Podcast

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.

Three researchers peer inside an MRI machine

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.

Podcast

The Race for Dark Energy

Karl Gebhardt explains the two leading ideas for what dark energy might be

Illustration of galaxies bending space time

Podcast

The Case of the Missing Folate

Richard Finnell studies the genetic underpinnings of neural tube defects such as spina bifida.

Spinach leaves in a bowl, sitting on a wooden table

Podcast

Cocktail Party Effect

Your brain has to do all sorts of tricks to focus on just one voice floating in a sea of noise, including localization

Illustration of a see-through brain with bright orange spots scattered in the interior

Podcast

Fun With Chemistry

Kate Biberdorf combines the energy of a kickboxer with a passion for chemistry and a love of sharing science with the public

A woman in blue lab coat blows a puff of fire out of her mouth

Podcast

Beauty and the Yeast

The lowly yeast turns out to be a powerful model organism for understanding human biology and disease

A microscope image of the internal features of a yeast cell

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.