Bob Berman

It’s now a half century since James Lovelock originated the Gaia Hypothesis – which says that our planet’s biosphere is an intelligent entity that self-regulates conditions for the mutual benefit of all. Though many mainstream biologists hated it and still do, maybe Gaia doesn’t even go far enough. Why not the entire cosmos?

On Sunday night, Match 22, the strange planet Uranus will float to the left of the crescent Moon. Here’s where the fun begins. Uranus is green because its atmosphere has lots of methane, which absorbs the sun’s red light but reflects the green and blue to our eyes.Grab those binoculars you haven’t used in years and sweep them leftward of the Moon until you see a little green star. Since actual stars are never green, you’ll know you’ve found the seventh planet.

Astronomers Bob Berman and Dr. Valerie Rapson join us to discuss recent space news and answer your questions. Ray Graf hosts.

Next Friday is the vernal equinox, the first day of Spring, which the media often celebrates by repeating such myths as, "Day and night are equal." But some people must surely glance at local sunrise and sunset listings and see that day is longer than night at every equinox. Real equality will happen the middle of this week.

In sci-fi movies, a nerdy scientist might transport himself to another dimension. In popular fiction, to qualify as another dimension means a realm must be something beyond the four dimensions of everyday reality, and thus be totally inaccessible, like public restrooms in New York. But might they really exist?

We’ll get a lunar eclipse this Tuesday morning, and it’s generating a lot of buzz, especially since such eclipses have been dramatically called Blood Moons in recent years. That’s because the Moon turns reddish when the eclipse is total. In truth it’s actually a coppery hue, which isn’t really the color of blood unless there’s something very wrong with your hemoglobin.

Astronomers Bob Berman and Dr. Valerie Rapson join us to discuss recent space news and answer your questions. Ray Graf hosts.

Bob Berman discusses the first planet from the Sun and the smallest in the Solar System.

Bob Berman speaks on the science of Groundhog Day.Bob Berman speaks on the science of Groundhog Day.

Bob talks of the trials and tribulations of space exploration and missions.