03 October 2011

Nuclear physicist

James Dunlop re-creates the big bang. At Brookhaven National Laboratory in the USA, he uses the electric fields of a particle accelerator to speed up gold nuclei racing around a 3,9-kilometre track. 

01 June 2011

Fossil collections manager

Behind a secure, unlabelled door in a back hallway of the American Museum of Natural History, Carl Mehling catalogues fossils in the Big Bone Room. 

01 May 2011

Engine builder

‘The key to building a reliable engine is patience. The details matter and everything has to be just right – especially to produce a lot of horsepower.’ 

01 March 2011

Suspended animation scientist

‘The biggest challenge is recognising whether you are on the path to a great discovery or have just spent six months gassing a bunch of worms for nothing.’ 

01 February 2011

Submarine commander

How do you drive a 7 800-ton nuclear-powered submarine that’s longer than a football field and capable of launching 16 Tomahawk cruise missiles? Very carefully, says commanding officer Timothy Rexrode, who served his first sea tour 20 years ago on a sub designed in the 1950s.  

01 January 2011

Mountain guide

After he graduated from university, John Race considered law school – but an expedition to the Himalayas’ Shishapangma Mountain changed the course of his career. Since then, the alpine guide has led trips up Denali and Everest and retraced explorer Ernest Shackleton’s route across South Georgia Island on skis.... 

01 December 2010

Aerospace physiologist

Navy Lieutenant-Commander Ellis Gayles is charged with keeping US military flight crews in optimal health while they’re in the air – or, in the worst-case scenario, the water. To train aviators to survive a crash into the ocean, he and his staff employ the helo-dunker, a mock helicopter pod. Students climb into... 

01 October 2010

Grizzly DNA tracker

‘We aren’t studying the DNA of bears; we’re using the DNA to study the population of bears – an important difference that sometimes gets overshadowed.’ 

01 September 2010

Flight demonstration pilot

Meet Navy Lt CJ Simonsen who is a No 7 pilot for the US Navy Flight Demonstration Squadron  

01 July 2010

Navy sea lion trainer

When Craig Swepston wants his athletes to perform, he reaches for a bucket of herring.