Big Picture Science for Dec. 27, 2021 - Mycology Education

 

Big Picture Science - Mycology Education

(Repeat) Beneath our feet is a living network just as complex and extensive as the root systems in a forest. Fungi, which evolved in the oceans, were among the first to colonize the barren continents more than a half-billion years ago. They paved the way for land plants, animals, and (eventually) you.

Think beyond penicillin and pizza, and take a moment to consider these amazing organisms. Able to survive every major extinction, essential as Nature’s decomposers, and the basis of both ale and antibiotics, fungi are essential to life. And their behavior is so complex you’ll be wondering if we shouldn’t call them intelligent!

Guest:

• Merlin Sheldrake – Biologist and the author of Entangled Life: How Fungi Make our Worlds, Change our Minds and Shape our Futures.

This repeat podcast originally aired on 9/28/2020

Download podcast at - http://bigpicturescience.org/episodes/mycology-education

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 Dec. 20, 2021 - Attack of the Mutants

Big Picture Science - Attack of the Mutants

The omicron variant is surging. More contagious than delta, omicron demonstrates how viruses use mutations to quickly adapt.

Mutations drive evolution, although most don’t do much. But occasionally a mutation improves an organism. Omicron, the latest in a string of variants, is bad for us, but good for the virus.

How mutation of viruses ensures their own survival while threatening ours, and the prospect of a universal vaccine that would protect us against all a viruses’ variants.

Guests:

• Robert Garry – Professor of microbiology and virologist in the Tulane University School of Medicine
• Kevin Saunders – Professor in the Duke University School of Medicine’s Human Vaccine Institute and professor of surgery

Download podcast at - http://bigpicturescience.org/episodes/attack-of-the-mutants

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 Dec. 13, 2021 - Hubble and Beyond

Big Picture Science - Hubble and Beyond

The universe is not just expanding; it’s accelerating. Supermassive black holes are hunkered down at the center of our galaxy and just about every other galaxy, too. We talk about these and other big discoveries of the Hubble Space Telescope, now in orbit for over 30 years.

But two new next-generation telescopes will soon be joining Hubble: the Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope and the James Webb Space Telescope. Hear what cosmic puzzles they’ll address. Plus, life in a clean room while wearing a coverall “bunny suit”; what it takes to assemble a telescope.

Guests:

• Meg Urry – Professor of physics and astronomy, Director of the Yale Center for Astronomy and Astrophysics, Yale University
• John Grunsfeld – Former NASA Associate Administrator, and astronaut
• Kenneth Harris – Senior Project Engineer, Aerospace Corporation

Download podcast at - http://bigpicturescience.org/episodes/hubble-and-beyond

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!

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

Big Picture Science for Dec. 06, 2021 - Skeptic Check: Identifying UAPs

Big Picture Science - Skeptic Check: Identifying UAPs

The Pentagon’s report on UAPs (Unidentified Aerial Phenomena) said nothing about the possibility that some might be alien spacecraft. Nonetheless, the report has generated heightened interest in figuring out what these UAPs are, and that interest extends to some scientists. We talk to two researchers who want an open and strictly scientific investigation of these phenomena. What should they do and what do they expect to find? And finally, will the possibility of alien visitors ever be resolved?

Guests:

• Jacob Haqq-Misra – Senior Research Investigator at the Blue Marble Space Institute of Science
• Ravi Kopparapu – Planetary scientist, NASA Goddard Space Flight Center

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Download podcast at - http://bigpicturescience.org/episodes/skeptic-check-identifying-uaps

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!

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