In the Vox podcast In a Nutshell, hosts Jara Majerus and Antonia Leise take a deep dive into the university's most interesting, strange, and exciting research. Every two weeks, they invite Radboud researchers to talk about their favourite topics – explained in bite-sized episodes. In today's episode, Jara and astrophysicist Søren Larsen take a detour to space.

What does space look like? Why do we need to explore the universe? And what do microwaves have to do with that?

The eleventh episode of In a Nutshell is a small expedition to space. Together with this week’s guest Søren Larsen, we will look at pictures from space, talk about telescopes, and learn why exploring space is not only important but also useful for life on Earth.

Søren Larsen is an associate professor at the department of Astrophysics and a member of the Euclid consortium. He is interested in understanding star formation histories, the chemical enrichment of nearby galaxies, and stellar clusters. Søren discovered his passion for stars in his childhood in the Danish countryside and has been infecting his audience with his enthusiasm ever since.

Do you want to know more about space? Follow Søren’s tips and read The Glass Universe by Dava Sobel and visit www.astronomie.nl. Or have a look through a telescope yourself and join the Stargazing Evening in Nijmegen on March 22nd.