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Astronomers using the James Webb Space Telescope have observed clouds on a hot gas giant exoplanet called WASP-94A b, some 700 light-years away. But these clouds aren’t your usual wisps of water vapor—they’re vaporized sand. Astronomer David Sing joins Host Flora Lichtman to describe the planetary weather, and how the researchers were able to observe it.
Then, ecologist Elske Tielens joins Flora to describe how ecologists using weather radar data counted the insects aloft in U.S. skies: around 100 trillion of them on an average summer day.
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Segment Guests
David Sing
Dr. David Sing is a Bloomberg Distinguished Professor of Earth and Planetary Sciences at Johns Hopkins University.
Elske Tielens
Dr. Elske Tielens is an ecologist with the Swiss Federal Institute for Forest, Snow and Landscape Research.
Segment Transcript
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Meet the Producers and Host
About Charles Bergquist
As Science Friday’s director and senior producer, Charles Bergquist channels the chaos of a live production studio into something sounding like a radio program. Favorite topics include planetary sciences, chemistry, materials, and shiny things with blinking lights.
About Flora Lichtman
Flora Lichtman is a host of Science Friday. In a previous life, she lived on a research ship where apertivi were served on the top deck, hoisted there via pulley by the ship’s chef.