Dr. Alicia Pérez-Porro is more than just a sea sponge expert, she's also a former professional dancer. Check out this video below (as discussed on the podcast) where she dances in an experimental Catalan film while dressed as a giant mussel.
And here's the old British video about sea sponges we joked about in "Sounds of Science."
And finally, here's a pretty amazing visual demonstration of the way that sponges filter the water around them:
This episode of You’re the Expert is brought to you from Caveat in NYC, featuring Tal Rabin, an expert in cryptography and cyber security at IBM. She’s the head IBM’s Thomas J Watson Research Group, which studies cryptography.
Dr. Rabin received her PhD from the Hebrew University, Israel. Within the field of cryptography, Dr. Rabin focuses on the theory of cryptography as well as secure distributed protocols. Cryptographic theory is complex and interrelated with number theory, theory of distributed systems and algorithm theory.
An example image of web-based protocols
Why it matters:
Computers, cell phones, and the internet are fundamental parts of our daily life, but lots of people don’t know how they work. Tal’s work helps keep devices communicating safely and protected from harmful adversaries.
Follow Tal:
Her bio:http://researcher.watson.ibm.com/researcher/view.php?person=us-talr
Cryptography research team page:
http://researcher.watson.ibm.com/researcher/view_group.php?id=2659
Further Reading:
A list of Dr. Rabin & team’s most recent publications:
http://researcher.watson.ibm.com/researcher/view_group_pubs.php?grp=2659
About Dr. Faherty:
This episode is brought to you from Caveat in NYC, featuring Dr. Jackie Faherty, an astronomer at the American Museum of Natural History. Dr. Faherty is an expert on brown dwarfs, stars that are unable to sustain the fusion of hydrogen as a result of their low mass.
Dr. Jackie Faherty
After receiving her BS from Notre Dame and her PhD from Stony Brook University, Dr. Faherty received both the National Science Foundation International Research Fellowship and the NASA Hubble Fellowship. Dr. Faherty’s work falls under the umbrella of “exoplanet characterization studies” but focuses mainly on investigating the physical characteristics of brown dwarfs. Dr. Faherty and her team have worked to collect data on the nearest brown dwarfs (within 20 parsecs) as well as any brown dwarves outside that range exhibiting any unique characteristics.
Why it Matters:
Learning more about our solar system and the ones beyond it is vital to understanding our own planet, and how we got to be where we are. Not only is Dr. Faherty an accomplished scientist, she is also a passionate advocate for engaging students and communities in order to instill the values of curiosity and discovery.
To learn more about Dr. Faherty’s work:
Website: http://www.jackiefaherty.com/scientific-research/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/jfaherty?lang=en
Further Reading:
Analyzing the properties of brown dwarfs versus exoplanets:
http://adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/2016ApJS..225...10F
Exploring the relationship between kinematics, age, and color through analysis of velocity: http://adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/2009AJ....137....1F
Examining the relationship between extreme cold temperatures and luminosity in brown dwarfs:
http://adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/2014ApJ...796...39T
