Big Picture Science for 05/20/13 - Skeptic Check: Hostile Climate

Big Picture Science - Skeptic Check: Hostile Climate

It’s a record we didn’t want to break. The carbon dioxide concentration in the atmosphere has hit the 400 parts-per-million mark, a level at which some scientists say is a point of no return for stopping climate change. A few days later, a leading newspaper prints an op-ed essay that claims CO₂ is getting a bad rap: it’s actually good for the planet. The more the better.

Skeptic Phil Plait rebuts the CO₂-is-awesome idea while a paleontologist paints a picture of what Earth was like when the notorious gas last ruled the planet. Note: humans weren’t around.

Plus, our skit says NO to O₂ … and a claim that climate change skeptics have borrowed from the Creationists’ playbook in challenging the teaching of established science in schools.

Guests:

• Phil Plait – Astronomer, Skeptic, and author of Slate Magazine’s blog Bad Astronomy
• Peter Ward – Paleontologist and biologist, Department of Earth and Space Sciences, University of Washington in Seattle
• Josh Rosenau – Programs and Policy Director at the National Center for Science Education
• Eugenie Scott – Executive Director of the National Center for Science Education

Permalink: http://radio.seti.org/episodes/Skeptic_Check_Hostile_Climate

You can listen to this and other episodes at http://radio.seti.org/, and be sure to check out Blog Picture Science, the companion blog to the radio show.

Bright Explosion on the Moon

Source - NASA Science News for May 17, 2013

NASA researchers who monitor the Moon for meteoroid impacts have detected an explosion ten times brighter than anything they've seen before.

The complete article can be found here: http://science.nasa.gov/science-news/science-at-nasa/2013/16may_lunarimpact/

A companion video is posted below and can also be viewed at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IYloGuUZCFM



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Strong Solar Activity Continues

Source - Space Weather News for May 14, 2013: http://spaceweather.com

Solar activity is high.  During a 24 hour period straddling May 13th and 14th, the sun unleashed three X-class solar flares.  These are the strongest flares of the year so far, and they signal a significant increase in solar activity.  The source of the flares, a large sunspot on the sun's eastern limb, appears poised to erupt again as it turns toward Earth.

Check http://spaceweather.com for updates and more information.

X-Flare on May 13th

Source - Space Weather News for May 13, 2013: http://spaceweather.com

X-FLARE: A sunspot hiding behind the sun's eastern limb erupted on May 13th at 02:17 UT, producing the strongest solar flare of the year so far (X1.7).  The blast site  will turn toward Earth in a few days. This will give forecasters a better view of the active region and allow them to gauge its potential for more explosions. Visit http://spaceweather.com for updates and images of today's X-flare.

SOLAR FLARE ALERTS: Would you like a call when solar flares are underway? X-flare alerts are available from http://spaceweathertext.com (text) and http://spaceweatherphone.com (voice).

Big Picture Science for 05/13/13 - Fundest Show Ever

Big Picture Science - Fundest Show Ever

You can remember yesterday, but not tomorrow. But why is that? We consider the arrow of time and why it all traces to the Big Bang. Also, artificial blood cells and life in a deep Antarctic lake.

You’ll hear how Stephen King thinks that humankind is metaphorically living under a big dome, and what reasons Neil Tyson gives for why we really want to go into space.

And … skeptical takes on faces in cheese sandwiches and the supposedly special powers of psychics.

All this and more on this special Big Picture Science podcast.

Guests:

• Jeremy Bailenson – Director of the Virtual Human Interaction Lab at Stanford University and co-author of Infinite Reality: The Hidden Blueprint of Our Virtual Lives
• Sean Carroll – Theoretical physicist at the California Institute of Technology, author of The Particle at the End of the Universe: How the Hunt for the Higgs Boson Leads Us to the Edge of a New World
  
• Helen Amanda Fricker – Glaciologist, Scripps Institution of Oceanography at University of California, San Diego
• Jill Mikucki – Microbiologist at the University of Tennessee
• Jennifer Heldmann – Research scientist at NASA Ames Research Center
• Jonathan Coulton – Singer and songwriter
• Joseph DeSimone – Professor of chemistry at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and chemical engineering at North Carolina State University
• Stephen King – Novelist, author of Under the Dome: A Novel
  
• Phil Plait – Astronomer, Skeptic, and author of Slate Magazine’s blog Bad Astronomy
• Benjamin Radford – Deputy editor, Skeptical Inquirer magazine
• Steven Novella – Physician at Yale University, host of the podcast, “Skeptic’s Guide to the Universe”
• Neil deGrasse Tyson – Astrophysicst, American Museum of Natural History, and author of Space Chronicles: Facing the Ultimate Frontier
  
• Jim Underdown – Executive Director, Center for Inquiry, Los Angeles

Permalink: http://radio.seti.org/episodes/Fundest_Show_Ever

NOTE: This episode will not be available via broadcast stations. Instead the encore of "Going Viral" will be broadcast.

You can listen to this and other episodes at http://radio.seti.org/, and be sure to check out Blog Picture Science, the companion blog to the radio show.

Planets Aligning in the Sunset Sky

Source - NASA Science News for May 10, 2013

Mercury, Venus and Jupiter are lining up for a beautiful sunset conjunction at the end of May.

The complete article can be found here: http://science.nasa.gov/science-news/science-at-nasa/2013/10may_sunsettriangle/

A companion video is posted below and can also be viewed at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YPthe9e-T18



License: Standard YouTube License

Annular Solar Eclipse -- live webcast

Source - Space Weather News for May 9, 2013: http://spaceweather.com

ANNULAR ECLIPSE: On May 10th, the South Pacific sun will turn into a ring of fire as the Moon passes directly in front of the solar disk, producing an annular solar eclipse. At maximum, more than 95% of the sun's diameter will be covered over parts of Australia, eastern Papua New Guinea and the Solomon Islands. Please check http://spaceweather.com for more information, including a live webcast from Cape York, Australia, which begins on May 9th at approximately 5 PM EDT.

SOLAR FLARE ALERTS: Would you like a call when solar flares are underway? X-flare alerts are available from http://spaceweathertext.com (text) and http://spaceweatherphone.com (voice).

Karen Nyberg Talks International Space Station Benefits

Source: Reel NASA - http://www.youtube.com/user/ReelNASA

"Astronaut Karen Nyberg, a flight engineer of the International Space Station Expedition 36 and 37 crew, is launching to space May 28, 2013. In this brief message, Karen shares some of the benefits of ISS research and how science and experiments being conducted in space help life on Earth. Research and development in the areas of medicine, Earth observation imagery and materials sciences not only help advance space exploration, but also help our day-to-day lives on our home planet."



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Want to learn more? Visit www.nasa.gov 

Learn more about NASA Astronaut Karen Nyberg: http://go.nasa.gov/109uXm2 
Learn more about research on the International Space Station: http://go.nasa.gov/9cE4DW 
Learn more about the space station's benefits: http://go.nasa.gov/wOelvu 
Learn more about space station ultrasound research: http://go.nasa.gov/18MPX2P
Learn more about space station cancer treatment research: http://go.nasa.gov/109vdl5
Learn more about the space station's role in vaccine development: http://go.nasa.gov/109vggB

Follow @AstroKarenN and @ISS_Research on Twitter!

Glow-in-the-Dark Plants on the ISS

Source - NASA Science News for May 6, 2013

Can plants adapt to the novelty of climate change? Researchers seeking to answer this question have sent genetically engineered plants to the ISS for exposure to extreme conditions. To report their stress, the plants have learned to glow in the dark.

The complete article can be found here: http://science.nasa.gov/science-news/science-at-nasa/2013/06may_arabidopsis/

A companion video is posted below and can also be viewed at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=50LgSJhHCy4



License: Standard YouTube License

Big Picture Science for 05/06/13 - Stomach This

Big Picture Science - Stomach This

Not all conversation is appropriate for the dinner table – and that includes, strangely enough, the subject of eating. Yet what happens during the time that food enters our mouth and its grand exit is a model of efficiency and adaptation.

Author Mary Roach takes us on a tour of the alimentary canal, while a researcher describes his invention of an artificial stomach. Plus, a psychologist on why we find certain foods and smells disgusting.

And, you don’t eat them but they could wiggle their way within nonetheless: surgical snakebots.

Guests:

• Mary Roach – Author, most recently, of Gulp: Adventures on the Alimentary Canal
• Martin Wickham – Head of Nutrition, Leatherhead Food Research, U.K.
• Paul Rozin – Professor of psychology, University of Pennsylvania
• Michael Gershon – Professor in the Department of Pathology and Cell Biology, Columbia University Medical Center
• Howie Choset – Professor of robotics at Carnegie Mellon University

Permalink: http://radio.seti.org/episodes/Stomach_This

You can listen to this and other episodes at http://radio.seti.org/, and be sure to check out Blog Picture Science, the companion blog to the radio show.

Strong Solar Flare on May 3rd

Source - Space Weather News for May 3, 2013: http://spaceweather.com

STRONG FLARE: For the second time in three days, an active region just over the sun's east limb has exploded, producing a strong solar flare and CME.  The blast on May 3rd registered M5--not quite an X-flare, but still strong considering that the edge of the sun partially eclipsed the explosion as seen from Earth. Solar rotation is turning the active region toward Earth, and it should emerge later this weekend.  Visit http://spaceweather.com for updates.

SOLAR FLARE ALERTS: Would you like a call when solar flares are underway? X-flare alerts are available from http://spaceweathertext.com (text) and http://spaceweatherphone.com (voice).

Meteors Strike Saturn's Rings

Source - NASA Science News for April 29, 2013

NASA's Cassini spacecraft has provided the first direct evidence of small meteoroids crashing into Saturn's rings.

The complete article can be found here: http://science.nasa.gov/science-news/science-at-nasa/2013/26apr_saturnids/

Mysterious Hurricane Spotted on Saturn

Source - NASA Science News for April 29, 2013

NASA's Cassini spacecraft has spotted a gigantic hurricane swirling inside a mysterious, six-sided weather pattern known as "the hexagon" on Saturn.

The complete article can be found here: http://science.nasa.gov/science-news/science-at-nasa/2013/29apr_saturnhurricane/

Big Picture Science for 04/29/13 - De-Extinction Show

Big Picture Science - De-Extinction Show

Maybe goodbye isn’t forever. Get ready to mingle with mammoths and gaze upon a ground sloth. Scientists want to give some animals a round-trip ticket back from oblivion. Learn how we might go from scraps of extinct DNA to creating live previously-extinct animals, and the man who claims it’s his mission to repopulate the skies with passenger pigeons.

But even if we have the tools to bring vanished animals back, should we?

Plus, the extinction of our own species: are we engineering the end of humans via our technology?

Guests:

• Beth Shapiro – Associate professor of ecology and evolutionary biology, University of California, Santa Cruz
• Ben Novak – Biologist, Revive and Restore project at the Long Now Foundation, visiting biologist at the University of California, Santa Cruz
• Hank Greely – Lawyer working in bioethics, director of the Stanford Center for Law and the Biosciences at Stanford University
• Melanie Challenger – Poet, writer, author of On Extinction: How We Became Estranged from Nature
• Nick Bostrom – Director of the Future of Humanity Institute, Oxford University

Permalink: http://radio.seti.org/episodes/De_Extinction_Show

You can listen to this and other episodes at http://radio.seti.org/, and be sure to check out Blog Picture Science, the companion blog to the radio show.

See Saturn at its Best and Brightest

Source - NASA Science News for April 25, 2013

Saturn and Earth are having a close encounter. See the ringed planet at its best and brightest on April 28th.

The complete article can be found here: http://science.nasa.gov/science-news/science-at-nasa/2013/25apr_saturn/

A companion video is posted below and can also be viewed at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XvTSB5B0d0w



License: Standard YouTube License