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PODCAST

Astrophysics for All

Astrophysics for All is a student-led podcast that brings astrophysics down to Earth for curious young people everywhere. Each episode features conversations with professional astronomers and researchers, breaking down big ideas about the universe in a way that’s clear and engaging; no jargon required. At a time when astronomy is often missing from classrooms, this podcast invites young people to ask questions and see their place in the cosmos. HAVE A QUESTION? Visit:

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All Episodes

00:29:03

Can a Star’s Spin Tell Us Where to Find Earth 2.0? |...

Astrophysics for All ·

2026/08/24

How do you tell the age of a star that barely seems to age? And could the answer help us find another Earth?In this episode, I sit down with Professor Marcel Agüeros, astronomer at Columbia University and President of the American Astronomical Society, to explore how the spin and magnetic activity of stars can reveal their ages—and why that matters in the search for life beyond our Solar System.We also dive into time-domain astronomy, how the Vera C. Rubin Observatory is essentially creating a

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00:27:40

How Did the First Galaxies Transform the Universe? |...

Astrophysics for All ·

2026/08/24

What did the universe look like before the first galaxies - and how can we reconstruct an era we can barely observe?I speak with Dr Anshuman Acharya, a postdoctoral fellow at the Berkeley Center for Cosmological Physics at UC Berkeley, about the epoch of reionization, when the first galaxies began transforming the early universe.Dr Acharya explains how astrophysicists build cosmological simulations to recreate the evolution of the universe, how machine learning can help researchers compare thousands

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00:21:26

The Best Discoveries Are the Ones You Never Expect |...

Astrophysics for All ·

2026/07/18

Have you ever wondered how astronomers discover something they've never seen before?In this episode of Astrophysics for All, I'm joined by Dr. Kishalay De, Assistant Professor of Astronomy at Columbia University, whose research explores some of the universe's most spectacular "cosmic fireworks"—from exploding stars and stellar mergers to the first convincing evidence of a star swallowing one of its own planets.We talk about what it's like to stumble across a discovery no

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00:26:44

How Does Light Reveal Our Origins?- Professor Robert...

Astrophysics for All ·

2026/06/22

Professor Robert Simcoe is the Director of the MIT Kavli Institute for Astrophysics and Space Research, and one of the world's leading astrophysicists on spectroscopy and the early universe.In this episode of Astrophysics for All, Rob explains how astronomers use light to study the first stars and galaxies that formed after the Big Bang. He shares why he likes to say that "if a picture is worth a thousand words, then a spectrum is worth a thousand pictures," and reveals how a beam of

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00:19:00

Finding the Missing Matter Between Galaxies - Isabel...

Astrophysics for All ·

2026/06/22

How do you study something you can't see?In this episode, Yale astronomy PhD candidate Isabel Medlock explains how astronomers use powerful computer simulations and mysterious fast radio bursts to investigate the invisible universe. We discuss the cosmic web, the search for the universe's missing matter, and how scientists can effectively "rebuild" the cosmos inside a computer to understand how it evolved over billions of years.We also chat about life as a computational cosmologist, the importance

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00:22:00

Reading the Fossil Record of the Milky Way - Dr Jesse...

Astrophysics for All ·

2026/06/19

Are galaxies truly eternal, or do they have lifecycles just like living things?In this episode of Astrophysics for All, I speak with Dr Jesse van de Sande, astrophysicist and lecturer at UNSW, about how galaxies form, evolve, and eventually stop producing new stars. We explore the idea of "zombie galaxies," the future collision between the Milky Way and Andromeda, and how astronomers use the motions of stars to reconstruct events that occurred billions of years ago.Jesse also explains how

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00:22:09

Why Finding Life Is Harder Than We Thought -...

Astrophysics for All ·

2026/06/03

Professor Sara Seager is one of the world's leading exoplanet scientists and a professor of planetary science and physics at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Her research has helped shape the modern search for planets beyond our Solar System and the quest to discover life elsewhere in the universe.In this episode of Astrophysics for All, Professor Seager discusses how astronomers use spectroscopy to study exoplanet atmospheres, what scientists mean by a "biosignature", and

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00:23:41

The Smallest Galaxies Hold the Biggest Clues -...

Astrophysics for All ·

2026/05/24

In this episode of Astrophysics for All, I’m joined by Professor Marla Geha, Professor of Astronomy and Physics at Yale University and an award-winning educator whose research focuses on dwarf galaxies and dark matter.We explore how some of the faintest and smallest galaxies in the universe could help answer some of cosmology’s biggest questions. Professor Geha explains how astronomers detect invisible dark matter through the motion of stars, why dwarf galaxies are so important for understanding

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00:23:11

Awe, Exoplanets, and the Future of Astronomy - Dr....

Astrophysics for All ·

2026/05/24

Astronomy has long captivated human curiosity, but how can it reshape our lives and communities? Dr. Emma Cain Louden is a passionate astrophysicist with a PhD from Yale University, and serves as the president of Slooh, a platform that democratises access to astronomy by allowing people around the world to use remotely operated telescopes. Her work bridges the gap between complex scientific concepts and relatable experiences, making astronomy relevant to a wider audience.

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00:19:07

The Biggest Thing We Can’t See: Dark Matter -...

Astrophysics for All ·

2026/05/03

In this episode of Astrophysics for All, I’m joined by Professor Céline Bœhm, an astroparticle physicist and Professor of Particle Physics at the University of Sydney, whose research focuses on dark matter and the fundamental structure of the universe.Although we can’t see dark matter directly, it makes up most of the matter in the universe. So how do we know it exists — and why has it been so difficult to detect?In this conversation, we explore how scientists use galaxies, the cosmic microwave

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00:20:52

Where Should We Look for Life in the Universe? - Dr...

Astrophysics for All ·

2026/04/04

Dr Ben Montet is a Scientia Associate Professor at UNSW Sydney. He completed his PhD in astrophysics at Caltech and was a Carl Sagan Fellow at the University of Chicago. Dr Montet is a leading exoplanet researcher who uses data from missions like NASA’s Kepler and TESS to discover and study planets beyond our Solar System, uncovering the diversity of planetary systems across our galaxy.In our conversation, we explore how astronomers detect planets using tiny dips in starlight, and how missions like

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00:23:07

Globular Clusters and the Hidden History of Galaxies...

Astrophysics for All ·

2026/03/06

In this episode of Astrophysics for All, I speak with Dr Caroline Foster, an observational astronomer at UNSW Sydney who studies how galaxies form, grow, and evolve over billions of years. We explore how astronomers use light to measure the motions and chemistry of stars, how galaxies grow through mergers and star formation, and why some galaxies gradually stop rotating as they age. Dr Foster also explains how globular clusters—ancient, tightly packed groups of stars—act like cosmic fossils that

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00:25:19

Dark Matter and the Hidden 95% of the Universe -...

Astrophysics for All ·

2026/03/06

What if everything we can see in the universe—stars, planets, galaxies, and even ourselves—makes up less than 5% of reality?In this episode of Astrophysics for All, I sit down with Professor Geraint Lewis, a cosmologist at the Sydney Institute for Astronomy, to explore the invisible universe. Originally from Wales, Professor Lewis completed his undergraduate degree at the University of London and went on to earn his PhD in astrophysics from the University of Cambridge’s Institute of Astronomy. He

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00:22:17

The Mysteries of Galaxy Evolution - Professor Sarah...

Astrophysics for All ·

2026/02/21

In this episode of Astrophysics for All, I'm joined by Professor Sarah Brough, Head of the School of Physics at University of New South Wales and an observational astronomer studying how galaxies grow and evolve over billions of years.Professor Brough explores some of the faintest and most elusive structures in the Universe: tidal features and intracluster light. She explains how these delicate traces reveal galaxies’ hidden histories of mergers, disruption, and transformation. Professor Sarah

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00:26:00

Antarctica and the Edge of Astronomy - Professor...

Astrophysics for All ·

2026/02/14

How is Antarctica's unique environment revolutionising the way astronomers observe the universe? In this episode, Professor Michael Ashley shares the advantages, challenges, and groundbreaking discoveries made from the icy continent.Professor Ashley is an astrophysicist at the University of New South Wales, specialising in astronomical instrumentation and observational astronomy. He completed his Master’s at Caltech and his PhD at the Australian National University (ANU). His work focuses on

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00:21:31

The Physics of a Warming World - Professor Steven...

Astrophysics for All ·

2026/02/06

Clouds might look soft and harmless, but they play one of the biggest roles in deciding Earth’s future climate. In this episode of Astrophysics for All, I'm speaking with Professor Steven Sherwood, a leading climate scientist at UNSW Sydney, about how physics, computer models, and satellite data help us understand the atmosphere. Professor Sherwood holds a physics degree from MIT, a master’s in engineering physics and fluid mechanics from UC San Diego, and a PhD in oceanography from the Scripps

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00:28:58

The Dark Energy Quest - Dr Rossana Ruggeri

Astrophysics for All ·

2025/12/31

In this episode of Astrophysics for All, I’m joined by Dr. Rosanna Ruggeri, a cosmologist and honorary research fellow at the University of Queensland. We explore how scientists map the large-scale structure of the universe, what dark energy is, and why understanding it is key to predicting the universe’s ultimate fate. Dr. Ruggeri shares her journey working with cutting-edge instruments like DESI and the Vera Rubin Observatory, and explains how curiosity, coding, and persistence shape a career in

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00:30:30

The Stars We Didn’t Know Existed - Dr Laura Driessen

Astrophysics for All ·

2025/12/31

In this episode of Astrophysics for All, I’m joined by Dr Laura Driessen, a radio astronomer and postdoctoral researcher at the University of Sydney’s Sydney Institute for Astrophysics. We explore what radio astronomy actually is, how scientists study stars and cosmic events using signals we can’t see, and why some of the universe’s biggest discoveries come from its quietest signals. Dr Driessen shares her journey into astronomy, her work with major telescopes like ASKAP and MeerKAT, and what it’s

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00:24:45

Are We Alone? Discovering New Worlds - Dr Jerome de Leon

Astrophysics for All ·

2025/12/28

"We only know life as we know it." In this episode, we chat with Dr. Jerome de Leon, an astrophysicist who has helped discover dozens of exoplanets using telescopes like Kepler, TESS, and Subaru. He is a Project Assistant Professor at the University of Tokyo and an astronomer–data scientist leading international teams on new exoplanet discoveries. In this episode, we explore how scientists detect planets we can’t see directly, why exoplanets have such unusual names, and what makes a planet

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00:25:02

Galaxy Clusters as Windows into the Cosmos - Dr...

Astrophysics for All ·

2025/05/24

Curious about how to really learn astronomy? In this episode, Taweewat (Champ) Somboonpanyakul, an astrophysicist with roots at Stanford, Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), the University of Chicago, and now Chulalongkorn University in Thailand, walks us through the hands-on experiences that shaped his career, from childhood stargazing to using world-class telescopes. You’ll gain insight into how astronomers ask big questions and how different sciences come together to find answers.

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21 results

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