Big Picture Science for Feb 22 - Creature Discomforts

 

Big Picture Science - Creature Discomforts

(REPEAT) - Okay you animals, line up: stoned sloths, playful pandas, baleful bovines, and vile vultures. We’ve got you guys pegged, thanks to central casting.

Or do we? Our often simplistic view of animals ignores their remarkable adaptive abilities. Stumbly sloths are in fact remarkably agile and a vulture’s tricks for thermoregulation can’t be found in an outdoors store.

Our ignorance about some animals can even lead to their suffering and to seemingly intractable problems. The South American nutria was brought to Louisiana to supply the fur market. But the species got loose and tens of millions of these rodents are destroying the environment. It literally has a bounty on its tail.

Hear about research that corrects a menagerie of misunderstandings about our fellow furry, feathered, and scaly animals, and how getting over ourselves to know them better can have practical benefits. Will you still recoil from termites if you learn that they are relevant to the future of robots, global warming, and smart design?

Guests:

• Lucy Cooke – Zoologist, broadcaster and author of “The Truth About Animals: Stoned Sloths, Lovelorn Hippos, and Other Tales from the Wild Side of Wildlife”
• Chris Metzler – Co-director and producer of the film Rodents of Unusual Size
• Lisa Margonelli – Journalist and author of "Underbug: An Obsessive Tale of Termites and Technology"

This repeat podcast originally aired on October 8, 2018

Download podcast at - http://bigpicturescience.org/episodes/creature-discomforts

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 Feb .15 - Granting Immunity

Big Picture Science - Granting Immunity

(REPEAT) “Diversity or die” could be your new health mantra. Don’t boost your immune system, cultivate it! Like a garden, your body’s defenses benefit from species diversity.  Find out why multiple strains of microbes, engaged in a delicate ballet with your T-cells, join internal fungi in combatting disease. Plus, global
ecosystems also depend on the diversity of its tiniest members; so what happens when the world’s insects bug out?'

Guests:

• Matt Richtel – Author, most recently, of “An Elegant Defense: The Extraordinary New Science of The Immune System”
• Rob Dunn – Biologist and professor in the Department of Biological Sciences at North Carolina State University. Author of “Never Home Alone”
• David Underhill – Professor of medicine, Cedars-Sinai Hospital, Los Angeles, California
• Anne Sverdrup-Thygeson – Professor in conservation biology at the Institute for Ecology and Nature Management at the Norwegian University of Life Sciences.  Author of “Buzz, Sting, Bite: Why We Need Insects”

This repeat podcast originally aired on August 12, 2019

Download podcast at - http://bigpicturescience.org/episodes/granting-immunity

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 Feb .08 - Mars Attracts

Big Picture Science - Mars Attracts

Earth invades Mars in February. In a historic trifecta for space exploration, spacecraft of three countries will arrive at Mars, and for two of those it will be their first time at the Red Planet. We talk to the science lead for the Emirates Mars Mission, a NASA engineer piloting the first helicopter on Mars, and a
British space expert – all to learn how these spacecraft may bring greater understanding of this rusty world – including whether Mars ever supported life.

Guests:

• Sarah Cruddas - Space journalist, broadcaster, and author of “Look Up: Our Story with the Stars”
• Sarah Al Amiri - United Arab Emirates Minister of State for Advanced Sciences as well as science lead for the Emirates Mars Mission
• Håvard Grip - Chief Pilot and Light Control Lead for Ingenuity Mars Helicopter at NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory

Download podcast at - http://bigpicturescience.org/episodes/mars-attracts

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 Feb .01 - Iron, Coal, WoodBig Picture Science for Feb .01 - Iron, Coal, Wood

Big Picture Science - Iron, Coal, Wood

Maybe you don’t remember the days of the earliest coal-fired stoves. They changed domestic life, and that changed society. We take you back to that era, and to millennia prior when iron was first smelt, and even earlier, when axe-handles were first fashioned from wood, as we explore how three essential materials profoundly transformed society.

We were once excited about coal’s promise to provide cheap energy, and how iron would lead to indestructible bridges, ships, and buildings. But they also caused some unintended problems: destruction of forests, greenhouse gases and corrosion. Did we foresee where the use of wood, coal, and iron would lead? What lessons do they offer for our future?

Guests:

• Jonathan Waldman – Author of Rust: The Longest War.
• Ruth Goodman – Historian of British social customs, presenter of a number of BBC television series, including Tudor Monastery Farm, and the author of The Domestic Revolution: How the Introduction of Coal into Victorian Homes Changed Everything.
• Roland Ennos – Professor of biological sciences at the University of Hull and author of The Age of Wood: Our Most Useful Material and the Construction of Civilization.

Download podcast at - http://bigpicturescience.org/episodes/iron-coal-wood

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.