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Thanksgiving is about giving thanks and enjoying friends and family. Sometimes the chaos of the holiday makes us forget this keystone feature of Thanksgiving. As I sat around the table with my family I became motivated me to share with you my thoughts, ideas, and practices regarding how I find gratitude in my life. I begin the episode outlining some wonderful and intriguing new research that has been published about gratitude. Next, we review the concepts around neuroplasticity and end with me sharing my gratitude list that of course is centered around science. This episode will make you think and can act as a jumping off point in finding more gratitude in your life. Click to view: show page on Awesound

Each episode topic and details come about based on what is happening in my life or in the science of the moment. This episode I wanted to blend the current events surrounding LIGO discovering kilonovas, to the creation of the rarest elements to me giving a gold ring to my fiance (were engaged). Each event and moment of our lives is layered with awesome. Sure it is just a ring, but it is a ring that is now a symbol and it is created by a series of cosmic events that are to rare to turly comprehend. However, with a little time, curiosity, and science we can feel a whole new perspective regarding the complexity right under the surface of our day to day lives. Click to view: show page on Awesound

The human experience is the best and worst of being you. Life is full of wonder and awe, tears and laughs, hugs and kiss. Nature is a constant state of change and chaos is the catalyst for change. Evolution is change, we are change, and change is everyday. But in the end this life is something to enjoy and marvel at. Go out today and find others who are like you. Find a team of people and surround yourself with others who want you to be only you. Embrace the chaos and enjoy the ride. Click to view: show page on Awesound

This episode discusses the how and why behind the human need to belong and find their tribe. This episode discusses how time and evolution play a role in creating the human condition. A condition that centers around our own duality - selfishness and selfishness. We are hardwired to belong, but we live in a world that is growing evermore exclusive and individualized. This episode will give you background into why you feel the way you feel about groups and why belonging to a group can help you reach a higher level of happiness. On a deeper level this episode allows us to think about the biggest group of them all - Human on Earth. Click to view: show page on Awesound

The cosmos is vast. A vastness outside of human comprehension. The size, scale, composition and origin are wondrous and complex. Although we humans can not always comprehend the scope of things, that won't stop us from trying. The unknown and the unknowable are the key factors in what makes today great. Take a step back and ponder some of the ideas brought to light in these episodes. Internalize and let them fill you up. Embrace the chaos and enjoy the ride, knowing that you are a machine made of cosmic debris energized by starlight. Click to view: show page on Awesound

Light is everything. We see because of light. We get energy from light. Daytime would not be daytime without light. The Sun is the fuel for life, but it took sometime for the Universe to evolution into these wonderful crucibles of stellar light and stellar nucleosynthesis that the twinkles in the sky are today. We just experienced daylight saving time so let us take a moment to appreciate light and all of the wonder it floods our lives with each day. It is the vision and the energy that fuel this creative world. You are stellar dust machines, energized by starlight. So enjoy the ride you Beautiful Dust Specks. Click to view: show page on Awesound

Our world is a connected web of energy and energy flow. Where there is water and energy there is not just life, but ecology. Science has recently discovered how this even plays in region without the Sun. Each region of the world where energy is present has life and an entire ecosystem flourishing around it. This episode describes some of the webs and connections that can be found in a few unlikely places. By describing an understanding the intricate web of ecology, you will see and feel a new appreciation for the energy in your body. Feel the energy, obtain the energy, and express the energy. Click to view: show page on Awesound

This episode allows the listeners to discover and marvel at the influence the Sun has on biology. The vast majority of life on Earth is energized by the Sun. We have learned in previous episodes that our bodies are made of stardust and now we can discuss how we are also energized by starlight. While also discussing how the Sun is the heat engine of our planet. It creates all of the wind, the rain, and ever changing weather. Ecology teaches us to appreciate the little creatures. Especially the ones who can do photosynthesis- create sugar from sunlight. Humans (heterotrophs) can not take light and turn it into sugar, but we can eat things who can or eat things that can eat the things that can turn light into sugar. These crazy food webs on our planet is what makes life tick and evolve. I do mean tick in the literal sense. All of the energy that motivates, moves, and is expressed with our bodies was once light created and emanated from the Sun. You are stellar dust, energized by stellar light. Click to view: show page on Awesound

The Sun will rise again tomorrow and continue to do so for another 5,000,000,000,000 years. Each day the Sun converts crazy amounts of hydrogen into helium through the process of thermonuclear fusion giving us the by products of light and energy. Our lives are illuminated by our Sun. This daylight is also the catalyst for all biological energy on this planet. Let us take a little time to appreciate the Sun's origin story, it's past, present, and future. Let's dive into the crazy daily battle the Sun wages with gravity. In the end, you will get to know that wonderful crazy bright sphere in the sky a little better. After all, you are star dust energized by starlight. Click to view: show page on Awesound

Each week a listener of the show will send me three words of their choosing. Three words that I piece together off the cuff and freestyle/rant/flow/talk/connect through the looking glass of science and life. Get a little fun motivation before the week starts. If you are interested in becoming part of the show please send me an MP3 to beautifuldustspecks@gmail.com... You will be a part of the show and a part of the fun. Click to view: show page on Awesound

This episode is simple, but it is complex. The age we are living in today is very unique, but also terrifying. As we move through this age of anti-intellect and fake news we must be able to have conversations in hopes of building bridges. However, we must know what we are talking about and what words we are using. "Theory" is one of the most misused words out there. A scientific theory is a tool and an explanation dealing with the whys of reality, of nature, and of science. Laws are the explanations using math and equations. But we need the theories to explain why something is happen and this is how theories change the world. If we talk science and you get into a discussion/debate with anyone who says "it's just theory" when trying to debunk whatever science you are discussing you have won the debate. Also, you can walk away and save your breath since this person has a fundamental flaw in their understands about science. Click to view: show page on Awesound

The three wonderful words this week are provided by Youngman Brown - host of Your Creative Push: Space travel, dreams, and creativity. Three words that could easily be used in describing so many aspects of life, love, and today. Have quick a listen and get a little motivational push to kick off your weekend. Listen in and enjoy being a creative space traveler who will travers the dreams of yesterday, today, and beyond. Click to view: show page on Awesound

Sadly, on January 16, 2017 we lost another great human and another hero of the Apollo NASA program. Gene Cernan was just one piece of the 100,000 people who played a role in getting us to the Moon, but he was my favorite of all the Apollo astronauts. This episode is my attempt to pay tribute to him, the programs, the people, the discoveries, and impact NASA had and has on our lives today. While also reflecting on how we can embody the astronaut life to further our everyday journey into the unknown of our hopes, dreams, and ideas. Thank you Gene and all of the other people who dared to embark on the greatest adventure of the 21st century - walking on the moon. Click to view: show page on Awesound

Round 3 of Freestyle Friday. In these quick little episodes I take three random words given to me by fans of the show and rift/rant/flow with their ideas. Each week the words change and the randomness changes. Tune in and get a quick science fill up before the weekend. If you would like to be a part of the show please email me beautifuldustspecks@gmail.com and send me an mp3 discussing who you are, stating your three words, and anything else you would like to say. Click to view: show page on Awesound

In this episode I explore the basic physics behind waves that create music. But more importantly this episode discusses how music effects our neurochemistry, biology, society, minds, bodies, and life. Most people love music and listen daily, but may never take the time to realize that our music is a wonderful manipulation of physics. While also pondering how music here on Earth is our music because of our atmosphere. Take your favorite song to another planet and it changes the feel. Music embodies the rhythms of the day, our lives, and our feelings. So take a moment to appreciate what it takes to use the creative powers of humans to put forth beats into the ether... beats that have the power to change the fundamental matter or the body and mind. Click to view: show page on Awesound

My second installment of a little side project within the show. The three special words this week were given to me by my lovely best friend and girlfriend, Stefanie. Tune in and enjoy a quick little science flow to start off your weekend. Click to view: show page on Awesound

Each time our planet goes around the Sun we take time to celebrate and reflect on the previous year. It is a time of wonder and goals. In this episode I want to discuss with you the first beginning ever in this Universe called the Singularity and how it was the OG starting point of the Big Bang, the Universe, and today. This idea is a powerful archetype we can use to craft and guide our thoughts as we go forth into the new year in hopes of creating a new you. So let's discuss how we can craft new beginnings or new "starts" that will lead to accomplishing our goals or new "ends." Click to view: show page on Awesound

Freestyle Fridays is going to be a new segment added to Beautiful Dust Specks. Each week I am going to ask my listeners to send me a little MP3 recording outlining three words of their choosing. Three words I will then rift off of. I will then listen to the words right for the first time on air and with them I will blend them into a five minute science-connection-motivational flow. Click to view: show page on Awesound

The job of Santa is epic. He is epic. It is all epic. However, your parents only told you a little bit of the story. You want to know the truth about the crazy, weird, wild, powerful, cool story… look no further than science. I have always loved Santa. I have always loved Stories. Stories, legends, tales, epics, sagas, and fables have been given to each new generation to pass on imagination, information, ideas, and feelings. We as a society are connected by tales being passed on from one person to the next. As it passes on it gets a little added personal flavor from one person to the next added to it. My flavor always comes in the form of science. Click to view: show page on Awesound

Geology teaches us a story. A story of epic proportions and events that has led to this moment, this day, this life. As the season swings to cold and winter comes back for the fun it is time to appreciate what we have. We have a planet that has changed again and again, over and over, for billions of years. Take a second to appreciate this winter because there have been many in the past. Each winter played a role and acted as a chapter in the story of how we got to today. A long time ago there was a series of events that took place which tipped the Earth into cold chaos. Snowball Earth is a theory that describes a time where our whole planet was covered in ice over a mile deep. Imagine a world cold as the Arctic as the equator and then reflect on how this winter is not so bad. Then get out there and play a snow sport since life is short. Click to view: show page on Awesound