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The practical challenges of surviving harsh environments and limited resources in outer space have long been a focus of space research. But how might asking questions about living differently in space help us meet the challenges of living differently on earth? In this episode, we explore this with Dr Aaron Parkhurst as he discusses his multidisciplinary approach to studying ‘off-world living’. From Martian homes to exercise trampolines and funeral practices, we discuss the benefits of bringing together researchers from anthropology, architecture, art, design, cardiovascular science, molecular biology, psychiatry, and sustainable construction to open thinking about living well and the need, not only to survive, but to thrive.
Aaron Parkhurst is an Associate Professor in medical anthropology at UCL. For the podcast transcript, details of our other podcasts and activities, visit http://tinyurl.com/mubmxu4n
2
2/28/2024
This artist’s impression shows the magnetic white dwarf WD 0816-310, where astronomers have found a scar imprinted on its surface as a result of having ingested planetary debris.
When objects like planets or asteroids approach the white dwarf they get disrupted, forming a debris disc around the dead star. Some of this material can be devoured by the dwarf, leaving traces of certain chemical elements on its surface.
Using ESO’s Very Large Telescope, astronomers including UCL researchers found that the signature of these chemical elements changed periodically as the star rotated, as did the magnetic field. This indicates that the magnetic fields funnelled these elements onto the star, concentrating them at the magnetic poles and forming the scar seen here. Credit: ESO/L. Calçada
2
2/26/2024
Lunch Hour Lectures - Spring 2011 - Episode 10: Landing on a planet at 600 miles per hour
Unmanned robotic missions are essential for understanding the planets within our solar system. Current missions comprise of gentle landings combined with rovers to explore the local region. Due to the expense of such missions, and their sometimes unsuitability as scientific outposts, UCL’s Mullard Space Science Laboratory is developing Planetary Penetrators, which aim to land on planets at very high speed, penetrating the planet and implanting equipment just below the surface.
Vintage Podcasts - Lunch Hour Lectures
4
9/27/2023
Lunch Hour Lectures - Autumn 2009 - Episode 10: Seeing the invisible: Observing the dark side of the universe
To celebrate the 400th Anniversary of the telescope and World Space Week. Dr Bridle will describe in pictures ‘gravitational lensing’, the bending of light by gravity, which is predicted by Einstein’s General Relativity. The mysterious dark components that constitute most of the universe do not emit or absorb light, but they do exert a gravitational attraction, and gravitational lensing is one of the most promising methods for finding out more about them. Dr Bridle will review the current observations and upcoming surveys.
Dr Sarah Bridle
Royal Society University Research Fellow
Cosmology@UCL
Vintage Podcasts - Lunch Hour Lectures
2
7/25/2023
Lunch Hour Lectures - Spring 2008 - Episode 5: What can Venus, Mars and Titan tell us about Earth? (video)
Vintage Lunch Hour Lectures
5
7/13/2023
EHT researchers created around 1.8 million computer models simulating Sagittarius A* and narrowed them down to a handful of best fit models, the best of which is shown in this video. This is what radio telescopes might observe if they had infinite resolution. Credit: Ziri Younsi, Christian M. Fromm, Yosuke Mizuno & Luciano Rezzolla
528
5/12/2022
The first image of the supermassive black hole at the centre of our galaxy has been unveiled by the Event Horizon Telescope Collaboration involving Dr Ziri Younsi (UCL Mullard Space Science Laboratory). Dr Younsi explains the significance of the discovery and why it took five years for the global research team to extract the image from observational data obtained in 2017. Credit: UCL / FILMBRIGHT
377
5/12/2022
Osnat Katz explores the liberatory promise and troubling past of space science.
49
12/10/2021