Tumble Science Podcast for Kids

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,...

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...

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...

🎉 We’re getting ready for our biggest live event ever — Sonic Saturday! It’s a day of science, sound, and storytelling in Brooklyn, NY on May 10, and we’re celebrating by rebroadcasting one of the episodes that inspired it all: The Science of Ocean Sounds. 🌊🔊Come join us (and special guest Dan Saks from Noodle Loaf!) for two interactive shows, hands-on science, and live demos from amazing STEM...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...