Big Picture Science for Aug 03, 2026: Skeptic Check: The Body Electric

Big Picture Science: Skeptic Check: The Body Electric

REPEAT
Electricity plays an important role in our everyday lives, including allowing our bodies to communicate internally. But some research claims electricity may be used to diagnose and treat disease? Could electric pulses one day replace medications?

We speak with experts about the growing field of bioelectric medicine and the evidence for electricity’s healing abilities. Their comments may shock you.

Guests:

• Sally Adee – Science journalist, author of “We Are Electric: Inside the 200-Year Hunt for Our Body’s Bioelectric Code, and What the Future Holds"
• Samantha Payne – Assistant Professor of Biomedical Sciences at University of Guelph
• Kevin Tracey  – Neurosurgeon and President of the Feinstein Institute at Northwell Health

Originally aired June 5, 2023

Download podcast at - https://bigpicturescience.org/episodes/skeptic-check-the-body-electric

You can listen to this and other episodes at http://bigpicturescience.org/

Get early access to ad-free versions of every episode by joining us on Patreon. Thanks for your support!

Big Picture Science for July 17, 2023 - Fantastic-er Voyage

Big Picture Science - Fantastic-er Voyage

(REPEAT)
Thinking small can sometimes achieve big things. A new generation of diminutive robots can enter our bodies and deal with medical problems such as intestinal blockages. But do we really want them swimming inside us, even if they’re promising to help? You might change your mind when you hear what else is cruising through our bloodstream: microplastics!

We take a trip into the human body, beginning with the story of those who first dared to open it up for medical purposes. But were the first surgeons really cavemen?

Guests:

• Ira Rutkow – Surgeon and writer, and author of “Empire of the Scalpel: The History of Surgery”
• Dick Vethaak – Emeritus professor of ecotoxicology, water quality and health at the Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam (Free University, Amsterdam) in The Netherlands
• Li Zhang – Professor in the Department of Mechanical and Automation Engineering, The Chinese University of Hong Kong
• Michael LaBarbera – Professor in organismal biology, anatomy and geophysical sciences, University of Chicago

This repeat podcast originally aired on June 20th, 2022

Download podcast at - https://bigpicturescience.org/episodes/fantastic-er-voyage

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

Get early access to ad-free versions of every episode by joining us on Patreon. Thanks for your support!

Big Picture Science for Monday 11 May 2015 - A Fundy Thing Happened

Big Picture Science - A Fundy Thing Happened

Get ready for déjà vu as you listen to some of our favorite interviews from the past year. It’s our annual fundraising podcast. Come for the great interviews, stay for the great interviews. Lend us your support along the way.

What’s for dinner? Maybe Soylent. Made by … people! We do a taste test. Then meet your gut microbes. They control your health and even your mood.

Get tips on how to talk to aliens, why you should keep an eye on government surveillance, and the future of 3D printing human tissue. Also, why extraordinary beliefs persist – including Holocaust denial – despite the persistence of evidence to the contrary.

And, global perspective: why Ebola won’t be the next big pandemic but sea level rise could wipe out coasts along Florida and Thailand.

Plus, we imagine life hundreds of years ago for the renegades on the rough seas, and what the world would be like had the dinosaurs not gone extinct.

All this and more on a special Big Picture Science podcast!

Guests:

• Bill Miller – Physician and author of The Microcosm Within: Evolution and Extinction in the Hologenome
• Rob Rhinehart – CEO and founder of Soylent
• Brian Fagan – Emeritus professor of anthropology, University of California, Santa Barbara, author of The Attacking Ocean: The Past, Present, and Future of Rising Sea Levels
• David Quammen – Science journalist, contributing writer for National Geographic Magazine, author of Spillover: Animal Infections and the Next Human Pandemic. His Op Ed article about Ebola appeared in the New York Times.
• Shari Wells-Jensen – Professor of English, Bowling Green State University
• Susan Landau – Mathematician and engineer who works on cybersecurity, privacy and public policy at the Worchester Polytechnic Institute, author most recently of Surveillance or Security?: The Risks Posed by New Wiretapping Technologies
• Will Storr – Journalist, author of The Unpersuadables: Adventures with the Enemies of Science
• Ali Khademhosseini – Bioengineer, Harvard Medical School, Brigham and Woman’s Hospital

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

Big Picture Science for Monday 06 April 2015 - Raising the Minimum Age

Big Picture Science - Raising the Minimum Age

We all try to fight it: the inexorable march of time. The fountain of youth doesn’t exist, and all those wrinkle creams can’t help. But modern science is giving us new weapons in the fight against aging. So how far are we willing to go?

Hear when aging begins, a summary of the latest biotech research, and how a lab full of youthful worms might help humans stay healthy.

Also, a geneticist who takes a radical approach: collect the DNA that codes for longevity and restructure our genome. He finds inspiration – and perhaps genes as well – in the bi-centenarian bowhead whale.

But what if age really is mind over matter? A psychologist’s extraordinary thought experiment with septuagenarian men turns back the clock 20 years. Will it work on diseases such as cancer as well?

Guests:

• Gordon Lithgow – Geneticist, Buck Institute for Research on Aging, Novato, California
• Manish Chamoli – Post-doctoral researcher, Buck Institute for Research on Aging
• George Church – Professor of Genetics, Harvard Medical School, author of Regenesis: How Synthetic Biology Will Reinvent Nature and Ourselves
• Ellen Langer – Professor of Psychology, Harvard University and author of Counterclockwise: Mindful Health and the Power of Possibility

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

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 30 March 2015 - Hidden History

Big Picture Science - Hidden History

Archeologists continue to hunt for the city of Atlantis, even though it may never have existed. But, what if it did? Its discovery would change ancient history. Sometimes when we dig around in the past, we can change our understanding of how we got to where we are.

We thought we had wrapped up the death of the dinosaurs: blame it on an asteroid. But evidence unearthed in Antarctica and elsewhere suggests the rock from space wasn’t the sole culprit.

Also, digging into our genetic past can turn up surprising – and sometimes uncomfortable truths – from ancestral origins to genes that code for disease. But do we always want to know?

Guests:

• Mark Adams – author, Meet Me in Atlantis: My Obsessive Quest to Find the Sunken City
• David Morrison – Senior scientist, NASA Ames Research Center
• Peter Ward – Paleontologist, University of Washington, author of A New History of Life: The Radical New Discoveries about the Origins and Evolution of Life on Earth
• Christine Kenneally – Journalist and author of The Invisible History of the Human Race: How DNA and History Shape Our Identities and Our Futures

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

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 16 March 2015 - Microbes: Resistance is Futile

Big Picture Science - Microbes: Resistance is Futile

You are what you eat. Whether you dine on kimchi, carnitas, or corn dogs determines which microbes live in your stomach. And gut microbes make up only part of your total microbiome.

Find out how your microbes are the brains-without-brains that affect your health and even your mood. Also, why you and your cohorts are closer than you thought: new research suggests that you swap and adopt bugs from your social set.

Plus, the philosophical questions that are arise when we realize that we have more microbial DNA than human DNA.

And a woman who skipped soap and shampoo for a month to see what would grow on her.

Guests:

• Bill Miller – Physician and author of The Microcosm Within: Evolution and Extinction in the Hologenome
• Beth Archie – Biologist at the University of Notre Dame
• Nada Gligorov – Assistant professor of medical education at Mount Sinai Hospital
• Julia Scott – Freelance reporter working in San Francisco. Her article, “A Wash on the Wild Side” appeared in the May 22, 2014 issue of the New York Times Magazine.

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

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 March 2015 - Skeptic Check: The Me in Measles

Big Picture Science - Skeptic Check: The Me in Measles

Wondering whether to vaccinate your children? The decision can feel like a shot in the dark if you don’t know how to evaluate risk. Find out why all of us succumb to the reasoning pitfalls of cognitive and omission bias, whether we’re saying no to vaccines or getting a tan on the beach.

Plus, an infectious disease expert on why it may take a dangerous resurgence of preventable diseases – measles, whooping cough, polio – to remind us that vaccines save lives.

Also, a quaint but real vaccine fear: that the 18th century smallpox vaccine, made from cowpox, could turn you into a cow!

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

Guests:

• Paul Offit – Infectious disease specialist at the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia
• Neil deGrasse Tyson – Astrophysicist, director of the Hayden Planetarium in New York City
• Adam Korbitz – Lawyer specializing in space law
• Andrew Maynard – Professor of environmental health science, director, Risk Science Center, University of Michigan

Permalink: http://radio.seti.org/episodes/Skeptic_Check_The_Me_in_Measles
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 12/30/13 - Animal Instinct

Big Picture Science - Animal Instinct

ENCORE: Mooooove over, make way for the cows, the chickens … and other animals! Humans can learn a lot from our hairy, feathered, four-legged friends. We may wear suits and play Sudoku, but Homo sapiens are primates just the same. We’ve met the animal, and it is us.

Discover the surprising similarity between our diseases and those that afflict other animals, including pigs that develop eating disorders. Plus, what the octopus can teach us about national security … how monkeying around evolved into human speech … and the origins of moral behavior in humans.

Guests:

• Rafe Sagarin – Marine ecologist, Institute of the Environment, University of Arizona, author of Learning From the Octopus: How Secrets from Nature Can Help Us Fight Terrorist Attacks, Natural Disasters, and Disease
• Barbara Natterson-Horowitz – Professor of cardiology, David Geffen School of Medicine, UCLA, and co-author of Zoobiquity: What Animals Can Teach Us About Health and the Science of Healing
• Kathryn Bowers – Writer, co-author of Zoobiquity: What Animals Can Teach Us About Health and the Science of Healing
• Asif Ghazanfar – Neuroscientist, psychologist, Princeton University
• Christopher Boehm – Biological and cultural anthropologist at the University of Southern California, director of the Jane Goodall Research Center, author of Moral Origins: The Evolution of Virtue, Altruism, and Shame

This encore podcast was first released on July 9, 2012

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

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 09/24/12 - Big Data

Big Picture Science - Big Data

It’s all in the numbers. The trick is, finding what you’re looking for. But that’s the name of the game with big data. We have a giga-gigabyte of information, and combing through it will lead to new cures for disease, new discoveries about the cosmos, or clues to our social and economic behavior.

But is big data Big Brother? You leave a little bit of yourself behind with each mouse click. Discover how surveillance and privacy issues bubble out of the mix, as the terabytes keep flowing in.

Plus one man’s quest to know himself through the numbers as he records everything – and we do mean everything – about his body.

Guests:

• Atul Butte – Associate professor, division chief, systems medicine, Stanford University
• Larry Smarr – Professor of computer science, University of California, San Diego, director of the California Institute for Telecommunications and Information Technology, (Calit2)
• Karen Nelson – Microbiologist, director of the Rockville Campus of the J. Craig Venter Institute
• Gerry Harp – Physicist, and Director of the Center for SETI Research at the SETI Institute
• Deirdre Mulligan – Assistant professor at the University of California, Berkeley School of Information and faculty director of the Berkeley Center of Law and Technology
• Ken Goldberg – Professor of engineering, information and art at the University of California, Berkeley

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

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 07/09/12 - Animal Instinct

Big Picture Science - Animal Instinct

Mooooove over, make way for the cows, the chickens … and other animals! Humans can learn a lot from our hairy, feathered, four-legged friends. We may wear suits and play Sudoku, but Homo sapiens are primates just the same. We’ve met the animal, and it is us.

Discover the surprising similarity between our diseases and those that afflict other animals, including pigs that develop eating disorders. Plus, what the octopus can teach us about national security … how monkeying around evolved into human speech … and the origins of moral behavior in humans.

Guests:

• Rafe Sagarin – Marine ecologist, Institute of the Environment, University of Arizona, author of Learning From the Octopus: How Secrets from Nature Can Help Us Fight Terrorist Attacks, Natural Disasters, and Disease
• Barbara Natterson-Horowitz – Professor of cardiology, David Geffen School of Medicine, UCLA, and co-author of Zoobiquity: What Animals Can Teach Us About Health and the Science of Healing
• Kathryn Bowers – Writer, co-author of Zoobiquity: What Animals Can Teach Us About Health and the Science of Healing
• Asif Ghazanfar – Neuroscientist, psychologist, Princeton University
• Christopher Boehm – Biological and cultural anthropologist at the University of Southern California, director of the Jane Goodall Research Center, author of Moral Origins: The Evolution of Virtue, Altruism, and Shame

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

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 07/02/12 - Nano Nano

Big Picture Science - Nano Nano

ENCORE Think small to solve big problems. That, in a nutshell, is the promise of nanotechnology. In this barely visible world, batteries charge 100 times faster and drugs go straight to their targets in the body. Discover some of these nano breakthroughs and how what you can’t see can help you…

…or hurt you? What if tiny machines turn out to be nothing but trouble? We’ll look at the health and safety risks of nanotech.

Plus, scaling up in science fiction: why a Godzilla-sized insect is fun, but just doesn’t fly.

Guests:

• Bill Flounders – executive director of the Marvell Nanofabrication Laboratory at the University of California at Berkeley
• Joseph DeSimone – professor of chemistry at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and chemical engineering at North Carolina State University
• David Guston – political scientist at Arizona State University where he directs The Center for Nanotechnology in Society
• Stan Williams – Senior Fellow and founding director of the Information and Quantum Systems Lab at Hewlett-Packard
• Michael LaBarbera – Professor in organismal biology, anatomy and geophysical sciences, University of Chicago

First released February 21 2011

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

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 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 02/21/11 - Nano Nano

Are We Alone - Nano Nano

Think small to solve big problems. That, in a nutshell, is the promise of nanotechnology. In this barely visible world, batteries charge 100 times faster and drugs go straight to their targets in the body. Discover some of these nano breakthroughs and how what you can’t see can help you… …or hurt you? What if tiny machines turn out to be nothing but trouble? We’ll look at the health and safety risks of nanotech.

Plus, scaling up in science fiction: why a Godzilla-sized insect is fun, but just doesn’t fly.

Guests:

• Bill Flounders – executive director of the Marvell Nanofabrication Laboratory at the University of California at Berkeley
• Joseph DeSimone – professor of chemistry at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and chemical engineering at North Carolina State University
• David Guston – political scientist at Arizona State University where he directs The Center for Nanotechnology in Society
• Stan Williams – Senior Fellow and founding director of the Information and Quantum Systems Lab at Hewlett-Packard
• Michael LeBarbera – Professor in organismal biology, anatomy and geophysical sciences, University of Chicago

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

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 08/09/10 - Rxs Get Personal

Are We Alone - Rxs Get Personal

ENCORE Medicine’s back.. and this time it’s personal. Get ready to have your genome read… your brain scanned… and undergo a chemical analysis so detailed, it’ll reveal the Twinkie you had for lunch. Everyone’s different, and reading those differences at the level of the gene may provide a more accurate profile of health and how to treat disease. But are you ready to know what’s wrong with you?

Discover the future of personalized medicine with biologist Craig Venter, as well as a man who turned his body over to the new science. Learn what his tests revealed.

Plus, why stem cell research really is a horse race. And, why getting sick is sometimes the best thing.

Guests:

• Craig Venter – Genome scientist
• Frank McCormick – Director of the Helen Diller Comprehensive Cancer Center at the University of California, San Francisco
• David Ewing Duncan – Journalist and author of Experimental Man: What One Man’s Body Reveals about His Future, Your Health, and Our Toxic World
• Sharon Moalem – Neurogeneticist and Evolutionary Biologist at the Mount Sinai School of Medicine and author of Survival of the Sickest
• Sean Owens – Director of the Regenerative Medicine Laboratory at the University of California, Davis
• Julie Burges – Animal Health Technician, Regenerative Medicine Laboratory, University of California, Davis

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

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.

And be sure to check out the Are We Alone iPhone/iPad app: http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/are-we-alone-make-contact/id374968004?mt=8

Are We Alone for 05/03/10 - Robots Call the Shots

Are We Alone - Robots Call the Shots

ENCORE Dr. Robot, I presume? Your appendix may be removed by motor-driven, scalpel-wielding mechanical hands one day. Robots are debuting in the medical field… as well as on battlefields. And they’re increasingly making important decisions – on their own. But can we teach robots right from wrong? Find out why the onslaught of silicon intelligence has prompted a new field of robo-ethics.

Plus, robo-geologists: NASA’s vision for autonomous robots in space.

Guests:

• P.W. Singer - Director of the 21^st Century Defense Initiative at the Brookings Institution, and the author of Wired for War: The Robotics Revolution and Conflict in the 21st Century
• Wendell Wallach - Chair of a technology and ethics working group for Yale University’s Interdisciplinary Center for Bioethics, and the co-author of Moral Machines: Teaching Robots Right from Wrong
• Pablo Garcia - – Principal engineer working on medical robotics at SRI International, Menlo Park, California
• Robert Anderson - Planetary geologist, NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory
• Robyn Asimov - Daughter of author Isaac Asimov

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

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 10/26/09 - Skeptic Check: Mind Your Body

Are We Alone - Skeptic Check: Mind Your Body

Popping a pill may help when you’re sick… but maybe not for the reasons you think. Sugar pills – placebos – cure illness better than prescription pills in as many as half of all cases in clinical trials … and the placebo effect is getting stronger.

Plus, the safety – or otherwise – of electromagnetic waves, and the “electro-sensitive” refugees who have built a camp to protect themselves from waves they say are causing pain. Is it all in their minds?

And, New York Times reporter Dennis Overbye joins Phil Plait on the latest lapse in critically-thinking brains – a wild idea that may not be so loony: namely, could a cosmic censor from the future be thwarting efforts to find the Higgs boson?

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

• Dennis Overbye – Cosmic Affairs Correspondent, New York Times
• Phil Plait – Keeper of the skeptical website badastronomy.com and author of Death from the Skies!: These Are the Ways the World Will End . . .
• Steve Silberman – Contributing editor, Wired Magazine, author of “The Placebo Problem” in the September 2009 issue
• Leeka Kheifets – Epidemiologist, School of Public Health, University of California, Los Angeles

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 07/13/09 - Rxs Get Personal

Are We Alone - Rxs Get Personal
Medicine’s back.. and this time it’s personal. Get ready to have your genome read… your brain scanned… and undergo a chemical analysis so detailed, it’ll reveal the Twinkie you had for lunch. Everyone’s different, and reading those differences at the level of the gene may provide a more accurate profile of health and how to treat disease. But are you ready to know what’s wrong with you?

Discover the future of personalized medicine with biologist Craig Venter, as well as a man who turned his body over to the new science. Learn what his tests revealed.
Plus, why stem cell research really is a horse race. And, why getting sick is sometimes the best thing.

Guests:

• Craig Venter – Genome scientist
• Frank McCormick – Director of the Helen Diller Comprehensive Cancer Center at the University of California, San Francisco
• David Ewing Duncan – Journalist and author of Experimental Man: What One Man’s Body Reveals about His Future, Your Health, and Our Toxic World
• Sharon Moalem – Neurogeneticist and Evolutionary Biologist at the Mount Sinai School of Medicine and author of Survival of the Sickest
• Sean Owens – Director of the Regenerative Medicine Laboratory at the University of California, Davis

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.