For more info on the podcast, please see our About page.

Feature Guest: Laila Zichmanis

The Google Lunar X Prize. The NASA Space Apps Challenge. And Chris Hadfield nearing 1 million twitter followers. As the face of space exploration changes, government space agencies, commercial and non-profit organizations, and even the occasional astronaut are all seeking to market to the public both themselves and the space industry they represent. Today I’m joined at the star spot by Laila Zichmanis, branding authority now mixing her marketing credentials with a lifelong passion for astronomy and space.

Current in Space

After four years peering into the depths of the universe, the European Space Agency’s Herschel space observatory mission came to an end. And “What’s Up in Space?”: The Star Spot on location covers this annual astronomy event for Astronuts.

About Laila Zichmanis

Laila Zichmanis is the CEO of Lumena, a marketing consulting company with a focus on brand launch and invigoration. She is a 20 year veteran in brand management, which she describes as the science of marketing, something we’ll get into. A graduate from the York University Schulich School of Business, Zichmanis was Senior Vice President of Marketing at Shoppers Drug Mart, President of the Petroleum Divisions at Canadian Tire Corporation, and Brand Manager at Procter and Gamble.

Recently Zichmanis has turned her focus to her lifelong passion for astronomy and space exploration, acting as a consultant to a variety of bodies focusing on both public education and commercial support for entrepreneurs.

Links

Lumena

The Commercial Space Blog: Cultivating Clients Who’ll Pay for Space Exploration

Presentation: Brand Management: How the Science of Marketing can Impact the Business of Space

What’s Up in Space? 

If you have interesting news and story ideas, as well as topics or potential interview guest, please send them to starspotpodcast@gmail.com

How to hear this show:

* Subscribe for free with itunes
* Use feedburner in your browser.
* Listen to Astronomy.fm every other Monday at 12:15am, 4:15am, 8:15am, 12:15pm, 4:15pm, and 8:15pm

LISTEN NOW OR DOWNLOAD

The Torontoist  has provided coverage of Yuri’s Night, including a run down of all the astronomy and space public education events and activities offered in Toronto

Read it here: In Honour of the First Cosmonaut, a Toronto-Centric Celebration of Spaceflight

Lego Time

Tower of Babel replica or space elevator prototype?

Lego Man is a fan of The Star Spot

The Star Spot’s high school student volunteers Tao Lu and Abeyan Thirunavukkarasu

Western University planetary science podcast host Raymond Francis

The Landing Party’s Jonathan Moneta

Death from above (hopefully not!) The Star Spot’s Host Justin Trottier and Promotions/Marketing Director Natalie Morcos, from a

Science author Dan Falk, interviewed at The Star Spot on Episode 2: Life, the Universe and Everything, with Dan Falk

Join The Star Spot at Yuri’s Night Toronto!

On Friday, April 12, The Star Spot is pleased to be co-hosting Yuri’s Night in Toronto. Named in honour of Yuri Gagarin, the first human to launch into space, Yuri’s Night is an international celebration of space exploration and human achievement. Our Toronto event will simultaneously be the celebration of our show’s first year anniversary. Come out to Hotel Ocho in downtown Toronto for all ages event featuring live music, 1960s themed cocktails, and a lego spaceship building contest with all star judges. Plus meet some familiar voices as we’ll be joined by past guests of The Star Spot Dan Falk, John Percy, today’s guest Chris Matzner, and of course members of our show’s production team. And as a special treat, the directors from the upcoming documentary Chasing Atlantis will present unreleased footage of their exploration into the space shuttle program.

Visit the event website at http://yurisnight.ca/

We’ll be posting a special 25th episode of The Star Spot, celebrating the end of our first year bringing you the latest and brightest in the fields of astronomy and space exploration, this Friday, March 15th.

Look out for an exciting interview with NASA’s preeminent astrobiologist, Dr. Chris McKay, on all things Mars: the possibility of past life, the hunt for current spots of habitability, and the prospects for a human future on the Red Planet.

Plus a behind the scenes look at The Star Spot, highlights of our first year, and a conversation with a familiar voice.

For more info on the podcast, please see our About page.

Feature Guest: Lawrence Krauss

Lawrence Krauss joins Justin Trottier at The Star Spot to discuss nothing, and how a universe can arise from it. Covering Krauss’ earlier book “The Physics of Star Trek,” the two discuss warp drives, time travel and transporters, and then reflect on the likelihood of a space exploration future anywhere like that of the Star Trek universe. Arguing that not only matter, space and time, but the laws of physics themselves, can all be ultimately explained, Krauss defends his assertion that the ultimate question “Why is there something rather than nothing” properly belongs to the realm of science, responding to critiques from philosophers and some in the religious communities. The conversation also focuses on quantum gravity, the anthropic principle, and what it means about our place in the universe that in the very long run, our universe seems to be heading back in the direction of nothingness.

About Lawrence Krauss

Professor Lawrence Krauss is Foundation Professor of the School of Earth and Space Exploration and Director of the Origins Project at Arizona State University. He grew up in Toronto and studied at Carleton University, then received a PhD in physics at MIT. He served on President Barack Obama’s 2008 presidential campaign science policy committee, and has received awards from the American Physical Society, the American Association of Physics Teachers and the American Institute of Physics. He is the author of a number of books, including Hiding in the Mirror, Quantum Man: Richard Feynman’s Life in Science, The Physics of Star Trek and A Universe From Nothing: Why there is something rather than nothing.

Links

Amazon: A Universe from Nothing: Why there Is Something Rather than Nothing

TV Ontario Big Ideas: Lawrence Krauss on Life, the Universe and Nothing

The Globe and Mail Book Review

Discover Magazine’s Sean Carroll Column: A Universe from Nothing?

If you have interesting news and story ideas, as well as topics or potential interview guest, please send them to starspotpodcast@gmail.com

How to hear this show:

* Subscribe for free with itunes
* Use feedburner in your browser.
* Listen to Astronomy.fm every other Monday at 12:15am, 4:15am, 8:15am, 12:15pm, 4:15pm, and 8:15pm

LISTEN NOW OR DOWNLOAD

For more info on the podcast, please see our About page.

Feature Guest: Luis Lehner

Luis Lehner joins Justin Trottier at The Star Spot to discuss his work in numerical relativity and his search for elusive gravity waves. Since they are not scattered by intervening objects but carrying pure information from their points of origin, gravity waves would be a revolutionary new way to study everything from the Big Bang to supermassive black holes. The two also discuss future missions to search for gravity waves, like the Laser Interferometry Space Antenna (LISA) and the Laser Interferometer Gravitational Wave Observatory (LIGO). Finally Lehner explains his theoretical work on strongly gravitating systems in higher compactified dimensions where exotic objects called “black strings” may connect string theory, quantum gravity and black holes.

About Luis Lehner

Luis Lehner completed his PhD from the University of Pittsburgh and then held Postdoctoral Fellowships at the University of Texas at Austin and the University of Briitsh Columbia. He is currently Professor at the University of Guelph and Associate Faculty at Perimeter Institute in Waterloo, Ontario. Lehner received the Nicholas Metropolis Award from the American Physical Society and a ellowship from the Sloan Foundation. He sits on the Editorial Board of the Journal Classical and Quantum Gravity, and he was named among the Top 40 Under 40 by the Baton Rouge Business Report. Lehner lives by advice his father once gave him, who said: “Anyone can get a university degree. It takes work and study for a few years, and then one ends up with a degree forever. But to a be a gentleman or a gentlewoman one must work on it forever.”

Links

Synopsis: Cosmic Nudity – Black Strings, Low Viscosity Fluids, and Violations of Cosmic Censorship

Black Holes on a String in the Fifth Dimension

Luis Lehner: Canadian Institute for Advanced Research

Luis Lehner. Black holes & membranes: observables & surprises?

If you have interesting news and story ideas, as well as topics or potential interview guest, please send them to starspotpodcast@gmail.com

How to hear this show:

* Subscribe for free with itunes
* Use feedburner in your browser.
* Listen to Astronomy.fm every other Monday at 12:15am, 4:15am, 8:15am, 12:15pm, 4:15pm, and 8:15pm

LISTEN NOW OR DOWNLOAD

As a special video edition to our Episode 18: Hosting the World’s Longest Running Science Show, with Bob McDonald, Canada’s best known science journalist joins Justin Trottier at The Star Spot to discuss how unique opportunities have shaped his life, the value of story telling in selling science, and his experiences on the CBC. This video edition also features coverage of the 50 year anniversary celebration of the launch of Alouette 1, Canada’s first space satellite

The Star Spot’s recently launched YouTube channel, “TheStarSpotTV” will feature special additional media from our program, as well as re-released YouTube versions of our regular episodes. Please subscribe here.

For full information on Bob McDonald, check out the original Episode 18 post

For more info on the podcast, please see our About page.

Feature Guest: Guy P. Harrison

Appropriate to Episode #13, given the superstitious associations of that particular number, our guest today, Guy P. Harrison, is a debunker of superstitions and paranormal beliefs of all stripes. He joins Justin Trottier at The Star Spot to discuss his newest book 50 Popular Beliefs That People Think Are True. After an introduction to skepticism, why it’s vitally important and how it differs from simply cynicism or denial, the two focus down on a variety of exciting specific beliefs: ancient aliens, modern UFOs, abductions, astrology, and the moon landing hoax. Harrison explains what convinced him to give up his belief that ancient aliens visited the Earth. He explains what we can learn about psychology and culture by looking seriously at alien abduction experiences. He confronts the most effective arguments of the moon landing hoax community and finally explains why we shouldn’t take our newspaper horoscopes too seriously.

In Current in Space we comment on discussions from the 100 Year Starship initiative which seeks to prepare for interstellar travel within a century. At a recent symposium everything from new possibilities for warp drives to a debate about whether religion should accompany humanity was on the table. Finally, we provide an update on the status of  the B612 Foundation’s Sentinel mission, a sun-orbiting telescope that will increase our ability to track dangerous asteroids on potential collision courses with Earth.

About Guy P. Harrison
Guy P. Harrison graduated with a history and anthropology degree from the university of southern florida. He is an award winning writer, journalist and photographer. Harrison is the author of a number of books, including Race and Reality: What Everyone Should Know about Our Biological Diversity, 50 Reasons People Give for Believing in a God, and his newest book, 50 Popular Beliefs That People Think Are True, described as a skeptical grand tour of extraordinary claims such as ESP, ghosts, psyhics, hoemopathic medicine, bigfoot and more. His primary interest is to promote science and skeptical inquiry.

If you have interesting news and story ideas, as well as topics or potential interview guest, please send them to starspotpodcast@gmail.com

How to hear this show:

* Subscribe for free with itunes
* Use feedburner in your browser.
* Listen to Astronomy.fm every other Monday at 12:15am, 4:15am, 8:15am, 12:15pm, 4:15pm, and 8:15pm

LISTEN NOW OR DOWNLOAD

Thanks everyone who joined us for an amazing 10th Episode Celebration!

Here are a few of our photos. The full album is available on our facebook page

Join us to celebrate the 10th episode of The Star Spot – Canada’s new astronomy and space exploration podcast!

Justin Trottier and The Star Spot team invite you to join us at the trendy Screen Lounge on the corner of Yonge and College in Toronto on Friday, August 10 at 8:00pm.

Chuck Black, Treasurer of the Canadian Space Commerce Association and our guest from episode 7, as well as upcoming guest James Robert Brown, University of Toronto Professor with the Institute for the History and Philosophy of Science and Technology

We’ll also be joined by Professor Paul Delaney who will be representing the Royal Astronomical Society of Canada (Toronto chapter) and the York University Observatory. Dr. Delaney received the Sandford Fleming Medal from the Council of the Royal Canadian Institute in recognition of his outstanding contributions to the public awareness of science.

Everyone is invited, even if you failed high school science or you’ve never heard of a podcast. You won’t want to miss an exciting evening of cool nerdy fun.

http://www.screenlounge.ca/

Friday, August 10, 8pm – 11pm ET
Second Floor, 20 College Street, Toronto

Please help us get the word out by sharing the facebook event