The LIUniverse with Dr. Charles Liu

Can an ultra-compact dwarf galaxy have a supermassive black hole at its center? Are there galaxies with supermassive black holes that are offset from their galactic centers? To find out, Dr. Charles Liu and co-host Allen Liu welcome “the other” Dr. Matt Taylor, an Assistant Professor of Astronomy at the University of Calgary, who joins us from the control room of the largest astronomical telescope in Canada, at the Rothney Astrophy...

How do very small galaxies form? What’s going on inside them? And what happens when black holes collide? To find out, Dr. Charles Liu and co-host Allen Liu welcome astrophysicist and “Galaxy Detective” Dr. Charlotte Olsen from New York City College of Technology – and you can call her Chuck, too!

As always, though, we start off with the day’s joyfully cool cosmic thing, the latest announcement from LIGO about the detection of a gra...

How does a star form? How does the universe form? And how can we use every bit of astronomical data to answer those questions? To find out, Dr. Charles Liu and co-host Allen Liu welcome astrostatistician Sabrina Berger, all the way from Melbourne, Australia, where she’s currently pursuing her PhD.

As always, though, we start off with the day’s joyfully cool cosmic thing, the new radioastronomy photographs of Callisto, one of the mo...

Have we discovered life on Mars? What does the center of our galaxy taste like? To find out, and to kick off Season 5 of The LIUniverse, Dr. Charles Liu and co-host Allen Liu have reached out all the way to Tokyo to chat with Dr. Kelly Blumenthal, the Director of the International Astronomical Union Office for Astronomy Outreach.

As always, though, we start off with the day’s joyfully cool cosmic thing, a rock found in Sapphire Can...

It’s the end of everything! Welcome back to Part 2 of our season finale featuring Dr. Charles Liu, co-host Allen Liu, and our guest archaeology expert and author, Hannah Liu, MEd. (If you haven’t caught up to Part 1, we highly recommend you do before embarking on the next leg of this journey! Listen here or wherever you get your podcasts!)

We pick right up where we left off, with the next question from our audience. Daniela asks, “...

As our fourth season draws to a close, we’ve got an apocalyptic, 2-part ending lined up. That’s right, we’re talking Armageddon, and we don’t mean the 1998 Bruce Willis blockbuster. And of course, if we’re going to delve into the end of everything, Dr. Charles Liu and co-host Allen Liu are going to need the help of our ever popular archaeology expert and author, Hannah Liu, MEd.

As always, though, we start off with the day’s joyful...

Who are the “Redshift Wranglers” and what can they tell us about the evolution of our universe? To find out, Dr. Charles Liu and co-host Allen Liu welcome back astrophysics PhD candidate Sadie Coffin from the Rochester Institute of Technology whose focus is galactic evolution, and in particular, the spectroscopy of galaxies and their lights.

As always, though, we start off with the day’s joyfully cool cosmic thing: the Lucy spacecr...

If a black hole shreds a star and nobody is around to hear it, does it make a sound? To find out, Dr. Charles Liu and co-host Allen Liu welcome Professor Yvette Cendes, (aka u/Andromeda321 on Reddit), a Radio Astronomer studying transient radio signals from space.

As always, though, we start off with the day’s joyfully cool cosmic thing, a report by the Dark Energy Survey that seems to show that the amount of dark energy originally...

Why is it so difficult to study the evolution of early galaxies? Are metallic D&D dice better than plastic ones? And can you have too many Pokémon tattoos? To find out, Dr. Charles Liu and co-host Allen Liu welcome Justin Cole, who is currently a grad student at Texas A&M studying the evolution of distant galaxies in pursuit of his PhD in Astronomy and Astrophysics.

As always, though, we start off with the day’s joyfully co...

What’s it like to stand at the edge of human knowledge, where we don’t know what leap forward in understanding the next technological innovation will herald? To find out, Dr. Charles Liu and co-host Allen Liu welcome Dr. Melodie Kao, resident radio astronomer at the Lowell Observatory in Flagstaff, AZ, where Clyde Tombaugh discovered Pluto back in 1930. (And if you’re scratching your heads saying, “What’s a radio astronomer doing a...

What will well-dressed astronauts be wearing on the Artemis III mission? Will AI destroy creativity? Can we actually make leather clothing out of mushrooms?

To find out, Dr. Charles Liu and co-host Allen Liu welcome engineer and futurist Alexia Stylianou, who is designing wearable biometric platforms that can measure human biomechanics to a resolution and degree far beyond what’s accessible to everyday people.

Before we get to intr...

What is a transiting brown dwarf, why are they so rare, and how do you find them? Equally important, how do you make a good French macaron? To find out, Dr. Charles Liu and co-host Allen Liu welcome astronomer and astrophysicist Dr. Theron Carmichael.

As always, though, we start off with the day’s joyfully cool cosmic thing: a recent paper in the Astrophysical Journal possibly linking a supernova that took place millions of years a...

What can the history of science tell us about the world we live in today and where we might be headed tomorrow? To find out, Dr. Charles Liu and co-host Allen Liu welcome historian of science Rebecca Charbonneau, PhD from the American Institute of Physics and the National Radio Astronomy Observatory with expertise in radio astronomy and the search for extraterrestrial intelligence (SETI).

This episode kicks off with Allen and Chuck...

What’s the difference between a maser and a megamaser? How does uncertainty lead science to its newest discoveries? To find out, Dr. Charles Liu and co-host Allen Liu welcome back radio astronomer Dr. Jackie Villadsen, a professor at Bucknell University currently researching star/planet magnetic interaction in exoplanet systems.

As always, though, we start off with the day’s joyfully cool cosmic thing. In November 2024 a group of r...

Have you ever wondered how data from the telescopes that peer into our universe ends up in the hands of the astronomers who interpret it? To find out, Dr. Charles Liu and co-host Allen Liu welcome Robert Sparks, currently from the NSF’s NOIRLab, but previously Fermi Lab and the Sloan Sky Survey.

The National Optical InfraRed Astronomy Research Lab is responsible for operating the National Science Foundation’s ground based, nighttim...

What were the coolest science and sci-fi events in the LIUniverse in 2024, and what’s in store for us in 2025? To find out, Dr. Charles Liu and co-host Allen Liu welcome three members of our production team: Leslie Mullen, our Executive Producer making her first on air appearance, Jon Barnes, our Editor, and Stacey Severn, our Social Media/Patreon Community Director, both of whom are familiar to longtime fans.

But first, as always,...

How far can following your passions take you in science? To find out, Dr. Charles Liu and co-host Allen Liu welcome the multi-faceted Leah Voytovich, a software development engineer for Project Kuiper who planned on going to med school but instead ended up working on space lasers for Amazon’s satellite internet constellation.

As always, though, we start off with the day’s joyfully cool cosmic thing: the use of deuterium levels in t...

What was it like forging a career in physics as a woman in the 1970s? To find out, Dr. Charles Liu and co-host Allen Liu welcome the “Dynamic Duo of Physics” – physicist Dr. Betty Jensen and astrophysicist Dr. Mary Lou West.

As always, though, we start off with the day’s joyfully cool cosmic thing, a potential new revelation about Jupiter’s Great Red Spot. It seems that the current spot may be only 190 years old rather than 400 yea...

Why should people care about fundamental questions of existence or try to understand the principles of our universe? Because we may be the only sentient beings in existence who can! At least, that’s what returning guest Dr. Kelsey Johnson, past president of the AAS and the ASP, and author of “Into the Unknown – The Quest to Understand the Mysteries of the Cosmos, tells Dr. Charles Liu and co-host Allen Liu as our interview resumes.