Big Picture Science for Monday 06 July 2015 - Dogged Pursuit of Pluto

Big Picture Science - Dogged Pursuit of Pluto

Pluto is ready for its close up – but the near encounter during this historic flyby will last less than three minutes. Be ready for the action with our special New Horizons episode!

Hear from researchers who are Pluto rock stars: the astronomer who discovered two of Pluto’s five moons, the planetary scientist who coined the term “dwarf planet,” and the man who claims to have “killed Pluto.”

Find out how the New Horizons spacecraft will dodge rocks and other dangers as it approaches the planet and what we might learn about planet formation once we arrive. And why the battle over Pluto’s nomenclature continues.

Plus, Neil deGrasse Tyson reads his hate mail – from 3^rd graders.

Guests:

• Neil deGrasse Tyson – Astrophysicist, director of the Hayden Planetarium, New York City
• Alan Stern – Planetary scientist, Principal Investigator, New Horizons mission
• Mark Showalter – Senior research scientist, SETI Institute, New Horizons team member
• Mike Brown – Astronomer, California Institute of Technology

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

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 29 June 2015 - What the Hack

Big Picture Science - What the Hack

ENCORE: A computer virus that bombards you with pop-up ads is one thing. A computer virus that shuts down a city’s electric grid is another. Welcome to the new generation of cybercrime. Discover what it will take to protect our power, communication and transportation systems as scientists try to stay ahead of hackers in an ever-escalating game of cat and mouse.

The expert who helped decipher the centrifuge-destroying Stuxnet virus tells us what he thinks is next. Also convenience vs. vulnerability as we connect to the Internet of Everything. And, the journalist who wrote that Google was “making us stupid,” says automation is extracting an even higher toll: we’re losing basic skills. Such as how to fly airplanes.

Guests:

• Ray Sims – Computer Technician, Computer Courage, Berkeley, California
• Eric Chien – Technical Director of Security Technology and Response, Symantec
• Paul Jacobs – Chairman and CEO of Qualcomm
• Shankar Sastry – Dean of the College of Engineering, University of California, Berkeley, director of TRUST
• Nicholas Carr – Author of The Shallows: What the Internet Is Doing to Our Brains and the forthcoming “The Glass Cage”. His article, “The Great Forgetting,” is in the November 2013 issue of The Atlantic.

This encore podcast was first released on November 11, 2013.

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

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 01 June 2015 - Math’s Days are Numbered

Big Picture Science - Math’s Days are Numbered

ENCORE: Imagine a world without algebra. We can hear the sound of school children applauding. What practical use are parametric equations and polynomials, anyway? Even some scholars argue that algebra is the Latin of today, and should be dropped from the mandatory curriculum.

But why stop there? Maybe we should do away with math classes altogether.

An astronomer says he’d be out of work: we can all forget about understanding the origins of the universe, the cycles of the moon and how to communicate with alien life. Also, no math = no cybersecurity + hackers (who have taken math) will have the upper hand.

Also, without mathematics, you’ll laugh < you do now. The Simpsons creator Matt Groening has peppered his animated show with hidden math jokes.

And why mathematics = love.

Guests:

• Andrew Hacker – Professor of political science and mathematics at Queens College, City University of New York. His article, “Is Algebra Necessary?”, appeared in The New York Times in 2012.
• Bob Berman – Astronomy editor of The Old Farmer’s Almanac, the author of The Sun’s Heartbeat: And Other Stories from the Life of the Star That Powers Our Planet, and columnist for Astronomy Magazine. His article, “How Math Drives the Universe” is the cover story in the December 2013 issue.
• Simon Singh – Science writer, author of The Simpsons and Their Mathematical Secrets
• Rob Manning – Flight system chief engineer at the Jet Propulsion Lab, responsible for NASA’s Curiosity rover
• Edward Frenkel – Professor of mathematics at the University of California, Berkeley, author of Love and Math: The Heart of Hidden Reality. His article, “The Perils of Hacking Math,” is found on the online magazine, Slate.

This encore podcast was first released on December 2, 2013.

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

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 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 18 May 2015 - They Know Who You Are

Big Picture Science - They Know Who You Are

You’re a private person. But as long as you’re on-line and have skin and hair, you’re shedding little bits of data and DNA everywhere you go. Find out how that personal information – whether or not it’s used against you – is no longer solely your own. Are your private thoughts next?

A security expert shares stories of ingenious computer hacking … a forensic scientist develops tools to create a mug shot based on a snippet of DNA … and from the frontiers of neuroscience: mind reading may no longer be the stuff of sketchy psychics.

Guests:

• Marc Goodman – Global security advisor, founder, Future Crimes Institute, author of Future Crimes: Everything Is Connected, Everyone Is Vulnerable and What We Can Do About It
• Susan Walsh – Forensic geneticist, Indiana University – Purdue University in Indianapolis
• Marvin Chun – Psychologist, Yale University

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

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 04 May 2015 - The Evolution of Evolution

Big Picture Science - The Evolution of Evolution

Darwinian evolution is adaptive and slow … millennia can go by before a species changes very much. But with the tools of genetic engineering we can now make radical changes in just one generation. By removing genes or inserting new ones, we can give an organism radically different traits and behaviors. We are taking evolution into our own hands.

It all began with the domestication of plants and animals, which one science writer says created civilization. Today, as humans tinker with their own genome, is it possible we will produce Homo sapiens 2.0?

Also, what happens to those species who can’t control their destiny? How climate change is forcing the biggest genetic reshuffling in recorded history.

Guests:

• Richard Francis – Science writer, author of Domesticated: Evolution in a Man-Made World
• Juan Enriquez – Academic, businessman, author, founding director of the Life Sciences Project, Harvard Business School, managing director, Excel Venture Management, and author of Evolving Ourselves: How Unnatural Selection and Nonrandom Mutation are Changing Life on Earth
• Jessica Hellmann – Biologist, University of Notre Dame

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

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 13 April 2015 - Skeptic Check: Monster Mashup

Big Picture Science - Skeptic Check: Monster Mashup

ENCORE: Monsters don’t exist. Except when they do. And extinction is forever, except when it isn’t. So, which animals are mythical and which are in hiding?

Bigfoot sightings are plentiful, but real evidence for the hirsute creature is a big zilch. Yet, the coelacanth, a predatory fish thought extinct, actually lives. Today, its genome is offering clues as to how and when our fishy ancestors first flopped onto land.

Meanwhile, the ivory-billed woodpecker assumes mythic status as it flutters between existence and extinction. And, from passenger pigeons to the wooly mammoth, hi-tech genetics may imitate Jurassic Park, and bring back vanished animals.

Guests:

• Donald Prothero – Paleontologist, geologist, former professor at Occidental College, co-author of Abominable Science!: Origins of the Yeti, Nessie, and Other Famous Cryptids
• Chris Amemiya – Biologist and geneticist at the University of Washington and the Benaroya Research Institute, Seattle
• John Fitzpatrick – Ornithologist and director, Cornell Lab of Ornithology, Cornell University
• Ben Novak – Visiting biologist at the University of California, Santa Cruz, lead coordinating scientist of “The Great Comeback” at the Revive and Restore project, Long Now Foundation

This encore podcast was first released on December 9, 2013

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

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 09 February 2015 - Skeptic Check: Your Inner Lab Coat

Big Picture Science - Skeptic Check: Your Inner Lab Coat

Sherlock Holmes doesn’t have a science degree, yet he thinks rationally – like a scientist. You can too! Learn the secrets of being irritatingly logical from the most famous sleuth on Baker Street. Plus, discover why animal trackers 100,000 years ago may have been the first scientists, and what we can learn from about deductive reasoning from today’s African trackers.

Also, the author of a book on teaching physics to your dog provides tips for unleashing your inner scientist, even if you hated science in school.

And newly-minted scientists imagine classes they wish were available to them as grad students, such as “You Can’t Save the World 101.”

Guests:

• Louis Liebenberg – Co-founder and Executive Director of Cybertracker Conservation, associate of human evolutionary biology, Harvard University
• Maria Konnikova – Psychologist, journalist and author of Mastermind: How to Think Like Sherlock Holmes. Her weekly blog on psychology is at newyorker.com.
• Chad Orzel – Physicist and astronomer at Union College, and author of How to Teach Physics to Your Dog and Eureka: Discovering Your Inner Scientist
• And newly-minted scientists Michael Kemp, Toni Lyn Morelli, Ilona Kotlewska, and Yonatan Lipsitz

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

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 02 February 2015 - Digging Our Past

Big Picture Science - Digging Our Past

ENCORE: What’s past is prologue. For centuries, researchers have studied buried evidence – bones, teeth, or artifacts – to learn about murky human history, or even to investigate vanished species. But today’s hi-tech forensics allow us to analyze samples dug from the ground faster and at a far more sophisticated level.

First, the discovery of an unknown species of dinosaur that changes our understanding of the bizarre beasts that once roamed North America.

And then some history that’s more recent: two projects that use the tools of modern chemistry and anthropology to deepen our understanding of the slave trade.

Plus, an anthropologist on an evolutionary habit that is strange to some, but nonetheless common all over the world: the urge to eat dirt.

Guests:

• Scott Sampson – Paleontologist at the Denver Museum of Nature and Science and author of Dinosaur Odyssey: Fossil Threads in the Web of Life
• Fatimah Jackson – Biologist, anthropologist, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, director of the Cobb Lab at Howard University, and advisor to EUROTAST
• Joseph Jones – Biological anthropologist, visiting assistant professor at the College of William and Mary, researcher on the African Burial Ground Project
• Sera Young – Research scientist, division of Nutritional Sciences, Cornell University, and author of Craving Earth: Understanding Pica—the Urge to Eat Clay, Starch, Ice, and Chalk

This encore podcast was first released on August 12, 2013

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

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 05 January 2015 - Meet Your Replacements

Big Picture Science - Meet Your Replacements

ENCORE: There’s no one like you. At least, not yet. But in some visions of the future, androids can do just about everything, computers will hook directly into your brain, and genetic human-hybrids with exotic traits will be walking the streets. So could humans become an endangered species?

Be prepared to meet the new-and-improved you. But how much human would actually remain in the humanoids of the future?

Plus, tips for preventing our own extinction in the face of inevitable natural catastrophes.

Guests:

• Robin Hanson – Associate professor of economics, George Mason University
• Luke Muehlhauser – Executive director of the Machine Intelligence Research Institute
• Stuart Newman – Professor of cell biology and anatomy, New York Medical College
• Annalee Newitz – Editor of io9.com, and author of Scatter, Adapt, and Remember: How Humans Will Survive a Mass Extinction

This encore podcast was first released on July 1, 2013

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

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 29 December 2014 - Skeptic Check: Got a Sweet Truth?

Big Picture Science - Skeptic Check: Got a Sweet Truth?

ENCORE: The sweet stuff is getting sour press. Some researchers say sugar is toxic. A new study seems to support that idea: mice fed the human equivalent of an extra three sodas a day become infertile or die. But should cupcakes be regulated like alcohol?

Hear both sides of the debate. Another researcher says that animal studies are misleading, and that for good health, you should count calories, not candy and carbs.

Plus, an investigative reporter exposes the tricks that giant food companies employ to keep you hooked on sugar, salt, and fat.

Also, a listener corrects our pronunciation of Neil Armstrong’s birthplace in the Sounds Abound episode.

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

Guests:

• Robert Lustig – University of California, San Francisco, author of Fat Chance: Beating the Odds Against Sugar, Processed Food, Obesity, and Disease
• James Ruff – Biologist post-doc at The University of Utah
• John Sievenpiper – Knowledge Synthesis Lead of the Toronto 3D Knowledge Synthesis and Clinical Trials Unit, St. Michael’s Hospital, University of Toronto, Canada
• Michael Moss – Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist at The New York Times, and author of Salt Sugar Fat: How the Food Giants Hooked Us

This encore podcast was first released on August 19, 2013

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

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 Monday 08 December 2014 - Living Computers

Big Picture Science - Living Computers

It’s the most dramatic technical development of recent times: Teams of people working for decades to produce a slow-motion revolution we call computing. As these devices become increasingly powerful, we recall that a pioneer from the nineteenth century – Ada Lovelace, a mathematician and Lord Byron’s daughter – said they would never surpass human ability. Was she right?

We consider the near-term future of computing as the Internet of Things is poised to link everything together, and biologists adopt the techniques of information science to program living cells.

Plus: What’s your favorite sci-fi computer?

Guests:

• Walter Isaacson – President and CEO of the Aspen Institute and the author of The Innovators: How a Group of Hackers, Geniuses, and Geeks Created the Digital Revolution
• Christopher Voigt – Bioengineer at MIT
• Andy Ihnatko – Technology journalist
• André Bormanis – Writer, screenwriter, Star Trek
• John Barrett – Electronic engineer, NIMBUS Centre for Embedded Systems Research at the Cork Institute of Technology, Ireland

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

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 01 December 2014 - Long Live Longevity

Big Picture Science - Long Live Longevity

ENCORE: Here’s to a long life – which, on average, is longer today than it was a century ago. How much farther can we extend that ultimate finish line? Scientists are in hot pursuit of the secret to longer life.

The latest in aging studies and why there’s a silver lining for the silver-haired set: older people are happier. Also, what longevity means if you’re a tree. Plus, why civilizations need to stick around if we’re to make contact with E.T.

And, how our perception of time shifts as we age, and other tricks that clocks play on the mind.

Guests:

• Ted Anton – Professor of English, DePaul University, Chicago, author of The Longevity Seekers: Science, Business, and the Fountain of Youth
• Laura Carstensen – Psychologist, Stanford University, director of the Stanford Center on Longevity
• Peter Crane – Botanist, dean of the School of Forestry and Environmental studies, Yale University, and author of Ginkgo: The Tree That Time Forgot
• Frank Drake – Astronomer, SETI Institute
• Claudia Hammond – BBC broadcaster and author of Time Warped: Unlocking the Mysteries of Time Perception

This encore podcast was first released on July 29, 2014

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

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 17 November 2014 - Surfeit of the Vitalest

Big Picture Science - Surfeit of the Vitalest

In the century and a half since Charles Darwin wrote his seminal On the Origin of the Species, our understanding of evolution has changed quite a bit. For one, we have not only identified the inheritance molecule DNA, but have determined its sequence in many animals and planets.

Evolution has evolved, and we take a look at some of the recent developments.

A biologist describes the escalating horn-to-horn and tusk-to-tusk arms race between animals, and a paleoanthropologist explains why the lineage from chimp to human is no longer thought to be a straight line but, instead, a bush. Also, New York Times science writer Carl Zimmer on the diversity of bacteria living on you, and which evolutionary concepts he finds the trickiest to explain to the public.

Guests:

• Douglas Emlen – Biologist, University of Montana and author of Animal Weapons: The Evolution of Battle
• Bernard Wood – Paleoanthropologist, George Washington University
• Carl Zimmer – Columnist for the New York Times

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

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 20 October 2014 - Tale of the Distribution

Big Picture Science - Tale of the Distribution

We all have at least some musical talent. But very few of us can play the piano like Vladimir Horowitz. His talent was rarefied, and at the tail end of the bell curve of musical ability – that tiny sliver of the distribution where you find the true outliers. Outliers also exist with natural events: hurricane Katrina, for example, or the asteroid that wiped out the dinosaurs. Such events are rare, but they often have outsized effects.

In this hour we imagine the unimaginable – including the unexpected events labeled “black swans” – and how we weigh the risk for any of them. Also, how a supervolcano explosion at Yellowstone National Park could obliterate the western U.S. but shouldn’t stop you from putting the park on your vacation itinerary.

Guests:

• Donald Prothero – Paleontologist, geologist, author of many books, among them, Catastrophes!: Earthquakes, Tsunamis, Tornadoes, and Other Earth-Shattering Disasters
• Dawn Balmer – Ornithologist at the British Trust for Ornithology
• Jake Lowenstern – Geologist, USGS, Scientist-in-Charge of the Yellowstone Volcano Observatory
• Hank Heasler – Yellowstone National Park geologist
• Andrew Maynard – Director of the Risk Science Center at the University of Michigan

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

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 13 October 2014 - Who's Controlling Whom?

Big Picture Science - Who's Controlling Whom?

A single ant isn’t very brainy. But a group of ants can do remarkable things. Biological swarm behavior is one model for the next generation of tiny robots. Of course, biology can get hijacked: a fungus can seize control of an ant’s brain, for example. So will humans always remain the boss of super-smart, swarming machines?

We discuss the biology of zombie ants and how to build robots that self-assemble and work together. Also, how to guarantee the moral behavior of future ‘bots.

And, do you crave cupcakes? Research suggests that gut bacteria control what we eat and how we feel.

Guests:

• David Hughes – Biologist, entomologist, Penn State University
• Mike Rubenstein – Roboticist, Self-Organizing Systems Research Group, Harvard University
• Wendell Wallach – Bioethicist, chair, Technology and Ethics Study Group, Yale University’s Interdisciplinary Center for Bioethics
• Athena Aktipis – Cooperation theorist, Arizona State University and director of Human and Social Evolution, Center for Evolution and Cancer, University of California, San Francisco

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

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 06 October 2014 - What's the Difference?

Big Picture Science - What's the Difference?

We make split second decisions about others – someone is male or female, black or white, us or them. But sometimes the degrees of separation are incredibly few. A mere handful of genes determine skin color, for example.

Find out why race is almost non-existent from a biological perspective, and how the snippet of DNA that is the Y chromosome came to separate male from female.

Plus, why we’re wired to categorize. And, a groundbreaking court case proposes to erase the dividing line between species: lawyers argue to grant personhood status to our chimpanzee cousins.

Guests:

• David Page – Biologist and geneticist, at the Whitehead Institute for Biomedical Research and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology
• Stephen Stearns – Evolutionary biologist, Yale University
• John Dovidio – Social psychologist at Yale University
• Steven M. Wise – Lawyer, Nonhuman Rights Project

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

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 September 2014 - As You Were

Big Picture Science - As You Were

ENCORE: We all want to turn back time. But until we build a time machine, we’ll have to rely on a few creative approaches to capturing things as they were – and preserving them for posterity. One is upping memory storage capacity itself. Discover just how much of the past we can cram into our future archives, and whether going digital has made it all vulnerable to erasure.

Plus – scratch it and tear it – then watch this eerily-smart material revert to its undamaged self. And, what was life like pre-digital technology? We can’t remember, but one writer knows; he’s living life circa 1993 (hint: no cell phone).

Also, using stem cells to save the white rhino and other endangered species. And, the arrow of time itself – could it possibly run backwards in another universe?

Guests:

• Michael S. Malone – Professor of professional writing at Santa Clara University and the author of The Guardian of All Things: The Epic Story of Human Memory
• Oliver Ryder – Director of genetics, San Diego Zoo Institute for Conservation Research
• Michael E. Smith – Chemist, Arkema, Inc
• Sean Carroll – Theoretical physicist at the California Institute of Technology, author of The Particle at the End of the Universe: How the Hunt for the Higgs Boson Leads Us to the Edge of a New World
• Pico Iyer – Writer, author of The Man Within My Head and the New York Times article, “The Joy of Quiet”

This encore podcast was first released on October 29, 2012

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

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 15 September 2014 - Skeptic Check: Is It True?

Big Picture Science - Skeptic Check: Is It True?

We often hear fantastic scientific claims that would change everything if true. Such as the report that algae is growing on the outside of the International Space Station or that engineers have built a rocket that requires no propellant to accelerate. We examine news stories that seem too sensational to be valid, yet just might be – including whether a killer asteroid has Earth’s name on it.

Plus, a journalist investigates why people hold on to their beliefs even when the evidence is stacked hard against them – from skepticism about climate change to Holocaust denial. And, why professional skeptics are just as enamored with their beliefs as anyone else.

Guests:

• Lynn Rothschild – Evolutionary biologist and astrobiologist at NASA Ames Research Center
• Will Storr – Journalist, author of The Unpersuadables: Adventures with the Enemies of Science
• Steven Novella – Assistant professor, Yale University School of Medicine, host of the “Skeptic’s Guide to the Universe” podcast
• David Morrison – Director of the Carl Sagan Center for the Study of Life in the Universe, SETI Institute

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