In our latest offering of Yackety Science, Uncle Doctor Traveling Matt reports on his recent excursion to the Land of Ice and Fire. And elsewhere in this pod...what is the difference between Pāhoehoe and ‘A‘ā lava? How would you predict the next eruption of (and thus avoid being dispatched by) Pāhoehoe and ‘A‘ā? And how do glaciers (and ice skaters) actually move? What creature showed up in Iceland for the first time in 2025? How do you pronounce the word narwhal? And how long can Matt talk about Vanadium batteries...? Learn the answers to all of these burning (and icy?) Icelandic questions — and more! — on S2E8 of Yackety Science, friends.
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Episode Art: Photo by Matt Smith, as modified by Brian Cross.
Theme music: “Funky Machine” (ID874) by Lobo Loco (Accessed through FreeMusicArchive.org.; CC BY-NC-ND 4.0)
Production help provided by Public Radio Tulsa's Scott Gregory.
Yackety Science is recorded at the studios of Public Radio Tulsa in Kendall Hall at The University of Tulsa, and at the Center for Creativity at Tulsa Community College.
Links:
Geology of Iceland:
⦁ Natural Science Institute of Iceland (https://www.natt.is/en/geology)
Predicting Volcanic Eruptions:
⦁ FJiaxuan Li et al. Minute-scale dynamics of recurrent dike intrusions in Iceland with fiber-optic geodesy (https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.adu0225)
Moskítófluga (Mosquitoes in Iceland):
⦁ The Arctic’s growing mosquito problem (https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.aeh9505)
Marine Heat Waves and Their Effects:
⦁ Karl Michael Werner et al. Major heat wave in the North Atlantic had widespread and lasting impacts on marine life (https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/sciadv.adt7125)
Ourobookos, A Yackety Science Book Club
Our Next Book Selection:
The End of Everything (Astrophysically Speaking) by Katie Mack
"A mind-bending tour through five of the cosmos’s possible finales: the Big Crunch, Heat Death, the Big Rip, Vacuum Decay (the one that could happen at any moment!), and the Bounce. Guiding us through cutting-edge science and major concepts in quantum mechanics, cosmology, string theory, and much more, 'The End of Everything' is a wildly fun, surprisingly upbeat ride to the farthest reaches of all that we know." — As per the writeup for this work at the Magic City Books website; see link below.
https://magiccitybooks.com/item/rPCoGQ_-yAUK4cWTOF56zw
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