Big Picture Science for June 22, Let's Stick Together

Big Picture Science - Let's Stick Together

Crowded subway driving you crazy?  Sick of the marathon-length grocery store line? Wish you had a hovercraft to float over traffic?  If you are itching to hightail it to an isolated cabin in the woods, remember, we evolved to be together.  Humans are not only social, we’re driven to care for one another, even those outside our immediate family.

We look at some of the reasons why this is so – from the increase in valuable communication within social groups to the power of the hormone oxytocin.  Plus, how our willingness to tolerate anonymity, a condition which allows societies to grow, has a parallel in ant supercolonies.

Guests:

• Adam Rutherford – Geneticist and author of “Humanimal: How Homo sapiensBecame Nature’s Most Paradoxical Creature – a New Evolutionary History”
• Patricia Churchland – Neurophilosopher, professor of philosophy emerita at the University of California San Diego, and author most recently of “Conscience: The Origins of Moral Intuition”
• Mark Moffett – Tropical biologist, Smithsonian Institution researcher, and author of “The Human Swarm: How Our Societies Arise, Thrive and Fall”

This repeat podcast was previously released on July 22, 2019

Download podcast at - http://bigpicturescience.org/episodes/lets-stick-together

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.

Big Picture Science for June 15, Skeptic Check: Data Bias

Big Picture Science - Skeptic Check: Data Bias

(Repeat) Sexist snow plowing?  Data that guide everything from snow removal schedules to heart research often fail to consider gender.  In these cases, “reference man” stands in for “average human.”   Human bias also infects artificial intelligence, with speech recognition triggered only by male voices and facial recognition that can’t see black faces. We question the assumptions baked into these numbers and algorithms.

Guests:

• Caroline Criado-Perez - Journalist and author of “Invisible Women: Data Bias in a World Designed for Men”
• Kade Crockford - Director of the Technology for Liberty Program at the ACLU of Massachusetts
• Amy Webb - Futurist, founder and CEO of the Future Today Institute, and author of “The Big Nine: How the Tech Titans and There Thinking Machines Could Warp Humanity”

This repeat podcast was previously released on 09/02/2019

Download podcast at - http://bigpicturescience.org/episodes/skeptic-check-data-bias

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.

Big Picture Science for June 8, Race and COVID

Big Picture Science - Race and COVID

While citizens take to the streets to protest racist violence, the pandemic has its own brutal inequities. Black, Latino, and Native American people are bearing the brunt of COVID illness and death. We look at the multitude of factors that contribute to this disparity, most of which existed long before the
pandemic. Also, how the Cheyenne River Sioux tribe maintained their coronavirus safeguards in defiance of the South Dakota governor. And, the biological reasons why we categorize one another by skin color.

Guests:

• Marcella Nunez Smith – Associate Professor of Medicine and of Epidemiology, Yale School of Medicine, Director, Equity Research and Innovation Center
• Utibe Essien – Assistant Professor of Medicine, University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, and a Core Investigator, Center for Health Equity Research and Promotion, VA Pittsburgh Healthcare System
• Nina Jablonski – Anthropologist, paleobiologist at Pennsylvania State University and author of, “Skin: A Natural History,” and “Living Color: the Biological and Social Meaning of Skin Color.”
• Robert Sapolsky – Professor of neuroscience at Stanford University, and author of “Behave: The Biology of Humans at Our Best and Worst.”
• Harold Frazier – Chairman of the Cheyenne River Sioux tribe, South Dakota. The Cheyenne River Sioux Reservation COVID checkpoint on Highway 212 is featured in an article on Indianz.com.

Download podcast at - http://bigpicturescience.org/episodes/race-and-covid

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.

Big Picture Science for June 1, Soap, Skin, Sleep

Big Picture Science - Soap, Skin, Sleep

Some safeguards against COVID-19 don’t require a medical breakthrough. Catching sufficient Z’s makes for a healthy immune system. And, while you wash your hands for the umpteenth time, we'll explain how soap sends viruses down the drain. Plus, your body’s largest organ – skin – is your first line of defense against the pandemic and is also neglected because of it. Find out why we're suffering from "skin hunger" during this crisis.

Guests:

• Cody Cassidy – Author, “Who Ate the First Oyster: The Extraordinary People Behind the Greatest Firsts in History.”
• Nina Jablonski – Anthropologist, paleobiologist at Pennsylvania State University and author of “Skin: A Natural History.”
• Eti Ben Simon – Neuroscientist and sleep researcher, Center for Human Sleep Science, University of California, Berkeley

Download podcast at - http://bigpicturescience.org/episodes/soap-skin-sleep

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.