My Nuclear Life
On July 16, 1945, in a New Mexico desert, the Trinity Test ushered in the Nuclear Age. No other piece of technology has penetrated the American consciousness like the nuclear bomb and found a place in everything from culture to medicine. This podcast explores how nuclear science has impacted and changed our world in both beneficial and destructive ways. We explore the intersection of nuclear science and society using interviews with historians, policymakers, experts in their fields, and first-hand accounts to weave a picture of your nuclear life.
- Update frequency
- every 22 days
- Average duration
- 47 minutes
- Episodes
- 74
- Years Active
- 2020 - 2025
Understanding Edward Teller with Istvan Hargittai
What makes Edward Teller tick? Find out with physical chemist and author Istvan Hargittai on this episode.
00:58:33 |
Tue 28 Nov 2023
For the love of lasers with Donna Strickland
Physics Nobel Laureate Donna Strickland talks about all things lasers, how lasers relate to nuclear physics, and explains why she had to pay the long-distance bill to Sweden.
00:42:00 |
Tue 31 Oct 2023
Are radiation limits based on a lie? with Ed Calabrese
Meet Dr. Ed Calabrese, Professor of Environmental Health Sciences at the University of Massachusetts Amherst, School of Public Health & Health Sciences. Ed has spent years diving into the history o…
00:50:15 |
Tue 26 Sep 2023
How to identify Manhattan Project Plutonium with Cody Folden
How can you find the age of Plutonium? Why is it important? What are the applications? Find out the answer to these questions and more on this episode of My Nuclear Life when Cody Folden joins Shelly…
00:48:48 |
Tue 29 Aug 2023
Trying to stay alive at the Diefenbunker with Nathan Radke & Lee Kuhnle
My Nuclear Life and The Uncover Up visit the Diefenbunker: Canada's Cold War Museum. Join Shelly, Nathan, and Lee as they journey 75 feet underground to compare how the Canadian Government planned to…
01:04:01 |
Tue 25 Jul 2023
J. Robert Oppenheimer with Kai Bird
Get ready for the summer movie by joining Oppenheimer biographer Kai Bird (author of American Prometheus: The Triumph and Tragedy of J. Robert Oppenheimer) as he discusses Oppie's life and science.
01:03:02 |
Tue 27 Jun 2023
The 3rd Nuclear Age with Ankit Panda
What is the 3rd Nuclear Age? Wait, what about the 1st and 2nd? Join Shelly as she speaks to Stanton Senior Fellow Ankit Panda about how the world is grabbling with nuclear proliferation and what chal…
00:50:33 |
Tue 30 May 2023
The Origin of the Elements with Artemis Spyrou
Chemical elements make up the matter we observe in the universe but how did they form? How did scientists figure this out and what is left to learn? Artemis Spyrou joins Shelly to discuss the evoluti…
00:40:30 |
Tue 25 Apr 2023
NIF fusion was a breakthrough, but what kind? with Bob Rosner
In December 2022, Lawrence Livermore's National Ignition Facility (NIF) achieved ignition. Join Shelly as she speaks with Bob Rosner about what this milestone means to Stockpile Stewardship and to ph…
00:43:38 |
Tue 28 Mar 2023
Witnessing the Starfish Prime nuclear test with Jim Burkhart
Have you ever wondered what it would be like to witness an above-ground nuclear weapons test? Shelly is joined by Jim Burkhart who was stationed on the Johnston Atoll in 1962 when the largest nuclear…
00:39:20 |
Tue 28 Feb 2023
Solving the solar neutrino problem with Nobel Laureate Art McDonald
From his beginnings as a nuclear physicist to his Nobel Prize-winning work on neutrinos, Arthur McDonald sits down with Shelly Lesher in the studio.
Visit us at: mynuclearlife.com
Patreon: www.pa…
Visit us at: mynuclearlife.com
Patreon: www.pa…
00:51:30 |
Tue 31 Jan 2023
Is this the year NORAD shoots down Santa? With Martin Pfeiffer
Martin Pfeiffer aka @nuclearanthro joins Shelly to discuss the origin story of NORAD Tracks Santa and why it matters. Not suitable for children and may contain foul language.
Visit us at: mynuclea…
Visit us at: mynuclea…
00:32:05 |
Sat 24 Dec 2022
Mom, I'm scared, come pick me up! Students speak out.
Young scientists from the Division of Nuclear Physics (DNP) Conference react to the nuclear weapon talks which opened the conference. Hear their thoughts about the role nuclear scientists play in the…
00:50:38 |
Thu 15 Dec 2022
US Nuclear Weapons and the Nuclear Posture Review with Steve Fetter
With all the talk of nuclear weapons in Europe, learn about the US nuclear weapon triad with Dr. Steve Fetter. Recorded live during a nuclear physics conference, Drs. Fetter and Lesher discuss the U…
00:38:18 |
Tue 29 Nov 2022
Inside the Chernobyl Exclusion Zone with Dominik & Lara from ChernobylX
In this episode, we take you inside the Chernobyl Exclusion Zone with Dominik Orfanus founder of ChernobylX and lead tour guide, Lara Graldina. What is it like inside the "Zone"? Who lives there? Wha…
00:48:40 |
Tue 25 Oct 2022
The Baby Tooth Study 2.0 with Marc Weisskopf
The St. Louis Baby Tooth Study has been reimagined. Using the original teeth collected from the children of the 1950s and 1960s Marc Weisskopf and his colleagues at Harvard are seeking to find new an…
00:58:37 |
Tue 27 Sep 2022
St. Louis Baby Tooth Survey with Nina Gilden Seavey
Nina Gilden Seavey discusses how the St. Louis Baby Tooth Survey helped persuade U.S. President Kennedy to sign the Partial Nuclear Test Ban Treaty which ended above-ground nuclear weapons testing in…
00:34:17 |
Tue 30 Aug 2022
What if a nuclear engineer was elected US President? with Jonathan Alter
He was and served as the 39th President of the USA. But before his career in politics, Jimmy Carter was a Navy Nuke under Gen. Rickover. What did he do in the Navy? How did this time in the Nuclear …
00:40:22 |
Tue 26 Jul 2022
How did the U.S. Government plan for nuclear war without you? with Garrett Graff
Underground nuclear bunkers, the birth of FEMA, secret government plans for the end of the world, and more in this episode. Garrett Graff discusses his book Raven Rock: The Story of the U.S. Governme…
00:42:58 |
Tue 28 Jun 2022
Exploring the end of the world with nuclear literature and Daniel Cordle
This episode explores how we, as humans, grapple with the end of the world through nuclear literature including fiction, nonfiction, poems, etc. How do we grapple with the "end" if it is caused by h…
00:53:13 |
Tue 31 May 2022
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