When it is a vidcast. The number one and two podcasts listed in Apple iTunes’ “Today’s Top Podcasts” list are vidcasts, with three more in the top 20. There cannot possibly be as many iPods with video purchased yet as there are older video-free iPods; the new iPod came out a few weeks ago. Therefore, portability must not be the primary feature driving people to vidcasts. Despite claims to the contrary, people really are watching longer-form video on their computer monitors.

Simply put, we love video, regardless of where it comes from and where it is displayed. Do we love video more than we love music? Possibly. Podcasts went from nowhere to everywhere in less than one year. Vidcasts appear to be doing the same in half the time.

Personally, I cannot listen to a podcast if I know there is a video version available (Diggnation is a case in point.) If a favorite podcaster announces a vidcast versions of the show, I will jump immediately. Let me repeat here a prediction I made two months ago about the future of podcasting and vidcasting: Vidcasting will be huge, and it will dwarf podcasting. All the hype about podcasts that made many shake their head? It will all be realized with vidcasts.

“Let’s Bomb the Hell out of a Comet” - Welcome to a very special “Let’s Bomb the Hell out of a Comet” edition of RADIO Frontier Channel. I am your host, Richard Leis. Deep Impact’s coffee table-sized Impactor smashed into the nucleus of Comet Tempel 1 late Sunday night and the images received so far have been spectacular. The traffic to the Deep Impact website yesterday proves yet again that people love a summer blockbuster, but this time reality proved itself to have better special effects than any movie. Join me for an audio tour of the event and follow along with a visual presentation on the RADIO Frontier Channel website, including some of the best images taken by Deep Impact during the mission. Head on over to radio.frontierchannel.tv, click on the Episode 09 “Show Notes” link, and then click on the “Deep Impact Presentation” link. We will start with Slide 1 and I will let you know during the podcast when to move on to the next slide.

 

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“The Astronomical Council of Doom” - A few weeks ago I participated in the “Astronomical Council of Doom” podcast, created by the funny and brilliant folks over at Slacker Astronomy. A few of us astronomy geeks discussed the future direction of the space program, media coverage of astronomy topics, and our favorite science fiction movies and television shows. All the podcasts - Singularity, Skepticality, The Universe Today, Slacker Astronomy, and RADIO Frontier Channel - took the resulting discussion and edited it for their own show. Here is my version, Episode 08 of RADIO Frontier Channel.

 

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“An Interview with Becca Walker” - In this seventh episode of RADIO Frontier Channel, I speak with Becca Walker, a graduate student in the geosciences program at the University of Arizona. She has been researching the interactions between scientists and teachers in hopes of better understanding how geology is taught to children. Some scientist/teacher partnerships succeed, and some fail miserably. What are the factors involved? We also discuss women in science, public interest in geology, overcoming obstacles, past volcanism in the Tucson, Arizona area, and much more.

Article: “An Interview with Becca Walker“

 

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“Landing On Mars” - Finding a place to land on Mars is harder than you think. In this sixth episode of RADIO Frontier Channel I’ll tell you about a class project to pick a landing spot for the 2009 Mars Science Laboratory. Sounds easier enough, until you add some engineering constraints, massive databases of Mars images, and conflicting scientific goals. Wanna try? I’ll provide online resources so you can put together your own proposals and send them in to The Frontier Channel. Other listeners can then vote for the best proposal and I’ll announce the winner in a future episode.

 

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“Life Extension: Sooner Than You Think” - This fifth episode of RADIO Frontier Channel is all about human life extension, starting with new drugs coming out very soon that may have unexpected benefits beyond their advertised indications. Will these drugs really extend our lives? Some people are excited, but others want to ban life extension research and treatments. The ethics involved are about to get really complicated. Think life extension is science fiction? I’ll tell you about a million dollar wager that you are wrong. Finally, you may never have heard of it, but there is actually one diet that has been shown to result in longer life in various animal species. Human trials began recently but there are some people who have been on the diet for years. I’ll tell you about them, and the pros and cons of “calorie restriction”.

 

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“An Interview with Geologist Jay Quade” - In this fourth episode of RADIO Frontier Channel we will hear from Dr. Jay Quade, a professor in the Geosciences Department at the University of Arizona. Dr. Quade was a member of an expedition that discovered hominid fossils in Ethiopia. These fossils have been dated to around 4.5 million years ago. The research team’s paper about the discovery, entitled “Early Pliocene hominids from Gona, Ethiopia”, was published in the January 20, 2005 issue of Nature.

More Information

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• Tools of Time
• Geology, Famine and War
• RADIO Frontier Channel Episode 04 - the complete audio interview

 

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“March 01, 2005″ - In this edition of RADIO Frontier Channel, we will hear what some experts are saying about the rising popularity of podcasting and quickly list the latest scientific findings from the Saturnian system by the Cassini space probe.

 

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“February 23, 2005″ - In this edition of RADIO Frontier Channel, I will explain a little bit more about this podcast, discuss the latest planetary science missions, review the iPod Photo and iPod Shuffle, and briefly explore the Technological Singularity.

 

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“February 20, 2005″ - This week, in addition to listening to the winds of Titan, we will train our ears on the winds of change here on Earth. The first human-animal chimeras have emerged in laboratories around the world and with them a new debate in bioethics. Biology continues to merge with silicon-based technology. And if you think science fiction becoming science fact is unsettlingly, then you may not want to listen to my commentary on transhumanism and rumors of current life on Mars.

 

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