Synopsis
Big Picture Science weaves together a universe of big ideas from robots to memory to antimatter to dinosaurs. Tune in and make contact with science. We broadcast and podcast every week. bigpicturescience.org
Episodes
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NASA or What?
07/11/2011 Duration: 53min“Making space for everyone” could be NASA’s motto. But as commercial spaceships get ready to blast off, that populist idea is being tested. Space cowboys in the private sector say they’re the ones who can provide unfettered access to space, for tourists and scientists alike. Meet a scientist who already has a ticket to ride on SpaceShip Two and discover what he hopes to learn about asteroids during his five minutes of weightlessness. Plus, NASA in motion: it’s back to the moon as the GRAIL mission probes the interior of our lovely lunar satellite. Also, can you dig it? The rover Curiosity can. It’s headed to Mars to hunt for clues to alien life … with a jackhammer. Also, as the Hubble Space Telescope shuts down, the James Webb Space Telescope revs up. Or does it? The telescope is designed to study the birth of galaxies and hunt for evidence of water on far away worlds. But will Congress pull the plug? Guests: James Oberg - former Space Shuttle Mission Control engineer, and space expert Maria Zuber - Plane
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Bug Off!
31/10/2011 Duration: 52minWhat you can’t see … can make you sick. Humans have been battling viruses and bacteria since the beginning of time. The malaria parasite has been keeping deadly company with us for 500,000 years. King Tut had it and so did Julius Caesar. What’s keeping this bug going today? Also, how disease almost halted the most ambitious engineering project in the world … how elite disease detectives puzzle out perplexing epidemics … And – could tiny bugs from spaaace, ace, ace be our ancestors? Guests: Sonia Shah - Author of The Fever: How Malaria Has Ruled Humankind for 500,000 Years Michael Conniff - Historian, director of Global Studies at San Jose State University, and author of Black Labor on a White Canal: Panama, 1904-1981 (Pitt Latin American Series) Mark Pendergrast - Author of Inside the Outbreaks: The Elite Medical Detectives of the Epidemic Intelligence Service Robert Zubrin - President of the Mars Society Descripción en español First aired August 2, 2010 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit meg
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Happy Daze
17/10/2011 Duration: 53minCalling all pessimists! Your brain is wired for optimism! Yes, deep down, we’re all Pollyannas. So wipe that scowl off your face and discover the evolutionary advantage of thinking positive. Also, enjoy other smile-inducing research suggesting that if you crave happiness, you should do the opposite of what your brain tells you to do. Plus, why a “well-being index” may replace Dow Jones as a metric for success … a Twitter study that predicts your next good mood … and whether our furry and finned animal friends can experience joy. Guests: Frank Drake - Astronomer and author of the Drake Equation Tali Sharot - Cognitive neuroscientist at the Wellcome Trust Centre for Neuroimaging at the University College London and the author of The Optimism Bias: A Tour of the Irrationally Positive Brain Michael Macy - Sociologist at Cornell University His team’s Twitter study: http://timeu.se/ Carol Graham - Economist at the Brookings Institution and author of The Pursuit of Happiness: An Economy of Well-Being
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Skeptic Check, Beast Of
03/10/2011 Duration: 54minZombies, aliens, Bigfoot, oh my!! We've covered - or rather uncovered - them all and more on Skeptic Check, our monthly look of critical thinking. And now we've collected enough strange encounters to assemble a sordid retrospective of sorts. Sharpen your brain, it's Skeptic Check, Beast Of. But don't take our word for it! Guests: Phil Plait - Skeptic and keeper of Discover Magazine’s blog, badastronomy.com 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 Susan Jacoby - Author of The Age of American Unreason Steve Silberman - Contributing editor, Wired Magazine, author of “The Placebo Problem” in the September 2009 issue Mary Pope-Handy - Estate Agent, Silicon Valley and keeper of the website hauntedrealestate.com Jim Underdown - Executive Director, Center for Inquiry, West – Los Angeles Paul Offit - Pediatrician, Chief of Infectious Diseases at Children’s Hospital of Phil
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Rend Me Your Ears
26/09/2011 Duration: 51minShh - can you keep it down? Nope. Not unless you want to do away with civilization. Our buzzing, humming, whirling, machine-driven world is a poster child for technological progress, right? As is hearing loss. It’s driven one man to search the world for silence. We’ll hear what he didn’t hear, and what Einstein predicted we should hear in deep space, where gravitational waves may reveal the hidden sounds of the universe, including the birth of black holes. Guests: George Foy - Author of Zero Decibels: The Quest for Absolute Silence Garret Keizer - Author of The Unwanted Sound of Everything We Want Craig Hogan - Director for Particle Astrophysics at the Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory Descripción en español First aired July 5, 2010 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
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Seth's Tool Shed
05/09/2011 Duration: 52minAnyone who does gardening knows that life is tough. It’s also ancient – the first living things appeared on this planet nearly as soon as our world was habitable. We consider life on real worlds – like Earth and Mars – as well as fictional ones, such as the desert planet from the movie “Dune”. We’ll hear about a new scheme to find Martians, and practical approaches to coping with climate change. And is Pluto seeking revenge? The unmasking of a fourth moon around this former planet! We’re making some lively discoveries in Seth’s Tool Shed on Big Picture Science. Guests: Philip Duffy - Physicist and senior scientist at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory Kevin Zahnle - Planetary scientist at the NASA Ames Research Center David Summers - Astrobiologist at the SETI Institute Christopher Carr - Researcher in the Department of Earth, Atmospheric, and Planetary Sciences at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology Mark Showalter - Research scientist at the SETI Institute Descripción en español Learn m
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Into the Unknown
29/08/2011 Duration: 54minDuring the great age of exploration men risked their lives to set foot upon unknown lands, whether in the humid jungles of Peru or on the barren ice cap of the South Pole. We'll hear those dramatic tales… … but also where modern exploration is taking us. Could it be to the deepest, darkest part of the sea? Or to space? Discover how to build a space suit that will let you move like an athlete on Mars. Also, why some say that the ultimate frontier requires no packing and no travel: voyages into the human brain. Guests: Dava Newman - Professor of Aeronautics and Astronautics Engineering Systems, MIT David Eagleman - Neuroscientist, Baylor College of Medicine and author of Incognito: The Secret Lives of the Brain Mark Adams - Author of Turn Right at Machu Picchu Edward Larson - Author of An Empire of Ice: Scott, Shackleton and the Heroic Age of Antarctic Science Liz Taylor - President, Deep Ocean Exploration and Research, Alameda, CA Descripción en español Learn more about your ad choices. Visit meg
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Home Brew Science
27/08/2011 Duration: 51minThe recipe for being a scientist was easy in the old days… just be born into a rich family, have an interest in nature and plenty of time to indulge yourself. But are the days of gentlemen scientists over? Maybe not. We go to the Maker Faire and check out how small-scale projects have big-scale ambitions. Also, how everyday experience often tells us something profound about the universe. Guests: Spencer Weart – Former director of the Center for the History of Physics, at the American Institute of Physics Tim Russ – Actor, and the character Tuvok on Star Trek Voyager Marcus Chown – Science writer and author of The Matchbox That Ate a Forty-Ton Truck: What Everyday Things Tell Us About the Universe Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
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Swarm in Here... or Is It Just Me?
22/08/2011 Duration: 51minAn ant … can’t … move a rubber tree plant… but the colony can. As a group, ants are an efficient, organized, can-do bunch. And a model for humans trying to manage complex systems. Find out about the eerie collective intelligence of animals, and how an MIT researcher is hoping to put humans to work collaboratively to solve problems like climate change. Also … hear how research into flocking behavior helps Hollywood film a herd of stampeding dinosaurs. Guests: Steve Strogatz - Applied mathematician at Cornell University and author of Sync: How Order Emerges From Chaos In the Universe, Nature, and Daily Life Craig Reynolds - Senior researcher for Sony Computer Entertainment Thomas Malone - Director of the Center for Collective Intelligence at MIT Iain Couzin - Biologist at Princeton University Descripción en español Originally aired June 21, 2010 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
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Skeptic Check: Plotting Along
15/08/2011 Duration: 52minIt’s been ten years since the fall of the Twin Towers, but some still believe that the attack was an inside job. They’re not the only ones to buy into a conspiratorial view of world events. Others deny President Obama’s American birth… link autism with vaccines… and even claim that the fluo ride in our drinking water is there to control our minds. Is it the truth - or the fringe groups - that are “out there?” Find out why some tinfoil hat ideas never go away. Also, the roots of rational argument: did our brains evolve to seek the truth… or just win arguments? It’s Skeptic Check… but don’t take our word for it! Guests: Jonathan Kay - Managing editor of National Post in Canada and author of Among the Truthers: A Journey Through America’s Growing Conspiracist Underground Michael Shermer - Founding Publisher of Skeptic Magazine and author of The Believing Brain: From Ghosts and Gods to Politics and Conspiracies – How We Construct Beliefs and Reinforce Them As Truths Phil Plait - Skeptic and keeper of Disc
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Written in Code
08/08/2011 Duration: 52minGenes – what are they good for? Absolutely… something. But not everything. Your “genius” genes need to be turned on – and your environment determines that. Find out how to unleash your inner-Einstein, and what scientists learned from studying the famous physicist’s brain. Also, the bizarre notion that your children inherit not just your genes, but also the consequences of your habits – smoking, stress, diet, and other behaviors that turn the genes on. Plus Francis Collins on affordable personal genomes, and a man who decoded his own DNA in under a week. Guests: Francis Collins - Geneticist, Director of the National Institutes of Health David Shenk - Journalist, and author of The Genius in All of Us: Why Everything You’ve Been Told About Genetics, Talent and IQ is Wrong Stephen Quake - Biophysicist, Stanford University Dean Falk - Anthropologist and Senior Scholar at the School For Advanced Research in Santa Fe, New Mexico Descripción en español Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/ad
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Cell! Cell!
02/08/2011 Duration: 54minLive forever? Both cancer cells and stem cells can make a claim to immortality. Left unchecked, tumors will grow indefinitely. And stem cells offer the promise of non-stop rejuvenation. We’ll find out whether the surprising discovery of stem cells in the brain really can keep our thinking organ young. And we’ll hear the remarkable story of Henrietta Lacks, the woman who unwittingly donated tissue to science in 1951, and whose cancer cells are still grown in laboratories around the world today. Guests: Rebecca Skloot - Journalist and author of The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks Fred Gage - Neurobiologist at the Salk Institute Randy Schekman - Molecular and cell biologist at the University of California, Berkeley Descripción en español Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
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Water the Chances
25/07/2011 Duration: 51minWater, water everywhere. But most of it is sea water - you can’t drink it. Discover the most promising technologies for desalination and why solar cells are key. Also, how astronauts filter “water-closet water” to drink it, and how to turn a salt pond back to a wetland. Plus, from Roman aqueducts to modern-day pumps: a history of quenching human thirst. And, why NASA strives to “follow the water.” Guests: Brian Fagan - Anthropologist at the University of California, Santa Barbara, author of Elixir: A History of Water and Humankind John Bourgeois - Biologist and Executive Project Manager, South Bay Salt Pond Restoration Project Michael Meyer - Lead scientist for the Mars Exploration Program Farouk El-Baz - Geologist and Director of the Center for Remote Sensing, Boston University Michael Flynn - Principal investigator for NASA’s advanced life support branch, Ames Research Center Descripción en español Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
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Know Laughing Matter
18/07/2011 Duration: 52minHa ha ha ha ha ha ha. It’s nearly impossible to fake a laugh. Yet, humans will laugh even if something isn’t funny. Discover the evolutionary function of cracking up and meet the other species that love to giggle (and monkey around). Also, hilarious science comedy. Yes, science comedy. Plus, teaching machines to write punch lines… and stretching – and splitting – your sides with laughter yoga. Guests: Frans de Waal - Primatologist, Emory University and the Yerkes Primate Center in Atlanta, Georgia Brian Malow - Science comedian Robert Provine - Neuroscientist, University of Maryland, Baltimore, author of Laughter: A Scientific Investigation Tony Veale - Computer scientist and natural language processing researcher. University College, Dublin, Ireland Tommy Westerfield - Instructor, We Are Laughter Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
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The Big Picture
11/07/2011 Duration: 52minHow did life begin? What’s the universe made of, and what’s the nature of consciousness? These are truly some of the biggest puzzlers in science, but answers are in the offing. We consider the modern-day hunt for life beyond Earth, as well as a new theory of consciousness: could it be merely an illusion to entertain us and make our lives more worthwhile? Also, after thousands of years of examining the heavens, are we finally learning the true nature of the cosmos? Guests: Marc Kaufman - Reporter for the Washington Post, and author of First Contact: Scientific Breakthroughs in the Hunt for Life Beyond Earth Carolyn Porco - Planetary scientist and leader of the Cassini Imaging Team Michael Russell - Research Scientist at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory Nicholas Humphrey - Theoretical psychologist and author of Soul Dust: The Magic of Consciousness Saul Perlmutter - Physicist at the University of California, Berkeley and senior scientist at Lawrence Berkeley National laboratory Descripción en español
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Alien Invasion
20/06/2011 Duration: 54minThey’re heeeere! Yes, aliens are wreaking havoc and destruction throughout the land. But these aliens are Arizona beetles, and the land is in California, where the invasive insects are a serious problem. And what of space-faring aliens? We have those too: how to find them, and how to protect our planet – and theirs. From Hollywood to SETI’s hi-tech search for extraterrestrials, aliens are invading Are We Alone? Guests: Paul Davies - Physicist and author of The Eerie Silence: Renewing Our Search for Alien Intelligence Frank Drake- Senior Scientist, SETI Institute Andy Ihnatko - Journalist and tech blogger Margaret Race - Biologist and Principal Investigator at the SETI Institute Margaret McLean - Director of bioethics at the Markkula Center for Ethics, Santa Clara University Mark Hoddle - Biological Control Specialist at the University of California, Riverside Vanessa Lopez - Graduate student in entomology, University of California, Riverside Descripción en español Learn more about your ad choi
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Physics Phrontiers
16/05/2011 Duration: 53minPhysics means getting physical if you’re tackling the biggest, most mysterious questions in the universe. Stoic scientists endure the driest, darkest, coldest spots on the planet to find out how it all began and why there’s something rather than nothing. From the bottom of an old iron mine to the top of the Andes, we’ll hear their stories. Plus, Steven Weinberg on this weird stuff called dark energy, and Leonard Susskind sees double, no, triple, no, …infinite universes. Guests: Anil Ananthaswamy - Corresponding editor for New Scientist magazine in London and author of The Edge of Physics: A Journey to Earth's Extremes to Unlock the Secrets of the Universe Steven Weinberg - Nobel Prize-winning physicist at University of Texas at Austin and author of Lake Views: This World and the Universe Leonard Susskind - Professor of theoretical physics, Stanford University André de Gouvêa - Associate professor of physics, Northwestern University Descripción en español Learn more about your ad choices. Visit mega
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Thanks for the Memories
09/05/2011 Duration: 53minMemories are slippery things – some are crystal clear, others more like a muddy pool, and some… well, they seem to vanish completely. Scientists admit that memory is all very complicated, but one piece of the puzzle lies in how we age – we’ll hear the latest research. Meanwhile, meet the man who digitally logged his every waking moment - and why maybe the secret to happiness isn’t in remembering but in forgetting. Plus, the case for deleting data from your hard-drive… and from your brain itself. Guests: Adam Gazzaley - Director of the Neuroscience Imaging Center at University of California, San Francisco Gordon Bell - Principal researcher at Microsoft Research Jim Gemmell - Senior researcher at Microsoft Research James McGaugh - Neurobiologist at the University of California, Irvine Viktor Mayer-Schönberger - Director of the Information and Innovation Policy Research Center at the National University of Singapore’s Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy, and the author of Delete: The Virtue of Forgett
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Skeptic Check: Mayhem and Octoberhem
02/05/2011 Duration: 54minThe end is nigh. Only, on which nigh should we rely? According to billboards, Judgment Day is in May and the end of the world follows months later. But other authorities claim 2012 as the apocalyptic year, as predicted by the ancient Mayans. It’s a busy time for doomsday prophecy. Find out what’s driving these pessimistic predictions and whether it’s time to cash in your stock portfolio. Meanwhile, a survey of the real threats to Earth, and indeed to the universe, from asteroids, exploding stars, or a big cosmic rip. And the lingering menace of atomic weapons... Is nuclear war inevitable or can intelligence and political will forestall atomic Armageddon? Finally, why everything’s going to be alright! An optimist’s tour of the future. It’s Skeptic Check, our monthly look at critical thinking on Are We Alone. Guests: Phil Plait - Astronomer, and author of the Bad Astronomy blog at Discover Magazine Ron Rosenbaum - Author of How the End Begins: The Road to a Nuclear World War III Catherine Wessinger - Pro
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Big, Really Big
18/04/2011 Duration: 53minThe universe is big – really big.* Galaxies, for instance, are often large enough to hold a trillion stars. But how did these heavenly heavyweights come to be? Hear how still-mysterious dark matter is implicated in the birth of galaxies. Also, gamma ray bursts - explosions more energetic than anything since the Big Bang - take place somewhere in the visible universe every day. What are they, and could they obliterate life on Earth? And, the biggest cosmic mystery de jour: dark energy. Why new, super-size telescopes may finally reveal just what it is. We’re living large on “Big, Really Big.” *appreciative nod to Douglas Adams Guests: George Djorgovski - Astronomer, California Institute of Technology Sandra Faber - Astronomer and Chair of Astronomy and Astrophysics, University of California at Santa Cruz; leads the CANDELS survey that uses the Hubble Space Telescope to image more than 250,000 distant galaxies Daniel Perley - Astronomer, University of California at Berkeley Ed Stone - Former director of