Podcast

Point of Discovery

Behind every scientific discovery is a scientist (or 12) and a story. “Point of Discovery” takes you on a journey beyond WHAT we know to HOW we know it. Listeners will meet the sometimes quirky, always passionate people whose curiosity unlocks hidden worlds.

FEATURED ★ Podcast

A Once-in-Many-Centuries Event

In honor of the impending total solar eclipse on April 8th, we present this special eclipse podcast.

A dark disk in the center surrounded by glowing white filaments

The Sun’s corona shining brightly during a total solar eclipse in 2017. This media was created by the National Optical-Infrared Astronomy Research Laboratory (NOIRLab). Credit: Miloslav Druckmüller, Peter Aniol, Vojtech Rušin, Ľubomír Klocok, Karel Martišek, Martin Dietzel. Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

Podcast

Experimental Vaccine Against Respiratory Syncytial Virus (RSV) Elicits Strong Immune Response

After decades of research, an effective RSV vaccine now seems within reach

A patient receives a vaccination in the arm

Podcast

New AI Sees Like a Human, Filling in the Blanks

An artificial intelligence agent that can glance quickly at parts of a new environment and infer the full scene might be more effective on dangerous missions.

Silhouettes of a human and a robot looking at a painting in a museum

Podcast

A Machine That Understands Language Like a Human

Alex Huth is trying to build an intelligent computer system that can predict the patterns of brain activity in a human listening to someone speaking.

Illustration of a brain with different regions colored differently

Podcast

A Love Letter from Texas Scientists to the Periodic Table

We're celebrating the 150th anniversary of the periodic table. Join us as we tour the cosmos, from the microscopic to the telescopic, with four scientists studying the role of four elements—zinc, oxygen, palladium and gold—in life, the universe and everything.

A series of cupcakes arranged to look like the periodic table

Podcast

All in the (Scientific) Family

Scientists often talk about the people who mentored them, and the students and postdocs they supervise, in ways that sound like a family.

A casual photo of college students and faculty sitting on a living room floor

Podcast

Bringing Real Science to the Big Screen

Scientist Kip Thorne talks with his former graduate student Bill Press about what it's like to work on a major Hollywood film.

An astronaut walks across a frozen, alien landscape

Podcast

A Big Week in Science

The first full week of October is like a science-lover's World Series: Each year, the spotlight falls on high-impact science, when day after day, a series of Nobel Prizes and other prestigious awards are announced one after another.

Nobel ptize medal

Podcast

Of Fruit Flies, Nobel Prizes and Genetic Discoveries that Change the World

Last year, University of Texas at Austin alumnus Michael Young won the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for discovering the molecular mechanism behind circadian rhythms.

Portrait of a man in a suit

Podcast

Can We Build Machines that are Less Biased Than We Are?

Think about some of the most important decisions people make – who to hire for a job, which kind of treatment to give a cancer patient, how much jail time to give a criminal. Statistics and Data Sciences faculty member James Scott says we humans are pretty lousy at making them.

A woman representing the concept of justice by wearing a blindfold and holding a scale

Podcast

Which Mental Superpower Would You Choose?

In this episode of Point of Discovery, we talk to neuroscientist Laura Colgin about the potential, and possible pitfalls, of new technologies that connect the human brain to a computer.

Illustration of a brain connected to a computer

About the Podcast

Behind every scientific discovery is a scientist (or 12) and a story. “Point of Discovery” takes you on a journey beyond WHAT we know to HOW we know it. Listeners will meet the sometimes quirky, always passionate people whose curiosity unlocks hidden worlds.

Hosted by Marc Airhart

Marc Airhart is the Communications Coordinator for the College of Natural Sciences. A long time member of the National Association of Science Writers, he has written for national publications including Scientific American, Mercury, The Earth Scientist, Environmental Engineer & Scientist, and StarDate Magazine.

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Disclaimer

Point of Discovery is part of the Texas Podcast Network, brought to you by The University of Texas at Austin. Podcasts are produced by faculty members and staffers at UT Austin who work with University Communications to craft content that adheres to journalistic best practices. The University of Texas at Austin offers these podcasts at no charge. Podcasts appearing on the network and this webpage represent the views of the hosts, not of The University of Texas at Austin.