Big Picture Science

They say that the experience of watching a total eclipse is so profound, you’re not the same afterward. If life-changing events are your thing and you’re in the lower 48 states on August 21st, let us help you make the most of viewing the Great American Solar Eclipse. Learn the basics of where to be and what to bring, even on short notice. No eclipse glasses? Find out why a kitchen colander is an excellent Plan B. Also, the strange behavior of animals and private jet pilots during an eclipse. The latter is making the FAA sweat. Plus, how 1878 eclipse fever inspired Thomas Edison and astronomer Maria Mitchell, and what was at stake for them scientifically. And today, with astronauts able to view the Sun from space, what new science can we still learn by eclipse expeditions on Earth? And, NASA turns up the heat on solar studies with a probe to within a hair’s breadth of the Sun.  Guests: David Baron - Author of “American Eclipse: A Nation’s Epic Race to Catch the Shadow of the Moon and Win the Glory of the Wor

Baby, it’s cold outside… but you still might want to be there. Some people claim that chilly temperatures are good for your health, and proponents of cryotherapy suggest you have a blast – of sub-zero air – to stave off wrinkles and perhaps halt aging altogether.  Meanwhile the field of cryonics offers the ultimate benefit by suggesting that you put future plans – and your body – on ice when you die. That way you might be revived when the technology to do so is developed. So, will a chill wind blow you some good? Possibly, as scientists are discovering that the body can endure colder temperatures than previously thought. We examine the science of extreme cold and claims of its salubrious benefits. It’s our monthly look at critical thinking, Skeptic Check … but don’t take our word for it!  Guests:  Seth Abramovitch - Senior writer at the Hollywood Reporter Gordon Giesbrecht - Professor of thermal physiology, University of Manitoba, Winnipeg, Canada Grant Shoffstall - Sociologist, Williams College Lear

No one knows what the future will bring, but science fiction authors are willing to take a stab at imagining it. We take our own stab at imagining them imagining it. Find out why the genre of science fiction is more than a trippy ride through a bizarre, hi-tech world, but a way to assess and vote on our possible shared future.  Also, an astronomer learns how many rejection slips it takes before becoming a published science fiction author …. what author Bruce Sterling wants to get off his chest … and what the joke about the neutron walking into a bar to ask the price of beer has in common with H.G. Wells, Ursula K. Le Guin, and Ridley Scott. Oh, and the price of beer? Bartender: “For you, no charge.” Guests: Ed Finn - Director of the Center for Science and the Imagination at Arizona State University Andrew Fraknoi – Chair of the astronomy department at Foothill College. His story, "The Cave in Arsia Mons", is in "Building Red", here. His list of astronomically correct science fiction is here. Bruce Sterl

You can’t pick your parents. But soon you may be able to change the DNA they gave you. CRISPR technology is poised to take DNA editing to new levels of precision and speed. Imagine deleting genes from your body that you don’t like and inserting the ones you want. The swap might not even require a fancy lab. Biohackers are already tinkering with genes in their homes.  Find out how CRISPR technology might change everything when the genetic lottery is no longer destiny.  Plus, a cardiologist identifies the troublesome genes that once gave us evolutionary advantages but today are fueling obesity, depression and other modern illness. Guests: Lee Goldman – Cardiologist, dean of Columbia University Medical Center, author of “Too Much of a Good Thing; How Four Key Survival Traits Are Now Killing Us”  Jacob Corn – Scientific director, Innovative Genomics Initiative, University of California, Berkeley Katelynn Kazane – Research assistant, Innovative Genomics Initiative, University of California, Berkeley Josiah

It was “one giant leap for mankind,” but the next step forward may require going back. Yes, back to the moon. Only this time the hardware may come from China. Or perhaps Europe. In fact, it seems that the only developed nation not going lunar is the U.S. Find out why our pockmarked satellite is such hot real estate, and whether it has the raw materials we’d need to colonize it. A new theory of how the moon formed may tell us what’s below its dusty surface. But – before packing your bags – you’ll want to skim Article IX of the U.N. treaty on planetary protection. We can’t go contaminating any old planetary body, can we?   Guests: James Oberg - Former Space Shuttle Mission Control engineer and space policy expert Clive Neal - Geologist, University of Notre Dame Edward Young - Cosmochemist, geochemist, UCLA Margaret Race - Biologist and research scientist at the SETI Institute Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In astronomy, the rule of thumb was simple: If you can’t see it with a telescope, it’s not real. Seeing is believing. Well, tell that to the astronomers who discovered dark energy, or dark matter … or, more recently, Planet 9.  And yet we have evidence that all these things exist (although skepticism about the ninth – or is it tenth? – planet still lingers). Find out how we know what we know about the latest cosmic discoveries – even if we can’t see them directly. The astronomer who found Planet 9 – and killed Pluto – offers his evidence.  And, a speculative scenario suggests that dark matter helped do away with the dinosaurs.  Plus, the winner of the 2015 Nobel Prize in Physics explains why neutrinos that are zipping through your body right now may hold clues to the origin of the universe.  Guests: Michael Brown - Astronomer, California Institute of Technology Michael Lemonick - science writer and an editor at Scientific American magazine Lisa Randall - Theoretical physicist, Harvard University, autho

Only two of the following three creations have had lasting scientific or cultural impact: The telescope … the Sistine Chapel ceiling … the electric banana. Find out why one didn’t make the cut as a game-changer, and why certain eras and places produce a remarkable flowering of creativity (we’re looking at you, Athens).  Plus, Yogi Berra found it difficult to make predictions, especially about the future, but we try anyway. A technology expert says he’s identified the next Silicon Valley. Hint: its focus is on genetic – not computer – code and its language in the lab is Mandarin. We got the past and the future covered. Where’s innovation now? We leave that to the biohackers who are remaking the human body one sensory organ at a time. Are you ready for eye-socket cameras and mind readers? Guests: Eric Weiner - Author of “The Geography of Genius; A Search for the World’s Most Creative Places from Ancient Athens to Silicon Valley” Alec Ross – Technology policy expert, former Senior Advisor for Innovation f

Exploration: It’s exciting, it’s novel, and you can’t always count on a round-trip ticket. You can boldly go, but you might not come back. That’s no showstopper for robotic explorers, though. Spacecraft go everywhere. While humans have traveled no farther than the moon, our mechanical proxies are climbing a mountain on Mars, visiting an ice ball far beyond Pluto, plunging through the rings of Saturn, and landing on a comet. Oh, and did we mention they’re also bringing rock and roll to the denizens of deep space, in case they wish to listen. We consider some of the most daring explorers since the 16th century – made of metal and plastic - venturing to places where no one else could go. What have they done, what are they doing, and at what point do they declare “mission accomplished” and head for that great spacecraft graveyard in the sky? Guests: Matt Tiscareno– Planetary Scientist at the SETI Institute Mark Showalter– Senior Research Scientist, SETI Institute Jonathan Amos– BBC Senior Writer and Science

Eat dark chocolate. Don’t drink coffee. Go gluten-free. If you ask people for diet advice, you’ll get a dozen different stories. Ideas about what’s good for us sprout up faster than alfalfa plants (which are still healthy … we think). How can you tell if the latest is fact or fad? We’ll help you decide, and show you how to think skeptically about popular trends. One example: a study showing that gluten-free diets didn’t ease digestive problems in athletes. Also, medical researchers test whether wearable devices succeed in getting us off the couch and a nutritionist explains how things got so confusing.  Plus, why part of our confusion may be language. Find out why one cook says that no foods are “healthy,” not even kale. It’s Skeptic Check … but don’t take our word for it! Guests: Dana Lis - Sports dietician, PhD student, University of Tasmania Michael Ruhlman - Cook, author of many books about cooking as well as the recent trio of novellas, In Short Measures Beth Skwarecki - Freelance health and scie

Ask anyone what extraordinary powers they’d love to have, and you’re sure to hear “be able to fly.” We’ve kind of scratched that itch with airplanes. But have we gone as far as we can go, or are better flying machines in our future? And whatever happened to our collective dream of flying cars?  We look at the evolution - and the future - of flight. Animals and insects have taught us a lot about the mechanics of becoming airborne. But surprises remain. For example, bats may flit around eccentrically, but they are actually more efficient fliers than birds.   Meanwhile, new technology may change aviation when self-healing material repairs structural cracks in mid-flight.  And a scientist who worked on flying cars for DARPA says he’s now working on the next best thing.  Guests:                                                     Merlin Tuttle – Ecologist and founder of Bat Conservation International. Executive director of Merlin Tuttle’s Bat Conservation and author of The Secret Life of Bats: My Adventures with

Admit it – the universe is cool, but weird. Just when you think you’ve tallied up all the peculiar phenomena that the cosmos has to offer – it throws more at you. We examine some of the recent perplexing finds. Could massive asteroid impacts be as predictable as phases of the moon? Speaking of moons – why are some of Pluto’s spinning like turbine-powered pinwheels? Plus, we examine a scientist’s claim of evidence for parallel universes. And, could the light patterns from a distant star be caused by alien mega-structures?  Guests: Mike Rampino - Professor of biology and environmental studies at New York University Mark Showalter - Senior research scientist at the SETI Institute in Mountain View, California Ranga-Ram Chary - Astronomer, U.S. Planck Data Center, California Institute of Technology Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Obesity, diabetes, heart disease … maybe even Alzheimer’s. Could these modern scourges have a common denominator? Some people believe they do: sugar. But is this accusation warranted? We talk with a journalist who has spent two decades reporting on nutrition science, and while he says there’s still not definitive proof that sugar makes us sick, he can make a strong case for it. Also, how a half-century ago the sugar industry secretly paid Harvard scientists to shift the culprit for heart disease from their product to dietary fat. We hear how the companies borrowed from the playbook of Big Tobacco. So is your sweet tooth a threat to your health? Guests: Gary Taubes– Investigative reporter and the author of The Case Against Sugar. Cristin Kearns– Postdoctoral fellow at the University of California, San Francisco. Naomi Oreskes– Professor of the History of Science and Affiliated Professor of Earth and Planetary Sciences, Harvard University, and the co-author of Merchants of Doubt. Learn more about your a

ENCORE Congratulations, you have a big brain. Evolution was good to Homo sapiens. But make some room on the dais. Research shows that other animals, such as crows, may not look smart, but can solve complex problems.  Meanwhile human engineers are busily developing cogitating machines.  Intelligent entities abound – but are they all capable of actual thought?   Hear how crows fashion tools from new materials and can recognize you by sight. Also, how an IBM computer may one day outthink the engineers who designed it.   Plus, scientists who simulated a rat brain in a computer, neuron-by-neuron, look ahead to modeling the human brain. And, what brain disorders teach us about the brain and our sense of self. Guests: John Marzluff – Professor of wildlife science, University of Washington and the author of In the Company of Crows and Ravens Idan Segev – Professor of computation and neuroscience, Hebrew University, Jerusalem Jeff Welser – Vice president and Lab Director, IBM Almaden Research Center Anil Ana

ENCORE Meet your new relatives.  The fossilized bones of Homo naledi are unique for their sheer number, but they may also be fill a special slot in our ancestry: the first of our genus Homo.  Sporting modern hands and feet but only a tiny brain, this creature may link us and our ape-like ancestors.    Some anthropologists hail the discovery as that of a new hominid species. Not all their colleagues agree. Find out what’s at stake in the debate.  Also, the scientist who helped retrieve the fossils describes her perilous crawl through a cave with only ten inches of elbow room. And a radical theory about what these old bones might mean: could they be from a burial two million years ago? Guests: Marina Elliott  – Paleoanthropologist, University of Witwatersrand, South Africa Carl Ward – Biological anthropologist, University of Missouri John Hawks- Anthropologist, University of Wisconsin, Madison Tim White - Anthropologist, University of California, Berkeley Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaph

She’s among the most famous missing persons in history. On the eightieth anniversary of Amelia Earhart’s disappearance, mystery still shrouds her fate. What happened during the last leg of her round-the-world trek? Theories abound. Perhaps she ran out of fuel, and plunged into the ocean … or was captured by the Japanese. A non-profit international organization, TIGHAR, suggests she was a castaway, and offers up a new analysis of bones found on a Pacific atoll during the time of the Second World War. Their researchers will return to this possible landing spot to seek more clues this summer. We consider these theories and weigh the new evidence surrounding Earhart’s puzzling last flight. Also, why are we uncomfortable with open-ended mysteries? Guests: Andrew McKenna– Researcher with TIGHAR (The International Group for Historic Aircraft Recovery) Claire Maldarelli– Editor at Popular Science Magazine Andrew Maynard– Director of the Risk Innovation Lab, Arizona State University John Norberg– Journalist a

Face it – your mug is not entirely yours. It’s routinely uploaded to social media pages and captured on CCTV cameras with – and without – your consent. Sophisticated facial recognition technology can identify you and even make links to your personal data. There are few places where you’re safe from scrutiny. Find out how a computer analyzes the geometry of a face and why even identical twins don’t fool its discerning gaze. Proponents say that biometrics are powerful tools to stop crime, but the lack of regulation concerns privacy groups. Do you want to be identified – and your habits tracked – whenever you step outside?  Plus, astronomy meets forensics. How analyzing photos and paintings using weather records, sky charts, and phases of the moon help solve intriguing mysteries, including the history of an iconic V.J. Day photo. Guests: •  Donald Olson – Physicist, astronomer, Texas State University   •  Marios Savvides – Computer engineer, Director, CyLab Biometrics Center, Carnegie Mellon University •  Alva

The light bulb needs changing. Edison’s incandescent bulb, virtually unaltered for more than a century, is now being eclipsed by the LED. The creative applications for these small and efficient devices are endless: on tape, on wallpaper, even in contact lenses. They will set the world aglow. But is a brighter world a better one? Discover the many ingenious applications for LEDs and the brilliance of the 19th century scientist, James Clerk Maxwell, who first discovered just what light is. But both biologists and astronomers are alarmed by the disappearance of dark.  Find out how light pollution is making us and other animals sick and – when was the last time you saw a starry night? Guests: • Ian Ferguson – Engineer, dean of the College of Engineering and Computing, Missouri University of Science and Technology • Jay Neitz – Professor, department of ophthalmology, University of Washington • Martin Hendry - Professor, gravitational astrophysics and cosmology, University of Glasgow • John Barentine  - Program ma

The moon jellyfish has remarkable approach to self-repair. If it loses a limb, it rearranges its remaining body parts to once again become radially symmetric. Humans can’t do that, but a new approach that combines biology with nanotechnology could give our immune systems a boost. Would you drink a beaker of nanobots if they could help you fight cancer? Also, materials science gets into self-healing with a novel concrete that fixes its own cracks.  Plus, why even the most adaptive systems can be stretched to their limit. New research suggests that the oceans will take a millennium to recover from climate change.  Guests: •  Lea Goentoro – Professor of biology, California Institute of Technology •  Michael Abrams - Biologist, California Institute of Technology •  Sarah Moffitt – Paleo-oceanographer, Bodega Marine Laboratory, University of California, Davis •  Mark Miodownik – Materials scientist, director of the Institute of Making, University College, London. Author of “Stuff Matters: Exploring the Marvelous

Shhh. Is someone coming? Okay, we’ll make this quick. There are a lot of scary things going on in the world. Naturally you’re fearful. But sometimes fear has a sister emotion: suspicion. A nagging worry about what’s really going on. You know, the stuff they aren’t telling you. Don’t share this, but we have evidence that both our fear response and our tendency to believe conspiracy theories are evolutionarily adaptive.  A sociologist who studies fear tells us why we’re addicted to its thrill when we control the situation, and how the media exploit our fear of losing control to keep us on edge. Plus, we examine some alien “cover-ups” and discover why it’s not just the tinfoil hat crowd that falls for outrageous plots. It’s Skeptic Check …. but you didn’t hear it from us! Guests: Margee Kerr – Sociologist who studies fear, author of Scream: Chilling Adventures in the Science of Fear Rob Brotherton – Psychologist, adjunct assistant professor at Barnard College, and author of Suspicious Minds: Why We Believe

What you can’t see may astound you. The largest unexplored region of Earth is the ocean. Beneath its churning surface, oceanographers have recently discovered the largest volcano in the world – perhaps in the solar system. Find out what is known – and yet to be discovered – about the marine life of the abyss, and how a fish called the bristlemouth has grabbed the crown for “most numerous vertebrate on Earth” from the chicken. Plus, the menace of America’s Cascadia fault, which has the potential to unleash a devastating magnitude 9 earthquake.  Follow Dr. Sager’s voyage back to Tamu Massif in Fall 2015. Guests  • Bruce Robison – Deep sea biologist, Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute • William Sager – Marine geophysicist, Earth and Atmospheric Sciences, University of Houston • Chris Goldfinger  - Marine geologist, geophysicist, paleo-seismologist, Oregon State University  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices