Detecting volcanic eruptions on Earth is detective work; doing it on the Red Planet is a feat of cosmic proportions. 2026 Science Podcast of the Year winner Dr. Jeffrey Zurek welcomes Dr. Allison Graettinger (UMKC) to discuss the hunt for "Maars"—violent, steam-driven volcanoes—on Mars.

We explore the sociology of becoming a scientist, from muddy kid to volcano expert, & how these unassuming circular lakes are actually clues to subsurface water & ice. Discover the Marvelous Database, the physics of thermal inertia, & why a rubber duck named "Ducky" is the most famous attendee at international science conferences.

Topics Covered

• Phreatomagmatism: Breaking down the explosive interaction between magma and groundwater.
• The Marvelous Database: A global catalog of 430+ Earth Maars used as a training set for planetary discovery.
• Career Paths: Why New Zealand and Nicaragua were the "Permissive Environments" Dr. Graettinger needed to grow.
• Geologic Hazards: The moving threat zones of distributed volcanic fields.
• Experiments: Pouring molten lava onto "sand popsicles" to simulate Martian ice interactions.
• Planetary Detectives: Using crater shapes (even "Mickey Mouse" ones) to map hidden Martian water.

Chapters

(00:00) Maars on Mars: A Tongue Twister

(02:10) Phreatomagmatic Diatremes Defined

(03:45) Guest: Dr. Allison Graettinger

(05:15) Sociology: Permission to Study Lava

(06:40) Field Work: Dust, Ash, and Gas

(08:30) Why Study Maars? Hazards and Risks

(10:45) Scaling Eruptions: VEI vs. St. Helens

(12:35) Distributed Volcanic Fields Explained

(17:15) Physics of Magma-Water Interaction

(21:50) The Marvelous Database Project

(26:50) Remote Sensing: Thermal Inertia

(30:10) Mars vs. Earth: Gravity and Shape

(34:40) Searching for Craters on Mars

(36:40) "Goofing" with Lava and Ice Popsicles

(41:10) Methane, Permafrost, and CO2 Ice

(43:55) Mapping Water for Future Missions

(48:25) Ducky: The Scientist’s Companion

(51:00) The Science Joke

Links & Resources

• Support: Pateron
• Socials: Bluesky | Instagram | Facebook

Whimsical Wavelengths: Deep-dive conversations where a working scientist unpacks how we know what we know, one paper, one idea, or whimsical detour at a time. Hosted by Dr. Jeffrey Zurek (P.Geo).

The Western Black Widow (Latrodectus hesperus) is a master of invisible chemistry. 2026 Science Podcast of the Year winner Dr. Jeffrey Zurek joins Dr. Andy Fisher (Greifswald University) to untangle the chemical love letters hidden in spider silk.

We explore how "virtually blind" predators use smell & electrostatic charges to communicate. Discover the "stinky cheese" pheromone, why males destroy female webs during courtship, and the scandalous truth about "cheating" widows who lie about their age and fitness to attract a mate.

Topics Covered

• Podcast of the Year: Celebrating 2026 American Writing Awards win.
• Chemical Languages: How smell and taste dominate the "dark taxa."
• Explore the sausage-making of science, & how chemical ecology replaces toxic pesticides
• The "Gym Sock" Signal: Identifying butyric acid in widow webs
• Honest vs. Deceptive Signals: How starved spiders "cheat" the system
• New Anatomy: Hot-off-the-press research on how spiders smell with their legs.

Chapters

(00:00) 2026 Podcast of the Year!

(01:05) Warning: Arachnophobia

(03:30) Guest: Dr. Andy Fisher

(05:55) How Spiders "See" with 8 Eyes

(08:50) Electrostatic Communication

(12:35) Pest Management vs. Pesticides

(14:35) The Western Black Widow

(17:00) Field Work: How Not to Get Bitten

(22:30) Web Chemistry: Stinky Pheromones

(25:45) Why Males Destroy the Web

(29:50) The Metabolic Cost of Love

(33:15) Deception: The Cheating Widow

(38:10) Mass Spec: Smashing Chemical Legos

(41:40) Seasonality of Sex Signals

(44:55) Sub-Social Web Sharing

(48:20) Black Widow Science Joke

Links

Animal Metabolomics & Ecology Lab

Papers: Starving Female Spiders Pheromone Abundance Study

Web: WhimsicalWavelengths.com

Support: Pateron

Socials: Bluesky | Instagram | Facebook

Whimsical Wavelengths: Deep-dive conversations where a working scientist unpacks how we know what we know, one paper, one idea, or whimsical detour at a time. Hosted by Dr. Jeffrey Zurek (P.Geo).

The "motherlode" is just a model away. In this episode, Dr. Jeffrey Zurek (P.Geo) bridges between the classroom & the boardroom with colleague & data scientist Frederick Jackson from Computational Geosciences Inc. Together, they explore how machine learning (ML) & artificial intelligence are revolutionizing mineral exploration.

We dig into the expensive reality of drilling—where a single hole can cost over $100k—& how neural networks act as an "artificial geologist" to find patterns in massive "data cubes." From the Yilgarn Craton of Western Australia to the surprising links between finding gold, & detecting brain tumors, this episode proves that while the intelligence might be artificial, the discovery is real.

Topics Covered

• The Business of Discovery: How science functions in the corporate world & the real-world consequences of being wrong.
• Drilling by the Numbers: Why de-risking drill holes is the primary driver for AI in mining.
• The Data Cube: Integrating geophysics, radiometrics, etc., to build "geological ChatGPT."
• Neural Networks 101: Moving beyond simple regressions to non-linear, brain-inspired algorithms.
• Prospectivity & Policy: How heat maps help inform land-use decisions .
• Bioacoustics: Whimsical detour to tracking whales for conservation using the same ML technology.

Episode Chapters

(00:00) Intro: Geology Meets Algorithms

(02:05) The High Cost of Drilling: Why We Need Models

(04:35) Frederick Jackson Spinosaurus to Data Science

(07:50) Industry vs Academia: The Cost of Being Wrong

(10:10) The SEG Paper: Gold Prospectivity in Australia

(11:50) AI Hallucinations in Geophysics Managing Risk

(15:15) Building the Data Cube: Features vs. Labels

(19:35) Garbage In, Garbage Out: AI Pitfalls

(21:20) Neural Networks: an "Artificial Geologist"

(25:10) Results: Heat Maps and 2D De-risking

(30:45) Beyond Minerals: Tracking Mosquitoes & Brain Tumors

(32:45) Bioacoustics: Citizen Science & Whales

(34:30) The infamous Science Joke

Links & Resources

• Citizen Science: Orca Sound
• Support: Pateron
• Socials: Bluesky | Instagram | Facebook

Whimsical Wavelengths: Deep-dive conversations where a working scientist unpacks how we know what we know, one paper, one idea, or whimsical detour at a time. Hosted by Dr. Jeffrey Zurek (P.Geo).