Big Picture Science for Jan. 31, 2022 - Bare Bones

Big Picture Science - Bare Bones

(REPEAT) You may not feel that your skeleton does very much. But without it you’d be a limp bag of protoplasm, unable to move.  And while you may regard bones as rigid and inert, they are living tissue.

Bones are also time capsules, preserving much of your personal history. Find out how evolutionary biologists, forensic anthropologists, and even radiation scientists read them.

And why won’t your dog stop gnawing on that bone?

Guests:

• Brian Switek – Pen name of Riley Black, Author of “Skeleton Keys: the Secret Life of Bone.”
• Ann Ross – Forensic anthropologist at North Carolina State University.  Her lab is the North Carolina Office of the Chief Medical Examiner for the North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services.
• Stanley Coren – Professor emeritus of psychology at the University of British Columbia, and author of many books about canine behavior including, “Why Does My Dog Act That Way?”
• Doug Brugge – Professor and chair of the Department of Public Health Sciences at the University of Connecticut School of Medicine

This repeat podcast originally aired on November 30, 2020

Download podcast at - http://bigpicturescience.org/episodes/bare-bones

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 Jan. 24, 2022 - Make Space For Animals

 

 

Big Picture Science - Make Space For Animals

Long before Yuri Gagarin became the first human to go into space, Laika, a stray dog, crossed the final frontier. Find out what other surprising species were drafted into the astronaut corps.

They may be our best friends, but we still balk at giving other creatures moral standing. And why are humans so reluctant to accept the fact that we too are animals?
 
Guests:

• Jo Wimpenny - Zoologist and writer. Author of “Aesop’s Animals”
• Taylor Maggiacomo - Associate Graphic Editor at National Geographic Society
• Alexander Stegmaier - Freelance Graphic Editor at National Geographic
• Melanie Challenger - An author who writes on nature, environment and human history. Her latest book: “How to be Animal: A New History of What it Means to be Human”

Download podcast at - http://bigpicturescience.org/episodes/make-space-for-animals

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 Jan. 17, 2022 - Testing Your Metal

Big Picture Science - Testing Your Metal

Catalytic converters are disappearing. If you’ve had yours stolen, you know that rare earth metals are valuable. But these metals are in great demand for things other than converters, such as batteries for electric cars, wind farms and solar panels.

We need rare earth metals to combat climate change, but where to get them? Could we find substitutes?

One activity that could be in our future: Deep sea mining. But it’s controversial. Can one company’s plan to mitigate environmental harm help?

Guests:

• Paul Dauenhauer - Professor of chemical engineering and material science at the University of Minnesota and a 2020 MacArthur Fellow
• Chris Leighton - Distinguished University Teaching Professor, Editor, Physical Review Materials, Dept. of Chemical Engineering and Materials Science, University of Minnesota
• Renee Grogan - Co-founder and Chief Sustainability Officer, Impossible Mining company

Download podcast at - http://bigpicturescience.org/episodes/testing-your-metal

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 Jan. 10, 2022 - Into the Deep

Big Picture Science - Into the Deep

(Rereat) Have you ever heard worms arguing? Deep-sea scientists use hydrophones to eavesdrop on “mouth-fighting worms.” It’s one of the many ways scientists are trying to catalog the diversity of the deep oceans — estimated to be comparable to a rainforest.

But the clock is ticking. While vast expanses of the deep sea are still unexplored, mining companies are ready with dredging vehicles to strip mine the seafloor, potentially destroying rare and vulnerable ecosystems. Are we willing to eradicate an alien landscape that we haven’t yet visited?

Guests:

• Craig McClain - deep-sea and evolutionary biologist and ecologist, Executive Director of the Louisiana Universities Marine Consortium.
• Steve Haddock - senior scientist at the Monetary Bay Aquarium Research Institute, and co-author of a New York Times op-ed about the dangers of mining.
• Emily Hall - marine chemist at the Mote Marine Laboratory, Sarasota, Florida
• Chong Chen - deep sea biologist with the Japan Agency for Marine-Earth Science and Technology (JAMSTEC)

This repeat podcast originally aired on November 23, 2020

Download podcast at - http://bigpicturescience.org/episodes/into-the-deep

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 Jan. 3, 2022 - What’s a Few Degrees?

Big Picture Science - What’s a Few Degrees?

Brace yourself for heatwave “Lucifer.” Dangerous deadly heatwaves may soon be so common that we give them names, just like hurricanes. This is one of the dramatic consequences of just a few degrees rise in average temperatures.

Also coming: Massive heat “blobs” that form in the oceans and damage marine life, and powerful windstorms called “derechos” pummeling the Midwest.

Plus, are fungal pathogens adapting to hotter temperatures and breaching the 98.6 F thermal barrier that keeps them from infecting us?

Guests:

• Kathy Baughman McLeod – director and senior vice president of the Adrienne Arsht-Rockefeller Foundation Resilience Center at The Atlantic Council
• Pippa Moore – Marine ecologist at Newcastle University in the U.K.
• Ted Derouin – Michigan farmer
• Jeff Dukes – Ecologist and director of Purdue Climate Change Research Center at Purdue University.
• Arturo Casadevall – Molecular microbiologist and immunologist at the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine

This repeat podcast originally aired on October 19, 2020

Download podcast at - http://bigpicturescience.org/episodes/whats-few-degrees

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!