logo
episode-header-image
Jan 2025
18m 39s

Finding Pluto’s Potential Replacement wi...

Scientific American
About this episode
Pluto was unseated as our solar system’s ninth planet in 2006. Since then astronomers have found signs that a real ninth planet could be hiding at the edges of our solar system. Clara Moskowitz, senior editor for space and physics, explains how the forthcoming Vera Rubin Observatory could give researchers a way to find the real Planet Nine—if it’s out there. ... Show More
Up next
Jun 22
Ebola update, World Cup heat risks, dad brains
In this episode of Science Quickly, we start with a quick update on the Ebola outbreak surging in parts of Africa. Host Rachel Feltman is then joined by Scientific American’s senior desk editor for life science Andrea Thompson to discuss what rising temperatures mean for the FIFA ... Show More
13m 10s
Jun 19
How common viruses could quietly raise your cancer risk
In this episode of Science Quickly, one of SciAm’s Young American Scientists, biologist Jaye Gardiner, explores how common viral infections may raise cancer risk—not just through genetic mutations but by reshaping the body’s “extracellular matrix” of molecules that support cells ... Show More
15m 34s
Jun 17
The neuroscientist decoding how the brain learns
In this episode, host Rachel Feltman interviews neuroscientist Kauê M. Costa, who is among Scientific American’s inaugural cohort of Young American Scientists honorees. Costa shares how being surprised by experiments has led him to new ways of thinking about learning in the brain ... Show More
19m 22s
Recommended Episodes
Jan 2025
Finding Pluto’s Potential Replacement with a Giant New Telescope
Pluto was unseated as our solar system’s ninth planet in 2006. Since then astronomers have found signs that a real ninth planet could be hiding at the edges of our solar system. Clara Moskowitz, senior editor for space and physics, explains how the forthcoming Vera Rubin Observat ... Show More
18m 39s
Aug 2024
Hide and seek with Planet 9
<p>A ninth planet may be lurking in our Solar System out beyond Neptune. Caltech's Mike Brown and Konstantin Batygin join us to discuss their new paper, the latest evidence for Planet 9, and why they believe their hunt may soon be over. Then, Bruce Betts, chief scientist of The P ... Show More
52m 11s
May 2021
The hunt for a new Pluto
Something strange is going on at the outer reaches of the solar system. One astronomer thinks it might be a Neptune-sized ninth planet, and he’s on a quest to find it. That search is happening at an enormous telescope on the summit of Maunakea, a dormant Hawaiian volcano with a l ... Show More
32m 19s
Mar 2019
The Lost Daughters of Aten: Planet 9
Pluto may not be a planet, but it definitely exists. Not every case is so clear. The history of near-Earth astronomy contains many cases of bodies that may or may not have ever existed in the solar system we call home. In this episode of Stuff to Blow Your Mind, Robert Lamb and J ... Show More
44m 45s
Mar 2025
Is Pluto Really Not a Planet?
Although the International Astronomical Union demoted Pluto from a planet to a dwarf planet in 2006, some scientists think it deserves to be reinstated. Learn why in this episode of BrainStuff, based on this article: https://science.howstuffworks.com/pluto-is-it-planet-after-all. ... Show More
8m 23s
Nov 2019
The search for our solar system's ninth planet | Mike Brown
Could the strange orbits of small, distant objects in our solar system lead us to a big discovery? Planetary astronomer Mike Brown proposes the existence of a new, giant planet lurking in the far reaches of our solar system -- and shows us how traces of its presence might already ... Show More
13m 14s
Feb 2019
The Lost Daughters of Aten, Part 1
Pluto may not be a planet, but it definitely exists. Not every case is so clear. The history of near-Earth astronomy contains many cases of bodies that may or may not have ever existed in the solar system we call home. In this episode of Stuff to Blow Your Mind, Robert Lamb and J ... Show More
53m 19s
Oct 2024
Splat or subsurface ocean? The mysterious positioning of Pluto’s heart
<p>This week, we investigate the mysteries of Pluto's iconic heart-shaped feature. We explore recent research on the origins of the Sputnik Planitia region and what it can tell us about whether or not the dwarf planet has a subsurface ocean. Our guest, Adeene Denton from the Univ ... Show More
56m 41s
Sep 2023
S26E109: Have they finally found Planet X?
<b>SpaceTime Series 26 Episode 109</b> <b>*Have they finally found planet X?</b> Astronomers in Japan have found possible evidence of an Earth-like planet orbiting in the Kuiper Belt. <b>*XRISM space telescope launches into orbit.</b> A powerful new Xray telescope has just blaste ... Show More
34m 39s