Curiosity Daily Podcast: Explorers Club - Steve Elkins

We discuss the latest in phone hacking technology, how aquaculture may be able to help the global food crisis, and how engaging with people who speak in a foreign accent may help us retain language.

Let’s talk about whether “man flu” is fact or fiction, how the Arctic lakes just threw a curveball at our climate change projections, and the genius new way bats are tricking their predators.

Today we talk about how crystallizing human urine can help save seagrass, a new AI program that can detect early signs of heart disease, and how mosquitos can be used to vaccinate against malaria.

We discuss a new app that can translate a cat’s meow into human languages, how the Epaulette shark is teaching us about climate change, and a potential treatment that might prevent cerebral palsy.

Today we discuss the connection between skin cancer and a leopard gecko named Mr. Frosty, how playing a musical instrument in childhood can affect brain function as we age, and how a new underwater camera can help us explore previously-unseen parts of the ocean.

Today, we are lucky enough to hear from a highly accomplished explorer who has some incredible experiences to share with us. Dr. Sian Proctor was the mission pilot for the Inspiration4, which is the all-civilian orbital mission to space and she’s the first African American woman to pilot a spacecraft. She also lived in a Mars analog environment to simulate what it might be like to live on the red planet.

Today we are speaking to another member of the Explorers Club, Peter Tattersfield. Peter has an awesome story for us today about his work finding the shipwreck of the Steamship Independence, which sank off the coast of Baja, Mexico in 1853.

Today, we’re hearing from an explorer's explorer, Victor Vescovo. His Five Deeps Expedition made him the first person to reach the deepest point of the Atlantic, Southern Ocean, and set a depth record in the Mariana Trench at 35,853 ft. He was the first person to reach the Mollow Deep in the Arctic Ocean, and thus has been to the 1st, 2nd, and 3rd deepest points in the ocean.

Today, we’re talking to Explorers Club member, Dr. George C. Nield. Dr. George C. Nield is currently the Associate Administrator for Commercial Space Transportation at the Federal Aviation Administration (or FAA).

Hear from Joe Rohde, a former Disney Imagineer and the Experience Architect for Virgin Galactic. As an Imagineer, he was the leader of the team behind Disney’s Animal Kingdom. Joe is also Co-Chair of the Explorers Club 50 program.