Big Picture Science for May 26, 2025: Hurricane Season

In the twenty years since Hurricane Katrina devastated the Gulf Coast, powerful hurricanes such as Sandy, Irma, Maria and Helene have also caused immense property destruction and lead to thousands of deaths. If Katrina taught us anything, it was to be prepared for the unimaginable. But have we learned that lesson?

In this episode, part of a series tied to the 20th anniversary of Katrina, we report from the National Hurricane Conference in New Orleans about what we we’ve learned in the years since.  Emergency management teams from the Virgin Islands reflect on the two Category 5 hurricanes that hit within just two weeks of each other in 2017, scientists describe how climate change is reshaping hurricanes and we our new tools for forecasting them.  Meanwhile dark clouds are gathering.  As we head into hurricane season, the administration proposes to slash funding for agencies that are tasked with helping us prepare and recover from natural disasters, such as NOAA and the National Weather Service.

Guests:

• Yvette Henry – Community Affairs Coordinator at the Department of Human Services in the US Virgin Islands
• Abigail Hendricks – Emergency Support Function #6 coordinator on the island of St John, Virgin Islands
• Meaghan Enright – executive director of the nonprofit, Love City Strong that works on disaster preparedness, response, and recovery on the island of St John, Virgin Islands
• Rebeca Mueller – Director of media coordination, National Hurricane Conference
• Michael Brennan – Director, National Hurricane Center, Miami, Florida
• Julie Roberts – Former director of communications and Deputy Chief of Staff for NOAA during the first Trump administration.

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Big Picture Science for May 19, 2025: Touching a Nerve

 

Big Picture Science: Touching a Nerve

Some call it your sixth sense. You refer to it when you have a “gut feeling.” With a vast fiber network running throughout your body, the vagus nerve knows about and helps regulate every critical function in it, from heart rate to digestion to your immune system. Now bioelectric medicine is tapping into that bodily omniscience by using tiny electrical pulses on the vagus nerve to help treat diseases as diverse as epilepsy, diabetes, stroke, Parkinson’s, and even depression. In the coming months, the FDA is set to make a decision about a vagus nerve stimulation device, which, if approved, could provide first-of-its-kind treatment for an autoimmune disease that affects millions of Americans. We consider the groundbreaking potential of vagus nerve stimulation and ask whether electricity could one day replace medications.

Guest:

• Kevin Tracey – Neurosurgeon, president of the Feinstein Institutes for Medical Research at Northwell Health, and author of “The Great Nerve: The New Science of the Vagus Nerve and How to Harness Its Healing Reflexes” 

Download podcast at - https://bigpicturescience.org/episodes/touching-a-nerve

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Big Picture Science for May 12, 2025: NASA Under the Axe

Big Picture Science: NASA Under the Axe

The White House has proposed unprecedented cuts to NASA’s budget - the largest in the agency’s history. If approved, this withdrawal of funding would force the cancellation of many major programs, including the long anticipated Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope as well as others involved in the search for life in the universe. It would also impact the agency’s ability to do fundamental research. We look at what the loss of NASA programs could mean for the future of space science and exploration. Plus, an intriguing discovery by the James Webb Space Telescope underscores the progress we’ve made - and could lose - when it comes to searching for potential biosignatures in the universe.

Guests:

• Leonard David – Space journalist and author
• Nadia Drake – Freelance science journalist
• Carl Zimmer – New York Times science columnist

Download podcast at - https://bigpicturescience.org/episodes/nasa-under-the-axe

You can listen to this and other episodes at http://bigpicturescience.org/

Get early access to ad-free versions of every episode by joining us on Patreon. Thanks for your support!

Big Picture Science for May 5, 2025: The Wrong Stuff

Big Picture Science: The Wrong Stuff

REPEAT
By one estimate the average American home has 300,000 objects. Yet our ancient ancestors had no more than what they could carry with them. How did we go from being self-sufficient primates to nonstop shoppers? We examine the evolutionary history of stuff through the lens of archeology beginning with the ancestor who first picked up a palm-sized rock and made it into a tool. 
 
Guest:

• Chip Colwell - archeologist and former Curator of Anthropology at the Denver Museum of Nature & Science, editor-in-chief of the digital magazine Sapiens, and author of “So Much Stuff: How Humans Discovered Tools, Invented Meaning, and Made More of Everything.”

This repeat podcast originally aired on February 5, 2024

Download podcast at - https://bigpicturescience.org/episodes/the-wrong-stuff

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Get early access to ad-free versions of every episode by joining us on Patreon. Thanks for your support!

Big Picture Science for April 28, 2025: Inside Planets

Big Picture Science: Inside Planets

REPEAT

With planets and moons, it’s what’s inside that counts. If we want to understand surface features, like volcanoes, or their history, such as how the planet formed or whether it’s suitable for life, we study their interiors. Astronomer Sabine Stanley takes us on a journey to the centers of Venus, Saturn’s large moon Titan, Jupiter’s moon Io, and of course Earth, to help us understand how they, and the solar system, came to be.

Guest:

• Sabine Stanley - Planetary scientist at Johns Hopkins University and the author of What’s Hidden Inside Planets.

This repeat podcast originally aired on January 22, 2024

Download podcast at - https://bigpicturescience.org/episodes/inside-planets

You can listen to this and other episodes at http://bigpicturescience.org/

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Big Picture Science for April 21, 2025: Tech in Check

 

Big Picture Science: Tech in Check

REPEAT
Worried that AI will replace you? It may not seem like the Hollywood writers’ strike has anything in common with the Luddite rebellion in England in 1811, but they are surprisingly similar. Today we use the term “Luddite” dismissively to describe a technophobe, but the original Luddites – cloth workers – organized and fought Industrial Revolution automation and the factory bosses who were replacing humans with cotton spinning machines and steam powered looms. Find out what our age of AI can learn from textile workers of 200 years ago about keeping humans in the loop.

Guest:
Brian Merchant - Los Angeles Times tech columnist and author of “Blood in the Machine: The Origins of the Rebellion Against Big Tech”

This repeat podcast originally aired on January 14, 2024

Download podcast at - https://bigpicturescience.org/episodes/tech-in-check

You can listen to this and other episodes at http://bigpicturescience.org/

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Big Picture Science for April 14, 2025: Skeptic Check: Cryptids

Big Picture Science: Skeptic Check: Cryptids

Bigfoot could get official status if proposed legislation passes making it the state cryptid of California. If nothing else, the effort shows that fascination with cryptids has an outsized footprint on our culture. We look at why mythical creatures continue to capture imaginations - as well as passions - of die-hard believers, despite no evidence for their existence. 

 An author uncovers the origin of a beloved hoax in the American West and its unexpected ties to a real animal and historical medical breakthrough. But are we looking for creature delights in all the wrong places? 

A tally of Earth’s species reveals that far more remain unidentified than are currently known. Newly discovered critters such as the Yeti crab and an organism dubbed the Flying Spaghetti Monster are so strange, it challenges us to separate fauna fact from folktale.

Guests:

• Chris Rogers – Assemblymember, California’s 2nd Assembly District
• Benjamin Radford – Deputy Editor of Skeptical Inquirer Science Magazine, author, and co-host of Squaring the Strange podcast
• Michael Branch – Writer, humorist, and author of On the Trail of the Jackalope: How a Legend Captured the World’s Imagination and Helped Us Cure Cancer

Download podcast at - https://bigpicturescience.org/episodes/skeptic-check-cryptids

You can listen to this and other episodes at http://bigpicturescience.org/

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Big Picture Science for April 07, 2025: Vroom!

Big Picture Science: Vroom!

Self-driving cars, once a thing of science fiction, have become a reality in a handful of cities across the country. As our vehicles gain autonomy, they may provoke a profound shift not unlike the introduction of the first car in the late1800s and raise the question of whether the human driver will soon be obsolete. For a glimpse into the future of self-driving cars, we take a spin through the history of the automobile, from the Model T to the driverless taxi-cab. Along the way, we explore the rise of American manufacturing and the unmistakable but unexpected way in which we have bonded to our four-wheeled companions.

Guests:

• Witold Rybczynski – Professor emeritus of architecture and design at the University of Pennsylvania and author of the book, The Driving Machine: A Design History of the Car
• Timothy B Lee – Technology journalist and writer of the newsletter, Understanding AI

Download podcast at - https://bigpicturescience.org/episodes/vroom

You can listen to this and other episodes at http://bigpicturescience.org/

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Big Picture Science for Mar 31, 2025: Skeptic Check: Asteroid Mining

Big Picture Science: Skeptic Check: Asteroid Mining

REPEAT
Asteroids are rich in precious metals and other valuable resources. But mining them presents considerable challenges. We discuss these, and consider how these spinning, rocky resources might be the key to a space-faring future. But an economist points out the consequences of bringing material back to Earth, and a scientist raises an ethical question; do we have an obligation to keep the asteroids intact for science?

Guests:

• Jim Bell - Planetary scientist in the School of Earth and Space Exploration at Arizona State University.
• Martin Elvis - Astronomer and author of “Asteroids: How Love, Fear, and Greed Will Determine Our Future in Space.”
• Ian Lange - Economist and associate professor at the Colorado School of Mines and author of a paper on the feasibility of asteroid mining.

This repeat podcast originally aired on March 18, 2024

Download podcast at - https://bigpicturescience.org/episodes/skeptic-check-asteroid-mining

You can listen to this and other episodes at http://bigpicturescience.org/

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Big Picture Science for Mar 24, 2025: Disappearing Data

Big Picture Science: Disappearing Data

Firing federal workers and freezing grants has upended research institutions, prompting uncertainty about their futures. We look at the real-world impacts these policy changes may have for our mechanisms for collecting and sharing important data. An NIH grant recipient considers the future of her lab’s ability to do basic research, including studying complex diseases such as Alzheimer’s and heart disease. An interruption in reliable access to CDC data comes as highly contagious avian influenza continues to evolve and spread in the U.S. And what does the gutting of NOAA imply for collecting essential weather data, including those used to forecast hurricanes?

Guests:

• Kimberly Cooper – Developmental biologist at the University of California, San Diego
• Amy Maxmen – Public health reporter at KFF Health News
• Alan Sealls – Retired broadcast meteorologist, adjust professor at the University of South Alabama and president-elect of the American Meteorological Society
• Bernadette Woods Placky – Chief meteorologist and Climate Matters director at the nonprofit organization, Climate Central

Download podcast at - https://bigpicturescience.org/episodes/disappearing-data

You can listen to this and other episodes at http://bigpicturescience.org/

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Big Picture Science for Mar 17, 2025: Amazing Arctic

Big Picture Science: Amazing Arctic

What’s it like to live on a block of ice, especially when it thaws? An environment writer shares his forty-year experience in the Arctic, including the time a paddling polar bear tracked him on a river. He describes the stunning beauty of America’s last truly wild place and the dramatic changes to the landscape he recently witnessed. Recent research has backed up his eyewitness accounts, as an arctic scientist presents the latest data collected from a part of world warming four times faster than the rest of the planet.

Guests:

• Jon Waterman – Author of Into the Thaw: Witnessing Wonder Amid the Arctic Climate Crisis
• Twila Moon – Deputy Lead Scientist and Science Communication Liaison at the National Snow and Ice Data Center

Download podcast at - https://bigpicturescience.org/episodes/amazing-arctic

You can listen to this and other episodes at http://bigpicturescience.org/

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Big Picture Science for Mar 10, 2025: Preventable

Big Picture Science: Preventable

Two infectious diseases that we’ve been able to prevent for a half-century are re-emerging. One of the most contagious viruses in the world, measles, is spreading in the United States. Anti-vax sentiment has driven vaccination rates down leading to outbreaks in Texas and New Mexico. The U.S. has also seen an uptick in cases of tuberculosis which has reclaimed its position the deadliest infection globally. The author John Green shares how his travels to Sierra Leone inspired his new book about TB. Through the story of a young patient, Henry, he highlights the health inequities that contribute to over a million and a half tuberculosis deaths annually despite the existence of a cure.

Guests:

• Adam Ratner – Pediatric infectious disease doctor in New York City, and author of Booster Shots: The Urgent Lessons of Measles and the Uncertain Future of Children's Health
• John Green – Author of The Fault in Our Stars, The Anthropocene Reviewed, and Everything is Tuberculosis: The History and Persistence of our Deadliest Infection

Download podcast at - https://bigpicturescience.org/episodes/preventable

You can listen to this and other episodes at http://bigpicturescience.org/

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Big Picture Science for Mar 03, 2025: Your Mind On Movies

Big Picture Science: Your Mind On Movies

REPEAT
By one estimate we spend a fifth of our lives watching movies or TV. In fact, we consume entertainment almost as habitually as we eat or sleep, activities that receive scientific scrutiny and study. So why not consider the effects that watching movies and TV have on our minds and bodies too? When we do, we find that they are not mere escapism. A data scientist reveals why we are what we watch, and how scientists and filmmakers work, often with competing agendas, to create sci-fi entertainment.

Guest:

• Walt Hickey - journalist, data scientist, and author of “You Are What You Watch: How Movies and TV Affect Everything”

This repeat podcast originally aired on January 8, 2024

Download podcast at - https://bigpicturescience.org/episodes/your-mind-on-movies

You can listen to this and other episodes at http://bigpicturescience.org/

Get early access to ad-free versions of every episode by joining us on Patreon. Thanks for your support!

Big Picture Science for Feb 24, 2025: The Latest Buzz

Big Picture Science: The Latest Buzz

REPEAT
Is your windshield accumulating less bug splatter? Insects, the most numerous animals on Earth, are becoming scarcer, and that’s not good news. They’re essential, and not just for their service as pollinators. We ask what’s causing the decrease in insect populations, and how can it be reversed.

Also, the story of how California’s early citrus crops came under attack – a problem that was solved by turning Nature on itself. And how chimpanzee “doctors” use insects to treat wounds.

We investigate the small and the many on “The Latest Buzz.”

Guests:

• Martin Kernan – Historian and journalist. His article, “The Bug That Saved California,” appeared in the January-February 2022 issue of the Smithsonian
• Alessandra Mascaro – Evolutionary  Biologist, currently working at the Ozouga Chimpanzee Project, co-author of the Current Biology paper, “Application of insects to wounds of self and others by chimpanzees in the wild”
• Lara Southern – Doctoral student at the University of Osnabruck, co-author of the Current Biology paper, “Application of insects to wounds of self and others by chimpanzees in the wild”
• Oliver Milman – Environment correspondent for The Guardian in the U.S. and author of “The Insect Crisis: The Fall of the Tiny Empires that Run the World”

This repeat podcast originally aired on March 28, 2022

Download podcast at - https://bigpicturescience.org/episodes/the-latest-buzz

You can listen to this and other episodes at http://bigpicturescience.org/

Get early access to ad-free versions of every episode by joining us on Patreon. Thanks for your support!

Big Picture Science for Feb 17, 2025: Skeptic Check: Into the DeepSeek

Big Picture Science: Skeptic Check: Into the DeepSeek

When the Chinese developer of DeepSeek released its model R1, a rift opened up in Silicon Valley. The company, a relatively unknown player, appeared to have created a better and cheaper model than its American competitors. Some big voices in the tech world called it a “Sputnik moment.” Others worried that the open-source model would allow malicious actors to harness the power of this AI technology. But did the arrival of DeepSeek significantly change how artificial intelligence will unfold? We explore that question and ask whether one particular sci-fi franchise got it right when portraying our anxiety about runaway AI.

Guests:

• Alex Kantrowitz – Tech journalist and founder of the podcast and newsletter Big Technology
• Kristian Hammond – Professor of computer science at Northwestern University and Director of the Center for Advancing Safety of Machine Intelligence
• Dorian Lynskey – podcaster and author of “Everything Must Go: The Stories We Tell About the End of the World”

Download podcast at - https://bigpicturescience.org/episodes/skeptic-check-into-the-deepseek

You can listen to this and other episodes at http://bigpicturescience.org/