Third Pod from the Sun is the American Geophysical Union’s podcast where we hear stories from scientists, for everyone.

Latest Episodes

E16 – Gunslingers of the Sea

Snapping shrimp are small but mighty creatures: they’re only a few inches long but are among the noisiest animals in the ocean. The loud cracking noise they make when snapping their claws sounds almost like a gunshot, and when enough shrimp snap at once, the din can be louder than the roar of a passenger jet flying overhead.

Special Release: Hawaii’s Volcanoes, Water, and…Vog?

Hawaii is frequently described as a paradise in the Pacific Ocean, but for some scientists conducting field work, there can be some challenges to overcome. In this special episode, Kate Brauman, the lead scientist at the Global Water Initiative at the University of Minnesota, describes her field work experiences in Kona on the big island…

Centennial E4 – Toxic City Under the Ice

In 1959, the United States built an unusual military base under the surface of the Greenland ice Sheet. Camp Century was a hub for scientific research, but it also doubled as a top-secret site for testing the feasibility of deploying nuclear missiles from the Arctic. When Camp Century was decommissioned in 1967, its infrastructure and waste were abandoned under the assumption they would be forever entombed beneath the colossal sheet of ice.  

E15 – Polluted Water Everywhere, and Not a Drop to Drink

Water is the most essential of essentials. We can survive weeks without food but only days without water. And it’s something that many of us take for granted. But water is not as plentiful, available, and clean in all parts of the world. And with climate change, water is going to become (and is already)…

Third Pod Live: James Balog, Climate Activist

In part three of this three-part series, we were fortunate to be able to sit down with James Balog to talk about how his work and experiences have shaped him into the climate activist he is now.

Third Pod Live: James Balog, Adventurer

In part two of this three-part series, we were fortunate to be able to sit down with James Balog to talk about some of his most memorable (and dangerous) moments in the field.

Third Pod Live: James Balog, Photographer

In part one of this three-part series, we were fortunate to be able to sit down with James Balog to talk about how he became a photographer.

Centennial E3 – Rifts Beneath the Ocean Floor

Kathy Crane is a true adventurer. As one of the first women in the field of marine geophysics in the 1970s, she hypothesized and then helped discover the existence of hydrothermal vents on the Galápagos Rift along the East Pacific Rise in the mid-1970s and was one the first people to see many of the strange creatures that make their home in this improbable environment.

E14 – Bonus Clip: Supporting Women in Science

Check out this bonus clip from our most recent episode, Footprints from an Ancient World, where Renata Netto talks about what it's like to be a woman in her field. 

E14 – Footprints from an Ancient World

Renata Netto spends a lot of time on beaches. The Brazilian scientist is an ichnologist, a specialist in the traces of ancient animal behaviors preserved in fossilized footprints, trackways, burrows, nests and other impressions.