Big Picture Science for Monday 25 May 2015 - Skeptic Check: After the Hereafter

Big Picture Science - Skeptic Check: After the Hereafter

There are few enduring truths, but one is that no one gets out of life alive. What’s less certain is what comes next. Does everything stop with death, or are we transported to another plane of existence? First-hand accounts of people who claim to have visited heaven are offered as proof of an afterlife. Now the author of one bestseller admits that his story was fabricated.

We’ll look at the genre of “heaven tourism” to see if it has anything to say about the possible existence of the hereafter, and why the idea of an afterlife seriously influences how we live our lives on Earth.

Also, a neurologist describes what is going on in the brain during near-death and other out-of-body experiences.

It’s Skeptic Check, our monthly look at critical thinking … but don’t take our word for it!

Guests:

• Ben Radford – Paranormal investigator, research fellow at the Committee for Skeptical Inquiry and deputy editor of the Skeptical Inquirer, and author of the Discovery News article, “Why People Believed Boy’s ‘Visit to Heaven’ Story”
• Greg Garrett – Professor of English at Baylor University, writer on books, culture and religion for the Huffington Post, and author of Entertaining Judgment: The Afterlife in Popular Imagination
• Steven Novella – Professor of neurology at Yale University School of Medicine and host of the “Skeptic’s Guide to the Universe” podcast

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

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

Big Picture Science for Monday 10 November 2014 - Skeptic Check: Are You Sure You're Sure?

Big Picture Science - Skeptic Check: Are You Sure You're Sure?

Nuclear fission powers the Sun. Or is it fusion? At any rate, helium is burned in the process, of that you are certain. After all, you read that article on astronomy last week*.

You know what you know. But you probably don’t know what you don’t know. Few of us do. Scientists say we’re spectacularly incompetent at recognizing our own incompetency, and that sometimes leads to trouble.

Find out why wrongness is the by-product of big brains and why even scientists – gasp! – are not immune. Plus, a peek into the trash bin of history: the biggest scientific blunders and the brighter-than-bright brains that made them. Including Einstein.

*Oh, and the Sun burns hydrogen to produce helium. But then, you knew that.

Guests:

• David Dunning – Psychologist, Cornell University. His cover story, “We Are All Confidence Idiots,” appeared in the November/December issue of The Pacific Standard.
• Robert Burton – Neurologist, author, On Being Certain: Believing You Are Right Even When You’re Not and A Skeptic’s Guide to the Mind: What Neuroscience Can and Cannot Tell Us About Ourselves
• Brendan Nyhan – Political scientist, Dartmouth College
• Mario Livio – Astrophysicist, Space Telescope Science Institute, author, Brilliant Blunders: From Darwin to Einstein – Colossal Mistakes by Great Scientists That Changed Our Understanding of Life and the Universe

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

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

Big Picture Science for 07/28/14 - Replace What Ails You

Big Picture Science - Replace What Ails You

Germs can make us sick, but we didn’t know about these puny pathogens prior to the end of the 19th century. Just the suggestion that a tiny bug could spread disease made eyes roll. Then came germ theory, sterilization, and antibiotics. It was a revolution in medicine. Now we’re on the cusp of another one. This time we may cure what ails us by replacing what ails us.

Bioengineers use advancements in stem cell therapy to grow red and white cells for human blood. Meanwhile, a breakthrough in 3D printing: scientists print blood vessels and say that human organs may be next.

Plus, implanting electronic grids to repair neural pathways. Future prosthetics wired to the brain may allow paralyzed limbs to move.

We begin with the story of the scientist who discovered the bacteria that caused tuberculosis, and the famous author who revealed that his cure for TB was a sham.

Guests:

• Thomas Goetz – Author of The Remedy: Robert Koch, Arthur Conan Doyle, and the Quest to Cure Tuberculosis
• Jose Carmena – Neuroscientist and biomedical engineer at the University of California, Berkeley; co-director of the Berkeley-UCSF Center for Neural Engineering and Prostheses
• William Murphy -Bioengineer and co-director of the Stem Cell and Regenerative Medicine Center, University of Wisconsin, Madison
• Ali Khademhosseini – Bioengineer, Harvard Medical School, Brigham and Woman’s Hospital

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

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

Big Picture Science for 07/14/14 - Skeptic Check: About Face

Big Picture Science - Skeptic Check: About Face

ENCORE: Face it – humans are pattern-seeking animals. We identify eyes, nose and mouth where there are none. Martian rock takes on a visage and the silhouette of Elvis appears in our burrito. Discover the roots of our face-tracking tendency – pareidolia – and why it sometimes leads us astray.

Plus, why some brains can’t recognize faces at all … how computer programs exhibit their own pareidolia … and why it’s so difficult to replicate human vision in a machine

Guests:

• Phil Plait – Astronomer, Skeptic, and author of Slate Magazine’s blog Bad Astronomy
• Josef Parvizi – Associate professor, Stanford University, and clinical neurologist and epilepsy specialist at Stanford Medical Center
• Nancy Kanwisher – Cognitive neuroscientist, at the McGovern Institute for Brain Research at MIT
• Greg Borenstein – Artist, creative technologist who teaches at New York University
• Pietro Perona – Professor of electrical engineering, computation and neural systems, California Institute of Technology

This encore podcast was first released on February 25, 2013

Permalink: http://radio.seti.org/episodes/Skeptic_Check_About_Face
You can listen to this and other episodes at http://radio.seti.org/, and be sure to check out Blog Picture Science, the companion blog to the radio show.

Big Picture Science for 04/21/14 - Happily Confused

Big Picture Science - Happily Confused

Do you feel happy today? How about happily disgusted? Maybe sadly surprised, or sadly disgusted? Human emotions are complex. But at least they’re the common language that unites us all – except when they don’t. A tribe in Namibia might interpret our expression of fear as one of wonderment. And people with autism don’t feel the emotions that others do.

So if you’re now delightfully but curiously perplexed, tune in and discover the evolutionary reason for laughter … how a computer can diagnose emotional disorders that doctors miss … and why the world’s most famous autistic animal behaviorist has insight into the emotional needs of cattle.

Guests:

• Scott Weems – Cognitive scientist, author of Ha!: The Science of When We Laugh and Why
• Brian Malow – Science comedian
• Aleix Martinez – Cognitive neuroscientist at The Ohio State University
• Maria Gendron – Post-doctoral researcher at Northeastern University
• Temple Grandin – Professor of animal science, Colorado State University, author of
  Animals Make Us Human: Creating the Best Life for Animals

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

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

Big Picture Science for 12/23/13 - Group Think

Big Picture Science - Group Think

ENCORE: If two is company and three a crowd, what’s the ideal number to write a play or invent a new operating system? Some say you need groups to be creative. Others disagree: breakthroughs come only in solitude.

Hear both sides, and find out why you always have company even when alone: meet the “parliament of selves” that drive your brain’s decision-making.

Plus, how ideas of societies lead them to thrive or fall, and why educated conservatives have lost trust in science.

Guests:

• Susan Cain – Author of Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World That Can’t Stop Talking
• Keith Sawyer – Psychologist at Washington University in St. Louis and author of Group Genius: The Creative Power of Collaboration
• David Eagleman – Neuroscientist, Baylor College of Medicine and author of Incognito: The Secret Lives of the Brain
• Gordon Gauchat – Sociologist, University North Carolina, Chapel Hill
• Joseph Tainter – Professor, Environment & Society Department, Utah State University and author of The Collapse of Complex Societies

This encore podcast was first released on April 30, 2012

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

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

Big Picture Science for 04/15/13 - Skeptic Check: Forget with the Program

Big Picture Science - Skeptic Check: Forget with the Program

ENCORE Just remember this: memory is like Swiss cheese. Even our recollection of dramatic events that seem to sear their images directly onto our brain turn out to be riddled with errors. Discover the reliability of these emotional “flashbulb” memories.

Also, a judge questions the utility of eyewitness testimony in court. And, don’t blame Google for destroying your powers of recall! Socrates thought the same thing about the written word.

Plus, Brains on Vacation!

Guests:

• Phil Plait – Keeper of Discover Magazine’s badastronomy blog
• Craig Stark – Neurobiologist, Director for the Center for the Neurobiology of Learning and Memory at Univeristy of California, Irvine
• Ronald Reinstein – Former judge on the Superior Court of Arizona and judicial consultant for the Arizona Supreme Court
• Betsy Sparrow – Psychologist, Columbia University

This encore podcast was first released: May 7, 2012

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

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

Big Picture Science for 02/25/13 - Skeptic Check: About Face

Big Picture Science - Skeptic Check: About Face

Face it – humans are pattern-seeking animals. We identify eyes, nose and mouth where there are none. Martian rock takes on a visage and the silhouette of Elvis appears in our burrito. Discover the roots of our face-tracking tendency – pareidolia – and why it sometimes leads us astray.

Plus, why some brains can’t recognize faces at all … how computer programs exhibit their own pareidolia … and why it’s so difficult to replicate human vision in a machine

Guests:

• Phil Plait – Astronomer, Skeptic, and author of Slate Magazine’s blog Bad Astronomy
• Josef Parvisi – Associate professor, Stanford University, and clinical neurologist and epilepsy specialist at Stanford Medical Center
• Nancy Kanwisher – Cognitive neuroscientist, at the McGovern Institute for Brain Research at MIT
• Greg Borenstein – Artist, creative technologist who teaches at New York University
• Pietro Perona – Professor of electrical engineering, computation and neural systems, California Institute of Technology

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

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

Big Picture Science for 09/10/12 - Oh, Rats!

Big Picture Science - Oh, Rats!

Before you chase it with a broom, consider this – without the rat, we might miss critical insights into the nature of stress, cancer … and even love. These furry, red-eyed rodents have a unique role in medical research – and a ubiquitous companion to our urban lives.

Discover the origins of the albino laboratory rat … what rat laughter sounds like, and why these four-legged fur balls don’t fall victim to the pressure of the rat race … but we do.

Guests:

• Kelly Lambert – Behavioral Neuroscientist, Randolph-Macon College, Ashland, Virginia, author of The Lab Rat Chronicles: A Neuroscientist Reveals Life Lessons from the Planet’s Most Successful Mammals
• Michael Gould – Professor of Oncology and Medical Physics, University of Wisconsin, Madison
• Jaak Pankseep – Neuroscientist, Veterinary College, Washington State University, author of The Archaeology of Mind: Neuroevolutionary Origins of Human Emotions (Norton Series on Interpersonal Neurobiology)
• Pico Iyer – Writer, author of The Man Within My Head and the New York Times article The Joy of Quiet

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

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

Big Picture Science for 08/27/12 - Skeptic Check: Monsters, Magic, and Music

Big Picture Science - Skeptic Check: Monsters, Magic, and Music

ENCORE: If Bigfoot walks through a forest and no one sees him, does he exist? It’s the job of paranormal investigator Joe Nickell to find out! Discover whether eyewitness accounts are reliable when it comes to tracking down the hirsute big guy and other monsters.

Also, on the subject of “seeing is believing”: how magic fools the brain.

Plus, in our potpourri show: can music boost brain power? A new study says listening to music makes brains happy. Does this support the dubious “Mozart Effect,” that claims listening to Wolfie’s compositions boosts IQ?

And, skeptic Phil Plait on why the so-called “super moon theory” doesn’t predict devastating earthquakes.

It’s Skeptic Check… but don’t take our word for it.

Guests:

• Joe Nickell – Paranormal investigator and author of Tracking the Man-beasts: Sasquatch, Vampires, Zombies, and More
• Stephen Macknik – Director of the Laboratory of Behavioral Neurophysiology at the Barrow Neurological Institute in Phoenix, Arizona
• Susana Martinez-Conde – Director of the Laboratory of Visual Neuroscience at the Barrow Neurological Institute in Phoenix, Arizona
• Phil Plait – Astronomer, and author of the Bad Astronomy blog at Discover Magazine
  
• Valorie Salimpoor – Researcher at Montreal Neurological Institute, McGill University, Quebec, Canada
• Penny Glass – Developmental psychologist and associate professor of pediatrics at the George Washington University School of Medicine

First aired March 21, 2011

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

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

Big Picture Science for 06/25/12 - Seth's Storm Shelter

Big Picture Science - Seth's Storm Shelter

Expect the unexpected when we go digging in Seth’s storm shelter – who knows what we’ll find! In this cramped never-never land, tucked between piles of dehydrated food packets and old civil defense helmets, we stumble (but don’t step) upon marauding ants … a mission to Pluto…. “evidence” of a spaceship crash … the Apollo astronaut who shot the “Earth Rise” photograph … and Jonah Lehrer meditating on creativity.

Tune in, find out and, help move this box of canned soup, will you?

Guests:

• Mark Moffett – Entomologist, research associate at the Smithsonian Institution, author of Adventures among Ants: A Global Safari with a Cast of Trillions
• John Spencer – Planetary scientist at the Southwest Research Institute in Boulder, Colorado, and member of the New Horizons science team
• Joe Nickell – Paranormal investigator, Senior Research Fellow, Skeptical Inquirer Magazine
• William Anders – Astronaut on Apollo 8, and photographer of “Earth Rise”
• Jonah Lehrer – Author of Imagine: How Creativity Works

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

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

Big Picture Science for 05/14/12 - That's So Random!

Big Picture Science - That's So Random!

ENCORE Random is as random does… makes sense doesn’t even that anyway in tune hear to randomness how lives rules.

Brain chaos the drives, restoration role of help insight ecology may into randomness the, numbers sense of make statistics can’t why we or, ants not seem of erratic behavior why the may but is.

Guests:

• Leonard Mlodinow – Theoretical physicist and author of The Drunkard’s Walk: How Randomness Rules Our Lives (Vintage)
• Jon Chase – Biologist and director of the Tyson Research center at Washington University in St. Louis
• Lori Marino – Evolutionary biologist, Emory University
• Deborah Gordon – Biologist, Stanford University
• John Beggs – Physicist, Indiana University at Bloomington

First released January 10, 2011

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

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

Big Picture Science for 05/07/12 - Skeptic Check: Forget with the Program

Big Picture Science - Skeptic Check: Forget with the Program

Just remember this: memory is like Swiss cheese. Even our recollection of dramatic events that seem to sear their images directly onto our brain turn out to be riddled with errors. Discover the reliability of these emotional “flashbulb” memories.

Also, a judge questions the utility of eyewitness testimony in court. And, don’t blame Google for destroying your powers of recall! Socrates thought the same thing about the written word.

Plus, Brains on Vacation!

Guests:

• Phil Plait – Keeper of Discover Magazine’s badastronomy blog
• Craig Stark – Neurobiologist, Director for the Center for the Neurobiology of Learning and Memory at Univeristy of California, Irvine
• Ronald Reinstein – Former judge on the Superior Court of Arizona and judicial consultant for the Arizona Supreme Court
• Betsy Sparrow – Psychologist, Columbia University

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

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

Big Picture Science for 04/30/12 - Group Think

Big Picture Science - Group Think

If two is company and three a crowd, what’s the ideal number to write a play or invent a new operating system? Some say you need groups to be creative. Others disagree: breakthroughs come only in solitude.

Hear both sides, and find out why you always have company even when alone: meet the “parliament of selves” that drive your brain’s decision-making.

Plus, how ideas of societies lead them to thrive or fall, and why educated conservatives have lost trust in science.

Guests:

• Susan Cain – Author of Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World That Can’t Stop Talking
• Keith Sawyer – Psychologist at Washington University in St. Louis and author of Group Genius: The Creative Power of Collaboration
• David Eagleman – Neuroscientist, Baylor College of Medicine and author of Incognito: The Secret Lives of the Brain
• Gordon Gauchat – Sociologist, University North Carolina, Chapel Hill
• Joseph Tainter – Professor, Environment & Society Department, Utah State University and author of The Collapse of Complex Societies

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

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

Big Picture Science for 04/09/12 - Second That Emotion

Big Picture Science - Second That Emotion

So you weep at sappy commercials and give drivers the bird. Have no regrets: emotion is what makes us human! Discover the survival value in feeling disgust … why humans are terrible liars … and how despair fuels creativity.

Also, mis-firing emotions and the emotional consequences of facial paralysis. And why E.T. will need to feel fear and joy to survive.

Guests:

• Rachel Herz – Psychologist, author of That’s Disgusting: Unraveling the Mysteries of Repulsion
• Paul Ekman – Psychologist, professor emeritis, University of California, San Francisco
• Kathleen Bogart – Psychologist, Tufts University
• Gordy Slack – Science writer
• Jonah Lehrer – Author of Imagine: How Creativity Works

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

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

Big Picture Science for 03/26/12 - Found in Space

Big Picture Science - Found in Space

ENCORE If someone asks where you get off, you can now respond with precision. Satellites and computers spit out coordinates accurate to a few paces. And digital maps stand the Copernican principle on its head – putting you at the center of everything (how does it feel?).

Find out how today’s maps are shuffling our world view. Also, how does a rat navigate a maze without GPS? Hear of the plotting that goes on in that tiny rodent brain.

Plus, mapping the universe and pinpointing just where we are in cosmic time – lucky for us, human evolution is right on schedule.

Guests:

• Josh Winn – Astronomer, MIT
• David Redish – Neuroscientist, University of Minnesota
• Mario Livio – Astrophysicist, Space Telescope Science Institute and author of Is God a Mathematician?
• Mike Goodchild – Professor of Geography, Center for Spatial Studies, University of California, Santa Barbara

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

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

Are We Alone for 05/09/11 - Thanks for the Memories

Are We Alone - Thanks for the Memories

ENCORE Memories are slippery things – some are crystal clear, others more like a muddy pool, and some… well, they seem to vanish completely.

Scientists admit that memory is all very complicated, but one piece of the puzzle lies in how we age – we’ll hear the latest research.

Meanwhile, meet the man who digitally logged his every waking moment – and why maybe the secret to happiness isn’t in remembering but in forgetting.

Plus, the case for deleting data from your hard-drive… and from your brain itself.

Guests:

• Adam Gazzaley – Director of the Neuroscience Imaging Center at University of California, San Francisco
• Gordon Bell – Principal researcher at Microsoft Research
• Jim Gemmell – Senior researcher at Microsoft Research
• James McGaugh – Neurobiologist at the University of California, Irvine
• Viktor Mayer-Schönberger – Director of the Information and Innovation Policy Research Center at the National University of Singapore’s Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy, and the author of Delete: The Virtue of Forgetting in the Digital Age
• Todd Sacktor – Neurologist, SUNY Downstate Medical Center

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

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 03/21/11 - Skeptic Check: Monsters, Magic, and Music

Are We Alone - Skeptic Check: Monsters, Magic, and Music

If Bigfoot walks through a forest and no one sees him, does he exist? It’s the job of paranormal investigator Joe Nickell to find out! Discover whether eyewitness accounts are reliable when it comes to tracking down the hirsute big guy and other monsters.

Also, on the subject of “seeing is believing”: how magic fools the brain.

Plus, in our potpourri show: can music boost brain power? A new study says listening to music makes brains happy. Does this support the dubious “Mozart Effect,” that claims listening to Wolfie’s compositions boosts IQ?

And, skeptic Phil Plait on why the so-called “super moon theory” doesn’t predict devastating earthquakes.

It’s Skeptic Check… but don’t take our word for it.

Guests:

• Joe Nickell – Paranormal investigator and author of Tracking the Man-beasts: Sasquatch, Vampires, Zombies, and More
• Stephen Macknik – Director of the Laboratory of Behavioral Neurophysiology at the Barrow Neurological Institute in Phoenix, Arizona
• Susana Martinez-Conde – Director of the Laboratory of Visual Neuroscience at the Barrow Neurological Institute in Phoenix, Arizona
• Phil Plait – Astronomer, and author of the Bad Astronomy blog at Discover Magazine
  
• Valorie Salimpoor – Researcher at Montreal Neurological Institute, McGill University, Quebec, Canada
• Penny Glass – Developmental psychologist and associate professor of pediatrics at the George Washington University School of Medicine

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

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 02/28/11 - Skeptic Check: Diluted Thinking?

Are We Alone - Skeptic Check: Diluted Thinking?

The weaker the mixture, the stronger the potency. That paradox is a central tenet of homeopathy. More than 200 years old and developed long before germ theory, the practice is the fastest growing form of alternative medicine worldwide.

Proponents say its diluted remedies cure disease. Most scientists maintain there’s nothing in homeopathic solution but water. We’ll hear the arguments, and also the role placebos might be playing in the cure.

Plus, skeptic Phil Plait voyages to the edge of the solar system where a new planet has been discovered … maybe!

And, consider our brains: the product of millions of years of evolution. So why aren’t we more consistent in our reasoning?

It’s Skeptic Check…. but don’t take our word for it.

Guests:

• Iris Bell – Psychiatrist and researcher in alternative medicine at the Arizona Center for Integrative Medicine
• Simon Singh – Science writer based in the U.K., author of Trick or Treatment: The Undeniable Facts about Alternative Medicine
• Phil Plait – Astronomer, skeptic, and keeper of the web site badastronomy.com
• Jim Underdown – Executive Director, Center for Inquiry, Los Angeles
• Gordy Slack – Science writer and keeper of the neuroscience web site, "Brainstorm”
• Robert Kurzban – Associate professor of psychology at the University of Pennsylvania and author of Why Everyone (Else) Is a Hypocrite: Evolution and the Modular Mind

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

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 01/10/11 - That's So Random!

Are We Alone - That's So Random!

Random is as random does… makes sense doesn’t even that anyway in tune hear to randomness how lives rules.

Brain chaos the drives, restoration role of help insight ecology may into randomness the, numbers sense of make statistics can’t why we or, ants not seem of erratic behavior why the may but is.

Guests:

• Leonard Mlodinow – Theoretical physicist and author of The Drunkard’s Walk: How Randomness Rules Our Lives (Vintage)
• Jon Chase – Biologist and director of the Tyson Research center at Washington University in St. Louis
• Lori Marino – Evolutionary biologist, Emory University
• Deborah Gordon – Biologist, Stanford University
• John Beggs – Physicist, Indiana University at Bloomington

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

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.