Big Picture Science for January 01, 2018 - Weather Vain

Big Picture Science - Weather Vain

ENCORE: Everyone talks about the weather but no one does anything about it. Not that they haven’t tried.  History is replete with attempts to control the weather, but we’d settle for an accurate seven-day forecast.

Find out how sophisticated technology might improve accuracy, including predicting the behavior of severe storms.  Plus, the age when “weather forecast” was a laughable idea, but why 19th century rebel scientists pursued it anyway.

Also, a meteorologist who was falsely claimed to have “solved” the mystery of the Bermuda Triangle, and a climate scientist recounts the history of trying to control the weather, and the potential future of geoengineering.

Guests:

• Cliff Mass – Professor of atmospheric sciences at the University of Washington.
• Peter Moore – Author of “The Weather Experiment: The Pioneers Who Sought to See the Future.”
• Steven Miller – Meteorologist, Colorado State University Cooperative Institute for Research in the Atmosphere.
• Alan Robock – Meteorologist and climatologist, Department of Environmental Sciences at Rutgers University, IPCC lead author.

This encore podcast was first released on 11/21/2016

Download podcast at - http://bigpicturescience.org/episodes/weather-vain

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

Big Picture Science for December 25, 2017 - DIY Diagnosis

Big Picture Science - DIY Diagnosis

ENCORE: Got aches and pains?  Critters in the Cretaceous would have been sympathetic.  A new study reveals that painful arthritis plagued a duck-billed dinosaur.  Scientists impressively diagnosed the animal’s condition without a house call by examining its 70 million-year old bones.

The technology we use for health diagnoses are becoming so sophisticated, some people are prompted to bypass doctors and do it themselves.  Meet a man who had his genome sequenced and then had all 70 gigabytes delivered directly to him so that he could gauge his genetic health.

Also, practitioners who are trying to improve cognitive function using a battery and a few wires. Find out the possible risks and benefits of DIY brain stimulation.

Guests:

• Jennifer Anne - Recent graduate, University of Manchester, studies injuries and diseases in dinosaurs.
• Carl Zimmer - Science writer, author.  National correspondent for STAT, an online magazine that reports on the frontiers of science and medicine.  His weekly column “Matter,” appears in the New York Times.
• Peter Simpson-Young - A graduate student at the University of Sydney studying neuroscience.
• Anna Wexler - Neuroethicist and PhD candidate in the History, Anthropology, Science, Technology and Society program at MIT.

This encore podcast was first released on 8/29/2016

Download podcast at - http://bigpicturescience.org/episodes/diy-diagnosis

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

Big Picture Science for December 18, 2017 - Rerouting... Rerouting

Big Picture Science - Rerouting... Rerouting

Lost your sense of direction?  Blame your GPS. Scientists say that our reliance on dashboard devices is eroding our ability to create cognitive maps and is messing with our minds in general. We don’t even look at landmarks or the landscape anymore.  We’ve become no more than interfaces between our GPS and our steering wheels.

But in other ways, GPS can spark a new appreciation of the physical world. A real-time flyover app reveals the stunning geological features otherwise invisible from our window seat.

And sensitive electronic sensors let us see where the wild things are and where they go.  Learn how scientists put belts on jellyfish and produce maps that reveal the surprising routes taken by various species – from a single wolf, a group of phytoplankton, or a float of crocodiles.

Plus, one man is not ready to say goodbye to the traditional map.  Find out why this cartographer insists on paper maps, not digital apps.

Guests:

• Julia Frankenstein – Cognitive scientist, Darmstadt Technical University, Germany
• Greg Milner – Journalist, author of “Pinpoint: How GPS is Changing Technology, Culture, and our Minds”
• Amy Myrbo – Earth scientist, University of Minnesota
• Oliver Uberti – Graphic artist and former senior design editor at National Geographic
• James Cheshire – Geographer, University College London.  Co-author, along with Oliver Uberti, of “Where The Animals Go: Tracking Wildlife with Technology in 50 Maps and Graphics.”
• Tom Hedberg – Mapmaker and publisher at Hedberg Maps in Minneapolis, Minnesota

Download podcast at - http://bigpicturescience.org/episodes/rerouting-rerouting

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

Big Picture Science for December 11, 2017 - With All Our Mites

Big Picture Science - With All Our Mites

ENCORE:  You are not alone.  You can’t see ‘em, but your face is a festival of face mites. They’ve   evolved with us for millennia.  And a new study finds that hundreds of different tiny spiders, beetles, and – our favorite - book lice make your home theirs.  But before you go bonkers with the disinfectant, consider: eradicating these critters may do more harm than good.  Some are such close evolutionary partners with humans that they keep us healthy and can even reveal something about our ancestry.

But then there are bed bugs.  Pests without redemption.  However, their newly-sequenced genome may help us end their nightly nuisances.  And of course some microscopic critters are deadly.  So when it comes to bugs: when do we accommodate and when do we attack?

Guests:
Michelle Trautwein – Curator of entomology, California Academy of Sciences
Matt Bertone –  Entomologist, North Carolina State University
Joshua Benoit -- Insect molecular biologist, University of Cincinnati
Thomas McDade – Biological anthropologist, Northwestern University

This encore podcast was first released on 2/15/2016

Download podcast at - http://bigpicturescience.org/episodes/all-our-mites

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

Big Picture Science for December 04, 2017 - Air Apparent

Big Picture Science - Air Apparent

Whether you yawn, gasp, sniff, snore, or sigh, you’re availing yourself of our very special atmosphere.   It’s easy to take this invisible chemical cocktail for granted, but it’s not only essential to your existence: it unites you and every other life form on the planet, dead or alive.  The next breath you take likely includes molecules exhaled by Julius Caesar or Eleanor Roosevelt.

And for some animals, air is an information superhighway.  Dogs navigate with their noses.  Their sniffing snouts help them to identify their owners, detect trace amounts of drugs, and even sense some diseases.  Find out what a dog’s nose knows, and why no amount of bathing and dousing in perfume can mask your personal smelliness.

Plus, why your own schnoz is key to not only enjoying a fine Bordeaux, but to survival of our species.

Guests:

• Sam Kean – Science writer, author of “Caesar’s Last Breath: Decoding the Secrets of the Air Around Us”
• Alexandra Horowitz – Dog cognition researcher, Barnard College, author of “Being A Dog: Following the Dog Into a World of Smell”
• Rachel Herz – Cognitive neuroscientist, Brown University, author of “Why You Eat What You Eat,” and “The Scent of Desire: Discovering Our Enigmatic Sense of Smell”
• Ken Givich – Microbiologist, Guittard Chocolate company

Download podcast at - http://bigpicturescience.org/episodes/air-apparent

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