We head to the very far end of the electromagnetic spectrum to tackle one of Dugan's favorite subjects, nuclear resonance spectroscopies.  No, not nuclear magnetic resonance - we're talking about gamma ray transitions between nuclear configurations. After a fairly exhaustive discussion of how little we know about nuclear physics, we get into the details of radioisotope Mössbauer spectroscopy, nuclear forward scattering, and even a little bit of nuclear resonance vibrational spectroscopy. How...

Prof. Nate DeYonker from the University of Memphis takes us out of this world and into the vast expanse of space as we talk all things astrochemistry. Get ready to hear about molecules that seem like they shouldn't exist, spectra from extraterrestrial telescopes with almost frighteningly good resolution, and the challenges of quantum chemistry using quartic (!!!) force fields. Nate also gives us a primer on "Pauling points" before closing the show out with an incredibly moving tribute to the...

We're finally back, and this time we're talking everything thermal! After some brief updates, we dive into blackbody radiation, Planck's law, and selective emitters. Then Jay explains how to use these concepts to design incandescent lightbulbs that are actually twice as efficient as LED bulbs. Then we move on to one of Jay's all-time favorite ideas: passive daytime radiative cooling. And things get even crazier when Jay explains how to use the universe as a really great cold reservoir in a...

We're celebrating Dugan's recent JACS paper on copper-catalyzed photocycloaddition reactions by doing a Back 2 Basics episode on photocycloadditons that is really just an episode on that paper with a little bit of Woodward Hoffmann rules thrown in for good measure. But what is a podcast for besides self-promotion anyway? We return to some of our favorite topics, including X-ray spectroscopy and transient absorption, and discuss how a combination of spectroscopic techniques can be used to...

This month is more Back 2 Basics as we discuss the famous Stern-Gerlach experiment. In addition to the classic version, we contemplate thought experiments, photonic analogs, spin pedagogy, cigar smoke, Nobel Prizes, interpretations of quantum mechanics, God, and approximately infinite universes. Did I miss anything?

New season, new format - we broadcast in-person from a hot tub in Atlanta during the Fall 2021 ACS Meeting!  We have been planning to review "Sit Resist" by Laura Stevenson basically since we started podcasting in Fall 2020, and we finally do in this episode.  And by "review" we really mean talk about how amazing this album is.  Content warning that this episode discusses dark subject matter, including physical abuse, substance abuse, and death; specific warnings are provided in the audio...

We're unbelievably honored and excited to have the legendary Prof. Katja Lindenberg on the show to take us through her life in physics and physical chemistry. We talk to Prof. Lindenberg about her early life and education, her transition from mathematics to physics, and of course her incredible 50 year career at UCSD, during which she used "the language of science" (statistical mechanics) to describe problems involving random processes in nearly every discipline you could possibly imagine. We...

We are joined by Prof. Lea Nienhaus from Florida State University to learn about photon upconversion with perosvkites, a strategy for increasing the efficiency of photovoltaic energy conversion among other applications that her group has pioneered in...

It's Season 2 of the Goeppert Mayer Gauge! We kick things off with an introduction to transient absorption spectroscopy and discuss what it is, why it's useful, and how it's done before getting a bit philosophical on how best to think about the signal...

We talk with Jeamme Chia about her scholarly writing about Maria Goeppert Mayer's time at Sarah Lawrence College and the Manhattan project.

What better way to celebrate the end of 2020 than by talking about it for 80 minutes? We take a break from science talk and (mostly) leave aside the bad stuff from the year to focus on what music, TV, podcasts, and youtube channels kept us sane during...

In this episode, we discuss surface plasmon resonance biosensors and their potential application to COVID testing.  A companion Jupyter notebook that allows the simulation of sensitivity of a SPR-based sensor can be found on our webpage:...

In this episode of the Goeppert Mayer Gauge, we learn why Kanye would fund development of organinc materials that emit short wave infrared radiation (SWIR) and why Elon Musk would not.We have our very first guest, Prof. Justin Caram from UCLA,  who...

In this low-energy episode, we talk about the terahertz gap, different ways to generate and detect terahertz pulses, and why people go to the trouble anyway.  This episode we also try something new - providing supplemental content using Jupyter...

What does it sound like when you stick a molecule between two mirrors? Modal jazz, apparently! Jay guides Dugan through the world of polaritonic chemistry, where coupling between molecules and cavity modes can have some astonishing effects on the...

In this special warm-up episode, we try to figure out what exactly this podcast will be. One thing's for certain: we have a lot to say about light, and not all of it is good! We then go back to our college radio roots and review Sonic Youth's 1992 album...

It may be our first episode, but we aren't afraid to start out with the hard stuff - hard X-rays, that is. We discuss what X-rays are, what they might sound like, and why Dugan is so fond of using them from studying transition metal complexes. We also...