biology on Titan's frozen terrain, but in this interview with Astrobiology Magazine, David Grinspoon ponders whether life could exist there today.
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Deciphering Mars: The Future
Thursday, October 6, 2005
At the recent Earth System Processes II conference, Jack Farmer gave a talk on the current state of understanding about Mars: what we know and what we'd like to know. In this, the third and final part of a three-part series, he outlines the options for future Mars exploration.
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Desert RATS Test Robotic Rover
Thursday, October 6, 2005
Earlier this month, a group of scientists and engineers converged in the Arizona desert near Meteor Crater to "practice" for future human missions to the moon and Mars. This year's experiments focused on interaction between space-suited "astronauts" and a very sophisticated rover named SCOUT.
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Sunshine on Comets
Friday, October 7, 2005
Jessica Sunshine is the Deep Impact mission scientist responsible for the onboard infrared spectrometer. In the first half of this two-part interview, she discusses what the comet's nucleus looked like before and after impact, and explains why it's so difficult to piece together the spectroscopic data.
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Sunshine on Comets
Friday, October 7, 2005
Jessica Sunshine is the Deep Impact mission scientist responsible for the onboard infrared spectrometer. In the second half of this two-part interview, she discusses whether Deep Impact has altered our ideas of how comets are formed and how important they've been in Earth's history.
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Kuiper Belt Adding to its Notches
Friday, October 7, 2005
The newly discovered 10th planet, 2003 UB313, is looking more and more like one of the solar system's major players.
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