The Jodcast - astronomy podcast

From Stars to Cells. In this month’s episode, we interview Dr Mel Ifran about her research adapting machine learning techniques from radio astronomy to detecting cancer cells. We also answer some of your questions from our live event last month.

Galaxy Redshifts - A hard thing to nail down. In this month’s episode, we interview Prof Joe Zuntz about his research into clustering galaxies for cosmology. Our next Jodbite comes from this year’s PhD cohort, Georgie, as she submits her thesis on molecular line fitting using ALMA.

Infinite Diversity In Infinite Combinations. In this month’s episode, we have a double interview special as we get the opportunity to talk to Dame Jocelyn Bell Burnell about her discovery of pulsars and resilience against the challenges she faced. We also talk to Louise Carvahlo, the diversity and inclusion programme leader at CERN, about how they are challenging the invisible barriers that academia face.

Bursting with Mysteries, FRBs. Welcome to our first themed episode of 2025. This month’s episode is everything to do with Fast Radio Bursts, or FRBs - their exciting discovery, mysterious origins and paving the way to using them as probes in space. This episode features double FRB interviews, with Dr Cherry Ng from CNRS Orleans giving an overview about these astrophysical mysteries, and Dr Ines Pastor Marazuela talking about her work here at Jodrell Bank to observe and understand the populations of FRBs we’ve found. But first, the news.

Exoplanets from the Archives. In this month’s episode, we have another interview from the archive where Fiona talks to Faith Hawthorn about her work in exoplanet detection and astronomy outreach. George and Jessy also answer your questions about potential dark matter candidates and Mercury’s origins, but first the news.

A Blast from the Past. In this month’s episode, we are hearing from a familiar voice as we are joined by now Dr. Ian Harrrison as he talks to us about weak lensing. We will also be diving into the archives with familiar the familiar voices of Imogen and Jonathan discussing theoretical cosmology with Dr. Cora Uhlemann

Cloudy with a Chance of Stars. In this month’s episode, we have two interviews from back in 2022: one with with Eloy de Lera Acedo and another with Mark Magee. Louisa and Barbara talk about the Arecibo Message, imaging stars and flying to space! Bijas chats with James Turner about his work finding pulsars with MeerKAT in our next installment of the Jodbite.

Shining a Light on Dark Matter. In December's episode, we have delved into the archive for an interview with Grace Lawrence from 2022; she talks with Jonathan and Imogen about her work in dark matter detection. Nastassia and Louisa answer some listeners’ questions in Ask an Astronomer, delving into wormhole exit points and pringle-shaped universes.

Exploring Exoplanets with JWST. In November's episode, Mel talks to Dr Hannah Wakeford on her work in the field of exoplanets, utilising JWST to delve into planetary atmospheres. For our Jodbite, we talk to postdoc Dr Aishrila Mazumder about her research mapping hydrogen.

How to build your own radio telescope!. In this episode, Louisa talks to Dr. Danny Jacobs about radio cosmology and the physical challenges that face building and operating radio telescopes today. In October’s Jodbite, Honor and Phoebe talk about their masters projects, and it’s all things lunar with back-to-back moon news.

Exoplanets, Brown Dwarfs, and Semantics. In the show this time, Mél Azombo interviews Dr. Ed Gillen about the evolution of stellar and planetary systems, we review the status of each of the next-generation optical/near-infrared telescopes currently under construction, and George Bendo answers an ask an astronomer question about the difference between exoplanets and brown dwarfs.

To celebrate the first images from the Euclid Mission, we are doing a special Euclid episode

The CMB and it's B-modes. In this episode, Kammy and Jonathan interview Dr William Coulton from the Centre of Computational Astronomy in New York and they discuss early universe cosmology and the detection of CMB B-modes. Bijas and Phoebe discuss the discovery of a protoplanetary disk around a nearby star, new insights into one of the most distant and luminous galaxies ever observed and the possible environments on exoplanets. Jessy interviews Oli Dodge in this month’s Jodbite. This month we had issues with the audio quality when recording. We tried to mitigate them in post but it mostly affects the jodbite (24:45 - 35:27).

Galaxy evolution: not so sim(ple)ulations. This month, Kammy and Jessy are joined by Dr. Ana Duarte Cabral from Cardiff University, where she discusses her work on understanding the connection between star formation and galaxy evolution and clues us in on how simulating these processes are not a simple affair. Fiona and Phoebe report on the recent discovery of a quiet Galactic black hole, and observations of a loud white dwarf star. Ask an Astronomer makes a return with George and Honor!

ABC's of GRB's. In this episode, Soheb interview Dr Gavin Lamb from Liverpool John Moores University and they discuss the exotic nature of gamma ray bursts. Fiona is joined by Mel and Honor and they discuss NASA's DART mission, the oldest 'dead' galaxy yet and why Gallifrey must not exist. The Jodbite makes a comeback where Fiona interview Micah Bowles.

{Feel the Magnetic Pull}. {Feel the Magnetic Pull. In this episode Jessy Marin talks to Dr. Kate Pattle about her work studying the involvment of magnetic fields in star formation. We discuss some of the new released images from the Event Horizon Telescope and JWST and test a new format for our Odds and Ends section where we present an interesting article on Saturn's moon Mimas.}

Blueberries and Peas. In February's episode, Fiona interviews Dr Alex Cameron on his work understanding the properties of early galaxies using JWST, and we take a whistle-stop tour around some of Bluedot's stalls from July 2023.

Bluedot 2023 Special. In this episode, Fiona Porter travels to Bluedot and interviews Dr. Rebecca Bowler, a newly-hired researcher at the University of Manchester, about studying high-redshift galaxies using the James Webb Space Telescope; Professor Sheena Cruickshank about her work on immunology at the University of Manchester; and Dr. Jen Gupta, who is now an associate professor in public engagement and outreach at the University of Portsmouth, about her life and work after leaving the Jodcast. Additionally, Fiona Porter conducted a separate, extended interview with Dr. Tim O'Brien about organizing Bluedot and about the history of Jodrell Bank.

Hello? Is there anybody there? In the show this time, we talk to Tom Scragg about Pulsar timing arrays [07:43:00 - 00:41:43], Jonathan Wong rounds up the latest news [00:01:02-00:07:33] and we find out what we can see in the December night sky from Ian Morison, Haritina Mogosanu and Samuel Leske [00:55:19 - 01:19:20].

Back in Business. In the show this time, we talk to Bert Hawkins and Matt Morgan about their work at the NRAO [06:32.5-37:49.0], Amy Suddards rounds up the latest news [01:17.5-06:23.0] and we find out what we can see in the May night sky from Ian Morison, Haritina Mogosanu and Samuel Leske [00:50:27.4-01:17:15.0].