Tumble Science Podcast For Kids

Listen to our brand new album of science songs, and play some games along with us as we celebrate the release of our album: Science Songs Vol. 1! It’s a special summer episode that will get you singing along and testing your knowledge of everything from capybaras to planets! Here’s where you can listen to the full album:  Spotify: Listen on Spotify Apple Music: Listen on Apple Music Bandcamp: Support us on Bandcamp Watch the music video for How Do You Catch a Happy Cappy?  Check out our Dino Map Adventure. Support Tumble on Patreon and get a birthday shoutout for just $5/month. Follow us on Instagram, and subscribe to Tumble’s YouTube channel for full episodes and much more!

Would you fly to the top of a volcano that’s about to erupt at any moment? Volcanologist Helena Buurman did, and survived to tell the tale! In 2008, Helena was monitoring Mount Redoubt in Alaska, when the ground beneath the volcano began to shake. What follows is a tale of volcanic adventure, involving earthquakes, helicopters, and a massive eruption! Tumble is on our summer break right now, working on some exciting new projects. Stay tuned to hear them in our feed! We invite you to invent your own volcano! Find resources to learn more about volcano warning signs and eruptions, on our website at www.sciencepodcastforkids.com We have more from our interview with Helena Buurman for our Patrons who pledge just $1/month or more. To listen, pledge today at patreon.com/tumblepodcast.

What if you found out that there was a tiny, nearly invisible type of plastic pollution that’s found nearly everywhere… but you’d never heard of it! That’s what happened to environmental scientist Jace Tunnell several years ago, and he’s been on a great nurdle hunt ever since! This episode on fighting plastic waste comes with a special bonus: the opportunity to enroll in a “Nurdle Patrol” and lead the Nurdle search in your community! Join the Nurdle Patrol Special Agent Training Course at sciencepodcastforkids.com/nurdles If you want to support Tumble on Patreon, just go to patreon.com/tumblepodcast. Ad-free early access to episodes is just $1/month, and for just $5/month you can get a birthday shout out on our feed! T-shirts and other merch (including merch specific to this episode) are available at the Tumble merch store, at tumblepodcast.dashery.com.

To support the Tumble Joke-ha-thon and win awesome prizes, go here! “Did dinosaurs burp?” Tune into our Season 9 premiere to find out the answer to this stinky question. We’ll hear about dino gasses from returning guest Jessica Whiteside and their potential ecological impact from David Wilkinson. Our dive into dinosaur digestion will lead us to a smelly look at gas in Earth’s past! Listen to our bonus interview episode with Dave to learn more about how he studies the past without a time machine. You can hear it when you support us for just $1 on Spotify or on Patreon on patreon.com/tumblepodcast. Free resources, including a transcript, are available on the blog on our website, sciencepodcastforkids.com Check out our new Tumble t-shirts and merch: https://tumblepodcast.dashery.com/

Why is the center of a raging storm so… calm? Tumble listener Lydia wants to know what’s really going on in the eye of a hurricane. To find out, we’re flying into the storm — literally — with meteorologist Shirley Murillo! Shirley is a real-life “hurricane hunter” who flies in a specially equipped airplane to collect data from inside the hurricane itself! Discover how hurricanes form, and what keeps the center of the storm calm, and what Shirley learned while flying through Hurricane Katrina, one of the most impactful storms in U.S. history. Buckle up — it's going to be a wild ride! You can find a transcript of the episode and learn more about hurricane hunters on the blog at sciencepodcastforkids.com Send us your science questions to tumblepodcast@gmail.com and leave a review on Apple Podcasts with the help of a grownup! Support the show by becoming a Patreon member for just $1/month! This material is based upon work supported by the National Science Foundation under Grant Number # 2415575 - Culturally S

Was there ever nothing in the universe? What is nothing? That’s what listener Aviva wants to know. We turned to particle physicist Dr. Jessica Esquivel to find out! She takes us on a mind-bending journey to ask what existed before the universe began, and how a quantum dance party might have started the Big Bang! This story about subatomic particles, giant magnets, and quantum physics is something that will blow your mind.  You can find a transcript of the episode and learn more about the particle party in nothing on  the blog at sciencepodcastforkids.com Send us your science questions, ideas and songs to tumblepodcast@gmail.com Support the show by becoming a Patreon member, or making a tax-deductible donation to Tumble Education, a 501c3 organization. We also have a new merch store! Go get yourself some stuff! This material is based upon work supported by the National Science Foundation under Grant Number # 2415575 - Culturally Situated STEM Podcasts for Kids.

Have you ever wondered what life on Earth would be like without trees? In this episode of Tumble Science Podcast for Kids, we’re exploring that big question with the help of two curious listeners, Rowan and Neesha!  Join Lindsay and Marshall as they talk to plant ecophysiologist Angelica Patterson to uncover the essential role trees play in our world. From providing oxygen to supporting animals and keeping water clean, trees are a crucial part of life as we know it. But could they disappear? And what happens when trees move? Plus, Angelica shares her unique (and surprising!) method for studying trees—spoiler alert: it involves a shotgun! Get ready for a wild journey into forests, photosynthesis, and the impact of climate change on trees. Don’t miss this leafy adventure! Support Tumble on Patreon by visiting patreon.com/tumblepodcast. OR donate to our new non-profit by visiting bit.ly/donatetumble

What does it take to become an inventor? To find out, we spoke with an inventor named Josh Miele about one of his greatest inventions: tactile maps! Tactile maps use braille technology to help blind people explore their neighborhoods with their fingers first. But how does Josh create brand-new inventions? Tune in to find out how inventors bring new ideas to life, and stick around to find out whether birds like wearing denim. This material is based upon work supported by the National Science Foundation under Grant Number # 2148711 - Engaging Blind, Visually Impaired, and Sighted Students in STEM with Storytelling through Podcasts. If you want to learn more about Josh and all his inventions, go to our blog at sciencepodcastforkids.com, where we've got lots of awesome resources! If you want to make a recurring $5 donation to Tumble, you can go to bit.ly/donatetumble. Or you can support us at any level you like by going here. Or support us on Patreon at patreon.com/tumblepodcast Tumble is brought to you

Why do some animals play - and some don’t? That’s what Meredith wants to know. In this special collaboration with Outside/In, we investigate how and why animals - and people! - of all shapes and sizes play. Play scientists Junyi Chu and Jackson Ham help us ask the important questions like: Can you tell an octopus to play? And what can rats teach us about why taking turns is important? It turns out that play is serious science!  This episode is a collaboration with Outside/In from New Hampshire Public Radio, and co-reported with executive producer Taylor Quimby. Taylor recommends the show for older kids and teens, and suggests these family-friendly episodes for listening together. The $1,000 balloon What's living under your porch You can make kids hike, but you can't make them hikers Learn more about animal play on the blog on our website, sciencepodcastforkids.com Support Tumble on Patreon at patreon.com/tumblepodcast. 

Why do capybaras have such big teeth? Adrian had to know! To get to the bottom of this, we spoke to a biologist named Santiago Herrera Alvarez. Capybaras are Internet sensations, and Santiago can't get enough of them! Santiago's questions were even bigger than capybara teeth: how did capybaras, a relative of rodents like mice and rats, get to be so enormous? Tune in for a capybara rodeo, and stick around to find out how one little animal can grow to superstardom. Want to learn more? Go visit us at sciencepodcastforkids.com for videos, resources, and so much more about the world's biggest rodents! If you want to support Tumble on Patreon, go to patreon.com/tumblepodcast. This material is based upon work supported by the National Science Foundation under Grant Number # 2415575 - Culturally Situated STEM Podcasts for Kids.

How does vision work? That’s what Junie wants to know. And is it possible to create vision for people who don’t see? We’ll dive into the mysteries of how we see with Lucas Nadolskis, a scientist who became blind when he was five. Lucas is studying how vision works in the brain to understand if it’s possible to see without using your eyes! Intrigued? Listen in to find out more of the mysteries behind the science of vision! This material is based upon work supported by the National Science Foundation under Grant Number # 2148711 - Engaging Blind, Visually Impaired, and Sighted Students in STEM with Storytelling through Podcasts.

Why are there so many axolotls in fishtanks, and so few in the wild? That’s what Maximiliano wants to know. You may have found axolotls in the lush caves of Minecraft, but in real life, they live in the lakes and canals of Xochimilco, near Mexico City. But the species is slowly disappearing from its native habitat. Axolotl veterinarian Horacio Mena takes us on a journey to Xochimilco to find out what scientists are doing to save these adorable amphibians. This material is based upon work supported by the National Science Foundation under Grant No. 2415575.

Happy New Year! This is a rebroadcast of “Polar Bear Adventure” from Season 8! Join us on an Arctic adventure as we head out onto the sea ice with a polar bear scientist! Andrew Derocher shares exciting stories of flying in helicopters, getting bit by a polar bear cub, and discovering how polar bears are surviving in a warming world. Andrew explains what happens when polar bears move into human towns, in the bonus interview episode. It’s available to Patrons who pledge just a dollar or more a month on patreon.com/tumblepodcast. Teachers! Find a toolkit to share polar bear science with students, on the World Wildlife Fund’s WildClassroom.org. A transcript for this episode and other resources are available on the blog on our website, sciencepodcast.com

Happy holidays! This is a rebroadcast of our chilly Season 7 episode, The Great Seal Count. How do you count the cutest seals on the planet? With the help from thousands of people around the world! Conservation scientist Leo Salas explains the story behind the first-ever global count of Weddell seals in Antarctica. Plus, you’ll find out what counting seals shares with searching for ancient tombs! Learn more about Weddell seals in our special bonus episode with Dr. Leo Salas, available to Tumble Patrons who pledge just $1 or more a month - along with an ad-free episode feed! Support us today at patreon.com/tumblepodcast. We’ll have free resources to learn more about Weddell seals (or the ‘widdle Weddells’) on the blog on our website, sciencepodcastforkids.com. Do you speak Spanish, or are you a Spanish language learner? Subscribe to Tumble En Español to listen to episodes adapted to Spanish!  Weddell seal recordings in this episode were obtained under NMFS Permit No. 1032-1917.

This is a rebroadcast of one of our favorite episodes from Season 8! When did smartness begin? We’ll find out how a neuroscientist blends up brains, and cracks the case of the Tyrannosaurus Rex smarts! Suzana Herculano-Houzel helps us answer listener Penny’s question by explaining how “smartness” might not mean what you think - and how all animals have shown off their intelligence over time. Listen to our bonus interview with Suzana on our Patreon when you pledge just $1 a month or more! patreon.com/tumblepodcast. Learn more about Suzana and her work on the evolution of intelligence on the blog on our website, www.sciencepodcastforkids.com.

This is a re-airing of our award-winning episode The Swift Quake! This episode won the AAAS Kavli Silver Medal Award for excellence in Children's Science News, as well as a Signal Award for kid's podcasts. Give it a listen! How do you think a stadium full of Taylor Swift fans would shake the earth? Tumble enters the Swiftiverse with Jackie Caplan-Auerbach, the scientist who discovered the “Swift Quake” - a type of earthquake created by fans at Taylor Swift concerts. Find out who really “shakes it off” - when it comes to music and seismic energy. If you'd like to support Tumble, there's more than one way to do it! You can join our Patreon and get birthday shout outs if you support us at the $5 level or higher. You can also consider donating to our new non-profit organization, Tumble Education Inc.! Our aim is to support freely accessible, high quality educational audio content. Just go donate here.

What does it feel like to be in space? That’s what Elijah wants to know. So we’re taking off on a zero-gravity flight to find out! Guest reporter Jason Strother shares the story of Sheri Wells-Jensen, a blind scientist who is paving the way for people with disabilities to go to space.  This material is based upon work supported by the National Science Foundation under Grant Number # 2148711 - Engaging Blind, Visually Impaired, and Sighted Students in STEM with Storytelling through Podcasts.  Learn more about Sheri on the bonus interview episode on our Patreon, at patreon.com/tumblepodcast.  Check out the blog on sciencepodcastforkids.com for more info!

Are cats evil? Are they hatching a plot to take over the world? Or are they just misunderstood? Scientist and cat expert Mikel Maria Delgado will tell us how the domestication of cats and dogs changed the way we think of our pets today, and she’ll explain how scientists of all ages can study cat preferences (or purr-fur-ences). Plus, she’ll share some tips on cat do’s and don’ts, so we can learn how to be better friends to our kitty companions. For more information about Mikel and more on cat science, visit our website at sciencepodcastforkids.com, where we'll have resources, videos, and more. For ad-free versions of the episode and a birthday shout-out, go support Tumble on Patreon at patreon.com/tumblepodcast.

How do species evolve? Find out in the shocking conclusion of our Monkeyflower mystery series! Plant biologist David Lowry has been tracking down clues to solve the question of why plants look different - and the yellow monkeyflower is more than a suspect. Now, it’s time to take his detective skills up a notch, and use the science of DNA. A twisted discovery will flip the case - and lead to a new chapter in understanding how life evolves.  Hear more from our interview with David, on the special bonus interview episode that’s available to Patreon members who pledge at the $1 level or higher at patreon.com/tumblepodcast.  Check out David’s monkeyflower mystery comic book on our blog at sciencepodcastforkids.com!  This material is based upon work supported by the National Science Foundation under grant 2153100: IMAGiNE: The genetic, developmental, and physiological mechanisms of plant local adaptation to oceanic salt spray.