Are you seeking for some tips and wisdom from scientists? Here we talk about science and share academic experiences and more. In general, I am keen on talking with people in any scientific fields and/or who have general interest in science because diversity provides resilience.
This podcast will:
Deliver more detailed description about an academic life for all students who want to pursue an academic career
Deep talks with academics about their research works
Academic journeys and experiences
Overall, any episode contains advice and guidance for everyone who has an interest in science.
Website: sci-talk-naz.com (https://sci-talk-naz.com)
Email: office@nazerke.info (mailto:office@nazerke.info)
Critical Raw Materials | EU–Kazakhstan Partnerships | Science into Action
Dr. Peter Tom Jones is the director of the KU Leuven Institute for Sustainable Metals and Minerals (SIM²), an interdisciplinary research hub of more than 400 experts dedicated to the exploration, extraction, processing, refining, and recycling of energy-transition metals crucial for clean energy and mobility. Also, the host of the RAW MATTERS podcast.
Europe wants to reduce its dependence on China for critical raw materials - BUT can it move fast enough? This episode explores Kazakhstan’s growing strategic importance, the opportunities and risks in EU-Kazakhstan cooperation, and what investors, policymakers, and researchers should understand about critical raw materials, stability, execution, and the race to secure future supply chains.
Dr. Peter Tom Jones on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/peter-tom... (https://www.linkedin.com/in/peter-tom...)
RAW MATTERS podcast on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@RAWMATTERS/v... (https://www.youtube.com/@RAWMATTERS/v...)
RAW MATTERS podcast on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/5ySWGgr... (https://open.spotify.com/show/5ySWGgr...)
Documentaries:
Responsible Mining in Europe: https://kuleuven.sim2.be/documentary-... (https://kuleuven.sim2.be/documentary-...)
Europe's Lithium Paradox: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt37096241/ (https://www.imdb.com/title/tt37096241/)
Made in Europe: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt32414578/ (https://www.imdb.com/title/tt32414578/)
External sources:
Tokayev, EU Leaders Hold Talks in Brussels, Adopt Joint Statement [image source] https://astanatimes.com/2026/06/tokay... (https://astanatimes.com/2026/06/tokay...)
Can Europe Catch Up in the Global Critical Minerals Race? https://moderndiplomacy.eu/2026/09/17... (https://moderndiplomacy.eu/2026/09/17...)
1:27 Did Europe miss the bus?
3:38 Why Europe is more vulnerable than it looks
12:23 Kazakhstan's billion-dollar opportunity
16:14 EU + Kazakhstan in 2030: best case vs worst case
24:17 What investors really want before they commit capital
28:05 US vs China vs Europe: three very different ways of getting things done
33:56 Europe wants to escape China dependence: here’s the problem
40:20 Why academic papers are not enough
47:14 Special message to Kazakhstani partners
50:40 A lesson from a filmmaking crew
56:45 I could be wrong about...
57:54 A message to Belgium and Kazakhstan
2 Sept 2026
From Space Soils to Earth | Regenerative Agriculture | doing a PhD in U.S. & EU
What can Mars and Venus teach us about saving Earth's soil? In this episode, we go from planetary science to regenerative agriculture, biofertilizers, and the reality of PhD life across the US and Europe - plus hackathons, hobbies, and why doing nothing might be the most productive thing you can do. A wide-ranging conversation for anyone curious about space, sustainability, and the path of scientific research.
Guest: Jaya Nepal is a Postdoctoral researcher at the Department of Plant Science at Penn State College of Agricultural Science
First episode with Jaya about his research in 2024:
https://www.youtube-nocookie.com/embed/v_Cypmu2J70?feature=oembed (https://www.youtube-nocookie.com/embed/v_Cypmu2J70?feature=oembed)
External sources mentioned in the ep.:
- Why This Robot Kills Weeds With Lasers:
https://www.youtube-nocookie.com/embed/KmxNtDMAj2A?feature=oembed (https://www.youtube-nocookie.com/embed/KmxNtDMAj2A?feature=oembed)
- A super El Niño threatens disaster. Trump is handling it recklessly: https://www.theguardian.com/commentis... (https://www.theguardian.com/commentis...)
- UAE’s ruling royal family benefits from more than €71m in EU farming subsidies: https://www.theguardian.com/world/202... (https://www.theguardian.com/world/202...)
- The Godfather of AI Warns About Its Perils, Praises Its Promise: https://www.ncsl.org/state-legislatur... (https://www.ncsl.org/state-legislatur...)
- Venus & Greenhouse Effect: https://theclimatehistorian.substack....
- Why Mars by Carl Sagan: https://www.planetary.org/space-image... (https://www.planetary.org/space-image...)
- Universe's First Life Might Have Been Born on Carbon Planets: https://www.cfa.harvard.edu/news/univ... (https://www.cfa.harvard.edu/news/univ...)
- Carl Sagan's groundbreaking experiment: 30 years on: https://www.birmingham.ac.uk/news/202... (https://www.birmingham.ac.uk/news/202...)
- 20 Inventions We Wouldn't Have Without Space Travel: https://www.jpl.nasa.gov/infographics... (https://www.jpl.nasa.gov/infographics...)
Timeline
00:00 Intro
00:36 Why space studies matter
03:45 Why space Soils matter
06:20 Regolith: the key to living off-world
07:32 Inventions born from space research
08:49 Venus's greenhouse effect & Mars's ozone loss: how Earth studies benefited
13:50 What planetary science teaches us about Earth's soil
18:06 What is regenerative agriculture
21:20 Biofertilizers explained
26:27 Our paper finally got published
27:16 Can bio-products replace synthetic fertilizers
33:10 PhD life: US vs. Europe
45:15 PhD qualifying exams: US vs. Europe
52:50 Why flexibility matters when plans fall apart
56:53 Hackathons during a PhD: research to real-world
59:38 Why podcasting (and hobbies) matter in a PhD
1:03:58 The art of doing nothing & cross-pollinating ideas
1:07:50 Climate change and information overload
1:09:32 Favorite science & sci-fi movies
1 Jul 2026
How Mathematics Shapes Decisions | Mirror Lab within Alem AI | Past & Future of Kazakhstan Science
Our special guest is Bolys Sabitbek, a post-doctoral researcher at the Ghent Analysis & PDE Center, Ghent University. We were also honoured to be joined by Mr. Sayasat Nurbek, Minister of Science and Higher Education of the Republic of Kazakhstan, who shares his perspective on the growing academic collaboration between Kazakhstan and Ghent University, the skills today's world demands, and what these two scientific communities can learn from one another. Bolys also makes the case for why mathematics matters, tracing the history and development of the field from the Soviet era through to mathematics in Kazakhstan today, and shares details of the ongoing Mirror Lab collaboration between Ghent University and Kazakhstan.
Curious about the ecosystem behind this collaboration? 🇰🇿
🤖 Alem.ai - Kazakhstan's International Center for Artificial Intelligence in Astana. A hub for the global AI community, it brings together a Museum of Singularity, an AI research university, startup incubation programs, research labs, and the home of the Mirror Laboratory: https://alem.ai/en/ (https://alem.ai/en/)
🚀 Astana Hub - Central Eurasia's largest international tech park, connecting 1,800+ local and international companies and driving the region's technology growth through programs, events, and community: https://astanahub.com/en/ (https://astanahub.com/en/)
Together, they form the backbone of Kazakhstan's growing innovation landscape - and the setting for our latest episode. 🎧
Ghent Analysis and PDE center website: https://analysis-pde.org/ (https://analysis-pde.org/)
More on Bolys's research, website: https://sites.google.com/view/bolys-sabitbek (https://sites.google.com/view/bolys-sabitbek)
Mirror Laboratory in Kazakhstan to our Ghent Analysis & PDE Centre: https://analysis-pde.org/blog/ (https://analysis-pde.org/blog/)
A special challenge for our audience - put your math skills to the test with the problem lists compiled by Erdős: https://www.erdosproblems.com/lists (https://www.erdosproblems.com/lists)
Books and research works mentioned in the episode:
"Birth of A Theorem" by Cedric Villani
"Henri Poincare: A Scientific Biography" by Jeremy Gray
Vladimir Arnold in Russian, link:
https://www.youtube-nocookie.com/embed/zZEHozSnalU?feature=oembed (https://www.youtube-nocookie.com/embed/zZEHozSnalU?feature=oembed)
Movie about Misterious Japanese Chalk:
https://www.youtube-nocookie.com/embed/PhNUjg9X4g8?feature=oembed (https://www.youtube-nocookie.com/embed/PhNUjg9X4g8?feature=oembed)
About the Central Limit Theorem (related to the law of large numbers):
https://www.youtube-nocookie.com/embed/zeJD6dqJ5lo?feature=oembed (https://www.youtube-nocookie.com/embed/zeJD6dqJ5lo?feature=oembed)
3Blue1Brown best math youtube channel: https://www.youtube.com/@3blue1brown/videos (https://www.youtube.com/@3blue1brown/videos)
Newton’s three-body problem explained - Fabio Pacucci:
https://www.youtube-nocookie.com/embed/D89ngRr4uZg?feature=oembed (https://www.youtube-nocookie.com/embed/D89ngRr4uZg?feature=oembed)
Designing Math ft. Grant Sanderson (3Blue1Brown):
https://www.youtube-nocookie.com/embed/bLSLN96Gn-w?feature=oembed (https://www.youtube-nocookie.com/embed/bLSLN96Gn-w?feature=oembed)
More on Game Theory: https://arxiv.org/pdf/1512.06808 (https://arxiv.org/pdf/1512.06808)
Mathematical methods and human thought in the age of AI: https://arxiv.org/abs/2603.26524 (https://arxiv.org/abs/2603.26524)
Mathematical methods and human thought in the age of AI by Terence Tao: https://terrytao.wordpress.com/2026/03/29/mathematical-methods-and-human-thought-in-the-age-of-ai/ (https://terrytao.wordpress.com/2026/03/29/mathematical-methods-and-human-thought-in-the-age-of-ai/)
Anthropic news: https://www.anthropic.com/news/fable-mythos-access (https://www.anthropic.com/news/fable-mythos-access)
External image credits:
Milky Way photos by https://www.instagram.com/p/DR06XwcjE0C/?img_index=5 (https://www.instagram.com/p/DR06XwcjE0C/?img_index=5)
Kolsai lake: https://caravanistan.com/kazakhstan/almaty-region/ (https://caravanistan.com/kazakhstan/almaty-region/)
Arkalyk launch photos: https://www.gettyimages.be/fotos/arkalyk (https://www.gettyimages.be/fotos/arkalyk)
00:00 Intro
00:32 Meet the New Voice of Qazaq Mathematics
01:29 Was Math Discovered or Invented?
03:41 Is Math Really Hard or Just Unfairly Feared?
05:30 The Hidden Math Behind Your Everyday Decisions
11:29 How AI Is Reshaping Mathematics
19:10 UGhent University & Kazakhstan: A New Collaboration
20:03 Kazakhstan's Minister of Science on Partnering with Ghent
23:12 Mr. Sayasat Nurbek: The Skills the World Needs Now
27:13 What UGhent and Kazakhstan Can Learn From Each Other
28:40 Why Mathematics?
31:20 Math Behind the Iron Curtain: The USSR & Kazakhstan
36:20 Lab Tour: The Legendary Chalk Story & a Favourite Equation
41:58 Kazakhstan: Cradle of the Soviet Space Dream
46:03 Favourite Mathematicians, Books & Films
49:58 The Eiffel Tower Was Always About Science
51:08 Why There's No Nobel Prize in Mathematics
52:06 The Skills That Actually Matter
54:12 Advice for Final-Year PhDs
Reach and audience
Public platform figures. Ratings count people who left a rating, not total listeners.
YouTube views
5,631
Score snapshot 15 Sept 2025
Spotify
4.0 / 5
1 ratings
Podcast Authority Score: 43 / 100
A composite of feed quality, social presence, YouTube performance and engagement. Read the methodology.
Quality
44
Social presence
0
YouTube
74
Engagement
31
Contact Science Talk with Naz
Guest appearances
Books guests
Based on episode analysis; this does not confirm that the show is currently accepting guests.
Host of Science Talk with Naz?
Claim your podcast to manage its listing and keep your show details accurate.
Pod Engine is an independent podcast discovery and analytics service and is not affiliated with or endorsed by this podcast. Artwork and show content belong to their owners. Full legal notice.
Explore this show Podcast research with Pod Engine
