Chancellor of the University of Wisconsin-Madison, Rebecca Blank argues that public universities like hers not only produce over two-thirds of the PhDs that come out of the top schools, but crucially include students from more diverse backgrounds. In her state, “great kids growing up on dairy farms and the inner city,” so creating scientists aware of real-world problems needing solutions.

Season 1 | Episode 8

Science Clear + Vivid

The Kavli Foundation is dedicated to advancing science for the benefit of humanity. The foundation’s mission is implemented through Kavli research institutes globally and programs that support basic science in the fields of astrophysics, nanoscience, neuroscience and theoretical physics; initiatives that strengthen the relationship between science and society; and prizes and awards including the international Kavli Prizes and the AAAS Kavli Science Journalism awards.

<title>Rebecca Blank: The Power of the Publics | Kavli Foundation</title>

Rebecca Blank: The Power of the Publics

A scientist fluent in the atomic properties of materials like glass and steel and wood, Anna Ploszajski wanted the hands-on experience of how craftspeople use them. The result is her book, Handmade: A Scientist’s Search for Meaning Through Making.

Anna Ploszajski: When Science Meets Craft

You may not realize it, but you are subtly revising and updating your memories all the time – to keep them, as Daphna Shohamy puts it, “nimble,” and so better able to help you chart both the present and the future.

Daphna Shohamy: Your Creative Memory

As a young Italian physics student, Caterina Vernieri was lucky enough to join the team hunting for the most elusive and highly-prized fundamental particle of all – the Higgs boson – just as it was found. She is now leading a team building the detector that may reveal the Higgs’ secrets.

Caterina Vernieri: Seeing What Can’t be Seen

Having helped develop and install a camera to gaze the heavens with unprecedented resolution, Marcelle Soares Santos was part of the team that used the camera to capture an unprecedented record of a massive cosmic explosion.

Marcelle Soares Santos: Capturing a Cosmic Explosion

An unknown but very clever cockatoo in Sydney Australia invented a novel way of raiding trash bins. Teaming with citizen scientists, Lucy Aplin and her team tracked how cockatoos throughout the city soon picked up the same trick.

Lucy Aplin: Cockatoos have culture too

Tiny satellites, catching a ride to space, can improve weather forecasting and even help spot planets outside the solar system.

Kerri Cahoy: Hitchhiking to Space

With ultra-thin fibers and minute magnetic particles, Polina Anikeeva and her team are developing new ways to tap into the brain. Her ultimate goal is to understand and treat brain diseases like Parkinson’s.

Polina Anikeeva: Communing with the Brain

Dangling from a balloon the size of a football stadium miles above the South Pole, a payload built by astrophysicist Abby Vieregg peers down at the ice looking for messenger particles from the most energetic places in the universe.

Abigail Vieregg: Seeking Cosmic Messengers

The mightiest events in the entire universe – when black holes collide – create ripples in space-time now being detected by the most sensitive instruments ever built – and are opening up a new era in astronomy.

Season 1 | Episode 8Rebecca Blank: The Power of the Publics

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Science Clear + Vivid