Big Picture Science for Monday 23 February 2015 - Surviving the Anthropocene

Big Picture Science - Surviving the Anthropocene

The world is hot, and getting hotter. But higher temperatures aren’t the only impact our species is having on mother Earth. Urbanization, deforestation, and dumping millions of tons of plastic into the oceans … these are all ways in which humans are leaving their mark.

So are we still in the Holocene, the geological epoch that started a mere 11,000 years ago at the end of the last ice age? Some say we’ve moved on to the age of man – the Anthropocene.

It’s the dawn of an era, but can we survive this new phase in the history of our planet?

Guests:

• Pat Porter – Relative
• Jonathan Amos – Science writer for the BBC in London
• Gaia Vince – Writer, broadcaster, former editor for New Scientist, news editor of Nature, and author of Adventures in the Anthropocene: A Journey to the Heart of the Planet We Made
• David Grinspoon – Astrobiologist, senior scientist at the Planetary Science Institute in Tucson, Arizona
• Francisco Valero – Emeritus physicist and research scientist at the Scripps Institution of Oceanography at the University of California, San Diego

Permalink: http://radio.seti.org/episodes/Surviving_the_Anthropocene
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 22 December 2014 - Science Fiction True

Big Picture Science - Science Fiction True

Don’t believe everything you see on TV or the movies. Science fiction is just a guide to how our future might unfold. It can be misleading, as anyone who yearns for a flying car can tell you. And yet, sometimes fantasy becomes fact. Think of the prototype cellphones in Star Trek.

We take a look at science that seems inspired by filmic sci-fi, for example scientists manipulating memory as in Sunshine of the Spotless Mind. And despite his famous film meltdown, Charleton Heston hasn’t stopped the Soylent company from producing what it calls the food of the future.

Plus, why eco-disaster films have the science wrong, but not in the way you might think. And, what if our brains are simply wired to accept film as fact?

Guests:

• Steve Ramirez -Neuroscientist, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
• Rob Rhinehart – CEO and founder of Soylent
• Jason Mark – Editor of Earth Island Journal
• Jeffrey Zacks – Cognitive Neuroscientist, Washington University, St. Louis, and author of Flicker: Your Brain on Movies

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

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 12/16/13 - Some Like It Cold

Big Picture Science - Some Like It Cold

We all may prefer the goldilocks zone – not too hot, not too cold. But most of the universe is bitterly cold. We can learn a lot about it if we’re willing to brave a temperature drop.

A chilly Arctic island is the closest thing to Mars-on-Earth for scientists who want to go to the Red Planet. Meanwhile, the ice sheet at the South Pole is ideal for catching neutrinos – ghostly particles that may reveal secrets about the nature of the universe.

Comet ISON is comet ice-off after its passage close to the Sun, but it’s still giving us the word on solar system’s earliest years.

Also, scientists discover the coldest spot on Earth. A champion chill, but positively balmy compared to absolute zero. Why reaching a temperature of absolute zero is impossible, although we’ve gotten very, very close.

Guests:

• Francis Halzen – Physicist, University of Wisconsin-Madison, principal investigator of The IceCube Neutrino Observatory
• Ted Scambos – Glaciologist, lead scientist, National Snow and Ice Data Center, University of Colorado
• Pascal Lee – Planetary scientist, SETI Institute, director, NASA Haughton-Mars Project, and co-founder of the Mars Society. His new book is Mission: Mars
• Andrew Fraknoi – Chair, astronomy department, Foothill College
• Vladan Vuletić – Physicist, Massachusetts Institute of Technology

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

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 11/17/13 - The Heat is On

Big Picture Science - The Heat is On

After the winds and water of Typhoon Haiyan abated, grief and hunger swept though the Philippines, along with the outbreak of disease. Are monster storms the new normal in a warmer world? Some scientists say yes, and if so, climate change is already producing real effects on human life and health.

A hotter planet will serve up casualties from natural disasters, but also higher rates of asthma, allergies and an increase in mosquito-borne diseases. It is, according to one researcher, the greatest challenge of our time, straining health care efforts worldwide. But could a “medical Marshall Plan” save us?

Also, why the conservative estimates from the U.N.‘s climate change group don’t help people prepare for worst-case scenarios. And, a controversial approach to saving our overburdened planet: a serious limit on population growth.

Guests:

• Jeff Masters – Meteorologist, Wunderground
• Linda Marsa – Investigative journalist, contributing editor at Discover, author of Fevered: Why a Hotter Planet Will Hurt Our Health — and how we can save ourselves
• Fred Pearce – Freelance author and journalist, environment consultant for New Scientist. His article, “Has the U.N. Climate Panel Outlived It’s Usefulness?” appeared on the website Yale Environment 360
• Alan Weisman – Author, Countdown: Our Last, Best Hope for a Future on Earth?

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

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 01/14/13 - Whither the Weather?

Big Picture Science - Whither the Weather?

ENCORE: We all talk about the weather. And now scientists are doing something about it: providing more accurate warnings before big storms hit. Discover how smart technology – with an eye on the sky – is taking monster weather events by storm.

Plus, why severe weather events caused by a warming planet may trigger social and economic chaos.

Also, meet the storm chaser who runs toward tornadoes as everyone else flees… and why your cell phone goes haywire when the sun kicks up a storm of its own.

Guests:

• Michael Smith – Meteorologist, founder of WeatherData and author of Warnings: The True Story of How Science Tamed the Weather
• George Kourounis – Explorer and storm chaser
• Jeffrey Scargle – Research astrophysicist in the Astrobiology and Space Science Division at NASA Ames Research Center
• Ken Caldeira – Climate scientist at the Carnegie Institution for Science’s Department of Global Ecology
• Christian Parenti – Contributing editor of The Nation, visiting scholar at the City University of New York, and author of Tropic of Chaos: Climate Change and the New Geography of Violence

This podcast first released September 12, 2011

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

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 12/03/12 - Doomsday Live, Part 2

Big Picture Science - Doomsday Live, Part 2

If there is only one show you hear about the end of the world, let it be this one. Recorded before a live audience at the Computer History Museum on October 27^th, 2012, this two-part special broadcast of Big Picture Science separates fact from fiction in doomsday prediction.

In this second episode: a global viral pandemic … climate change … and the threat of assimilation by super-intelligent machines.

Presented as part of the Bay Area Science Festival.

Find out more about our guests and their work.

Guests:

• Kirsten Gilardi – Wildlife veterinarian at the University of California, Davis. leader of the Gorilla Doctors program, and team leader for the US-AID Emerging Pandemic Threats PREDICT program
• Ken Caldeira – Climate scientist, Carnegie Intuition for Science at Stanford University
• Luke Muehlhauser – Executive Director of the Singularity Institute
• Bradley Voytek – Neuroscience researcher at the University of California, San Francisco

Permalink: http://radio.seti.org/episodes/Doomsday_Live_Part_2

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 11/05/12 - Going Global

Big Picture Science - Going Global

The Internet is not the only globally-uniting phenomenon. Viruses and bacteria can circle the globe as fast as we can, and the effects can be devastating. Discover what it takes for an animal disease to become a human pandemic. Also, was hurricane Sandy a man-made disaster? The future of severe storms and climate change.

Plus, the view of our science from abroad: why Brits have no trouble accepting the theory of evolution but Americans do. And what about a new annex for Silicon Valley – 12 miles out to sea?

Guests:

• Jerry Meehl – Senior scientist, National Center for Atmospheric Research, Boulder, CO
• Alok Jha – Science correspondent, The Guardian
• David Quammen – Science journalist and author, most recently of Spillover: Animal Infections and the Next Human Pandemic
• Max Marty – Co-founder and CEO of Blueseed

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

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 09/03/12 - The Invisible In-Between

Big Picture Science - The Invisible In-Between

To need air is human. Our lungs thank us for each breath we take. But air is more than a transporter of O². It shapes our weather, keeps birds aloft and moves spores from here to there. A cubic foot of air is anything but “empty” (hot dog grease particles, anyone?).

The same goes for space (minus the hot dog grease). It’s a happening place. Discover why interstellar space is more than a whole lot o’ nothing; and what happens when the Voyager spacecraft leaves our solar system. Plus, catch a skydiver in action!

Guests:

• Mako Igarashi – Skydiving instructor, Skydive Hollister, Hollister, CA
• Rhett Allain – Physicist at Southeastern Louisiana University, blogger for Wired.com
• William Bryant Logan – Author of Air: The Restless Shaper of the World
• Robert Wagoner – Emeritus professor of physics, Stanford University
• Alex Filippenko – Astronomer, University of California, Berkeley
• Ed Stone – Physicist at CalTech, former Director of the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, project scientist for the Voyager mission

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

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.

The Summer of 2012--Too Hot to Handle?

Source - NASA Science News for August 3, 2012

Are the heat waves of summer 2012 a sign of climate change, ordinary weather, or some mixture of the two? Earth scientists discuss the possibilities in today's story from Science@NASA.

The full story can be found here: http://science.nasa.gov/science-news/science-at-nasa/2012/03aug_summer2012/

Big Picture Science for 10/03/11 - Skeptic Check, Beast Of

Big Picture Science - Skeptic Check, Beast Of

Zombies, aliens, Bigfoot, oh my!! We’ve covered – or rather uncovered – them all and more on Skeptic Check, our monthly look of critical thinking. And now we’ve collected enough strange encounters to assemble a sordid retrospective of sorts.

Sharpen your brain, it’s Skeptic Check, Beast Of. But don’t take our word for it!

Guests:

• Phil Plait – Skeptic and keeper of Discover Magazine’s blog, badastronomy.com
• Bruce Hood – Cognitive scientist at the University of Bristol in the U.K. and author of The Science of Superstition: How the Developing Brain Creates Supernatural Beliefs
• Susan Jacoby – Author of The Age of American Unreason
• Steve Silberman – Contributing editor, Wired Magazine, author of “The Placebo Problem” in the September 2009 issue
• Mary Pope-Handy – Estate Agent, Silicon Valley and keeper of the website hauntedrealestate.com
• Jim Underdown – Executive Director, Center for Inquiry, West – Los Angeles
• Paul Offit – Pediatrician, Chief of Infectious Diseases at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, and author of Autism’s False Prophets: Bad Science, Risky Medicine, and the Search for a Cure
• Stephen Schneider – Climate scientist, Stanford University
• Brendan Riley – Assistant professor of English, Columbia College, Chicago

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

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.

Big Picture Science for 09/12/11 - Whither the Weather?

Big Picture Science - Whither the Weather?

We all talk about the weather. And now scientists are doing something about it: providing more accurate warnings before big storms hit. Discover how smart technology – with an eye on the sky – is taking monster weather events by storm.

Plus, why severe weather events caused by a warming planet may trigger social and economic chaos.

Also, meet the storm chaser who runs toward tornadoes as everyone else flees… and why your cell phone goes haywire when the sun kicks up a storm of its own.

Guests:

• Michael Smith – Meteorologist, founder of WeatherData and author of Warnings: The True Story of How Science Tamed the Weather
• George Kourounis – Explorer and storm chaser
• Jeffrey Scargle – Research astrophyscisit in the Astrobiology and Space Science Division at NASA Ames Research Center
• Ken Caldeira – Climate scientist at the Carnegie Institution for Science’s Deparment of Global Ecology
• Christian Pareti – Contributing editor of The Nation, visiting scholar at the City Univeristy of New York, and author of Tropic of Chaos: Climate Change and the New Geography of Violence

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

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 02/08/10 - Pave New Worlds

Are We Alone - Pave New Worlds

The extra-solar planet count is more than 400 and rising. Before long we may find an Earth-like planet around another star. If we do, and can visit, what next? Stake out our claim on an alien world or tread lightly and preserve it?

We’ll look at what our record on Earth says about our planet stewardship. Also, whether a massive technological fix can get us out of our climate mess. Plus, what we can learn about extreme climate from our neighbors in the solar system, Venus and Mars.

Guests:

• Ken Caldeira – Climate scientist from the Carnegie Institution’s Department of Global Ecology at Stanford University
• Keith Cowing – Biologist, and editor of NASAwatch.com
• Kathryn Denning – Anthropologist at York University in Canada
• Gary Davis – Director of the Joint Astronomy Center in Hilo, Hawaii
• David Grinspoon – Curator of the Denver Museum of Science and Nature

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.

"Climate One Stop" Web Site Unveiled in Copenhagen

Source - NASA Science News for December 11, 2009

This week, researchers attending the United Nations Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen unveiled a unique web site that gathers and organizes climate data for decision makers, professional scientists and lay people.

FULL STORY at

http://science.nasa.gov/headlines/y2009/11dec_climateonestop.htm?list894285

Check out our RSS feed at http://science.nasa.gov/rss.xml

Here is the URL for the "Climate 1 Stop" site ~ Jim: http://arcserver4.iagt.org/climate1stop/

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.