Capstones
Graduation Date
Fall 12-13-2023
Grading Professor
Emily Laber Warren
Subject Concentration
Health & Science
Degree Name
Master of Arts (MA)
Abstract
Most of us will never come close to touching space. But space touches us every day. On Celestial Bodies, journalist Rebecca Rand and astronomer Mark Popinchalk explore the ways outer space interacts with life on earth.
In Episode 1, hosts Rebecca Rand and Mark Popinchalk explore how, for millions of years, trees have been recording celestial events in space. Within the rings of their trunks, trees store radiation from solar flares, supernovae, and changes in the earth’s magnetic field. The hosts talk to Dr. Ben Pope to learn more about what we can discover by looking at radioactive molecules stored in trees’ rings.
In Episode 2, the hosts dive into another story of unlikely astronomers–clams, scallops, and other shelled friends down in the ocean, who’ve been keeping track of lunar activity for way longer than humans. Popinchalk and Rand chat with Dr. Leanne Melbourne at the American Museum of Natural History to learn more about how mollusks build their shells, and explore the stories hiding within their layers. Listen on Soundcloud
Recommended Citation
Rand, Rebecca L. and Popinchalk, Mark, "Celestial Bodies" (2023). CUNY Academic Works.
https://academicworks.cuny.edu/gj_etds/705
Original podcast cover art by Rebecca Rand
Episode 1 Arboreal Astronomers.mp3 (37336 kB)
Celestial Bodies Episode 1, Arboreal Astronomers
Episode 2 the Mollusk and the Moon.mp3 (30025 kB)
Celestial Bodies Episode 2, The Mollusk and the Moon
Included in
Cosmology, Relativity, and Gravity Commons, Marine Biology Commons, Other Astrophysics and Astronomy Commons, Other Forestry and Forest Sciences Commons, Paleobiology Commons, Plant Biology Commons, Radiochemistry Commons, Stars, Interstellar Medium and the Galaxy Commons, The Sun and the Solar System Commons