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Perpetual Notion Machine

Perpetual Notion Machine is a look at contemporary scientific issues and discoveries in a way that is accessible, understandable and entertaining to the non-scientists of the listening community. Follow the show on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.

Wisconsin’s Old Growth Forests

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What are old-growth forests? How did European settlement of Wisconsin change our landscape and what remains of our ancient forests? In this edition of Perpetual Notion Machine, host Patrick Sajbel speaks with John Bates, naturalist and author of nine books on Wisconsin. John spent over 30 years in research of the ecosystems of Northern Wisconsin, […]

Vibranium! Exploring the World of Marvel

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What is Vibranium? Can we create it? Or, do we need to be in the ficitonal world of Marvel? This week, host Anita Nsubuga and her guest, Professor Michael Arnold unearth the truth behind Vibranium. Professor Michael Arnold hails from Univerisity of Wisconsin’s (Madison) Department of Materials Science and Engineering. On this episode, we discover […]

Antarctica, Icebergs, and Climate

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In this Earth Day edition of the Perpetual Notion Machine, we head to a remote part of the globe, Antarctica. Our guests include Matthew Lazzara, meteorologist at the Antarctic Meteorological Research Center & the Space Science and Engineering Center at UW-Madison, and also department chair of Physical Sciences at Madison College, and Ethan Koudelka, student […]

Icelandic Volcanology with Thor Thordarson

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WORT 89.9FM Madison · Icelandic Volcanology with Thor Thordarson   Why is Iceland so volcanically active? Will the recent earthquakes and eruptions be another possible cataclysmic tear in the earth’s crust, a forewarning of an explosive blowout like Eyjafjallajökull in 2010, or a spectator-friendly event like Kilauea in Hawaii? In this edition of Perpetual Notion […]

Climate Scientist Kimberly Nicholas and Environmentally Friendly Cats

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Tonight the Perpetual Notion Machine welcomes professor and climate scientist Kimberly Nicholas, author of the book Under the Sky We Make: How to Be Human in a Warming World. Professor Nicholas discusses her book and how to make changes in daily life that will positively affect your personal climate budgets and environment. Plus PNM host […]

Life on Earth and Other Planets

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In general, everybody probably believes that life exists somewhere else on another planet. Our telescopes keep getting better and better at finding exoplanets orbiting other star systems. And a few fall within the range of orbit as Earth does around our sun. But what kinds of life will there be on those other planets, if […]

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