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.

Download podcast at - https://bigpicturescience.org/episodes/hurricane-season

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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

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 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

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!