Best Light Pollution News Podcasts (2025)

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Why It's So Bright at Night? Interview with Vasudev Menon on Stargazr.org 10:07

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19h ago10:07

10:07

In this episode, Bill McGeeney interviews Vasu Menon, a NC State computer science student who created Stargazer.org - a revolutionary web app that solves every amateur astronomer's planning nightmare. Born from a frustrating full-moon stargazing trip to Virginia's Stanton River park, this tool combines dark sky locations, weather forecasts, and lun…

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DoorDash unveils its autonomous robot; and Adobe’s video editing app Premiere arrives on iPhones 8:36

7h ago8:36

8:36

On Tuesday, DoorDash unveiled Dot, a small robot it built in-house that can autonomously drive on roads, bike lanes, and sidewalks to deliver food and small packages at speeds up to 20 miles per hour. Dot is designed to look friendly and even cartoonish — painted bright red, with big LED eyes and a mouth that swings open to reveal where it holds yo…

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California Governor Newsom signs landmark AI safety bill; also, Explosion, vehicle fire rock Faraday Future’s LA headquarters 7:02

17h ago7:02

7:02

California Governor Gavin Newsom has signed SB 53, a first-in-the-nation bill that sets new transparency requirements on large AI companies. The bill, which passed the state legislature two weeks ago, requires large AI labs, including OpenAI, Anthropic, Meta, and Google DeepMind, to be transparent about safety protocols. It also ensures whistleblow…

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Nature Quest: How High Will Sea Levels Rise? 12:01

3h ago12:01

12:01

How high will the ocean rise under climate change? By 2050, scientists have a pretty good idea. But why does it matter where you live? And what can humans do to slow it down? This episode is part of Nature Quest, our monthly segment that brings you a question from a Short Waver who is noticing a change in the world around them. Our question comes f…

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Honda and Astrobotic team up to keep the lights on through the long lunar night; plus, the UK government bailed out Jaguar Land Rover 6:19

1d ago6:19

6:19

Automotive giant Honda and lunar startup Astrobotic are teaming up to explore how a regenerative fuel cell system could help keep the lights on during long nights on the Moon. On Monday, the companies partnered up to study whether Honda’s regenerative fuel cell can be integrated into Astrobotic’s LunaGrid, a scalable power service built around sola…

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Why It's So Bright at Night? Interview with Alona Rodeh on Street Lamps with Hats! 33:48

22h ago33:48

33:48

Episode Summary Discover how one artist is tackling light pollution through whimsical street art. Berlin visual artist Alona Rodeh joins the show to discuss her viral "Nightcaps" project - 3D-printed "hats" that transform unshielded street lamps into community art while reducing light pollution. Key Topics Covered The Nightcaps Project: 15 sculptur…

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Do EA buyout talks hint at bigger industry troubles? plus, beware coworkers who produce AI-generated ‘work slop’, and AI startup Friend spent more than $1M on all those subway ads 4:36

1d ago4:36

4:36

Bloomberg’s Jason Schreier noted that video game companies are moving towards consolidation and that the deal could reflect EA executives’ broader concerns over the future of the industry. Following a period of rapid growth in the 2010s and during the pandemic, Schreier said gamers in recent years have “tended to stick with old favorites rather tha…

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Why Do Some Hurricane Survivors Thrive After Disaster? 13:18

2d ago13:18

13:18

You’ve probably heard of PTSD, post-traumatic stress disorder. But what about its counterpart, post-traumatic growth? The term was coined in the 90s to describe the positive psychological growth that researchers documented in people who had been through traumatic or highly stressful life events. Psychologists and sociologists conducting long-range …

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Trump Denies, China Leads on Climate; Highway Reborn as Public Park; An Extraordinary New Telescope; and more. 51:48

4d ago51:48

51:48

Speaking to the UN, President Trump railed against climate science and clean energy, drawing sharp rebukes from other nations, rival politicians and business leaders. Meanwhile, China for the first time ever announced a specific target for reducing its greenhouse gas emissions. Also, the four-lane Great Highway used to run along the Pacific Ocean o…

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The Trump administration is going after semiconductor imports; also, More executives depart Hyundai’s air taxi startup Supernal 4:10

4d ago4:10

4:10

In its latest bid to boost semiconductor production in the U.S., the Trump administration is reportedly considering a ratio-based approach that would penalize domestic manufacturers with tariffs if they don’t produce enough chips. A wider leadership shake-up at Hyundai’s electric air taxi startup Supernal is underway just a few weeks after it pause…

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Trump signs executive order to facilitate TikTok deal 5:59

4d ago5:59

5:59

President Donald Trump has signed an executive order that essentially approves the sale of TikTok’s U.S. operations to an American investor group in order to keep the social media app operational in the country. Vice President JD Vance said that the deal would value TikTok US at “around $14 billion.” In a move no one asked for, Meta is introducing …

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Skull rewrites story of human evolution; Autism and Tylenol; discovery of wind coming from black hole 33:57

4d ago33:57

33:57

Episode 322 An ancient skull discovered in China may have just rewritten the story of human evolution. It’s widely accepted that the common ancestor of Homo sapiens, Denisovans and Neanderthals came out of Africa. But this skull upends that assumption - potentially showing human evolution began in Asia. Discover how a new reconstruction of the Yunx…

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A Surprising Cause Of Endometriosis Could Lead To Cure 13:29

4d ago13:29

13:29

Since the age of nine or ten, Katie Burns has had debilitating pain from endometriosis, a condition where tissue resembling the uterine lining grows outside the uterus. For years, Katie was in the dark about what was causing her pain. Even after a diagnosis at age 20 it was hard to find relief, or even answers about her condition. Her search for be…

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Minnesota’s fall seasons are getting warmer 4:21

5d ago4:21

4:21

Minnesota continues to bask in warmer temperatures, blurring our seasons together. “If you break it up month by month, the biggest change we've seen is Septembers,” said Pete Boulay, assistant state climatologist with the Minnesota State Climate Office. “September is evolving into an extension of summer.” Average temperatures for the fall season ha…

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Y Combinator launches “Early Decision” for students who want to graduate first, build later 6:01

5d ago6:01

6:01

For decades, Silicon Valley has valorized the college dropout. Founders like Bill Gates, Steve Jobs, and Mark Zuckerberg left school early to build companies and they became billionaires. That ethos was later institutionalized through initiatives like the Thiel Fellowship, which famously pays promising students $100,000 to leave college and start c…

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Trump admin wants 10% stake in American lithium miner that sells to GM; plus YouTube now lets you hide recommendation pop-ups at the end of videos 4:06

6d ago4:06

4:06

In exchange for renegotiating the repayment period of a two point two six billion dollars Department of Energy loan, the Trump administration is asking for as much as 10% equity in Lithium Americas, a company in which GM is a major investor. YouTube will finally allow you to hide the pop-up recommendations that appear at the end of videos, the comp…

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How Al Gore used AI to track 660M polluters; plus, UK police arrest man linked to ransomware attack 4:46

6d ago4:46

4:46

Former Vice President Al Gore’s latest project gives polluters nowhere to hide. Climate Trace, a non-profit that Gore co-founded, launched a tool Wednesday that uses AI to track fine particulate pollution from more than 660 million sources worldwide. Also, the U.K.’s National Crime Agency said on Wednesday that a man was arrested in connection to t…

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Episode 11: Cone by Cone: Mapping the Human Eye with Dr. Austin Roorda 53:47

6d ago53:47

53:47

In this eye-opening episode, we welcome Dr. Austin Roorda—visionary researcher, inventor, and professor—who takes us deep into the microscopic world of human vision. From mapping the trichromatic cone mosaic to pioneering adaptive optics scanning laser ophthalmoscopy, Dr. Roorda has revolutionized how we understand the eye. 👁️ Discover: How stimula…

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Reap what you sow: Lancashire's toxic town - exposed 19:13

6d ago19:13

19:13

Every week, the ENDS team enters the ECO Chamber to discuss the UK’s biggest green news stories and bring you up to speed on the latest developments in environmental policy. This week, ENDS Report’s deputy editor Tess Colley speaks with news editor Pippa Neil. After obtaining never-before-seen documents, ENDS Report can reveal that the chemical man…

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SpaceX boasts an impressive alumni list. Some have gone on to found the sector’s biggest startups; others become astronauts 6:52

7d ago6:52

6:52

NASA unveiled its 2025 astronaut class this week, and two familiar names popped out: Anna Menon and Yuri Kubo. Both spent more than a decade at SpaceX, where they played critical roles in the company’s rise to the behemoth it is today. In other news, while many vibe coding ⁠startups⁠ ⁠have⁠ ⁠become⁠ ⁠unicorns⁠, with valuations in the billions, one …

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Tylenol and Autism: What’s True and What Isn’t 14:42

7d ago14:42

14:42

On Monday, the Trump administration linked the use of Tylenol with rising autism rates, but science doesn’t support that claim. Guest host Sydney Lupkin talks to autism researcher Helen Tager-Flusberg about how autism is studied, the findings from decades of research, and what people–especially those who are pregnant–should do when they experience …

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Meta launches super PAC to fight AI regulation as state policies mount, also Alloy is bringing data management to the robotics industry 7:09

7d ago7:09

7:09

Meta has raised the stakes in Big Tech’s fight against AI regulation. The Facebook-maker is investing “tens of millions” of dollars into a new super PAC to fight state-level tech policy proposals that could stifle AI advancement, reports Axios. Also, Sydney, Australia-based Alloy thinks it can help with that issue: the startup is building data infr…

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The Oakland Ballers let an AI manage the team. What could go wrong? 6:07

7d ago6:07

6:07

The Oakland Ballers, an independent Pioneer League baseball team, took that concept of “playing the percentages” to the next level: they let an AI manage the team for a game. The Ballers were founded by edtech entrepreneur Paul Freedman as a salve to the departure of the beloved Oakland A’s, the Major League baseball team that owner John Fisher rip…