In this podcast, Taylor and Andrew investigate the past, present, and future of materials science and engineering. Topic areas ranging from cutting edge materials technology, the history of different materials, the commercialization of new materials, and exciting advances in processing and characterization are all covered in detail. Our episodes include things like the unlikely discovery of superglue or teflon, the fascinating backstories about modern biomaterials like dialysis filters, and…
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We have all seen the heat of atmospheric reentry depicted a thousand times in movies and TV shows, but how do we actually protect spacecraft from that danger? Taylor and Andrew sit down with Nate Olson, an aerospace engineer at NASA's Johnson Space Center, to explore the history of thermal protection systems. Nate unpacks the science of surviving atmospheric entry from the simple blunt-body design…
What if a materials lab on Earth could screen a hundred alloys a day with little input from the scientist? Taylor and Andrew sit down with Joseph Krause, CEO and co-founder of Radical AI, to dig into what it takes to build a self-driving lab and why most of the field is still missing the hard part. From discovering that flagship SEM and XRD instruments ship with no real data access (and rebuilding…
What if you could know which batteries are worth building before you actually build them? Taylor and Andrew sit down with Dr. Qichao Hu, founder of SES AI, to explore how artificial intelligence is reshaping battery discovery and his experience in the field. From his decision to ditch solid state electrolytes and double down on liquid, to building a suite of simulation tools that map molecules all…
The fanciest suit isn't on the runway, it's in orbit. In this follow-up episode, Taylor and Andrew bring back Kate Winning from Oxford Space Systems to dive into the world of space textiles. From the knitted gold-plated mesh antennas that fold up for launch and deploy to the size of a room, to the 14-layer suit that keeps astronauts alive. Learn why tungsten makes a better yarn than you'd expect,…
Textiles are all around us, they are literally woven into nearly every part of our daily lives. From the everyday materials in the clothes we wear to the specialty materials in parachutes, spacesuits, and even bulletproof armor. They play a bigger role than we often think about but what exactly is a textile? We sit down with Kate Winning from Oxford Space to explore the world of textiles, breaking…
Many digital models use hard boundaries to simulate how materials change, but the real world is rarely that clean. Phase field modeling takes a more natural approach, capturing the gradual, messy transitions that actually occur. This makes it ideal for simulating things like crack growth or dendrite formation. Taylor sits down with Dr. Jake Bair , an assistant professor at Oklahoma State…
Having access to advanced characterization tools sounds great but sadly they aren't easily attainable. Momentum Transfer seeks to remedy this by offering mail-in access to synchrotron X-ray powder diffraction and scattering measurements. Taylor sits down with Dr. Maxwell Terban co-founder of Momentum Transfer to go over the technology and his history with it. They also discuss some interesting…
The 2025 Nobel Prize in Chemistry was awarded to pioneers in the field of MOFs, but what exactly is a MOF? We sit down with Dr. Matthew J. Cliffe, an associate professor at the University of Cambridge, to discuss what makes metal–organic frameworks deserving of a Nobel Prize. Our conversation ranges from their potential role in capturing CO₂ from the atmosphere to the unique methods used to…
3D printing and SPS(Spark Plasma Sintering) are two incredible techniques that are best suited for different purposes, but what if there was a way to combine them to open up a whole new world of possibilities. We sit down with Christopher Melnyk, Director of Business Development at CalNano to talk about how they are achieving this combination. We explore the different parts that make up this new…
There’s a lot more to gems than just sparkly rocks. While we can’t promise they’ll cleanse bad vibes, we can dive into the incredible science behind them. In this episode, Andrew and Taylor chat with Mubashir Mansoor, a gemologist and PhD candidate in Materials Science at Istanbul Technical University, to uncover the rich past of gemstones and how they are shaping the future. From restoring a…
