Big Picture Science

The extra-solar planet count is more than 400 and rising. Before long we may find an Earth-like planet around another star. If we do, and can visit, what next? Stake out our claim on an alien world or tread lightly and preserve it? We’ll look at what our record on Earth says about our planet stewardship. Also, whether a massive technological fix can get us out of our climate mess. Plus, what we can learn about extreme climate from our neighbors in the solar system, Venus and Mars. Guests: Ken Caldeira - Climate scientist from the Carnegie Institution’s Department of Global Ecology at Stanford University Keith Cowing - Biologist, and editor of NASAwatch.com Kathryn Denning - Anthropologist at York University in Canada Gary Davis - Director of the Joint Astronomy Center in Hilo, Hawaii David Grinspoon - Curator of the Denver Museum of Science and Nature Descripción en español Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Love makes us feel warm and mushy, but the sweet sting of Cupid's arrow makes a compelling chemistry lesson, too. Research into animal mating and human courtship provides clues to an eternal mystery: what's the purpose of love? Learn lessons from the family values of field mice, and affectionate same-sex penguin pairs. Plus: Darwin's take on speed dating, and the science of smooching. Guests Helen Fisher - Anthropologist, Rutgers University Sarah Woodley - Biologist, Duquesne University Skyler Place - Doctoral Student, Indiana University's Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences Larry Young - Neurobiologist, Emory University Marlene Zuk - Biologist, University of California, Riverside Descripción en español Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Ever since Einstein, we've known that time doesn't barrel willy-nilly into the future. Moving clocks tick at a different rates, and by riding a fast rocket, we can slow time to a crawl. Such tricks may give you a way to see the distant future, but can you go back in time? Discover one man's quest to build a time machine. Also learn how to put the brakes on aging by getting near a black hole. Plus, does your entire life really pass before your eyes if you jump off the Brooklyn Bridge? Our perception of time. Guests: Roy Gould - Astrophysicist, Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics Ronald Mallett - Professor of Physics, University of Connecticut, and author of The Time Traveller Simon Steel - Astrophysicist, Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics David Eagleman - Neuroscientist at Baylor College of Medicine, and Director of the Laboratory for Perception and Action Descripción en español Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Time's a mystery, yet we've invented clever ways to capture it. From sundials to atomic clocks, trace the history of time-keeping. Also, discover the surprising accuracy of nature's dating schemes - from the decay of carbon to laying down tree rings. Plus, why the "New York minute" stretches to hours in Rio de Janeiro: cultural differences in the perception of time. Guests: Chris Turney - Geologist at the University of Wollongong, Australia and the author of Bones, Rocks and Stars: The Science of When Things Happened Demetrios Matsakis - Head of the U.S. Naval Observatory's Time Service Steven Jefferts - Physicist at the National Institute of Standards and Technology in Boulder, Colorado Robert Levine - Psychologist at California State University in Fresno and the author of A Geography of Time: The Temporal Misadventures of a Social Psychologist, or How Every Culture Keeps Time Just a Little Bit Differently Norman Mohr - Owner, Mohr Clocks, Mountain View, California Descripción en español Learn m

A massive black hole lies at the center of our galaxy, a monster hunkered down in the Milky Way’s innermost sanctum. Here, the bizarre laws of General Relativity take over, as the physics we know break down. And our spaceship is headed straight for it. Join us on a special dramatized 26,000 light-year adventure to the Galaxy’s hulking heart of darkness. We explore a cosmos held together by gravity – discover why it’s not really a force – and try to avoid getting too close to a black hole, the ultimate expression of gravity. This program is part of the traveling exhibit: “Black Holes, Space Warps and Time Twists,” a production of the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics. Find out more at: http://web-bh.cfa.harvard.edu/ Voices: Roland Pease, Lilia Roman, Roe DeVasto, Doug Vakoch, Patrick Porter, Gary Niederhoff Descripción en español Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

While the Kepler spacecraft hunts for habitable planets beyond the solar system, we’ve let one of our own planets slip away! Find out why Pluto’s demotion to dwarf status created a public uproar as astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson reads us his hate mail. From third-graders! Also, how we might find Earth-like planets… the possibility of life on Saturn’s moon Titan… and TED Prize winner Jill Tarter’s vision for finding E.T. And, the man who made it all possible: 400 years of Galileo and the telescope. Part of our series for the International Year of Astronomy. Guests Neil deGrasse Tyson - Astrophysicist, Head of the Hayden Planetarium, and author of The Pluto Files: The Rise and Fall of America's Favorite Planet Alan Stern - Planetary Scientist at the Southwest Research Institute, lead investigator on NASA’s New Horizons Mission Jeffrey Van Cleve - Astronomer at the Kepler Mission Science Office Carolyn Porco - Planetary scientist and Lead for NASA’s Cassini Mission Jill Tarter - Director of SETI R

Finally, Bigfoot meets habeus corpus: three men claim they have the body of the elusive hirsute creature on ice, and throw a big press conference to prove it. Lots of journalists show up, as do the Bigfoot baggers. Days later the purported historic discovery turned out to be - gasp! - a hairy hoax. How did these men perpetuate the con - and why did the media, including Are We Alone?, bother to cover it? Join us front row and center at this peculiar press event and for the post-mortem (sans body) of the latest chapter in the ongoing mythology that is Bigfoot. Guests: Lori Marino - Behavioral Biologist at Emory University Jeff Meldrum - Professor of Anatomy at Boise State University, and author of Sasquatch: Legend Meets Science Jerry Parrino - Owner of costume maker thehorrordome.com James Underdown - Executive Director of the Center for Inquiry West in Los Angeles Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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