Big Picture Science for Nov. 27, 2023 - In Living Color

Big Picture Science - In Living Color

REPEAT
The world is a colorful place, and human eyes have evolved to take it in – from vermillion red to bright tangerine to cobalt blue. But when we do, are you and I seeing the same thing?

Find out why color perception is a trick of the brain, and why you and I may not see the same shade of green. Or blue. Or red. Also, platypuses and the growing club of fluorescent mammals, and the first new blue pigment in more than two centuries.

Guests:

• Paula Anich – Associate Professor of Natural Resources, Northland College
• Michaela Carlson – Assistant Professor of Chemistry, Northland College
• Rob DeSalle – Curator at the American Museum of Natural History, and co-author of “A Natural History of Color: the Science Behind What We See and How We See It”
• Mas Subramanian – Professor of Materials Science at Oregon State University

This repeat podcast originally aired on March 8, 2021

Download podcast at - https://bigpicturescience.org/episodes/living-color

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.

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

Big Picture Science for Nov. 20, 2023 - The T-Rex Files

Big Picture Science - The T-Rex Files

REPEAT
T-Rex is having an identity crisis. Rocking the world of paleontology is the claim that Rex was not one species, but actually three. It’s not the first time that this particular dino has forced us to revise our understanding of the past. The discovery of the first T-Rex fossil in the 19th century taught humanity a
scary lesson: species eventually go extinct. If it happened to this seemingly invincible apex predator, it could happen to us too.

Hear how the amateur fossil hunter Barnum Brown’s discovery of T-Rex changed our understanding of ourselves, and the epilogue to the dinosaur era: how our mammalian relatives survived the potential extinction bottleneck of an asteroid impact.

Guests:

• Thomas Carr - Vertebrate paleontologist and Professor of Biology, Carthage College
• Peter Makovicky - Vertebrate paleontologist and Professor of paleontology in the Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences at the University of Minnesota
• David Randall - Author of “The Monster’s Bones: The Discovery of T Rex and How It Shook Our World”
• Steve Brusatte - Personal Chair of Paleontology and Evolution, University of Edinburgh. Author of “The Rise and Fall of the Dinosaurs” and, most recently, “The Rise and Reign of The Mammals”

This repeat podcast originally aired on October 17, 2022

Download podcast at - https://bigpicturescience.org/episodes/the-t-rex-files

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.

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

Big Picture Science for Nov. 13, 2023 - Neanderthal in the Family

Big Picture Science - Neanderthal in the Family

REPEAT
Back off, you Neanderthal! It sounds as if you’ve just been dissed, but maybe you should take it as a compliment. Contrary to common cliches, our Pleistocene relatives were clever, curious, and technologically inventive. Find out how our assessment of Neanderthals has undergone a radical rethinking, and hear about the influence they have as they live on in our DNA. For example, some of their genes have a strong association with severe Covid 19 infection. Plus, how Neanderthal mini-brains grown in a lab will teach us about the evolution of Homo sapiens.

Guests:

• Svante Pääbo – Evolutionary geneticist and Director of the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology.
• Doyle Stevick – Associate professor of educational leadership and policies at the University of South Carolina.
• Beverly Brown – Professor emerita of anthropology, Rockland Community College, New York.
• Rebecca Wragg Sykes – Paleolithic anthropologist, author of “Kindred: Neanderthal Life, Love, Death and Art.”
• Alysson Muotri – Neuroscientist and professor of pediatrics, cellular and molecular medicine at the University of California San Diego School of Medicine

This repeat podcast originally aired on March 22, 2021

Download podcast at - https://bigpicturescience.org/episodes/neanderthal-in-the-family

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.

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

Big Picture Science for Nov. 04, 2023 - Night Flight

Big Picture Science - Night Flight

Owls are both the most accessible and elusive of birds. Every child can recognize one, but you’ll be lucky to spot an owl in a tree, even if you’re looking straight at it. Besides their camouflage and silent flight, these mostly nocturnal birds, with their amazing vision and hearing, are most at home in the dead of night, a time humans find alien and scary. Ecologist Carl Safina got to know an injured baby screech owl well. Their relationship saved the owl’s life and gave Safina insider’s wisdom about these aerial hunters of the night.

Guests:

• Carl Safina – ecologist at Stony Brook University, head of the non-profit Safina Center, and author of “Alfie & Me: What Owls Know, What Humans Believe”
• Tom Damiami – natural resources interpreter, singer on Long Island, NY and leader of the Shelter Island Owl Prowl
• Gordy Slack – science writer, former senior editor of California Wild, the science and natural history magazine published by the California Academy of Sciences

Download podcast at - https://bigpicturescience.org/episodes/night-flight

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.

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