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.


123 Pieces

Order by: Newest First | Oldest First
What is this thing called Science Anyway?
From: North State Public Radio
Series: Blue Dot
Caption: James Zimring
Dave visits with James Zimring, author of the new book What Science is and How it Really Works. In a wide ranging conversation that covers everythi...

Bought by KSPB Pebble Beach and KWMR


  • Added: Oct 24, 2019
  • Length: 59:00
  • Purchases: 2
Restoring the Western Flyer with John Gregg
From: North State Public Radio
Series: Blue Dot
Caption: The Western Flyer in restoration at Port Townsend, WA
In this episode we explore the amazing story of the Western Flyer, the fishing boat immortalized by John Steinbeck in his 1940 book The Log From Th...

Bought by KSPB Pebble Beach


  • Added: Oct 17, 2019
  • Length: 59:00
  • Purchases: 1
John Gregg and Restoring The Western Flyer
From: North State Public Radio
Series: Blue Dot
Caption: The Western Flyer in restoration at Port Townsend, WA
In this episode we explore the amazing story of the Western Flyer, the fishing boat immortalized by John Steinbeck in his 1940 book The Log From Th...

  • Added: Jan 14, 2020
  • Length: 59:00
Rebroadcast: Farming in Harmony With Nature: John Chester and The Biggest Little Farm
From: North State Public Radio
Series: Blue Dot
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The award winning documentary The Biggest Little Farm is the focus of Dave's conversation with film maker turned farmer John Chester. He and his wi...

Bought by KSPB Pebble Beach


  • Added: Oct 08, 2019
  • Length: 59:00
  • Purchases: 1
OMG! It's Climate Elvis! And interview with Josh Willis
From: North State Public Radio
Series: Blue Dot
Caption: Climate Elvis with Al Roker
Dave talks to longtime friend of the program, Josh Willis, the Principal Investigator for NASA's OMG (Oceans Melting Greenland) program. Josh was f...

Bought by CI Dolphin Radio and KSPB Pebble Beach


  • Added: Oct 03, 2019
  • Length: 59:00
  • Purchases: 2
Best of Blue Dot: Fathers Day with Alan Stern
From: North State Public Radio
Series: Blue Dot
Caption: Leonard and Alan Stern
On this Best of Blue Dot we revisit our Father's Day episode that featured three pairs of father's and their kids that went on to careers in scienc...

  • Added: Sep 25, 2019
  • Length: 59:00
Blu Dot: A New Plate Boundary in The Making? The Walker Lane
From: North State Public Radio
Series: Blue Dot
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Dave investigates the idea that the boundary between the North American and Pacific tectonic plates may be in the process of "stepping" eastward fr...

Bought by KWMR


  • Added: Sep 20, 2019
  • Length: 59:00
  • Purchases: 1
(rebroadcast) The Sound of Science in the Sea: Acoustic Research at the Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute
From: North State Public Radio
Series: Blue Dot
Caption: Photo by Kim Fulton Bennett of Dave Schlom in the control room of the MBARI Research Vessel Rachel Carson
Dave traveled to the Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute (MBARI) earlier this summer where he learned about many of the institute's scientific...

Bought by KSPB Pebble Beach, KAZU Seaside, Calif., and KWMR


  • Added: Sep 12, 2019
  • Length: 59:00
  • Purchases: 3
Blue Dot: Lassen Volcanic National Park and the UC Natural Reserve System
From: North State Public Radio
Series: Blue Dot
Caption: Lassen Peak
Lassen Volcanic National Park is the latest addition to the University of California Natural Reserve System. The 41 units of the UCNRS represent vi...

  • Added: Sep 04, 2019
  • Length: 59:00
The Ridgecrest Earthquakes: Pondering a Tectonic Riddle
From: North State Public Radio
Series: Blue Dot
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We examine the complex series of fault ruptures and earthquakes that struck near Ridgecrest in Southern California over the July 4 weekend of 2019....

Bought by KSPB Pebble Beach


  • Added: Aug 21, 2019
  • Length: 59:00
  • Purchases: 1
Voyages to The Bottom of The Sea: Stockton Rush and The Titanic
From: North State Public Radio
Series: Blue Dot
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In this episode Dave visits with Stockton Rush, founder and CEO of OceanGate in Everett, Washington. The company is working on an ambitious plan to...

  • Added: Aug 15, 2019
  • Length: 59:00
Why Small Changes Matter: Temperature and Time
From: North State Public Radio
Series: Blue Dot
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A few degrees of planetary warming may not sound alarming but it is. A few microseconds of error don't sound like much but they can mean the diffe...

  • Added: Aug 07, 2019
  • Length: 59:00
Intertwined Legends: The Passing of Chris Kraft and the Restoration of Mission Control
From: North State Public Radio
Series: Blue Dot
Caption: The newly restored Mission Operations Control Room 2 and the view from where Dr. Kraft would sit.
In this very special episode, we pay tribute to two legends: Dr. Christopher Columbus Kraft Jr. and NASA's historic Mission Operations Control Room...

  • Added: Jul 31, 2019
  • Length: 59:00
A Cinematic Tour de Force of the Solar System on NOVA
From: North State Public Radio
Series: Blue Dot
Piece image
Dave talks to Gideon Bradshaw and Andrew Cohen, the BBC filmmakers behind the new NOVA series The Planets on PBS. Part of the "Summer of Space" on ...

  • Added: Jul 25, 2019
  • Length: 59:00
Apollo 11 at 50: a conversation with Apollo 11 backup astronaut Fred Haise and space historian John Logsdon
From: North State Public Radio
Series: Blue Dot
Caption: Apollo 11 back up crew members Fred Haise (left) and Jim Lovell prepare for an altitude test in the lunar module preparing for Apollo 11.
Fred Haise was made famous by the movie Apollo 13, in which he was portrayed by Bill Paxton in the story of the most famous Apollo mission other th...

Bought by Boise State Public Radio and KSPB Pebble Beach


  • Added: Jul 17, 2019
  • Length: 59:00
  • Purchases: 2
Apollo 11 at The Movies: A conversation with Rob Sitch Director of The Dish Plus: Experiencing Apollo 11 Virtually on YouTube
From: North State Public Radio
Series: Blue Dot
Caption: Theatrical Poster for The Dish
The Summer of Apollo 11 continues! Find out what Dave's first and second favorite movies of all time are, spoiler alert, one of them is the topic o...

  • Added: Jul 10, 2019
  • Length: 59:00
Inside The Making of an Epic Documentary: A Conversation with Robert Stone
From: North State Public Radio
Series: Blue Dot
Caption: Chasing The Moon
Robert Stone's three part documetary, Chasing The Moon, airs July 8-10 on the PBS history series The American Experience. After previewing the epic...

Bought by WLPR , KWMR, and Boise State Public Radio


  • Added: Jul 05, 2019
  • Length: 59:00
  • Purchases: 3
Fighting Fire with Fire: Pyro-Geographer Dr. Don Hankins (rerun)
From: North State Public Radio
Series: Blue Dot
Caption: Don Hankins explores landscapes and the communities that inhabit them., Credit: Don Hankins
Dave learns about fighting fire with fire in this episode as he talks to CSU Chico Professor of Geography Don Hankins. Dr. Hankins teaches a course...

Bought by KWMR


  • Added: Jun 27, 2019
  • Length: 59:00
  • Purchases: 1
Deep Time: Earth History and How We Are Shaping Its Future...
From: North State Public Radio
Series: Blue Dot
Caption: Marcia Bjornerud
Dave visits with Lawrence University Geology Professor Marcia Bjornerud, author of the new book: Timefulness: How Thinking Like A Geologist Can Hel...

Bought by KWMR


  • Added: Jun 19, 2019
  • Length: 59:00
  • Purchases: 1
Father’s Day Episode (Interviews with Bill and Dianna Cowern, Alan and Leonard Stern, David and Lester Grinspoon)
From: North State Public Radio
Series: Blue Dot
Caption: Dave and his son Taylor at Pebble Beach
It's our Father's Day episode! Interviews with scientists and their Dads as Dave talks to planetary scientist David Grinspoon and his father Lester...

  • Added: Jun 13, 2019
  • Length: 59:00

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