Big Picture Science for Nov. 28, 2022 - Is Life Inevitable?

Big Picture Science - Is Life Inevitable?

(REPEAT) A new theory about life’s origins updates Darwin’s warm little pond.  Scientists say they’ve created the building blocks of biology in steaming hot springs. Meanwhile, we visit a NASA lab where scientists simulate deep-sea vent chemistry to produce the type of environment that might spawn life. Which site is best suited for producing biology from chemistry?

Find out how the conditions of the early Earth were different from today, how meteors seeded Earth with organics, and a provocative idea that life arose as an inevitable consequence of matter shape-shifting to dissipate heat. Could physics be the driving force behind life’s emergence?

Guests:

• Caleb Scharf – Director of Astrobiology at Columbia University, New York
• Laurie Barge – Research scientist in astrobiology at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory
• Bruce Damer – Research scientist in biomolecular engineering, University of California,
• Jeremy England – Physicist, Massachusetts Institute of Technology

This repeat podcast originally aired on May 13, 2019

Download podcast at - http://bigpicturescience.org/episodes/is-life-inevitable

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 Nov. 21, 2022 - Vaccine Inequity

Big Picture Science - Vaccine Inequity

A radical plan could solve a historic global health inequity. Countries in the global south who waited for more than a year for ample supplies of Covid vaccines have banded together to make mRNA vaccines locally. If successful, they could end a dangerous dependency on wealthy nations and help stop pandemics before they start.

In a special episode, supported by the Pulitzer Center, journalist Amy Maxmen shares her reporting from southern Africa about the inspiring project led by the WHO that’s made fast progress. But it could fail, and a global imbalance will remain, if Big Pharma has its way. Find out what’s at stake.

Guests:

• Amy Maxmen - Award-winning science journalist, Edward R. Murrow press fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations
• Professor Petro Terblanche - Managing Director, Afrigen Biologics and Vaccines in Cape Town, South Africa
• Dr. Kondwani Charles Jambo - Senior Lecturer and immunologist at the Malawi-Liverpool-Wellcome Clinical Research Programme in Blantyre, Malawi
• Dr. Barney Graham, MD PhD - Former deputy director at the Vaccine Research Center at NIH and professor of medicine and microbiology immunology biochemistry at Morehouse School of Medicine
• Emile Hendricks - Research technologist at Afrigen and Vaccines in Cape Town, South Africa
• Achal Prabhala - Fellow at the Shuttleworth Foundation, Coordinator at AccessIBSA, a medicines-access initiative in Bengaluru, India
• Patrick Tippoo - Head of Science and Innovation at Biovac in Cape Town, South Africa, founding member of the African Vaccine Manufacturing Initiative (AVMI)
• Harrison Chauluka - chief of the Mkunda village in Malawi
• Agnes Joni - farmer in Chiradzulu, Malawi
• Prophet Dauda - translator and writer in Blantyre, Malawi 

Download podcast at - http://bigpicturescience.org/episodes/vaccine-inequity

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 Nov. 14, 2022 - Your Inner Tree

Big Picture Science - Your Inner Tree

(REPEAT) Declining biodiversity is a problem as fraught as climate change.

Loss of habitat, monoculture crops, and the damming of waterways all lead to massive species extinction. They tear at life’s delicate web, and threaten a balance established by four billion years of evolution.

Can we reassess our relationship to Nature? We consider logging efforts that make elephants part of the work force, and how to leverage the cooperative behavior of trees.

Becoming Nature’s ally, rather than its enemy.

Guests:

• Suzanne Simard – Professor of Forest Ecology at the University of British Columbia and author of “Finding the Mother Tree: Discovering the Wisdom of the Forest.”
• Carl Safina – Professor of Nature and Humanity at Stony Brook University and founder of the Safina Center, and author of “Becoming Wild: How Animal Cultures Raise Families, Create Beauty, and Achieve Peace.”
• Jacob Shell – Professor of Geography and Urban Studies at Temple University, and author of “Giants of the Monsson Forest: Living and Working with Elephants.”

This repeat podcast originally aired on November 8, 2021

Download podcast at - http://bigpicturescience.org/episodes/your-inner-tree

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 Nov. 07, 2022 - Fuhgeddaboudit

Big Picture Science - Fuhgeddaboudit

(REPEAT) A thousand years ago, most people didn’t own a single book. The only way to access knowledge was to consult their memory.

But technology – from paper to hard drives – has permitted us to free our brains from remembering countless facts. Alphabetization and the simple filing cabinet have helped to systematize and save information we might need someday.

But now that we can Google just about any subject, have we lost the ability to memorize information? Does this make our brains better or worse?

Guests:

• Judith Flanders – Historian and author, most recently of A Place for Everything: The Curious History of Alphabetical Order
• Craig Robertson – Professor of Media Studies, Northeastern University and author of The Filing Cabinet: A Vertical History of Information
• David Eagleman – Neuroscientist and author, Stanford University

This repeat podcast originally aired on October 11, 2021

Download podcast at - http://bigpicturescience.org/episodes/fuhgeddaboudit

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!