Eye in the Sky

There’re over 10,000 active satellites orbiting Earth. And they do more than just power our phones and GPS, they’re giving us a whole new perspective on who we are. Dan Runfola sifts through countless satellite images to learn more about our human footprint and the evolution of society. And: Michael Shingledecker uses the James Webb Space Telescope to study ice layers that freeze in clouds of stardust. He says this cosmic ice is a key ingredient in the formation of the universe. Later in the show: At first glance, plankton might seem unimpressive. They’re tiny little brainless micro-organisms that drift with the tides and currents. But they play a huge role in the ocean carbon cycle. Scott Doney tracks plankton - from the Antarctic to the Caribbean - by using satellites to observe ocean color.

You can listen to Eye in the Sky online on Radio and Podcast. Open the player on this page to stream the available audio.

Eye in the Sky is an episode from With Good Reason by Virginia Humanities.

This episode is 00:51:58 long.

This episode was published on Apr 23, 2026.

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