Big Picture Science for June 15, 2026: Skeptic Check: Disclosure Day

Big Picture Science: Skeptic Check: Disclosure Day

The latest Hollywood romp through the world of aliens has landed in theaters. Steven Spielberg’s movie Disclosure Day suggests that our government has been hiding a cache of evidence about alien visitation that spans decades. It’s fun fiction but does it mesh with reality? Officials have made a series of public disclosures containing information about the government’s UAP program over the years, releasing massive amounts of declassified documents along with audio and video files. Will the most recent data dump finally provide evidence that aliens are here? We look at the extended history of public desire to believe in extraterrestrial visitation, plus the scientific efforts to detect intelligent or microbial life on other worlds.

Guests:

• Adam Kirsch – Senior editor at The Atlantic, and author of, “We Want to Believe: How Aliens Went Mainstream and Why It Matters”
• Sarah Rugheimer – Astrophysicist at the University of Edinburgh and author of “Searching for Extraterrestrial Life”

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Big Picture Science for June 08, 2026: Vroom!

Big Picture Science: Vroom!

REPEAT
Self-driving cars, once a thing of science fiction, have become a reality in a handful of cities across the country. As our vehicles gain autonomy, they may provoke a profound shift not unlike the introduction of the first car in the late1800s and raise the question of whether the human driver will soon be obsolete. For a glimpse into the future of self-driving cars, we take a spin through the history of the automobile, from the Model T to the driverless taxi-cab. Along the way, we explore the rise of American manufacturing and the unmistakable but unexpected way in which we have bonded to our four-wheeled companions.

Guests:

• Witold Rybczynski – Professor emeritus of architecture and design at the University of Pennsylvania and author of the book, The Driving Machine: A Design History of the Car
• Timothy B Lee – Technology journalist and writer of the newsletter, Understanding AI

Originally aired April 7, 2025

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Big Picture Science for June 01, 2026: Outside of Our Minds

Big Picture Science: Outside of Our Minds

Since humans first chiseled marks into stone, we have externalized our thoughts and ideas. Our tools may have evolved—now we clack away at computer keyboards—but written communication remains a bedrock of modern society. Now that the pace of information creation is exponentially increasing with the advent of artificial intelligence, many are asking what the next frontier of human communication may look like. We look at how we got here, where the latest tools are headed—including brain-machine-interface—and how our brains and culture may be altered in the process.

Guests:

• Alex Bentley – professor of anthropology, archeology, and computational social science at University of Tennessee in Knoxville, and co-author of “Collaborators Through Time: How Humans Partnered with Nature, Technology, and Each Other”
• Michael O’Brien – anthropologist at the Texas A&M University, San Antonio, and co-author of “Collaborators Through Time: How Humans Partnered with Nature, Technology, and Each Other”
• Tom Mullaney – professor of Chinese history at Stanford University, and author of “The Chinese Computer: A Global History of the Information Age”
• Betts Peters – Brain computer interface researcher at Oregon Health and Science University, treasurer of the Brain Computer Interface Society

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Big Picture Science for May. 25, Skeptic Check: Cryptids

Big Picture Science: Skeptic Check: Cryptids

REPEAT
Bigfoot could get official status if proposed legislation passes making it the state cryptid of California. If nothing else, the effort shows that fascination with cryptids has an outsized footprint on our culture. We look at why mythical creatures continue to capture imaginations - as well as passions - of die-hard believers, despite no evidence for their existence. An author uncovers the origin of a beloved hoax in the American West and its unexpected ties to a real animal and historical medical breakthrough. But are we looking for creature delights in all the wrong places? A tally of Earth’s species reveals that far more remain unidentified than are currently known. Newly discovered critters such as the Yeti crab and an organism dubbed the Flying Spaghetti Monster are so strange, it challenges us to separate fauna fact from folktale.

Guests:

• Chris Rogers – Assemblymember, California’s 2nd Assembly District
• Benjamin Radford – Deputy Editor of Skeptical Inquirer Science Magazine, author, and co-host of Squaring the Strange podcast
• Michael Branch – Writer, humorist, and author of On the Trail of the Jackalope: How a Legend Captured the World’s Imagination and Helped Us Cure Cancer
• Boris Worm – Marine ecologist, Professor of Biology at Dalhousie University in Halifax, Nova Scotia

Originally aired April 14, 2025

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Big Picture Science for May. 18, Allergy Reason

Big Picture Science: Allergy Reason

REPEAT
Runny nose. Itchy, watery eyes. Sneezing. If you don’t have allergies, you probably know someone who does. The number of people with allergies, including food allergies and eczema, is increasing. What is going on?

A medical anthropologist describes how our hygiene habits, our diets, and our polluted environment are irritating our bodies. Also, the case for skipping your shower. Is skin healthier when we stop lathering?

Guests:

• James Hamblin – Preventive medicine physician and a lecturer in public health at Yale and author of Clean: the New Science of Skin
• Theresa MacPhail – medical anthropologist, professor of science and technology studies at Stevens Institute of Technology and author of Allergic: Our Irritated Bodies in a Changing World.

Originally aired July 3, 2023

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Big Picture Science for May. 11, Preventing Future Pandemics

Big Picture Science: Preventing Future Pandemics

We may not want to think about another pandemic, but, as epidemiologists say, it is once again a “when,” not “if,” scenario. For his latest book, journalist Jon Cohen, who has written extensively about infectious disease for the magazine Science, interviewed top epidemiologists around the world and followed virus hunters into damp and daunting bat caves to assess our pandemic preparedness readiness. Jon and Molly sit down before an audience in Los Angeles to talk about worrisome cuts to science funding and our ability (or inability) to be vigilant and respond quickly to emerging disease. There is good news: we know how to stop outbreaks. The question is, will we put our tools and vast knowledge to use?

Guest:

• Jon Cohen – senior correspondent with Science Magazine, author of “Planning Miracles: How to Prevent Future Pandemics”

Reading: The Trump Administration is Dismantling Efforts to Fight the Next Pandemic


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Big Picture Science for May. 04, Shadow of Chernobyl

Big Picture Science: Shadow of Chernobyl

Forty years later, the exclusion zone surrounding the infamous Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant remains uninhabited by humans. But among the radioactive remnants, wildlife is flourishing, including endangered species. In the second of our two-part series, we look at the state of the disaster site today, consider what lessons we’ve learned during clean up efforts, hear about a strange story about radioactive shellfish, and consider whether small modular reactors could reinvigorate dreams of a nuclear-powered future and bring nuclear energy out of Chernobyl’s shadow.

Guests:

• Steven Biegalski – Chair of Nuclear and Radiological Engineering and Medical Physics program at Georgia Institute of Technology
• Tom Scott – Professor of Nuclear Materials and Devices at the University of Bristol
• Jacopo Buongiorno – Professor of Nuclear Science and Engineering at MIT, Director of the Center for Advanced Nuclear Energy Systems (CANES), and Director of Science and Technology of the MIT Nuclear Reactor Laboratory

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Big Picture Science for April. 27, 2026: 40 Years After Chernobyl

Big Picture Science: 40 Years After Chernobyl

On April 26th, 1986, an explosion at the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant in the Soviet Union blasted a plume of radioactive debris a half mile into the sky, blanketing Europe. Witnesses described a laser of blue light eerily shooting up from the reactor core. Built to represent the bright future of nuclear power, Chernobyl instead became the biggest nuclear disaster in history. In the first of a two-part series, we retell the story of the accident, the role that design flaws and human error played, and the futile attempts at radiation containment. We also consider the long shadow the catastrophe cast over nuclear power, and the significant political fallout of the Soviet coverup; the Ukrainian vote for independence and the fall of the U.S.S.R.

Guest:

• Adam Higginbotham – Journalist and author of “Midnight in Chernobyl: The Untold Story of the World’s Greatest Nuclear Disaster”

 

Download podcast at - https://bigpicturescience.org/episodes/40-years-after-chernobyl 

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Big Picture Science for April. 20, 2026: Skeptic Check: Feeling Risky

Big Picture Science: Skeptic Check: Feeling Risky

REPEAT
It’s not just facts that inform our decisions. They’re also guided by how those facts feel. From deciding whether to buckle our seat belts to addressing climate change, how we regard risk is subjective. In this extended conversation with an expert on the psychology of risk, find out about our exaggerated fears, as well as risks we don’t take seriously enough. Meanwhile, while experts warn society about the dangers of self-aware AI – are those warnings being heeded?

Guest:

• David Ropeik – Professor emeritus Harvard University, and expert on the psychology of risk

Originally aired April 10, 2023

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Big Picture Science for April. 13, 2026: Old School

Big Picture Science: Old School

Antarctic scientists have long known the region’s ice sheet holds clues to the planet’s ancient past. Yet even the field’s foremost experts were shocked when they extracted a six-million-year-old ice core — twice as old as expected and the oldest recorded so far. Researchers say it will provide one of our best looks ever into Earth's climatological record. In a relatively more recent past, the discovery of 40,000-year-old notches and lines carved into artifacts and cave walls in Germany, examples of protowriting, suggest humans began documenting ideas thousands of years earlier than thought. Those timescales pale however, when compared to the age of the Earth’s most ancient rocks, which have a story to tell too. Find out how the planet’s most venerable rocks, formed billions of years ago, reveal the geological conditions that allowed life to get a foothold.

Guests:

• Huw Groucutt – Archeologist, Department of Classics and Archeology, University of Malta
• Ed Brook – Paleoclimatologist and professor of Earth, Ocean and Atmospheric Sciences at Oregon State University
• Simon Lamb – Earth scientist and professor of geography in the School of Geography, Environment and Earth Sciences at Victoria University at Wellington, New Zealand.   Author of “The Oldest Rocks on Earth: A Search for the Origins of Our World.”

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Big Picture Science for April. 06, 2026: Amazing Arctic

Big Picture Science: Amazing Arctic

REPEAT
What’s it like to live on a block of ice, especially when it thaws? An environment writer shares his forty-year experience in the Arctic, including the time a paddling polar bear tracked him on a river. He describes the stunning beauty of America’s last truly wild place and the dramatic changes to the landscape he recently witnessed. Recent research has backed up his eyewitness accounts, as an arctic scientist presents the latest data collected from a part of world warming four times faster than the rest of the planet.

Guests:

• Jon Waterman – Author of Into the Thaw: Witnessing Wonder Amid the Arctic Climate Crisis
• Twila Moon – Deputy Lead Scientist and Science Communication Liaison at the National Snow and Ice Data Center

Originally aired March 17, 2025

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Big Picture Science for Mar. 30, 2026: Flower Power

Big Picture Science: Flower Power

REPEAT
Before everything could come up roses, there had to be a primordial flower – the mother, and father, of all flowers. Now scientists are on the hunt for it. The eFlower project aims to explain the sudden appearance of flowering plants in the fossil record, what Darwin called an “abominable mystery.”

Meanwhile, ancient flowers encased in amber or preserved in tar are providing clues about how ecosystems might respond to changing climates. And, although it was honed by evolution for billions of years, can we make photosynthesis more efficient and help forestall a global food crisis?

Guests:

• Eva-Maria Sadowski - Post doctoral paleobotanist at the Museum für Naturkunde, Berlin
• Regan Dunn - Paleobotanist and assistant Curator at the La Brea Tar Pits and Museum
• Royal Krieger - Rosarian and volunteer at the Morcom Rose Garden, Oakland, California
• Ruby Stephens - Plant ecology PhD candidate at Macquarie University in Australia, and member of the eFlower Project
• Stephen Long - Professor of Plant Science, University of Illinois

Originally aired March 13, 2023

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Big Picture Science for Mar. 23, 2026: 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

Originally aired June 20, 2022

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Big Picture Science for Mar. 16, 2026: Skeptic Check: Project Hail Mary

Big Picture Science: Skeptic Check: Project Hail Mary

As protagonist Ryland Grace fights to save Earth - and possibly the universe - in Project Hail Mary, author Andy Weir discusses the science behind his sci-fi story and what it’s like to see it adapted for the big screen. From a diversity of aliens thriving in extreme environments, to our sun’s shortening lifespan, to the conundrum of keeping astronauts alive during intergalactic missions, we consider the possibility of science fiction becoming future reality. A NASA astrobiologist who consulted on the book weighs in on how Earthly creatures have inspired some of our favorite science fiction aliens. Plus, science fiction author Becky Chambers discusses how she balances science fact with fiction in her work.

Guests:

• Andy Weir – science fiction writer, author of Project Hail Mary, The Martian, and Artemis
• Andy Fraknoi – professor of astronomy at the Fromm Institute at the University of San Francisco
• Becky Chambers – science fiction writer, author of To Be Taught if Fortunate, the Wayfinders series, and the Monk and Robot novellas
• Shawn Domagal-Goldman – NASA acting director, astrophysics division

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Big Picture Science for Mar. 09, 2026: Skeptic Check: Moon Conspiracy

Big Picture Science: Skeptic Check: Moon Conspiracy

As NASA’s Artemis program promises to take us back to the moon for the first time in fifty years, we consider what it means that as many as 10% of Americans don’t believe we went there in the first place. Why, despite all the evidence, has the faked moon landing conspiracy persisted? We explore why this falsehood has such staying power and what it reveals about our relationship with science and its findings.

Meanwhile, lunar science continues unabated. Scientists open a lunar soil sample that’s been vacuumed sealed for a half-century and receive a blast of four and a half billion-year-old solar wind.

Guests:

• Peter Knight – professor of American Studies, English and American Studies and conspiracy expert at the University of Manchester, U.K.
• Ryan Zeigler – planetary scientist and NASA’s Lunar Sample Curator at Johnson Space Center

Download podcast at - https://bigpicturescience.org/episodes/skeptic-check-moon-conspiracy

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