Big Picture Science for June 15, 2026: Skeptic Check: Disclosure Day

Big Picture Science: Skeptic Check: Disclosure Day

The latest Hollywood romp through the world of aliens has landed in theaters. Steven Spielberg’s movie Disclosure Day suggests that our government has been hiding a cache of evidence about alien visitation that spans decades. It’s fun fiction but does it mesh with reality? Officials have made a series of public disclosures containing information about the government’s UAP program over the years, releasing massive amounts of declassified documents along with audio and video files. Will the most recent data dump finally provide evidence that aliens are here? We look at the extended history of public desire to believe in extraterrestrial visitation, plus the scientific efforts to detect intelligent or microbial life on other worlds.

Guests:

• Adam Kirsch – Senior editor at The Atlantic, and author of, “We Want to Believe: How Aliens Went Mainstream and Why It Matters”
• Sarah Rugheimer – Astrophysicist at the University of Edinburgh and author of “Searching for Extraterrestrial Life”

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Big Picture Science for June 08, 2026: Vroom!

Big Picture Science: Vroom!

REPEAT
Self-driving cars, once a thing of science fiction, have become a reality in a handful of cities across the country. As our vehicles gain autonomy, they may provoke a profound shift not unlike the introduction of the first car in the late1800s and raise the question of whether the human driver will soon be obsolete. For a glimpse into the future of self-driving cars, we take a spin through the history of the automobile, from the Model T to the driverless taxi-cab. Along the way, we explore the rise of American manufacturing and the unmistakable but unexpected way in which we have bonded to our four-wheeled companions.

Guests:

• Witold Rybczynski – Professor emeritus of architecture and design at the University of Pennsylvania and author of the book, The Driving Machine: A Design History of the Car
• Timothy B Lee – Technology journalist and writer of the newsletter, Understanding AI

Originally aired April 7, 2025

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Big Picture Science for June 01, 2026: Outside of Our Minds

Big Picture Science: Outside of Our Minds

Since humans first chiseled marks into stone, we have externalized our thoughts and ideas. Our tools may have evolved—now we clack away at computer keyboards—but written communication remains a bedrock of modern society. Now that the pace of information creation is exponentially increasing with the advent of artificial intelligence, many are asking what the next frontier of human communication may look like. We look at how we got here, where the latest tools are headed—including brain-machine-interface—and how our brains and culture may be altered in the process.

Guests:

• Alex Bentley – professor of anthropology, archeology, and computational social science at University of Tennessee in Knoxville, and co-author of “Collaborators Through Time: How Humans Partnered with Nature, Technology, and Each Other”
• Michael O’Brien – anthropologist at the Texas A&M University, San Antonio, and co-author of “Collaborators Through Time: How Humans Partnered with Nature, Technology, and Each Other”
• Tom Mullaney – professor of Chinese history at Stanford University, and author of “The Chinese Computer: A Global History of the Information Age”
• Betts Peters – Brain computer interface researcher at Oregon Health and Science University, treasurer of the Brain Computer Interface Society

Download podcast at - https://bigpicturescience.org/episodes/outside-of-our-minds

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