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”

 

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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

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Big Picture Science for Mar. 02, 2026: Chasing an Asteroid

Big Picture Science: Chasing an Asteroid

REPEAT
Everyone knows that a big rock wiped out the dinosaurs. But the danger from an asteroid hitting Earth is not limited to ancient history. To deal with this threat, scientists recently ran an experiment to deflect a potential “city killer.” We’ll hear the results of that experiment, and about a visit to another asteroid. In the dusty material NASA brought back from the asteroid Bennu, scientists found the chemical building blocks of life, including many of the amino acids that are found in our cells. Could an asteroid have brought the ingredients for life to ancient Earth? In this episode, we look at our paradoxical relationship with the space rocks that taketh way – and may help giveth - life.

Guests:

• Scott Sandford - Astrophysicist and Research Scientist at NASA’s Ames Research Center
• Robin George Andrews - Science journalist, volcanologist, and author of "How to Kill an Asteroid: The Real Science of Planetary Defense"

Originally aired February 10, 2025

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Big Picture Science for Feb. 23, 2026: Birds of a Feather

Big Picture Science: Birds of a Feather

With only a microscope and a collection of birds, taxidermist Roxie Laybourne became the world’s first forensic ornithologist. The “feather detective” was on the case, examining pieces of plumage to solve mysteries. From bird strikes that caused plane accidents to homicide investigations, no case was too big. In the process, Roxie changed the world of aviation safety and crime investigation forever. Even now, feathers are unraveling a new type of mystery, as scientists from the Bird Genoscape Project use them to map the migratory routes of birds.

Guests:

• Chris Sweeney – Journalist and author of “The Feather Detective: Mystery, Mayhem, and the Magnificent Life of Roxie Laybourne”
• Kristen Ruegg – Co-Director of the Bird Genoscape Project and Associate Professor of Biology at Colorado State University

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Big Picture Science for Feb. 16, 2026: Celestial Shake-Up

Big Picture Science: Celestial Shake-Up

We’re going back to the Moon. The planned March 2026 launch of Artemis II is the first crewed mission to the moon since 1972. Historic as it is, it isn’t the only lunar event creating a stir at NASA. Two seismometers are to be delivered to Schrödinger’s Crater in a mission called The Farside Seismic Suite, in which the instruments will measure moonquakes and record the possible impact of asteroid 2024 YR4 on lunar surface. Meanwhile, studies of the sun are heating up. The so-called PUNCH mission, a four-satellite constellation that will create an image of the sun’s corona and solar winds, may help us better understand what drives solar storms and how we can protect Earth from their energetic blasts.

Guests:

• Eugene Cernan – Apollo 17 astronaut
• Harrison "Jack" Schmitt – Geologist and Apollo 17 astronaut
• Andrew Rivkin – Planetary astronomer at the Applied Physics Laboratory at Johns Hopkins University
• Ceri Nunn – Lunar seismologist and planetary scientist, NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory
• Ryan French – solar physicist, at the Laboratory for Atmospheric & Space Physics, Boulder, Colorado, and author of “Space Hazards: Asteroids, Solar Flares and Cosmic Threats”
• Craig DeForest – Heliophysicist, Southwest Research Institute, principal investigator on NASA’s  PUNCH mission

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Big Picture Science for Feb. 09, 2026: Hot to Cold

Big Picture Science: Hot to Cold

There are benefits to chilling out. When we cool superconductors to 460℉ degrees below zero, they acquire extraordinary properties that help run quantum computers. Can artificially cooling human bodies also provide profound benefit? Some cryonics startup companies say yes, promising “life after death” through cryogenic freezing. While it’s one thing to freeze all the cells in a body, it is another to revive them. What happens, for instance, to memories when brains thaw? While we gauge how low human body temperatures can go, new research suggests another form of life could find home in the cooler temperatures of Jupiter’s moon Europa. Find out how NASA’s Europa Clipper mission will investigate whether that moon could support alien microbes. 

Guests:

• Steve Austad – Distinguished Professor at the University of Alabama at Birmingham and Scientific Director of the American Federation for Aging Research
• Olivia Lanes – Global Lead for Quantum Content and Education at IBM Quantum
• Austin Green – Planetary Scientist, NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory

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Big Picture Science for Jan. 26, 2026: Cold to Hot

Big Picture Science: Cold to Hot

The icy-white crust of Arctic permafrost is melting, and increased plant growth is turning the glacial north green. Metals like iron, once locked inside the ice, are leaching into hundreds of Arctic rivers, giving them an orange hue. Vivid changes may catch our eye, yet invisible shifts are also afoot. Microbes locked in the frozen ground since the age of the mammoths can now be revived when they thaw. We’re exploring the consequences of changes in permafrost, how AI may help us better understand Greenland ice loss, and get reactions from scientists about the Trump administration’s attempt to dismantle the National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR), one of the premier climate and weather researcher centers in the world.

Guests:

• Tristan Caro – Postdoctoral Fellow, Geological and Planetary Sciences Division, California Institute of Technology
• Twila Moon – Glaciologist and deputy lead scientist at the National Snow and Ice Data Center, within the cooperative Institute for Research and Environmental Sciences at the University of Colorado Boulder
• Abagael Pruitt – Biochemist and ecosystem ecologist, postdoctoral researcher at the University of California Davis
• Karina Zikan – Glaciologist and snow hydrologist, PhD candidate at Boise State University
• Roland Pease – Science writer and broadcaster often heard on the BBC World Service, and former presenter and host of its program Science in Action
• Alan Sealls – Retired broadcast meteorologist, adjust professor at the University of South Alabama and president of the American Meteorological Society

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