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. He coordinates in-studio activities each week from 1-4. And then collapses. He also produces pieces for the radio show. His favorite topics involve planetary sciences, chemistry, materials, and shiny things with blinking lights.
Charles has been at Science Friday longer than anyone on staff except Ira, and so serves as a repository of sometimes useful, sometimes useless knowledge about the program. He remembers the time an audience member decided to recite a love poem during a live remote broadcast, the time the whole staff went for ice cream at midnight in Fairbanks, Alaska, and the name of that guy Ira is trying to remember from a few years back who did something with space.
He hails from southeastern Pennsylvania and worked for a while as a demonstrator at the Franklin Institute, Philadelphia’s science museum (favorite devices: Maillardet’s Automaton, the stream table, the Chladni plates). He has a degree in chemistry from the University of Delaware, home of the Fighting Blue Hens, and a master’s in journalism from New York University’s Science, Health, and Environmental Reporting Program. However, he attended the program prior to the addition of ‘Health’ to its name, which may explain his slight unease when covering medical topics.
Outside the walls of Science Friday, he enjoys backpacking, camping, cooking not-entirely-healthy things, reading escapist fiction, and trying to unravel his children’s complicated stories.
17:13
Test Launch Marks New Phase for NASA
NASA is in early stage test flights for Orion, its updated crew capsule, but the spaceflight landscape is changing.
9:08
Near City Streets, an Insect Cleaning Crew
Ants and other insects could be able to remove thousands of pounds of food waste from street medians and city parks each year.
47:30
Ig Nobel Prizes Salute Science’s Strange and Silly
In a Science Friday holiday tradition, we’re playing highlights from this year’s 24th First Annual Ig Nobel awards ceremony.
10:41
Mining Wikipedia Data to Track Disease
By analyzing access to specific health-related pages on Wikipedia, researchers may be able to identify—or even forecast—potential disease outbreaks.
25:19
You Observed…Everything
The Science Club meets to discuss your observations of the world around you, from spider habitats to lunar eclipses.
11:45
Taking the Temperature of Rising Seas
Researchers are trying to better understand ocean water temperatures, which is an important factor in rising sea levels.
10:10
Your Home, Your Bacteria
The surfaces in a home reflect the distinct blend of bacteria that inhabit the people that live there.
#ObserveEverything: Staff Picks, Week #1
We observe: you’re amazing! Staff picks from the first week of Science Club’s #ObserveEverything
16:59
Mining the Internet for Clues to Chinese Censorship
Protests continue in Hong Kong, but only glimpses of the activity make it into mainland China due to censorship.
16:54
Science Friday Science Club: Observe Everything
The Science Club embarks on its next project and explores observation.