Point of Discovery
Behind every scientific discovery is a scientist (or 12) and a story. “Point of Discovery” takes you on a journey beyond WHAT we know to HOW we know it. Listeners will meet the sometimes quirky, always passionate people whose curiosity unlocks hidden worlds.
FEATURED ★ Podcast
Brain Activity Decoder Can Reveal Stories in People’s Minds
The work relies in part on a transformer model, similar to the ones that power ChatGPT.
Alex Huth (left), Shailee Jain (center) and Jerry Tang (right) prepare to collect brain activity data in the Biomedical Imaging Center at The University of Texas at Austin. The researchers trained their semantic decoder on dozens of hours of brain activity data from participants, collected in an fMRI scanner. Photo Credit: Nolan Zunk/University of Texas at Austin.
Right Place, Right Time
Like the Hubble Space Telescope before it, the James Webb Space Telescope has the potential to change the course of astronomy and inspire a new generation of astronomers.
Neutralizing Crazy Ants
Biologist Edward LeBrun is weaponizing a natural pathogen to use as a biocontrol for tawny crazy ants from South America that have become prevalent in the southeastern US.
A Physicist’s Search for Beauty
Steven Weinberg aimed to distill the rules of physics down to their simplest, most beautiful essence.
Remembering Steven Weinberg
Steven Weinberg was best known for his Nobel-prize winning work that unified two fundamental forces of nature — electromagnetism and the weak force.
Frog Pandemic
Frogs are also struggling through their own pandemic that has several eerie parallels with COVID-19.
Presenting the Texas Podcast Network
Today we're doing something a little different. We're bringing you an excerpt from another great podcast produced here at the University of Texas at Austin, called TX512. It's about all things UT Austin and Texas.
The Case Against Spanking
Liz Gershoff thinks that as a society, we should get away from the idea that violence is integral to teaching children.
Do Sick Animals Socially Distance?
According to a new review in the journal Science, when highly social animals — such as ants, mice and bats — get sick, their social interactions change, too.
Artificial Intelligence Revs Up Evolution’s Clock
When Risto Miikkulainen and Padmini Rajagopalan simulated hyenas forming mobs to steal prey from lions, they found something surprising.
Ask the COVID-19 Experts
An epidemiologist and two molecular bioscientists get to the bottom of your burning COVID-19 questions.
About the Podcast
Behind every scientific discovery is a scientist (or 12) and a story. “Point of Discovery” takes you on a journey beyond WHAT we know to HOW we know it. Listeners will meet the sometimes quirky, always passionate people whose curiosity unlocks hidden worlds.
Hosted by Marc Airhart
Marc Airhart is the Communications Coordinator for the College of Natural Sciences. A long time member of the National Association of Science Writers, he has written for national publications including Scientific American, Mercury, The Earth Scientist, Environmental Engineer & Scientist, and StarDate Magazine.
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Disclaimer
Point of Discovery is part of the Texas Podcast Network, brought to you by The University of Texas at Austin. Podcasts are produced by faculty members and staffers at UT Austin who work with University Communications to craft content that adheres to journalistic best practices. The University of Texas at Austin offers these podcasts at no charge. Podcasts appearing on the network and this webpage represent the views of the hosts, not of The University of Texas at Austin.