STEM Learning with the World’s Simplest Camera

In 2017, Sam Cornwell launched a successful Kickstarter campaign to make a pinhole camera called the Solarcan. Now a successful company with the same name, the Solarcan is a simple camera that takes extremely long time exposures capable of capturing the path of the sun. Sam joins us for this special video episode of Lab Out Loud to tell us […]

Read more

How to Become a Scientific Illustrator

What is a scientific illustrator? Ella Marushchenko joins Lab Out Loud to discuss her job and her journey from a traditional art background to creating scientific illustrations. Stressing the need for artistic freedom in scientific visualization, Ella describes how she balances the collaborative process between artists and scientists as she translates complex concepts into visually appealing art. Links: Featured image […]

Read more

Without Twitter, Where Will Scientists Find Community?

In a recent survey, Nature asked scientists about their use of Twitter, and discovered that many decreased their use of the platform, and some have decided to leave it completely. To help understand this trend, we welcome bilingual science journalist Myriam Vidal Valero to the show. Myriam reminds us how many scientists need social media to connect, share their work, […]

Read more

We Can’t Recycle our Way Out of This: The Hidden Cost of Cheap Technology

Are you getting new laptops this year? Have you wondered what happens to them when the older ones are replaced? Does it bother you that they only last for a few years? To talk to us about the life cycle of our technology, we welcome Lucas Gutterman to the show. As the director of the Design to Last campaign with […]

Read more

This Comic Book Shares Secrets of Everyday Hidden Systems

Artist Dan Nott joins Lab Out Loud to tell us about his new graphic nonfiction book called Hidden Systems. With the help of visual metaphors, Dan illustrates systems that we often take for granted, such as the internet, the electrical grid, and providing water. Hidden Systems reveals these difficult to understand and often hidden systems that we tend to care […]

Read more

The Bald and the Beautiful: Tales from the Nest in Big Bear Valley

Meet the Friends of Big Bear Valley, a group that maintains two solar powered webcams focused on Jackie and Shadow, a pair of bald eagles in Big Bear Valley, California. Executive Director Sandy Steers and Candee Roberts join us to share a little of Jackie and Shadow’s life while describing the continuous challenges that the eagles face. Listen to the […]

Read more

Revisiting the 1986 Teacher in Space Program

We recently listened to the One Year, which covered 1986: The Ultimate Field Trip, describing the Teacher in Space program. Announced in 1984 by President Reagan as a way to boost science education, the Teacher in Space program invited teachers to apply to become the first citizen into space. Realizing that two teachers from Wisconsin were selected, we reached out […]

Read more

Help! My Physics Tutor is a Robot!

Rhett Allain returns to Lab Out Loud for his 5th time to talk about ChatGPT, a novel artificial intelligence chat tool from OpenAI. In the last few months, Rhett has also been exploring how to use ChatGPT to see how it can solve physics homework, serve as a suitable teaching assistant and even write code. Rhett shares his experience as […]

Read more

A Closer Look at Snowflakes

Thinking of snow? We first talked to Dr. Kenneth Libbrecht in 2006 when the US Postal Service began featuring his photographs of snowflakes on stamps. 16 years later, we wanted to find out what’s changed in snowflake science, so we invited him back to the show. Dr. Libbrecht joins us again to share new discoveries in snowflake science, describe how […]

Read more

More Science and Technology Videos from Sloan Science and Film

Sloan Science and Film is an online publication from the Museum of the Moving Image that examines the intersection of science and film. As curator of Science and Technology at the museum and the Executive Editor of scienceandfilm.org, Sonia Epstein returns to Lab Out Loud to discuss how Sloan films were used during the pandemic, how you can use the […]

Read more

Did you get all of your School Supplies?

Pencils. Notebooks. Glue sticks. Dry erase markers. Safety goggles. Tissues. As students returned to school this fall, they were asked to obtain numerous school supplies for their own use and sometimes for the entire classroom. When are school supplies necessary and when are they excessive? Dale and Brian discuss the topic of school supplies for all classrooms, but particularly for […]

Read more

Fostering Stewardship in Science Education

Stephen Pompea joins the show to discuss how scientists can support science education in both formal and informal settings. About Our Guest: Stephen Pompea is Observatory Scientist Emeritus at NSF’s National Optical-Infrared Astronomy Research Laboratory and served for two decades as the leader of its renowned education and public outreach programs. He is a Visiting Professor at Leiden University, the […]

Read more

Learn Chemistry with Ninjas in Games and Graphic Novels!

Nathan Schreiber returns to the show to talk about his newest project using a series of graphic novels designed to teach chemistry concepts. Building off of the popular game, Valence uses science ninjas in an action packed adventure that teaches foundational chemistry about what makes up the universe, how it’s measured, and how it’s transformed. Nathan joins us to discuss […]

Read more

Bringing Untold Stories to the Surface

Our guest this week is National Geographic Explorer and storyteller Tara Roberts. For the last couple of years, Tara has been following a group of black scuba divers around the world as they search for and help document slave shipwrecks. These explorations to the ocean floor and within human journeys have been shared as rich stories through her “Into the […]

Read more

Addressing Alternative Conceptions when Teaching Science

Our guest this week is Tim Hartelt from the Department of Biology Education at the University of Kassel in Germany. With colleagues Helge Martens and Nina Minkley, Tim recently published a study investigating if science teachers were able to diagnose the alternative conceptions they may hold when teaching biology concepts. Tim joins us to discuss the study and its findings, […]

Read more

How to Cultivate the Next Generation of Science Teachers

Our guest this week is Dr. Meenakshi Sharma. From her unique perspective as a professor of science education who trains pre-service teachers, Dr. Sharma recently wrote an article detailing characteristics of elementary teachers who effectively implement the Next Generation Science Standards. Dr. Sharma joins us to discuss these characteristics, explain how they are grounded in using real-world phenomena, and describe […]

Read more

Reorganizing the Tree of Life #ScientistOutLoud

In this installment of #ScientistOutLoud, we welcome research and teaching professor Prashant Sharma from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Using morphology and genomic data, Dr. Sharma and his lab recently challenged our understanding of arachnid classification by adding horseshoe crabs to the same class as spiders and scorpions. Dr. Sharma joins us to remind us how modern classification works, describe why […]

Read more

A New Digital First, Learning First Opportunity from NSTA

Trish Shelton joins us to highlight a new learning initiative from NSTA called the Professional Learning Unit (PLU). Designed as an asynchronous mini-course, a PLU is a bite-sized learning experience available on demand when a teacher, department or district needs it most. Listen to the show to hear more about this exciting new learning opportunity and find out how you […]

Read more
1 2 3 15