Big Picture Science for Mar. 16, 2026: Skeptic Check: Project Hail Mary

Big Picture Science: Skeptic Check: Project Hail Mary

As protagonist Ryland Grace fights to save Earth - and possibly the universe - in Project Hail Mary, author Andy Weir discusses the science behind his sci-fi story and what it’s like to see it adapted for the big screen. From a diversity of aliens thriving in extreme environments, to our sun’s shortening lifespan, to the conundrum of keeping astronauts alive during intergalactic missions, we consider the possibility of science fiction becoming future reality. A NASA astrobiologist who consulted on the book weighs in on how Earthly creatures have inspired some of our favorite science fiction aliens. Plus, science fiction author Becky Chambers discusses how she balances science fact with fiction in her work.

Guests:

• Andy Weir – science fiction writer, author of Project Hail Mary, The Martian, and Artemis
• Andy Fraknoi – professor of astronomy at the Fromm Institute at the University of San Francisco
• Becky Chambers – science fiction writer, author of To Be Taught if Fortunate, the Wayfinders series, and the Monk and Robot novellas
• Shawn Domagal-Goldman – NASA acting director, astrophysics division

Download podcast at - https://bigpicturescience.org/episodes/skeptic-check-project-hail-mary

You can listen to this and other episodes at http://bigpicturescience.org/

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Big Picture Science for Monday 11 May 2015 - A Fundy Thing Happened

Big Picture Science - A Fundy Thing Happened

Get ready for déjà vu as you listen to some of our favorite interviews from the past year. It’s our annual fundraising podcast. Come for the great interviews, stay for the great interviews. Lend us your support along the way.

What’s for dinner? Maybe Soylent. Made by … people! We do a taste test. Then meet your gut microbes. They control your health and even your mood.

Get tips on how to talk to aliens, why you should keep an eye on government surveillance, and the future of 3D printing human tissue. Also, why extraordinary beliefs persist – including Holocaust denial – despite the persistence of evidence to the contrary.

And, global perspective: why Ebola won’t be the next big pandemic but sea level rise could wipe out coasts along Florida and Thailand.

Plus, we imagine life hundreds of years ago for the renegades on the rough seas, and what the world would be like had the dinosaurs not gone extinct.

All this and more on a special Big Picture Science podcast!

Guests:

• Bill Miller – Physician and author of The Microcosm Within: Evolution and Extinction in the Hologenome
• Rob Rhinehart – CEO and founder of Soylent
• Brian Fagan – Emeritus professor of anthropology, University of California, Santa Barbara, author of The Attacking Ocean: The Past, Present, and Future of Rising Sea Levels
• David Quammen – Science journalist, contributing writer for National Geographic Magazine, author of Spillover: Animal Infections and the Next Human Pandemic. His Op Ed article about Ebola appeared in the New York Times.
• Shari Wells-Jensen – Professor of English, Bowling Green State University
• Susan Landau – Mathematician and engineer who works on cybersecurity, privacy and public policy at the Worchester Polytechnic Institute, author most recently of Surveillance or Security?: The Risks Posed by New Wiretapping Technologies
• Will Storr – Journalist, author of The Unpersuadables: Adventures with the Enemies of Science
• Ali Khademhosseini – Bioengineer, Harvard Medical School, Brigham and Woman’s Hospital

Permalink: http://radio.seti.org/episodes/A_Fundy_Thing_Happened

Big Picture Science for Monday 09 March 2015 - Mars-Struck

Big Picture Science - Mars-Struck

You love to travel. But would you if doing so meant never coming home? The private company Mars One says it will land humans on the Red Planet by 2026, but is only offering passengers one-way tickets. Hundreds of thousands of people volunteered to go.

Meet a young woman who made the short list, and hear why she’s ready to be Mars-bound. Also, why microbes could be hiding in water trapped in the planet’s rocks. And, how a wetter, better Mars lost its atmosphere and became a dry and forbidding place.

Plus, why Kim Stanley Robinson, author of a famous trilogy about colonizing and terraforming Mars, thinks that the current timeline for going to the planet is unrealistic.

Guests:

• Laurel Kaye – A senior in the physics department at Duke University
• Alfonso Davila – Senior scientist at the SETI Institute
• Stephen Brecht – Physicist and president of the Bay Area Research Group
• Kim Stanley Robinson – Hugo Award-winning science Fiction author of the Mars trilogy: Red Mars (Mars Trilogy), Green Mars (Mars Trilogy), Blue Mars (Mars Trilogy)

Permalink: http://radio.seti.org/episodes/Mars_Struck

You can listen to this and other episodes at http://radio.seti.org/, and be sure to check out Blog Picture Science, the companion blog to the radio show.

Big Picture Science for Monday 08 December 2014 - Living Computers

Big Picture Science - Living Computers

It’s the most dramatic technical development of recent times: Teams of people working for decades to produce a slow-motion revolution we call computing. As these devices become increasingly powerful, we recall that a pioneer from the nineteenth century – Ada Lovelace, a mathematician and Lord Byron’s daughter – said they would never surpass human ability. Was she right?

We consider the near-term future of computing as the Internet of Things is poised to link everything together, and biologists adopt the techniques of information science to program living cells.

Plus: What’s your favorite sci-fi computer?

Guests:

• Walter Isaacson – President and CEO of the Aspen Institute and the author of The Innovators: How a Group of Hackers, Geniuses, and Geeks Created the Digital Revolution
• Christopher Voigt – Bioengineer at MIT
• Andy Ihnatko – Technology journalist
• André Bormanis – Writer, screenwriter, Star Trek
• John Barrett – Electronic engineer, NIMBUS Centre for Embedded Systems Research at the Cork Institute of Technology, Ireland

Permalink: http://radio.seti.org/episodes/Living_Computers

You can listen to this and other episodes at http://radio.seti.org/, and be sure to check out Blog Picture Science, the companion blog to the radio show.

Big Picture Science for 09/01/14 - Welcome to our Labor-atory

Big Picture Science - Welcome to our Labor-atory

ENCORE: Hi ho, hi ho … it’s out with work we go! As you relax this holiday weekend, step into our labor-atory and imagine a world with no work allowed. Soft robots help us with tasks at home and at the office, while driverless cars allow us to catch ZZZZs in the front seat.

Plus, the Internet of Everything interconnects all your devices, from your toaster to your roaster to … you. So there’s no need to ever get off the couch. But is a machine-ruled world a true utopia?

And, the invention that got us into our 24/7 rat race: Edison’s electric light.

Guests:

• Barry Trimmer – Professor of biology, neuroscience, and biomedical engineering at Tufts University, and editor-in-chief, Soft Robotics
• Red Whittaker – Roboticist at Carnegie Mellon University
• Ernest Freeberg – Historian, University of Tennessee, and author of The Age of Edison: Electric Light and the Invention of Modern America
• Rob Chandhok – Computer scientist, president of Qualcomm Interactive Platforms
• Andre Bormanis – Television writer, producer, screenwriter and science advisor to Star Trek and

This encore podcast was first released on August 26, 2013

Permalink: http://radio.seti.org/episodes/Welcome_to_Our_Labor_atory

You can listen to this and other episodes at http://radio.seti.org/, and be sure to check out Blog Picture Science, the companion blog to the radio show.

Big Picture Science for 08/04/14 - Eye Spy

Big Picture Science - Eye Spy

Who’s watching you? Could be anyone, really. Social media sites, webcams, CCTV cameras and smartphones have made keeping tabs on you as easy as tapping “refresh” on a tablet. And who knows what your cell phone records are telling the NSA?

Surveillance technology has privacy on the run, as we navigate between big data benefits and Big Brother intrusion.

Find out why wearing Google Glass could make everything you see the property of its creator, and which Orwellian technologies are with us today. But just how worried should we be? A cyber security expert weighs in.

Also, the benefits of an eye in the sky. A startup company claims that their suite of microsatellites will help protect Earth’s fragile environment.

And Gary catches a cat burglar!

Guests:

• Robert Gehl – Professor in the Department of Communication, University of Utah. His article, “A Mind Meld with the Surveillance State” appeared in an online issue of The Week.
• Hal Rappaport – Technology consultant for businesses, author of the paranormal thriller Hath No Fury: The Lesson of Three Book One. His article, “7 Sinister Technologies from Orwell’s 1984", appeared on the SyFy Channel’s online magazine.
• Susan Landau – Professor of cyber security policy at Worcester Polytechnic Institute, author of Surveillance or Security?: The Risks Posed by New Wiretapping Technologies and Privacy on the Line: The Politics of Wiretapping and Encryption.
• William Marshall – Physicist, Planet Labs

Permalink: http://radio.seti.org/episodes/Eye_Spy

You can listen to this and other episodes at http://radio.seti.org/, and be sure to check out Blog Picture Science, the companion blog to the radio show.

Big Picture Science for 10/21/13 - Skeptic Check: War of the Worlds

Big Picture Science - Skeptic Check: War of the Worlds

It was the most famous invasion that never happened. But Orson Welles’ 1938 “War of the Worlds” broadcast sure sounded convincing as it used news bulletins and eyewitness accounts to describe an existential Martian attack. The public panicked. Or did it? New research says that claims of mass hysteria were overblown.

On the 75^th anniversary of the broadcast: How the media manufactured descriptions of a fearful public and why – with our continued fondness for conspiracies – we could be hoodwinked again

Plus, journalism ethics in the age of social media. Can we tweet “Mars is attacking!” with impunity?

And why we’re obsessed with the Red Planet.

Guests:

• Michael Socolow – Associate professor of communication and journalism at the University of Maine
• Jesse Walker – Senior editor at Reason Magazine and author of The United States of Paranoia: A Conspiracy Theory
• Katy Culver – Assistant professor at the school of journalism and mass communication at the University of Wisconsin, Madison
• Kevin Schindler – Outreach manager at the Lowell Observatory

Permalink: http://radio.seti.org/episodes/Skeptic_Check_War_of_the_Worlds

You can listen to this and other episodes at http://radio.seti.org/, and be sure to check out Blog Picture Science, the companion blog to the radio show.

Big Picture Science for 09/09/13 - Skeptic Check: Follywood Science

Big Picture Science - Skeptic Check: Follywood Science

ENCORE: The Day After. 2001. Prometheus. There are sci-fi films a’plenty … but how much science is in the fiction? We take the fact checkers to Hollywood to investigate the science behind everything from space travel to human cloning.

Plus, guess what sci-fi film is the most scientifically accurate (hint: we’ve already mentioned it). Also, why messing with medical facts on film can be dangerous … and the inside scoop from a writer of one of television’s most successful sci-fi franchises.

And, a robot who surpasses even Tinseltown’s lively imagination: a humanoid that may become a surrogate you.

Guests:

• David Kirby – Senior lecturer in science communication studies at the University of Manchester in the U.K. and author of Lab Coats in Hollywood: Science, Scientists, and Cinema
• Lucas Kavner – Reporter, Huffington Post, author of a piece on the rise of robot surrogates
• Wayne Grody – Medical geneticist, director of the DNA diagnostic Laboratory, UCLA Medical Center
• Andre Bormanis – Television writer and science consultant for Star Trek

This encore podcast was first released on July 30, 2012.

Permalink: http://radio.seti.org/episodes/Skeptic_Check_Follywood_Science

You can listen to this and other episodes at http://radio.seti.org/, and be sure to check out Blog Picture Science, the companion blog to the radio show.

Big Picture Science for 08/26/13 - Welcome to Our Labor-atory

Big Picture Science - Welcome to Our Labor-atory

Hi ho, hi ho … it’s out with work we go! As you relax this holiday weekend, step into our labor-atory and imagine a world with no work allowed. Soft robots help us with tasks at home and at the office, while driverless cars allow us to catch ZZZZs in the front seat.

Plus, the Internet of Everything interconnects all your devices, from your toaster to your roaster to … you. So there’s no need to ever get off the couch. But is a machine-ruled world a true utopia?

And, the invention that got us into our 24/7 rat race: Edison’s electric light.

Guests:

• Barry Trimmer – Professor of biology, neuroscience, and biomedical engineering at Tufts University, and editor-in-chief, Soft Robotics
• Red Whittaker – Roboticist at Carnegie Mellon University
• Ernest Freeberg – Historian, University of Tennessee, and author of The Age of Edison: Electric Light and the Invention of Modern
• Rob Chandhok – Computer scientist, president of Qualcomm Interactive Platforms
• Andre Bormanis – Television writer, producer, screenwriter and science advisor to Star Trek and Cosmos

Permalink: http://radio.seti.org/episodes/Welcome_to_Our_Labor_atory

You can listen to this and other episodes at http://radio.seti.org/, and be sure to check out Blog Picture Science, the companion blog to the radio show.

Big Picture Science for 02/11/13 - Say La Vie

Big Picture Science - Say La Vie

Researchers have discovered life in a buried Antarctic lake. But we’re not surprised. Life is amazingly adaptive. Expose it to any environment – heat, ice, acid or even jet fuel – and thrives. But this discovery of life under the ice may have exciting implications for finding biology beyond Earth.

Scientists share their discovery, and how they drilled down through a half-mile of ice.

Also, plunge into another watery alien world with director James Cameron, and the first solo dive to the deepest, darkest part of the ocean.

Plus, a Nobel Prize-winning chemist tries to create life in his lab to learn more about biology’s origins, and Martian fossils abound in Robert J. Sawyer’s latest sci-fi novel.

Guests:

• Helen Amanda Fricker – Glaciologist, Scripps Institution of Oceanography at University of California, San Diego
• Jill Mikucki – Microbiologist at the University of Tennessee
• Chris McKay – Planetary scientist, NASA Ames Research Center
• Jack Szostak – Nobel Prize winning chemist, Harvard University, Massachusetts General Hospital
• James Cameron – film director and explorer-in-residence for National Geographic
• Robert J. Sawyer – Hugo Award-winning author; most recently: Red Planet Blues

Permalink: http://radio.seti.org/episodes/Say_La_Vie

You can listen to this and other episodes at http://radio.seti.org/, and be sure to check out Blog Picture Science, the companion blog to the radio show.

Big Picture Science for 07/02/12 - Nano Nano

Big Picture Science - Nano Nano

ENCORE Think small to solve big problems. That, in a nutshell, is the promise of nanotechnology. In this barely visible world, batteries charge 100 times faster and drugs go straight to their targets in the body. Discover some of these nano breakthroughs and how what you can’t see can help you…

…or hurt you? What if tiny machines turn out to be nothing but trouble? We’ll look at the health and safety risks of nanotech.

Plus, scaling up in science fiction: why a Godzilla-sized insect is fun, but just doesn’t fly.

Guests:

• Bill Flounders – executive director of the Marvell Nanofabrication Laboratory at the University of California at Berkeley
• Joseph DeSimone – professor of chemistry at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and chemical engineering at North Carolina State University
• David Guston – political scientist at Arizona State University where he directs The Center for Nanotechnology in Society
• Stan Williams – Senior Fellow and founding director of the Information and Quantum Systems Lab at Hewlett-Packard
• Michael LaBarbera – Professor in organismal biology, anatomy and geophysical sciences, University of Chicago

First released February 21 2011

Permalink: http://radio.seti.org/episodes/Nano_Nano

You can listen to this and other episodes at http://radio.seti.org/, and be sure to check out Blog Picture Science, the companion blog to the radio show.

Big Picture Science for 03/12/12 - Seth's Cabinet of Wonders

Big Picture Science - Seth's Cabinet of Wonders

It’s always a surprise to sort through Seth’s cabinet of wonders – who knows what we’ll find!

In this cramped cupboard, tucked between shelves of worm gears and used clarinet reeds, we discover a forgotten U.S. sea floor laboratory … copies of the new Cosmos TV series … evidence of science fiction’s predictive powers … software that may replace scientists … and tips on surviving a deadly poison (hint: it helps to be a snake).

Tune in, find out and grab a duster, will you?

Guests:

• Neil deGrasse Tyson – Astrophysicst at the American Museum of Natural History and author of Space Chronicles: Facing the Ultimate Frontier
  
• Robert J. Sawyer – Hugo award-wining science fiction author; his newest title is Triggers
  
• Ben Hellwarth – Author of Sealab: America’s Forgotten Quest to Live and Work on the Ocean Floor
• Hod Lipson – Roboticist at Cornell University
• Chris Feldman – Biologist, University of Nevada, Reno

Permalink: http://radio.seti.org/episodes/Seth_s_Cabinet_of_Wonders

You can listen to this and other episodes at http://radio.seti.org/, and be sure to check out Blog Picture Science, the companion blog to the radio show.

Big Picture Science for 12/05/11 - Science's Alliances

Big Picture Science - Science's Alliances

Mom and apple pie. Computers and silicon. Martians and death rays. Some things just go together naturally. But how about science and politics? Science and religion? Science and fiction? These pairings are often unnatural and contentious … but they don’t have to be.

Discover how science can team up with other endeavors in productive, if surprising, symbiosis.

Meet a particle physicist, turned U.S. Congressman, who calls for more scientists on Capitol Hill. Also, a tour of the Golden Age of Islamic Science.

Plus, scientists named Elmo and Super Grover 2.0 teach small children to conduct experiments with the help of chickens and dancing penguins.

And, it’s not quite science but it’s not entirely ficition either: how sci-fi helps shape our cultural debates about the future.

Guests:

• Bill Foster – Physicist and former U.S. representative from Illinois
• Carol-Lynn Parente – Executive Producer, Sesame Street
• Ranjana Mehra – Docent at The Tech Museum, San Jose, California
• Brooks Peck – Curator, EMP Museum, Seattle, Washington

Permalink: http://radio.seti.org/episodes/Science_s_Alliances

You can listen to this and other episodes at http://radio.seti.org/, and be sure to check out Are We A Blog?, the companion blog to the radio show.

Are We Alone for 02/21/11 - Nano Nano

Are We Alone - Nano Nano

Think small to solve big problems. That, in a nutshell, is the promise of nanotechnology. In this barely visible world, batteries charge 100 times faster and drugs go straight to their targets in the body. Discover some of these nano breakthroughs and how what you can’t see can help you… …or hurt you? What if tiny machines turn out to be nothing but trouble? We’ll look at the health and safety risks of nanotech.

Plus, scaling up in science fiction: why a Godzilla-sized insect is fun, but just doesn’t fly.

Guests:

• Bill Flounders – executive director of the Marvell Nanofabrication Laboratory at the University of California at Berkeley
• Joseph DeSimone – professor of chemistry at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and chemical engineering at North Carolina State University
• David Guston – political scientist at Arizona State University where he directs The Center for Nanotechnology in Society
• Stan Williams – Senior Fellow and founding director of the Information and Quantum Systems Lab at Hewlett-Packard
• Michael LeBarbera – Professor in organismal biology, anatomy and geophysical sciences, University of Chicago

Permalink: http://radio.seti.org/episodes/Nano_Nano

You can listen to this and other episodes at http://radio.seti.org/, and be sure to check out Are We A Blog?, the companion blog to the radio show.

Are We Alone for 02/14/11 - Outta This World

Are We Alone - Outta This World

Earth may not be rare after all. New data from NASA’s Kepler mission suggests that the universe is chock-a-block with planets. More than a thousand new possible planets have just been found, and more than fifty of these might be suitable for life. Ready for cosmic company? We discuss the results of the Kepler mission in a roundtable with some of its top scientists.

Meanwhile, the Voyager spacecraft continues to be humanity’s point man in the race to interstellar space. Poised to leave our solar system, we reflect on the mission – including its on-board messages for aliens.

Plus, out-of-this world science. From lab coats to warp speed: does Hollywood get it right? Does it matter?

Guests:

• Jon Jenkins – Co-principal investigator for the Kepler Mission
• Doug Caldwell – Co-investigator and instrument scientist for the Kepler Mission
• Jessie Christiansen – Data scientist working on the Kepler mission
• Ed Stone – Professor of physics at the California Institute of Technology, and former Director of the Jet Propulsion Laboratory
• Jennifer Ouellette – Writer and former director, National Academy of Sciences’ Science and Entertainment Exchange

Permalink: http://radio.seti.org/episodes/Outta_This_World

You can listen to this and other episodes at http://radio.seti.org/, and be sure to check out Are We A Blog?, the companion blog to the radio show.

Are We Alone for 06/29/09 - Humans in Space... ace... ace

Are We Alone - Humans in Space... ace... ace
ENCORE When the economy’s down, will humans still be going up – into space, that is? We investigate the future of human spaceflight at the International Astronautical Congress in Glasgow, Scotland and find out whether sending Homo sapiens to the Moon and Mars is still a good idea. Also, the chief of Virgin Galactic is happy to send you into space on a private flight – but it may max out your credit card.

Plus, an Apollo astronaut’s view from orbit… dining with South Korea’s first astronaut… and one of Britain’s great science fiction authors on how space science fuels the imagination.

Guests:

• Rusty Schweickart – Former NASA astronaut and Chairman of the Board of the B612 Foundation
• John Mankins – 25-year NASA veteran who managed the Agency’s exploration technology activities
• Sanjoy Som – Planetary scientist at the University of Washington, Seattle
• Will Whitehorn – President of Virgin Galactic
• Yi So-yeon – Biomechanical engineer and South Korean astronaut
• Stephen Baxter – Science fiction author, most recently of Weaver: Time’s Tapestry, Book Four

You can listen to this and other episodes at http://radio.seti.org/, and be sure to check out Are We A Blog?, the companion blog to the radio show.

Are We Alone for 10/27/08 - "War of the Worlds: Happy Anniversary!"

Are We Alone - "War of the Worlds: Happy Anniversary!"
It's been 70 years since malevolent Martians landed in Grover's Mill, New Jersey. Orson Welles described the dramatic events as they unfolded on CBS's Mercury Theater On The Air. Some listeners were so frightened, they became hysterical and fled their homes.
We revisit the famous radio adaptation of H.G. Well's novel and examine its cultural legacy. Also, what do modern invasion movies say about today's public fears?
Plus, the religious response to an alien invasion... how to protect Earth from Martian microbes... and, what Percival Lowell thought he saw on Mars.

Guests:

• Aeon Skoble - Professor of Philosophy at Bridgewater State College
• Kevin Schindler - Outreach Manager at the Lowell Observatory
• Brother Guy Consolmagno - Astronomer at the Vatican Observatory
• Margaret Race - Principal Investigator at the SETI Institute
• John Gosling - Writer

You can listen to this and other episodes at: http://radio.seti.org/ and be sure to check the Are We Alone Profile and Blog on MySpace.