The surprising connections in science and technology that give you the Big Picture. Astronomer Seth Shostak and science journalist Molly Bentley are joined each week by leading researchers, techies, and journalists to provide a smart and humorous take on science. Our regular "Skeptic Check" episodes cast a critical eye on pseudoscience.
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Are we alone in the universe? Is there other intelligence out there? COSMIC, the most ambitious SETI search yet, hopes to answer that. We hear updates on this novel signal detection project being conducted on the Very Large Array in the desert of New Mexico.Â
Also, we chat with award-winning science fiction writer Ted Chiang about how he envisions making contact with aliens in his stories, including the one that was the basis for the movie Arrival. And find out why some scientists donât want only to listen for signals, they want to deliberately transmit messages to aliens. Is that wise and, if we did it, what would we say?Â
Guests:
Chenoa Tremblay â Postdoc researcher in radio astronomy for the SETI Institute and member of COSMIC science team
Ted Chiang â Nebula and Hugo award-winning science fiction writer, best known for his collections, Stories of Your Life and Others and Exhalation
Douglas Vakoch â Founder and president of METI International, a nonprofit research and educational organization devoted to transmitting intentional signals to extraterrestrial civilizations
Featuring music by Dewey Dellay and Jun Miyake
*Originally aired April 3, 2023
Big Picture Science is part of the Airwave Media podcast network. Please contact advertising@airwavemedia.com to inquire about advertising on Big Picture Science.
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Life in the Solar System
Monday, August 26, 2024 ⢠Duration 54:00
Spewing lava and belching noxious fumes, volcanoes seem hostile to biology. But the search for life off-Earth includes the hunt for these hotheads on other moons and planets, and we tour some of the most imposing volcanoes in the Solar System.Â
Plus, a look at how tectonic forces reshape bodies from the moon to Venus to Earth. And a journey to the center of our planet reveals a surprising layer of material at the core-mantle boundary. Find out where this layer was at the time of the dinosaurs and what powerful forces drove it deep below.
Guests:
Samantha Hansen â Geologist at the University of Alabama
Paul Byrne â Associate professor of Earth and Planetary Sciences at Washington University in St. Louis
Robin George Andrews â Science journalist and author of âSuper Volcanoes: What They Reveal about Earth and the Worlds Beyondâ
Featuring music by Dewey Dellay and Jun Miyake
Originally aired May 29, 2023
Big Picture Science is part of the Airwave Media podcast network. Please contact sales@advertisecast.com to inquire about advertising on Big Picture Science.
You can get early access to ad-free versions of every episode by joining us on Patreon. Thanks for your support!
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Skeptic Check: The Body Electric*
Monday, June 24, 2024 ⢠Duration 54:00
Electricity plays an important role in our everyday lives, including allowing our bodies to communicate internally. But some research claims electricity may be used to diagnose and treat disease? Could electric pulses one day replace medications?
We speak with experts about the growing field of bioelectric medicine and the evidence for electricityâs healing abilities. Their comments may shock you.
Guests:
Sally Adee â Science journalist, author of âWe Are Electric: Inside the 200-Year Hunt for Our Bodyâs Bioelectric Code, and What the Future Holds"
Samantha Payne â Assistant Professor of Biomedical Sciences at University of Guelph
Kevin Tracey â Neurosurgeon and President of the Feinstein Institute at Northwell Health
*Originally aired June 5, 2023
Featuring music by Dewey Dellay and Jun Miyake
Big Picture Science is part of the Airwave Media podcast network. Please contact advertising@airwavemedia.com to inquire about advertising on Big Picture Science.
You can get early access to ad-free versions of every episode by joining us on Patreon. Thanks for your support!
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Animals Being Jerks (rebroadcast)
Monday, October 10, 2022 ⢠Duration 54:00
Theyâre cute and cuddly. But they can also be obnoxious.
Science writer Mary Roach has numerous tales about how our animal friends donât always bow to their human overlords and behave the way weâd want. The resulting encounters, such as when gulls disrupt the Vaticanâs Easter mass, make for amusing stories. But others, such as wolves threatening farmersâ livestock, can be tragic.
We hear what happens at the messy crossroads of human and wildlife encounters.
Guest:
Mary Roach â Author of bestselling nonfiction books, most recently âFuzz: When Nature Breaks the Law.â
Originally aired September 13, 2021
Featuring music by Dewey Dellay and Jun Miyake
Big Picture Science is part of the Airwave Media podcast network. Please contact sales@advertisecast.com to inquire about advertising on Big Picture Science.
You can get early access to ad-free versions of every episode by joining us on Patreon. Thanks for your support!
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Phreaky Physics (rebroadcast)
Monday, October 3, 2022 ⢠Duration 54:00
It was a radical idea a century ago, when Einstein said space and time can be bent, and gravity was really geometry. We hear how his theories inspire young minds even today.
At small scales, different rules apply: quantum mechanics and the Standard Model for particles. New experiments suggest that muons â cousins of the electron â may be telling us that the Standard Model is wrong. Also, where the physics of both the large and small apply, and why black holes have no hair.
Guests:
Hakeem Oluseyi â Astrophysicist, affiliated professor at George Mason University, and author of âA Quantum Life: My Unlikely Journey from the Street to the Starsâ
Janna Levin â Professor of physics and astronomy, Barnard College at Columbia University
Mark Lancaster â Professor of particle physics, University of Manchester
Originally aired August 16, 2021
Featuring music by Dewey Dellay and Jun Miyake
Big Picture Science is part of the Airwave Media podcast network. Please contact sales@advertisecast.com to inquire about advertising on Big Picture Science.
You can get early access to ad-free versions of every episode by joining us on Patreon. Thanks for your support!
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Skeptic Check: Data Bias (rebroadcast)
Monday, September 26, 2022 ⢠Duration 54:00
Sexist snow plowing? Data that guide everything from snow removal schedules to heart research often fail to consider gender. In these cases, âreference manâ stands in for âaverage human.â Human bias also infects artificial intelligence, with speech recognition triggered only by male voices and facial recognition that canât see black faces. We question the assumptions baked into these numbers and algorithms.
Guests:
Caroline Criado-Perez - Journalist and author of âInvisible Women: Data Bias in a World Designed for Menâ
Kade Crockford - Director of the Technology for Liberty Program at the ACLU of Massachusetts
Amy Webb - Futurist, founder and CEO of the Future Today Institute, and author of âThe Big Nine: How the Tech Titans and There Thinking Machines Could Warp Humanityâ
Originally aired September 2, 2019
Featuring opening theme by Jun Miyake
Big Picture Science is part of the Airwave Media podcast network. Please contact sales@advertisecast.com to inquire about advertising on Big Picture Science.
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De-Permafrosting
Monday, September 19, 2022 ⢠Duration 54:00
Above the Arctic Circle, much of the land is underlaid by permafrost. But climate change is causing it to thaw. This is not good news for the planet.Â
As the carbon rich ground warms, microbes start to feast⌠releasing greenhouse gases that will warm the Earth even more.
Another possible downside was envisioned by a science-fiction author. Could ancient pathogensâreleased from the permafrostâs icy gripâcause new pandemics? We investigate what happens when the far north defrosts.
Guests:
Jacquelyn Gill â Associate professor of paleoecology at the University of Maine.
Jim Shepard â Novelist and short story writer, and teacher of English at Williams College, and author of âPhase Six.â
Scott Saleska â Global change ecologist, professor of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology at the University of Arizona, and co-founder of IsoGenie.
Originally aired September 6, 2021
Featuring music by Dewey Dellay and Jun Miyake
Big Picture Science is part of the Airwave Media podcast network. Please contact sales@advertisecast.com to inquire about advertising on Big Picture Science.
You can get early access to ad-free versions of every episode by joining us on Patreon. Thanks for your support!
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Like Lightning
Monday, September 12, 2022 ⢠Duration 54:00
Every second, lightning strikes 50 to 100 times somewhere. It can wreak havoc by starting wildfires and sometimes killing people. But lightning also produces a form of nitrogen thatâs essential to vegetation. In this episode, we talk about the nature of these dramatic sparks. Ben Franklin established their electric origin, so what do we still not know? Also, why the frequency of lightning strikes is increasing in some parts of the world. And, what to do if you find someone hit by lightning.
Guests:
Thomas Yeadaker â Resident of Oakland, California
Chris Davis â Medical doctor and Assistant Professor of Emergency Medicine at Wake Forest University and Medical Director for the National Center for Outdoor Adventure Education
Jonathan Martin â Professor of Atmospheric and Oceanic Sciences, University of Wisconsin, Madison
Steve Ackerman â Professor of Atmospheric and Oceanic Sciences, University of Wisconsin, Madison
Peter Bieniek â Professor of Atmospheric and Space Science, University of Alaska, Fairbanks
Featuring music by Dewey Dellay and Jun Miyake
Big Picture Science is part of the Airwave Media podcast network. Please contact sales@advertisecast.com to inquire about advertising on Big Picture Science.
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Coming to Our Animal Senses
Monday, September 5, 2022 ⢠Duration 54:00
Animals experience the world differently. There are insects that can see ultraviolet light, while some snakes can hunt in the dark thanks to their ability to sense infrared. Such differences are not restricted to vision: Elephants can hear subsonic sounds, birds navigate by magnetism, and your dog lives in a world marked by odors. In this episode, we speak to science journalist Ed Yong about how other creatures sense the world. Could we ever understand what itâs like to have the hearing of a bat or the sight of a hawk?Â
Guest:
Ed Yong â Science writer for The Atlantic whose coverage of the COVID-19 pandemic earned him a Pulitzer Prize in explanatory journalism. He is the author of, âAn Immense World: How Animal Senses Reveal the Hidden Realms Around Us.âÂ
Featuring music by Dewey Dellay and Jun Miyake
Big Picture Science is part of the Airwave Media podcast network. Please contact sales@advertisecast.com to inquire about advertising on Big Picture Science.
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Skeptic Check: Heal Thyself (rebroadcast)
Monday, August 29, 2022 ⢠Duration 54:00
Do we still need doctors? There are umpteen alternative sources of medical advice, including endless and heartfelt health tips from people without medical degrees. Frankly, self-diagnosis with a health app is easier and cheaper than a trip to a clinic. Since weâre urged to be our own health advocate and seek second opinions, why not ask Alexa or consult with a celebrity about what ails us?
Find out if you can trust these alternative medical advice platforms. Plus, lessons from an AIDS fighter about ignoring the findings of medical science. Â
And, if AI can diagnose better than an MD, will we stop listening to doctors altogether?
Itâs our monthly look at critical thinking ⌠but donât take our word for it!
Guests:
Katherine Foley â Science and health reporter at Quartz, and author of the article âAlexa is a Terrible Doctorâ
Paul Offit â Professor of pediatrics at the Childrenâs Hospital of Philadelphia and the Perlman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania, and author of âBad Advice: Or Why Celebrities, Politicians, and Activists Arenât Your Best Source of Health Informationâ
Richard Marlink â Director Rutgers Global Health Institute.
Shinjini Kundu â Research Fellow, University of Pittsburgh Medical Center
Stuart Schlisserman â Internist, Palo Alto, California
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originally aired September 24, 2018
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Big Picture Science is part of the Airwave Media podcast network. Please contact sales@advertisecast.com to inquire about advertising on Big Picture Science.
You can get early access to ad-free versions of every episode by joining us on Patreon. Thanks for your support!
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