Science ka Adda With Salman Hameed

“SCIENCE KA ADDA” (CAFE SCIENTIFIQUE) WITH SALMAN HAMEED
  • Episode 1: Where Is Our Home Located In The Universe?
    Salman Hameed reflects on the location of the Earth in the universe with respect to our Solar system & local supercluster of galaxies.
  • Episode 2: The Reality Of Black Holes
    Do such black holes exists in the universe as shown in the recent blockbuster film, Interstellar? Let’s explore such a possibility.
  • Episode 3: ater and the Search for Life on Mars
    Water on the Red Planet has long been sought by researchers. If Mars holds water, it might even hold life.
  • Episode 4: Exploring Baby Solar Systems to Search for Our Own Origins
    Salman Hameed talks about the discovery of a “protoplanetary disk” that can tell us a lot about the origins of our own solar system.
  • Episode 5: The Arabian Nights and Water Geysers on Saturn’s Moon Enceladus
    Why is there a crater named Sinbad on Saturn’s moon Enceladus? Is there an underwater ocean on Enceladus and what are the chances of life existing on such a moon? In this episode of Science ka Adda (SkA), Salman Hameed talks about the connection between “The Arabian Nights: Tales from a Thousand and One Nights” and one of the most mysterious, interesting, and puzzling objects in our solar system.
  • Episode 6: Who owns Mars
    Salman Hameed looks at United Nations Outer Space Treaty and explores the question: If we discover microbial life on Mars, will we then have a right to be on “their” planet and alter their future?
  • Episode 7: Pluto – A New World – Again!
    Salman Hameed examines some of the latest pictures from New Horizons spacecraft and talks about the mysteries that these pictures have opened up in our understanding of Pluto. And of course, he reaffirms his absolute support for redesignating Pluto as a planet!
  • Episode 8: How the Idea of Extraterrestrials Became Scientific?
    In this episode of Science ka Adda, Salman Hameed ponders on the possibility of aliens on other worlds.
  • Episode 9: Urdu Floating at the Edge of Our Solar System
    There is a greeting in Urdu that is floating in space more than 19 billion kilometers from Earth! How did it get there? Is it at the edge of our solar system? For that matter, how do we even figure out the boundaries of our own solar system?
  • Episode 10: Cosmic Recycling Anticipating a Glorious Death of our Sun
    Our Sun has been a constant source of energy for the past 4.5 billion years but it will eventually run out of fuel (in about 5 billion years). While this will be bad for the inhabitants of the Earth (and probably for inhabitants of any other planet in our Solar system), this solar demise will be spectacularly beautiful. We know this by looking at the end stages of other stars in our Galaxy. Let’s talk about the future of our own Sun.
  • Episode 11: Stars in Our Life
    In this episode, we talk about the fact that our bodies are constructed from elements that were processed inside stars or in the earliest few minutes after the Big Bang. Let’s talk about the role of stars in the making of life on our planet.
  • Episode 12: Look at the Farthest Galaxy in the Universe (yet) Discovered
    Our universe had a beginning 13.8 billion years ago. We now live in the Milky Way galaxy. But what were the earliest galaxies like? Astronomers can directly look at these young galaxies by looking farther out in space.
  • Episode 13: Ibn Sina and the Supernova of Year 1006
    In the year 1006 C.E. Ibn-Sina observed a bright new star appear in the night sky. He diligently took notes as the star faded over the next 3 months. This was a supernova. Ibn-Sina did not know its nature, but his notes are shedding new light into the nature of these exploding stars!
  • Episode 14: A Planet Around Our Neighboring Star Proxima Centauri
    Humans have always dreamt of traveling to other stars. Now we have a destination. Astronomers have found a planet, slightly bigger than the Earth, around a star only 4 light years away. Furthermore, the planet is in the “Habitable Zone” of its star, meaning that it is orbiting its star at a distance where water can exist in liquid form!
  • Episode 15: The Mysterious Star
    Alien technology? No, well probably not! Nevertheless, “Tabby’s Star” is currently one of the most mysterious stars in the universe. Astronomers are having a hard time explaining its behavior, at least with what we know from astronomy. But this is also a great example of how scientists approach an unusual phenomenon with imagination, creativity, and a healthy dose of skepticism.
  • Episode 16: Three Earth Sized Planets Around A Nearby Star
    Astronomers have so far found a few thousand planets around stars other than the Sun. But in order to search for life, they are looking for planets that are similar to Earth in size and at such a distance from their star where water can stay in liquid form. About forty light years away, there is a small star Trappist 1 that hosts at least 3 earth sized planets with their orbits in the “Habitable Zone”.