Bizarre exoplanet clouds + Counting insects with weather radar

Astronomers using the James Webb Space Telescope have observed clouds on a hot gas giant exoplanet called WASP-94A b, some 700 light-years away. But these clouds aren’t your usual wisps of water vapor—they’re vaporized sand. Astronomer David Sing joins Host Flora Lichtman to describe the planetary weather, and how the researchers were able to observe it. 

Then, ecologist Elske Tielens joins Flora to describe how ecologists using weather radar data counted the insects aloft in U.S. skies: around 100 trillion of them on an average summer day.

Guests:

Dr. David Sing is a Bloomberg Distinguished Professor of Earth and Planetary Sciences at Johns Hopkins University.

Dr. Elske Tielens is an ecologist with the Swiss Federal Institute for Forest, Snow and Landscape Research.

Other episodes you may enjoy:

• How Insects Changed The World—And Human Cultures
• Not Just Dying Stars: A Black Hole That Came From Gas

Transcripts for each episode are available within 1-3 days at sciencefriday.com.

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