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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Are We Alone for 12/20/10 - Skeptic Check: Cell Phone Danger

Are We Alone - Skeptic Check: Cell Phone Danger

Every ten microseconds, someone places a cell phone call. These portable gadgets are ubiquitous, and increasingly a take-for-granted part of everyday life.

But could cell phones be dangerous? Could holding a microwave transmitter up to your head for hours each day substantially increase the risk of cancer?

We investigate some of the latest thinking on the danger of cell phones, and also explain that everyone – even you – is a radio transmitter.

It’s Skeptic Check on Are We Alone. And we’ve got your number.

Guests:

• James Geary – Author and journalist. Read “The Man Who Was Allergic to Radio Waves”
• Richard Muller – Professor of physics at the University of California, Berkeley, and author of The Instant Physicist: An Illustrated Guide
• Devra Davis – Scientist, and author of Disconnect: The Truth About Cell Phone Radiation, What the Industry Has Done to Hide It, and How to Protect Your Family

Permalink: http://radio.seti.org/episodes/Skeptic_Check_Cell_Phone_Danger

You can listen to this and other episodes at http://radio.seti.org/, and be sure to check out Are We A Blog?, the companion blog to the radio show.

Are We Alone for 11/09/09 - Skeptic Check: Doomsday at the Movies

Are We Alone - Skeptic Check: Doomsday at the Movies

ENCORE PRESENTATION: Hollywood has a few ideas of how the world will end: killer asteroids … lethal pandemics … deadly ice-ages. These themes have all played out on the big screen. But, hey, they’re only movies, right?

We’ll separate the science from the fiction in doomsday movies. From the 2012 prophesy of the Mayans … to colliding worlds … to abrupt climate change, find out which among this crowd of cinematic scares are for real, and which aren’t worth the price of popcorn.

Guests:

• Dave Morrison – Astrobiologist, NASA Ames Research Center
• Phil Plait – Astronomer, keeper of badastronomy.com, and author of Death from the Skies!: These Are the Ways the World Will End . . .
• Lynn Rothschild – Astrobiologist, NASA Ames Research Center
• Ken Caldeira – Scientist at the Carnegie Institution for Science’s Department of Global Ecology

You can listen to this and other episodes at http://radio.seti.org/, and be sure to check out Are We A Blog?, the companion blog to the radio show.

Are We Alone for 08/10/09 - Skeptic Check: Doomsday at the Movies

Are We Alone - Skeptic Check: Doomsday at the Movies

Hollywood has a few ideas of how the world will end: killer asteroids … lethal pandemics … deadly ice-ages. These themes have all played out on the big screen. But, hey, they’re only movies, right?

We’ll separate the science from the fiction in doomsday movies. From the 2012 prophesy of the Mayans … to colliding worlds … to abrupt climate change, find out which among this crowd of cinematic scares are for real, and which aren’t worth the price of popcorn.

Guests:

• Dave Morrison – Astrobiologist, NASA Ames Research Center
• Phil Plait – Astronomer, keeper of badastronomy.com, and author of Death from the Skies!: These Are the Ways the World Will End . . .
• Lynn Rothschild – Astrobiologist, NASA Ames Research Center
• Ken Caldeira – Scientist at the Carnegie Institution for Science’s Department of Global Ecology

You can listen to this and other episodes at http://radio.seti.org/, and be sure to check out Are We A Blog?, the companion blog to the radio show.

Are We Alone for 07/06/09 - Skeptic Check: Sheer Lunacy

Are We Alone - Skeptic Check: Sheer Lunacy
Watch out, the moon is full… of intrigue. Our lovely satellite is blamed for all sorts of Earth-bound mischief – from robberies to shape-shifting to general nutty behavior. It’s also the setting for more than one loony tale. In this hour, as NASA spacecraft return to the moon, a look at the mythology it inspires.

Discover the true correlation between crime and a full moon… the 1835 reports of unicorns and man-bats living on moon… and, our favorite hair-raising howler: the werewolf! Also, why some still insist the Apollo moon landing is a hoax. Discover the true correlation between crime and a full moon… the 1835 reports of unicorns and man-bats living on moon… and, our favorite hair-raising howler: the werewolf! Also, why some still insist the Apollo moon landing is a hoax.

Plus, space travel – boxed and bundled.

Guests:

• Phil Plait – Keeper of the skeptical website badastronomy.com and author of Death from the Skies!: These Are the Ways the World Will End . . .
• Matthew Goodman – Author of The Sun and the Moon: The Remarkable True Account of Hoaxers, Showmen, Dueling Journalists, and Lunar Man-Bats in Nineteenth-Century New York
• Jim Underdown – Executive Director for the Center for Inquiry West, Los Angeles and keeper of the blog Hollywood Reality Check
• June Pulliam – English professor, Louisiana State University
• Cynthia Phillips – Scientist at the SETI Institute
• Paul Spudis – Senior scientist at the Lunar and Planetary Institute

You can listen to this and other episodes at http://radio.seti.org/, and be sure to check out Are We A Blog?, the companion blog to the radio show.