Don't Panic Geocast
John Leeman and Shannon Dulin
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Top 10 Don't Panic Geocast Episodes
Goodpods has curated a list of the 10 best Don't Panic Geocast episodes, ranked by the number of listens and likes each episode have garnered from our listeners. If you are listening to Don't Panic Geocast for the first time, there's no better place to start than with one of these standout episodes. If you are a fan of the show, vote for your favorite Don't Panic Geocast episode by adding your comments to the episode page.
Episode 414 - "Closed Because of Landslide"
Don't Panic Geocast
04/18/25 • 65 min
Shannon's class took a trip to study catestrophic sedimentation... and they found it! John switched back to a Mac after 5 years. Join us for these and other exciting updates!
Fun Paper Friday
- Find out how alcohol and an eye puffer machine cominbed with magnets can teach us about where our motor skills reside in the brain.
- Johansson, Fredrik, et al. "Alcohol impairs learning and timing of conditioned eyeblink responses." Brain Research 1854 (2025): 149545.
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Show
John Leeman
Shannon Dulin
Episode 411 - "TSA Does Not Care About Your Data "
Don't Panic Geocast
02/14/25 • 45 min
Ever wondered how geologists figure out when a landslide happened? Or how ancient river terraces and glacial deposits get dated? This week, we dive into the detective work behind dating geomorphic features! 🌍🔬 From tree rings to cosmic rays, we explore the fascinating methods geologists use to reconstruct Earth’s history and assess natural hazards.
- Why Dating Landslides and Other Features is Hard
- Landslides can reactivate multiple times, fluvial deposits get reworked, and glacial features have complex histories.
- What are we really dating—the event, the material, or the last exposure?
- Landslides can reactivate multiple times, fluvial deposits get reworked, and glacial features have complex histories.
- Dating Techniques in Geology
- Dendrochronology 🌲 – Tree rings reveal landslides, floods, and debris flows.
- Radiocarbon Dating 💀 – Organic material like charcoal and buried soil horizons provide time markers.
- Optically Stimulated Luminescence (OSL) 🌞 – Measures when quartz grains were last exposed to sunlight.
- Cosmogenic Nuclide Dating ☄️ – Tracks surface exposure using cosmic rays.
- Other Methods – Lichen growth, volcanic ash layers, and earthquake trenching.
- Dendrochronology 🌲 – Tree rings reveal landslides, floods, and debris flows.
Fun Paper Friday
- Ever wondered if your favorite neon-orange snack has hidden superpowers? This study explores how strongly absorbing molecules, like those found in food dyes, can reduce light scattering in biological tissues—making them temporarily more transparent! Researchers applied tartrazine (a common food coloring) to live mice and were able to see internal structures like blood vessels without invasive procedures. The discovery could improve biomedical imaging, but we’re mostly just fascinated that Dorito dust might have unexpected side effects!
- Ou, Zihao, et al. "Achieving optical transparency in live animals with absorbing molecules." Science 385.6713 (2024): eadm6869.
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John Leeman
Shannon Dulin
Episode 165 - "A is for Anticline" (Rebroadcast)
Don't Panic Geocast
04/20/18 • 56 min
This week join us for our own alphabet aerobics as we fly through the geologic alphabet!
- John’s Deines Lecture
- A - Anticline
- B - Breccia
- C - Coulomb Failure
- D - Dikes
- E - Earthquake
- F - Facies
- G - GPR
- H - Halimeda
- I - Induced Polarization
- J - Jadeite
- K - Knickpoint
- L - Leaverite
- M - Moho
- N - Nappe
- O - Ooids
- P - Paleomagnetism
- Q - Quicksand
- R - Rift
- S - Seismic
- T - Tektites
- U - Uniformitarianism
- V - Veins
- W - Wadi
- X - Xenolith
- Y - Yardang
- Z - Zonation
What can the continuity equation teach us about vampires and fluid flow? Sadhra, Makita, et al. “P5_2 The Draining of a Lifetime.” Physics Special Topics 14.1 (2015).
Contact us:Show - www.dontpanicgeocast.com - @dontpanicgeo - [email protected]
John Leeman - www.johnrleeman.com - @geo_leeman
Shannon Dulin - @ShannonDulin
Episode 120 - A Stork Visits: Rebroadcast "Dam Nation"
Don't Panic Geocast
05/19/17 • 42 min
Shannon just had a baby! We take the week off and celebrate with this classic episode of the geocast... Don't Panic, we'll be back next week!
Having just got back from vacationing near a river, Shannon’s mind is wondering (and wandering!) about dams and their impacts, both good and bad. People use dams for electricity, recreation, flood control, and a myriad of other things. Let’s take a look at some huge dams and what they do to both communities and rivers.
- Oroville (1968) is the tallest in the US, and earthen dam in CA 770’ high
- Hoover (1935) is next at 726’ high on the border of AZ and NV
- Tallest dam in the world is Jingping-I dam (2013) in China is 1000’ high
- Largest reservoir in the US is Lake Mead, which holds 29 million acre-feet of water
- Glen Canyon dam
- Lake Powell on the AZ/UT border, and is a close second at 26 million acre-feet capacity.
- Colorado River
- WPA
- Water supply
- Irrigation and flood control
- Power supply
- Recreation
- Hoover dam generates 4.5 billion kw-hr per year, serving 8 million people in AZ, southern CA and NV
- Itaipu dam, on the border of Brazil and Paraguay, dams the Parana River, the 7th largest in the world.
- Penstock
Write us a geoscience themed limerick! This is a family show, so remember...nothing that rhymes with “Nantucket” Please email us your limericks by August 12, 2016 and we’ll be judging them along with Dr. Katie Schearer, an english professor. The prize? One of the awesome creations from Chris at Taylor Custom. Thanks for listening everyone!
Contact usShow - www.dontpanicgeocast.com - @dontpanicgeo - SWUNG Slack - [email protected]
John Leeman - www.johnrleeman.com - @geo_leeman
Shannon Dulin - @ShannonDulin
Episode 22 - "It was like two Volkswagens Battling" National Parks
Don't Panic Geocast
06/19/15 • 25 min
Join us this week as we talk about our favorite national parks while Shannon is on the road. Then we’ll talk about kinetic energy of empty and full beer bottles as part of Fun Paper Friday!
- Glacier National Park
- Heads up display for snowplows
- Book: Geology of National Parks
- Belt Supergroup
- Arches National Park
- Desert Solitaire by Edward Abbey
- Arch Collapses
- Canyonalnds National Park
- Upheaval Dome
Fun Paper Friday
Have you ever thought about how much force a beer bottle can exert when you strike something with it? Bollinger et al. have! Do you think full or empty bottles are more dangerous?
Contact us:
Show - www.dontpanicgeocast.com - @dontpanicgeo - [email protected]
John Leeman - www.johnrleeman.com - @geo_leeman
Shannon Dulin - @ShannonDulin
02/06/15 • 54 min
Feedback
- We received an article from listener Hannah about using tech in education. Thanks Hannah!
Interview with Nick Holschuh
Nick is a graduate student at Penn State. He tells us about his field experience, getting to Antarctica, and dealing with equipment malfunction in the field!
Fun Paper Friday
- Dread Risk, September 11, and Fatal Traffic Accidents
- Economic theory is built on the idea that humans, in aggregate, behave rationally. But in individual instances, under specific conditions, we find that humans rarely exhibit rationality, and so the study of these individual instances of decision-making gave birth to its own field (Behavioral Economics). It is super interesting, and is relevant to the world of science policy and public education. Here’s a crazy example of what we, as humans, do, when we fail to be rational.
Contact us:
Show - www.dontpanicgeocast.com - @dontpanicgeo - [email protected]
John Leeman - www.johnrleeman.com - @geo_leeman
Shannon Dulin - @ShannonDulin
Any opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this material are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of our employers or funding agencies.
Episode 254 - "Continental Condensation Nuclei" Yosemite
Don't Panic Geocast
06/07/20 • 50 min
This week we explore the geology of Yosemite and how continents are built!
Fun Paper Friday- Think dad jokes are bad? Try professor jokes! But do they work?
- Wandersee, James H. "Humor as a teaching strategy." The American Biology Teacher 44.4 (1982): 212-218.
Show
John Leeman
Shannon Dulin
Episode 168 - "Perturbate your nebula"
Don't Panic Geocast
05/11/18 • 44 min
This week we kick off our solar system show by talking about what we want to know and the recipe for a solar system.
The Solar System Fun Paper Friday- How long have we had rubber processing skills?
- A good many years before Goodyear
Show - Support us on Patreon! - www.dontpanicgeocast.com - SWUNG Slack - @dontpanicgeo - [email protected]
John Leeman - www.johnrleeman.com - @geo_leeman
Shannon Dulin - @ShannonDulin
Episode 143 - "A lot of flannel" GSA
Don't Panic Geocast
11/03/17 • 49 min
Shannon was off at GSA while John browsed the history of computing. We talk about our travels and celebrate with a discussion of champagne cork popping and thermodynamics.
Fun Paper Friday- Ever popped a champagne cork? This week we look at the thermodynamics behind the process and use John’s favorite tool - high speed cameras!
- Liger-Belair, Gérard, et al. “Unveiling CO2 heterogeneous freezing plumes during champagne cork popping.” Scientific Reports 7 (2017).
Show - www.dontpanicgeocast.com - SWUNG Slack - @dontpanicgeo - [email protected]
John Leeman - www.johnrleeman.com - @geo_leeman
Shannon Dulin - @ShannonDulin
Episode 80 - "Dam Nation"
Don't Panic Geocast
08/05/16 • 42 min
Having just got back from vacationing near a river, Shannon’s mind is wondering (and wandering!) about dams and their impacts, both good and bad. People use dams for electricity, recreation, flood control, and a myriad of other things. Let’s take a look at some huge dams and what they do to both communities and rivers.
- Oroville (1968) is the tallest in the US, and earthen dam in CA 770’ high
- Hoover (1935) is next at 726’ high on the border of AZ and NV
- Tallest dam in the world is Jingping-I dam (2013) in China is 1000’ high
- Largest reservoir in the US is Lake Mead, which holds 29 million acre-feet of water
- Glen Canyon dam
- Lake Powell on the AZ/UT border, and is a close second at 26 million acre-feet capacity.
- Colorado River
- WPA
- Water supply
- Irrigation and flood control
- Power supply
- Recreation
- Hoover dam generates 4.5 billion kw-hr per year, serving 8 million people in AZ, southern CA and NV
- Itaipu dam, on the border of Brazil and Paraguay, dams the Parana River, the 7th largest in the world.
- Penstock
Write us a geoscience themed limerick! This is a family show, so remember...nothing that rhymes with “Nantucket” Please email us your limericks by August 12, 2016 and we’ll be judging them along with Dr. Katie Schearer, an english professor. The prize? One of the awesome creations from Chris at Taylor Custom. Thanks for listening everyone!
Contact usShow - www.dontpanicgeocast.com - @dontpanicgeo - SWUNG Slack - [email protected]
John Leeman - www.johnrleeman.com - @geo_leeman
Shannon Dulin - @ShannonDulin
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FAQ
How many episodes does Don't Panic Geocast have?
Don't Panic Geocast currently has 418 episodes available.
What topics does Don't Panic Geocast cover?
The podcast is about Geology, Natural Sciences, Podcasts, Technology, Talk, Science and Physics.
What is the most popular episode on Don't Panic Geocast?
The episode title 'Episode 282 - "Antidunes"' is the most popular.
What is the average episode length on Don't Panic Geocast?
The average episode length on Don't Panic Geocast is 51 minutes.
How often are episodes of Don't Panic Geocast released?
Episodes of Don't Panic Geocast are typically released every 7 days.
When was the first episode of Don't Panic Geocast?
The first episode of Don't Panic Geocast was released on Jan 16, 2015.
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