The Jodcast - astronomy podcast

Latest Episodes:

October 2025: Simons Observatory Special Oct 01, 2025

Show notes

Simons Observatory Special.With Manchester playing a key role within the Simon Observatory’s development, we’ve recorded a special episode during their face-to-face meeting here. We talk to SO:UK Principal Investigator Prof Michael Brown about what makes this project so exciting and a Jodbite with Dr Katie Harrington, on her work testing and integrating the instrumentation into large telescope construction. Finally, we spoke with a range of SO collaborators over lunch at the meeting and take a whistlestop tour on what it really takes and who is involved when you build a telescope.

July 2025: From Stars to Cells Jul 04, 2025

Show notes

From Stars to Cells. In this month’s episode, we interview Dr Mel Ifran about her research adapting machine learning techniques from radio astronomy to detecting cancer cells. We also answer some of your questions from our live event last month.

June 2025: Galaxy Redshifts - A hard thing to nail down Jun 02, 2025

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Galaxy Redshifts - A hard thing to nail down. In this month’s episode, we interview Prof Joe Zuntz about his research into clustering galaxies for cosmology. Our next Jodbite comes from this year’s PhD cohort, Georgie, as she submits her thesis on molecular line fitting using ALMA.

May 2025: Infinite Diversity In Infinite Combinations May 01, 2025

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Infinite Diversity In Infinite Combinations. In this month’s episode, we have a double interview special as we get the opportunity to talk to Dame Jocelyn Bell Burnell about her discovery of pulsars and resilience against the challenges she faced. We also talk to Louise Carvahlo, the diversity and inclusion programme leader at CERN, about how they are challenging the invisible barriers that academia face.

April 2025: Bursting with Mysteries, FRBs Apr 01, 2025

Show notes

Bursting with Mysteries, FRBs. Welcome to our first themed episode of 2025. This month’s episode is everything to do with Fast Radio Bursts, or FRBs - their exciting discovery, mysterious origins and paving the way to using them as probes in space. This episode features double FRB interviews, with Dr Cherry Ng from CNRS Orleans giving an overview about these astrophysical mysteries, and Dr Ines Pastor Marazuela talking about her work here at Jodrell Bank to observe and understand the populations of FRBs we’ve found. But first, the news.

March 2025: Exoplanets from the Archives Mar 01, 2025

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Exoplanets from the Archives. In this month’s episode, we have another interview from the archive where Fiona talks to Faith Hawthorn about her work in exoplanet detection and astronomy outreach. George and Jessy also answer your questions about potential dark matter candidates and Mercury’s origins, but first the news.

February 2025: A Blast from the Past Feb 01, 2025

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A Blast from the Past. In this month’s episode, we are hearing from a familiar voice as we are joined by now Dr. Ian Harrrison as he talks to us about weak lensing. We will also be diving into the archives with familiar the familiar voices of Imogen and Jonathan discussing theoretical cosmology with Dr. Cora Uhlemann

January 2025: Cloudy with a Chance of Stars Jan 13, 2025

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Cloudy with a Chance of Stars. In this month’s episode, we have two interviews from back in 2022: one with with Eloy de Lera Acedo and another with Mark Magee. Louisa and Barbara talk about the Arecibo Message, imaging stars and flying to space! Bijas chats with James Turner about his work finding pulsars with MeerKAT in our next installment of the Jodbite.

December 2024: Shining a Light on Dark Matter Dec 01, 2024

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Shining a Light on Dark Matter. In December's episode, we have delved into the archive for an interview with Grace Lawrence from 2022; she talks with Jonathan and Imogen about her work in dark matter detection. Nastassia and Louisa answer some listeners’ questions in Ask an Astronomer, delving into wormhole exit points and pringle-shaped universes.

November 2024: Exploring Exoplanets with JWST Nov 01, 2024

Show notes

Exploring Exoplanets with JWST. In November's episode, Mel talks to Dr Hannah Wakeford on her work in the field of exoplanets, utilising JWST to delve into planetary atmospheres. For our Jodbite, we talk to postdoc Dr Aishrila Mazumder about her research mapping hydrogen.