You may have heard of the James Webb Space Telescope, but did you know that a new NASA telescope, set to launch in 2033 and will fill in the blanks for what the James Web CAN’T see, is being developed right here at UMass Amherst? We visit professor and science team lead Alexandra Pope on campus along with our resident astronomer, Salman Hameed, to hear all about the PRIMA telescope and how it will dovetail with James Webb to help better explain the cosmos.
Ken Burns is a name familiar to both public media fans and those associated with the soon-to-be-late-Hampshire College. Next week, Ken Burns will return to the Valley for a fundraiser for the Northampton Community Music Center, and we talk with their executive director, Jason Trotta, about the mission of the school and how you can get the Ken Burns perspective on the importance of music to his documentaries.
And pinch hitting for Word Nerd Emily Brewster our NEPM colleague, Peter Sokolowski, who celebrates his 20 years at the helm of the longest running daily podcast in history. We’ll call it a triple-word score as we talk about the new edition of Merriam-Webster’s Scrabble dictionary, and the 200 words you no longer have to fight your friends over.
