Big Picture Science for Aug 28, 2023 - Talk the Walk

 

Big Picture Science - Talk the Walk

REPEAT
Birds and bees do it … and so do fish. In a discovery that highlights the adaptive benefits of walking, scientists have discovered fish that can walk on land. Not fin-flap their bodies, mind you, but ambulate like reptiles.

And speaking of which, new research shows that T Rex, the biggest reptile of them all, wasn’t a sprinter, but could be an efficient hunter by outwalking its prey.

Find out the advantage of legging it, and how human bipedalism stacks up. Not only is walking good for our bodies and brains, but not walking can change your personality and adversely affect your health.

Guests:

• Hans Larsson – Paleontologist and biologist, and Director of the Redpath Museum at McGill University in Montréal.
• Shane O’Mara – Neuroscientist and professor of experimental brain research at Trinity College Dublin. He is the author of “In Praise of Walking.”
• Brooke Flammang – Biologist at the New Jersey Institute of Technology.

This repeat podcast originally aired on October 5, 2020

Download podcast at - https://bigpicturescience.org/episodes/talk-the-walk

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 Aug 21, 2023 - A Twist of Slime

Big Picture Science - A Twist of Slime

REPEAT
Your daily mucus output is most impressive. Teaspoons or measuring cups can’t capture its entire volume. Find out how much your body churns out and why you can’t live without the viscous stuff. But slime in general is remarkable. Whether coating the bellies of slithery creatures, sleeking the surface of aquatic plants, or dripping from your nose, its protective qualities make it one of the great inventions of biology. Join us as we venture to the land of ooze!

Guests:

• Christopher Viney - Professor of materials science and engineering at the University of California, Merced
• Katharina Ribbeck - Bioengineer at MIT
• Anna Rose Hopkins - Chef and partner at Hank and Bean in Los Angeles
• Ruth Kassinger - author of “Slime: How Algae Created Us, Plague Us, and Just Might Save Us”

This repeat podcast originally aired on January 27, 2020

Download podcast at - https://bigpicturescience.org/episodes/a-twist-of-slime

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 Aug 014, 2023 - Granting Immunity

Big Picture Science - Granting Immunity

REPEAT
“Diversity or die” could be your new health mantra. Don’t boost your immune system, cultivate it! Like a garden, your body’s defenses benefit from species diversity.  Find out why multiple strains of microbes, engaged in a delicate ballet with your T-cells, join internal fungi in combatting disease. Plus, global ecosystems also depend on the diversity of its tiniest members; so what happens when the world’s insects bug out?

Guests:

• Matt Richtel – Author, most recently, of “An Elegant Defense: The Extraordinary New Science of The Immune System”
• Rob Dunn – Biologist and professor in the Department of Biological Sciences at North Carolina State University. Author of “Never Home Alone”
• David Underhill – Professor of medicine, Cedars-Sinai Hospital, Los Angeles, California
• Anne Sverdrup-Thygeson – Professor in conservation biology at the Institute for Ecology and Nature Management at the Norwegian University of Life Sciences.  Author of “Buzz, Sting, Bite: Why We Need Insects”

This repeat podcast originally aired on August 12, 2019

Download podcast at - https://bigpicturescience.org/episodes/granting-immunity

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 Aug 07, 2023 - Skeptic Check: UFO Conspiracy

Big Picture Science - Skeptic Check: UFO Conspiracy

UFOs are back. This time they’ve landed on Capitol Hill in the form of a public, congressional hearing. We watched the hearing with great interest, but felt dissatisfied when it came to evidence. Claims that the government has alien technology are obviously tantalizing. So tantalizing, in fact, that it’s easy to overlook logical fallacies in how these claims are presented. We identify a few of the missteps. But what would convince you that the government is aware of alien visitation? Is the word of an authority figure all we need to accept that “they’re here?” 

Guests:

• Benjamin Radford - Research fellow with the Committee for Skeptical Inquiry
• Nadia Drake - Science journalist and member of NASA’s UAP group
• James McGaha - Retired military pilot and astronomer he's a longtime investigator of UFO reports and claims and he's a scientific consultant to the Committee for Skeptical Inquiry
• Mick West - A skeptical investigator who looks at claims of UFOs

Download podcast at - https://bigpicturescience.org/episodes/skeptic-check-ufo-conspiracy

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!