Big Picture Science

You can get your point across in many ways: email, texts, or even face-to-face conversation (does anyone do that anymore?). But ants use chemical messages when organizing their ant buddies for an attack on your kitchen. Meanwhile, your human brain sends messages to other brains without you uttering a word. Hear these communication stories … how language evolved in the first place… why our brains love a good tale …and how Facebook is keeping native languages from going extinct. Guests: Mark Moffett - Entomologist, research associate at the Smithsonian Institution, author of Adventures among Ants: A Global Safari with a Cast of Trillions V.S. Ramachandran - Neuroscientist, director of the Center for Brain and Cognition at the University of California, San Diego Clare Murphy - Performance storyteller, Ireland Mark Pagel - Evolutionary biologist, University of Reading, U.K., and author of Wired for Culture: Origins of the Human Social Mind Margaret Noori - Poet and linguist at the University of Mich

It’s the perennial dream: build a better mousetrap, and the world will beat a path to your door. We go to San Jose’s famed Tech Museum to learn what it takes to turn a good idea into a grand success. Remember the Super Soaker squirt gun? Hear how its inventor is now changing the rules for solar energy. Where do good ideas come from? A Eureka moment in the bathtub? We’ll find out that it doesn’t happen so quickly – or easily. And finally, the life cycle of society-changing technologies, from the birth of radio to the future of the Internet. Inventions, inventors and innovation: all part of the mix on “Better Mousetrap.” Guests: Steven Johnson - Author of Where Good Ideas Come From: The Natural History of Innovation Lonnie Johnson - Inventor and former NASA engineer; CEO of Johnson Research and Development Company Tim Wu - Professor of Communication Law at Columbia University and author of The Master Switch: The Rise and Fall of Information Empires (Borzoi Books) Alana Connor - Vice President Content

On June 5, our sister planet Venus will slowly slide across the face of the sun. This will be the last transit of Venus until 2117, so there’s no subsequent chance to observe this celestial spectacular for anyone alive today. Join us for a special episode devoted to this rare event. Two centuries ago, nations were locked in a race to be the first to measure the Venus transit. From the first observation by the “father” of British astronomy to Captain Cook’s Tahitian expedition in the 18th century, meet the pioneers who were trying to nail down the scale of the cosmos Plus, tips for observing the 2012 transit … how the Kepler spacecraft uses transits to detect Earth-like worlds … and could there be life floating in Venusian clouds? Guests: Jay Pasachoff - Astronomer, Williams College Peter Aughton - Astronomer and author of The Transit of Venus: The Brief, Brilliant Life of Jeremiah Horrocks, Father of British Astronomy Nick Lomb - Former Curator of Astronomy, Sydney Observatory, and author of Transit of

We are all Martians … or could be, if, billions of years ago, Red Plant microbes fell to Earth and eventually evolved to us. Okay, that one’s a big “if.” But microbes can survive space travel. Meet the NASA officer whose task is to keep Earth, Mars - and the entire solar system –safe from hitchhiking bacteria. And, even if we’re not Martians (darn!), did life once thrive on the Red Planet ... and does it still today? Plus, why meteorites may be happy habitats for life. Guests: Catharine Conley - NASA planetary protection officer Chris McKay - Planetary scientist, NASA Ames Research Center Paul Davies - Director of the BEYOND: Center for Fundamental Concepts in Science at Arizona State University Aaron Burton - Astrobiologist, NASA Goddard Spaceflight Center Debbie Kolyer - Grants Manager, SETI Institute Descripción en español Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Random is as random does… makes sense doesn’t even that anyway in tune hear to randomness how lives rules. Brain chaos the drives, restoration role of help insight ecology may into randomness the, numbers sense of make statistics can’t why we or, ants not seem of erratic behavior why the may but is. Guests: Leonard Mlodinow - Theoretical physicist and author of The Drunkard's Walk: How Randomness Rules Our Lives (Vintage) Jon Chase - Biologist and director of the Tyson Research center at Washington University in St. Louis Lori Marino - Evolutionary biologist, Emory University Deborah Gordon - Biologist, Stanford University John Beggs - Physicist, Indiana University at Bloomington First released January 10, 2011 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The times are a’changing – rising temperatures, growing population, and new technology coming at us faster than a greased cheetah. So how will humans respond? Find out about future farming in the city – your vegetables might be grown in downtown, hi-rise greenhouses. Also, a population expert tells us how our planet can cope with billions more people, and the man who invented the term ‘cyberspace’ describes what the future might hold for the techno-savvy. Darwinian evolution takes a long time to accommodate to new environments. But Homo sapiens can beat that rap by wielding the right technology – and becoming early adapters. Guests: Dickson Despommier - Emeritus professor of public health and microbiology at Columbia University, author of The Vertical Farm: Feeding the World in the 21st Century William Gibson - Author, most recently, of Zero History Joel Cohen - Mathematician and biologist at Rockefeller University David DeGusta - Paleoanthropologist at the Paleoanthropology Institute in California

You are one-of-a-kind, unique, indispensible… oh, wait, never mind! It seems that computer over there can do what you do … faster and with greater accuracy. Yes, it’s silicon vs. carbon as intelligent, interactive machines out-perform humans in tasks beyond data-crunching. We’re not only building our successors, we’re developing emotional relationships with them. Find out why humans are hard-wired to be attached to androids. Also, the handful of areas where humans still rule… as pilots, doctors and journalists. Scratch that! Journalism is automated too – tune in for a news story written solely by a machine. Guests: Clifford Nass - Social psychologist at Stanford University and Director of the Communication Between Humans and Interactive Media Lab Tom Jones - United States astronaut, space consultant, and veteran of four Space Shuttle flights Chris Ford - Business director at Pixar Animation Studios Eric Van De Graaff -Cardiologist at Alegent Health James Bennighof - Vice Provost for Academic Affairs

So you weep at sappy commercials and give drivers the bird. Have no regrets: emotion is what makes us human! Discover the survival value in feeling disgust … why humans are terrible liars … and how despair fuels creativity. Also, mis-firing emotions and the emotional consequences of facial paralysis. And why E.T. will need to feel fear and joy to survive. Guests: Rachel Herz - Psychologist, author of That's Disgusting: Unraveling the Mysteries of Repulsion Paul Ekman - Psychologist, professor emeritis, University of California, San Francisco Kathleen Bogart - Psychologist, Tufts University Gordy Slack - Science writer Jonah Lehrer - Author of Imagine: How Creativity Works Descripción en español Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

If someone asks where you get off, you can now respond with precision. Satellites and computers spit out coordinates accurate to a few paces. And digital maps stand the Copernican principle on its head – putting you at the center of everything (how does it feel?). Find out how today’s maps are shuffling our world view. Also, how does a rat navigate a maze without GPS? Hear of the plotting that goes on in that tiny rodent brain. Plus, mapping the universe and pinpointing just where we are in cosmic time – lucky for us, human evolution is right on schedule. Guests: Josh Winn - Astronomer, MIT David Redish - Neuroscientist, University of Minnesota Mario Livio - Astrophysicist, Space Telescope Science Institute and author of Is God a Mathematician? Mike Goodchild - Professor of Geography, Center for Spatial Studies, University of California, Santa Barbara Descripción en español Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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 Descripción en español Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The future is no mystery … according to psychics who say they have special access to tomorrow’s events. For example, adherents to the Mayan doomsday prophecy warn that when 2012 ends, so will the world. Discover what’s behind claims of prognostication, and why – if it really works – no one is making a killing in Las Vegas. Also, could science divine the future? Programmers with the Living Earth Simulator say that with sufficient data, their billion-dollar computer project can predict world events. It’s Skeptic Check… but don’t take our word for it! Guests: Phil Plait - Skeptic and keeper of Discover Magazine’s blog, badastronomy.com Christopher French - Psychologist, Department of Psychology, Goldsmiths, University of London Guy Harrison - Writer and business owner, author of 50 Popular Beliefs That People Think Are True Alessandro Vespignani - Physicist, Northeastern University Ken Caldeira - Climate scientist in the Carnegie Institution Department of Global Ecology, Stanford University Sue Wi

They’re here! About one-third of all Americans believe we’re being visited by extraterrestrial spacecraft. But wait, you want evidence? UFO sighting are as prevalent as flies at a picnic. But proof of visitation – well, that’s really alien. Hear why belief in extraterrestrial UFOs persists … and why military sightings that “can’t be explained” don’t warrant rolling out a welcome mat for ET. Plus, the most fab UFOs in the movies! It’s Skeptic Check… but don’t take our word for it! Guests: Phil Plait - Keeper of the skeptical website badastronomy.com Benjamin Radford - Research Fellow with the Committee for Skeptical Inquiry and managing editor of “Skeptical Inquirer Science Magazine” Leslie Kean - Journalist, and author of UFOs: Generals, Pilots and Government Officials Go On the Record Susan Clancy - Psychology Researcher, Harvard University and author of Abducted: How People Come to Believe They Were Kidnapped by Aliens Thomas Bullard - Folkorist at Indiana University and author of The Myth and

Humans are pleasure-seekers – from food to sex to fine art. But do we know why we crave what we do? Discover the surprising motivation behind our desires. Also, why our hedonistic cousins, the bonobos, may hold the secret to world peace. Plus, self-awareness in monkeys: can they really pass the mirror test? Can bacteria, for that matter? Nope! But since you are, cell for cell, more microbe than human, you’ll want to know just how cognitively aware these critters are. Guests: Paul Bloom - Psychologist at Yale University and author of How Pleasure Works: The New Science of Why We Like What We Like Julie Neiworth - Psychologist, Carleton College Vanessa Woods - Research scientist at Duke University and author of Bonobo Handshake: A Memoir of Love and Adventure in the Congo. Find out more about helping bonobos. Jim Shapiro - Bacterial geneticist, University of Chicago First aired November 1, 2010. Descripción en español Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

A cup of coffee can leave you wired for the day. But a chip in your brain could wire you to a machine forever. Imagine manipulating a mouse without moving a muscle, and doing a Google search with your mind. Welcome to the future of the brain-machine interface. Don your EEG thinking-cap, and discover a high-tech thought game that may be the harbinger of machine relationships to come. Plus, the ultimate mapping project: the Human Connectdome Project aims to identify all the neural pathways in the human brain. It may help us understand what makes us human, but could it also point the way to making us smarter? And, what all this brain research reveals about the mind and free will – who, or what, is really in charge? Guests: Jan Rabaey - Professor of Electrical Engineering and Computer Sciences (EECS), University of California, Berkeley Arthur Toga - Neurologist at the Laboratory of Neuro Imaging, UCLA School of Medicine, and researcher on the Human Connectome Project Michael Gazzaniga - Neuroscientist, dir

What’s it all about? And we mean ALL. What makes up this vast sprawling cosmos? Why does it exist? Why do we exist? Why is there something rather than nothing? Ow, my head hurts! For possible answers, we travel to the moment after the Big Bang and discover all that came into being in those few minutes after the great flash: time, space, matter, and light. Plus, the bizarre stuff that makes up the bulk of the universe: dark energy and dark matter. Also, what we set in motion with the invention of the light blub. How artificial light lit up our homes, our cities and – inadvertently – our skies. Guests: Sean Carroll - Theoretical physicist at California Institute of Technology Leonard Susskind - Theoretical physicist, Stanford University Jane Brox - Author of Brilliant: The Evolution of Artificial Light Peter Fisher - Physicist, Massachusetts Institute of Technology Descripción en español First aired September 6, 2010 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Wait! Before you step outside... is it Friday the 13th? Any black cats prowling around? Broken a mirror lately? Homo sapiens are a superstitious lot. Find out why our brains are wired for irrational belief. Plus, from the 2012-end-of-the-world prophesy to colliding planets - why some people believe the universe is out to get ‘em. Also, Brains on Vacation takes on a challenge to relativity and our Hollywood skeptic has doubts about exorcism. It’s enough to make your head spin on Skeptic Check… but don’t take our word for it! Guests: Bruce Hood - Cognitive scientist at the University of Bristol in the U.K. and author of The Science of Superstition: How the Developing Brain Creates Supernatural Beliefs David Morrison - Director of the Carl Sagan Center for The Study of Life in The Universe at the SETI Institute and keeper of the NASA website Ask an Astrobiologist Martin Snow - Research Scientist, Laboratory for Atmospheric and Space Physics at the University of Colorado at Boulder Jim Underdown - Exec

Have you lost your senses? You’ll find them everywhere you look. Sensors respond to external stimuli – light, sound, temperature and much else – to help us make sense (ha!) of our universe. And more are on their way. “Ubiquitous sensing” is the term that describes a world blanketed by tiny sensors: on bridges, in paint and medicine bottles, and even in our brains! Discover where you’ll find sensors next. And, has the world’s largest detection device found the elusive particle that will help explain the universe? Where are you, Higgsy-wiggsy? Also, out-of-this world sensors have detected a possibly Earth-like planet. What’s next for the Kepler planet-hunters? Plus, DIY sensor kits, and, if computers can do all that, why can’t we send the odor of, say, freshly-baked bread over the Internet? The case for a smell-o-meter. Guests: Frank Close - Physicist at Oxford University, author of The Infinity Puzzle: Quantum Field Theory and the Hunt for an Orderly Universe Jan Rabaey - Professor of Electrical Engineeri

The term “bird flu” is a misnomer, scientists say, because almost all human influenza originates in our feathered friends. How it lands in you and spreads is another matter … Hear what it takes for a virus to go global, from a virus hunter who plans to stop epidemics in their tiny DNA tracks with an innovative global surveillance system. Also, why your genome is littered with fossil viruses of the past … the two largest viruses discovered so far, Mimi and Mega, square off … and, what it takes for ideas to “go viral.” Guests: Nathan Wolfe - Viral Ecologist, Director of the Global Viral Forecasting Initiative Robert Gifford - Evolutionary virologist, Aaron Diamond AIDS Research Center at Rockefeller University Vincent Racaniello - Virologist at Columbia University’s College of Physicians and Surgeons, host of the podcast, “This Week in Microbiology,” and author of the “Virology Blog” Bill Wasik - Senior Editor at Wired, author of And Then There's This: How Stories Live and Die in Viral Culture Descr

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 fiction 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, Seat

There’s no harm talking to your houseplant, but will your chatter really help it grow? We look at various biological claims, from whether plants feel pain to the ability of cats to predict earthquakes. Feline forecasters, anyone? Also, when does understanding biology have important implications for health and policy? The arguments for and against genetically modified foods, and the danger of “pox parties” as a replacement for childhood vaccination. Plus, the history and current state of scientific literacy in the United States. When did we stop trusting science? Guests: Andy Michael - Seismologist with the U.S. Geological Survey in Menlo Park, California Ron Lindsay - President of the Center for Inquiry, headquartered in Amherst, NY Steven Novella - Clinical neurologist and Director of General Neurology at Yale University School of Medicine; host of the Skeptics Guide to the Universe podcast Shawn Lawrence Otto - Author of Fool Me Twice: Fighting the Assault on Science in America Chelsea Specht -