Corals often provide a colorful backdrop to photographs of shimmering fish captured by amateur divers. Corals – marine invertebrates with calcium-carbonate exoskeletons – are some of the most diverse ecosystems on Earth: despite covering less than 0.1% of the ocean's surface, they provide shelter and habitats for almost one-third of known marine species. Their impact also extends to human populations in many countries around the world. According to research by the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, up to half a billion people worldwide rely on coral reefs for food security and tourist income. But the world's corals are under threat from rising sea temperatures and local anthropogenic pollution, which causes them to bleach and die.

In this episode, Lilly interviews Jonathan Sauder, the Principal Investigator of a NASA Innovative Advanced Concepts project to design a rover for the surface of Venus. Sauder explains why exploring Venus is important and why previous surface missions have only lasted a few hours. They discuss his innovative wheeled-robot concept, a hybrid automaton rover which would be mostly mechanical and powered by wind. Jonathan Sauder is a NASA Innovative Advanced Concepts (NIAC) Fellow and Senior Mechatronics Engineer at NASA Jet Propulsion Lab in the Technology Infusion Group focused on innovative concepts. He is also a lecturer of "Design Theory and Methodology" and "Advanced Mechanical Design" at the University of Southern California, where he received his PhD in Mechanical Engineering.