Blue Dot

Series produced by North State Public Radio

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Conversations exploring where science and pop culture collide. Hosted by Dave Schlom with audio production by Matt Fidler.

Blue Dot, named after Carl Sagan's famous speech about our place in the universe, features interviews with guests from all over the regional, national and worldwide scientific communities. Host Dave Schlom leads discussions about the issues science is helping us address with experts who shed light on climate change, space exploration, astronomy, technology and much more. Dave asks us to remember: from deep space, we all live on a pale, blue dot.


187 Pieces

Order by: Newest First | Oldest First
BD - Watershed Restoration with CalTrout: a conversation with Curtis Knight
From: North State Public Radio
Series: Blue Dot
Caption: Fly angler on the McCloud River, Credit: Curtis Knight/CalTrout
Dave is joined by the Executive Director of California Trout, Curtis Knight, to talk about the conservation organization and its regional restorati...

  • Added: Nov 30, 2023
  • Length: 59:00
BD - Pascal Lee and the Carl Sagan Prize
From: North State Public Radio
Series: Blue Dot
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Dave and Pascal Lee team up once again, this time to discuss Lee winning the Carl Sagan Prize from Wonderfest in the San Francisco Bay Area for his...

Bought by KSPB Pebble Beach


  • Added: Nov 16, 2023
  • Length: 59:00
  • Purchases: 1
BD - The Science of Road Ecology
From: North State Public Radio
Series: Blue Dot
Caption: Desert Bighorn Sheep crossing under State Highway 62, Credit: UC Davis Road Ecology Center image
Dave visits with Fraser Shilling, Director of the Road Ecology Center at UC Davis. A relatively new discipline, road ecology seeks to understand ho...

Bought by KSPB Pebble Beach


  • Added: Nov 02, 2023
  • Length: 59:00
  • Purchases: 1
BD - Drs. Hall join forces to talk about "Science and Nonsense"
From: North State Public Radio
Series: Blue Dot
Caption: The then newly minted Dr. Kendall Hall with father Dr. Raymond Hall
CSU Chico Professor of Physics Kendall Hall joins Dave once again as a special co host as they talk to her father, also a Physics professor, Raymon...

Bought by KSPB Pebble Beach


  • Added: Oct 19, 2023
  • Length: 59:00
  • Purchases: 1
Profile of a mission: Psyche explores its namesake asteroid
From: North State Public Radio
Series: Blue Dot
Caption: Psyche the spacecraft and asteroid, Credit: NASA
Scheduled for launch around the original airing of this program, the Psyche mission will be off to explore the asteroid it is named for, 16 Psyche....

Bought by KSPB Pebble Beach


  • Added: Oct 12, 2023
  • Length: 59:00
  • Purchases: 1
BD - California Against the Sea: a conversation with Rosanna Xia
From: North State Public Radio
Series: Blue Dot
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Dave is joined by Rosanna Xia, environmental journalist for the Los Angeles Times to discuss her new book, California Against The Sea: Visions for ...

Bought by KSPB Pebble Beach


  • Added: Oct 05, 2023
  • Length: 59:00
  • Purchases: 1
BD - Preparing for the next Great American Eclipse: a visit with Rick Fienberg
From: North State Public Radio
Series: Blue Dot
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Dave is joined by Sky and Telescope magazine senior contributing editor Rick Fienberg to preview the big celestial event coming up soon, the total ...

Bought by KSPB Pebble Beach


  • Added: Sep 14, 2023
  • Length: 59:00
  • Purchases: 1
BD. -Aquaculture 101 with Katie Mackey Harris
From: North State Public Radio
Series: Blue Dot
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Dave is joined by special guest and co-host Katie Mackey Harris for a look at the world of aquaculture in the western United States. Harris is the ...

Bought by KSPB Pebble Beach


  • Added: Sep 07, 2023
  • Length: 59:00
  • Purchases: 1
BD - Salish Sea Wild: a conversation with wildlife vet Joey Gaydos and filmmaker Bob Friel
From: North State Public Radio
Series: Blue Dot
Piece image
Dave is joined by the creators of the YouTube channel, Salish Sea Wild. Wildlife veterinarian and the science director for the SeaDoc Society, Joe ...

Bought by KSPB Pebble Beach


  • Added: Aug 31, 2023
  • Length: 59:00
  • Purchases: 1
BD - The heat is on: a conversation with Jeff Goodell, author of The Heat Will Kill You First
From: North State Public Radio
Series: Blue Dot
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Dave visits with Rolling Stone contributing editor and author Jeff Goodell about his latest book, The Heat Will Kill You First: Life and Death on a...

Bought by KSPB Pebble Beach


  • Added: Aug 17, 2023
  • Length: 59:00
  • Purchases: 1
BD - Traditional Ecological Knowledge with Brook M. Thompson and Harold Fidler's role in the Manhattan Project
From: North State Public Radio
Series: Blue Dot
Caption: Brook Thompson and her father Willie Thompson smoking Salmon, Credit: Brook Thompson
Family plays a pivotal role in this episode as Dave is joined first by Yurok tribal member and environmental engineer Brook M. Thompson. Brook shar...

Bought by KSPB Pebble Beach


  • Added: Aug 10, 2023
  • Length: 59:00
  • Purchases: 1
BD - Combining passions: fly fishing and photography with Val Atkinson
From: North State Public Radio
Series: Blue Dot
Caption: Anglers on the Fall River with the iconic red barns, Credit: Val Atkinson
Dave sits down for a visit with world renowned fly fishing and travel photographer Val Atkinson. They discuss how Val got his first interest in pho...

Bought by KSPB Pebble Beach


  • Added: Aug 04, 2023
  • Length: 59:00
  • Purchases: 1
BD - Hunter Pence's all star efforts for a better Bay Area: The Healthy Planet Project and San Francisco Baykeeper
From: North State Public Radio
Series: Blue Dot
Caption: San Francisco Baykeeper Sejal Choksi-Chugh with Hunter and Alexis Pence, Credit: SF Baykeeper
Dave visits with two time world series champion and four time MLB All Star Hunter Pence about the non profit organization he and his wife Alexis ha...

Bought by KAZU Seaside, Calif. and KSPB Pebble Beach


  • Added: Jul 27, 2023
  • Length: 59:00
  • Purchases: 2
BD - Here Begins The Dark Sea: a conversation with author Meredith F. Small on the Fra Mauro map
From: North State Public Radio
Series: Blue Dot
Caption: The Fra Mauro World map created c. 1450, Credit: Museo Correr, Venice4
Dave visits with best-selling author and award winning anthropologist Meredith F. Small to talk about her new book, Here Begins The Dark Sea: Venic...

Bought by KSPB Pebble Beach


  • Added: Jul 13, 2023
  • Length: 59:00
  • Purchases: 1
BD - Liftoff! What it takes to launch NASA's Artemis Moon rocket.
From: North State Public Radio
Series: Blue Dot
Caption: Artemis I rolls out of the VAB to the pad, Credit: NASA
After the successful launch of the Artemis I test mission to the Moon, NASA is gearing up for Artemis II, the first crewed mission to leave Earth o...

Bought by KSPB Pebble Beach


  • Added: Jul 06, 2023
  • Length: 59:00
  • Purchases: 1
BD - NSS 2023 Space Pioneer Award winner Pascal Lee
From: North State Public Radio
Series: Blue Dot
Caption: Pascal and his Dog, Apollo
Dave has a fascinating conversation with Dr. Pascal Lee, planetary scientist from the SETI Institute and NASA's Ames Research Center in Mountain V...

Bought by KSPB Pebble Beach


  • Added: Jun 29, 2023
  • Length: 59:00
  • Purchases: 1
BD - Remembering America's space station: Skylab @50 Pt. 2
From: North State Public Radio
Series: Blue Dot
Caption: Skylab 4 astronaut Ed Gibson operating the space station's solar telescope in orbit, Credit: NASA, 1973
Dave concludes our two part look back at the first and only exclusively American space station, Skylab, which was crewed by three teams of astronau...

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  • Added: Jun 22, 2023
  • Length: 59:00
  • Purchases: 1
BD - Remembering America's space station: Skylab@50 Pt. 1
From: North State Public Radio
Series: Blue Dot
Caption: Skylab after repairs done by Skylab 2 crew , Credit: NASA
Blue Dot host Dave Schlom is joined by space journalist Emily Carney and Apollo astronaut Rusty Schweickart in part one of our look back at the onl...

Bought by KSPB Pebble Beach


  • Added: Jun 15, 2023
  • Length: 59:00
  • Purchases: 1
BD - Using our public lands and waters responsibly!
From: North State Public Radio
Series: Blue Dot
Caption: Visitors at Lassen Volcanic National Park , Credit: National Park Service
In this episode, host Dave Schlom tackles a topic much in the news lately, how to safely and ethically use our public lands and waters. Dave visits...

Bought by KSPB Pebble Beach


  • Added: Jun 08, 2023
  • Length: 59:00
  • Purchases: 1
BD - Mark Catesby in the New World and California's massive snowpack
From: North State Public Radio
Series: Blue Dot
Caption: Aerial view of the High Sierra snowpack in 2023, Credit: Airborne Snow Observatories Inc.
Dave visits with author Patrick Dean about his new book, Nature's Messenger: Mark Catesby and his adventures in a new world. Dean's book reveals th...

Bought by KSPB Pebble Beach


  • Added: Jun 01, 2023
  • Length: 59:00
  • Purchases: 1

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