Orbitals
The American Chemical Society
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Top 10 Orbitals Episodes
Goodpods has curated a list of the 10 best Orbitals episodes, ranked by the number of listens and likes each episode have garnered from our listeners. If you are listening to Orbitals 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 Orbitals episode by adding your comments to the episode page.
12/19/18 • 18 min
We sat down for a conversation with Dr. Frances Arnold, 2018 Nobel laureate in chemistry for the directed evolution of enzymes. We asked how one rises to such eminent heights, and got answers spanning topics from the price of gas during the Carter administration to whether to pursue a career in diplomacy. Don't miss this one--Dr. Arnold is the most fascinating person we've ever met.
11/15/18 • 18 min
Many great minds have contemplated the question of how to get to Mars. In this episode of Orbitals, we learn how to get back home. With guest Jerry Sanders, we talk about how NASA plans to turn resources it finds in space into rocket fuel to power its exploration of the solar system.
11/17/20 • 11 min
As of November 16, 2020, the COVID-19 pandemic has caused over 1.3 million deaths globally, more than 246,000 of which have been in the United States. Although this country has done very little to control the spread of this virus, there are people out there working tirelessly to get us back on track by developing and improving materials that protect us from the novel coronavirus.
05/13/21 • 14 min
Over half a million people in the US have died from an opioid overdose over the last 20 years, and a lot of the time they were prescribed those opioids by a doctor. So what makes these drugs so dangerous? And if we know they can be this dangerous, why are they still prescribed?
This month’s episode is about opioids—their history, their use, and the research that might help us emerge from this epidemic.
Featuring opioid researcher Kelly Dunn, PhD
06/11/21 • 20 min
A lot has happened in the last year (understatement of the millennium), so we wanted to bring our listeners something a bit sillier than usual. In this episode we’re talking food and drink chemistry—just fun bits of trivia that you can take with you as you venture back out to bars and restaurants this summer.
Sam's joined by Orbitals executive producer George Zaidan (as promised in the episode, you can see his hot pepper struggle here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8R98O29Fs7s)
Featuring Matt Hartings, PhD and Selina Wang, PhD
07/15/21 • 18 min
Sam Kean's latest book, The Icepick Surgeon: Murder, Fraud, Sabotage, Piracy, and Other Dastardly Deeds Perpetrated in the Name of Science, dropped earlier this week. It’s about when knowledge becomes everything—the only thing. At whatever the cost.
You'll hear about what made Sam want to write the book, and about a couple of the characters within its pages.
You can find the book here: https://www.littlebrown.com/titles/sam-kean/the-icepick-surgeon/9781549102929/
08/12/21 • 15 min
In 2020, researchers discovered that more than 1,000 tons of plastic—that’s over 100 million plastic water bottles worth—rains down on National Parks and wilderness in the western U.S. every year. How is that possible?
This week's episode features microplastics researcher Imari Walker. Check out her YouTube channel here: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCoiqwAaGW6-xANs3XOCO_Pg
09/16/21 • 17 min
Sweat is this thing that many of us seem to loathe, but also pay a lot of money to do while being yelled at by professionals. So what is sweat? And why do we do it? And why are we often so embarrassed by it? This episode features writer Sarah Everts, who recently wrote a book called The Joy of Sweat: The Strange Science of Perspiration.
11/11/21 • 14 min
Bacteria often get a bad rap, which is fair—they are responsible for diseases like strep throat, pneumonia, and tuberculosis, and antibiotic resistance is a legitimate threat to humanity's existence. But some bacteria might actually save lives by cleaning up things like massive oil spills and radioactive waste. Featuring Dr. Cara Santelli.
08/06/19 • 22 min
We need antibiotics, we rely on them. Much of humanity has survived because of them. But they could also lead to our demise if we’re not careful. Antibiotic resistance isn’t some far-off threat, it’s already a part of our guts and our society, and it’s not going away.
This week on Orbitals join host Samantha Jones, antimicrobial drug discovery researcher Dr. Peg Riley, and Chemical and Engineering News reporter Kerri Jansen to learn about how scientists are trying to tackle antibiotic resistance, and the power that we hold as consumers.
Written and hosted by Samantha Jones, PhD
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FAQ
How many episodes does Orbitals have?
Orbitals currently has 48 episodes available.
What topics does Orbitals cover?
The podcast is about History, Chemistry, Podcasts, Science and Drugs.
What is the most popular episode on Orbitals?
The episode title 'A Morning with Dr. Frances Arnold | Orbitals 104' is the most popular.
What is the average episode length on Orbitals?
The average episode length on Orbitals is 16 minutes.
How often are episodes of Orbitals released?
Episodes of Orbitals are typically released every 20 days.
When was the first episode of Orbitals?
The first episode of Orbitals was released on Sep 13, 2018.
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