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703 afleveringen, van nieuw naar oud
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Skeptic Check: Energy Vortex
17 september 2012 · 54 min
"I feel your vibe!” Well, that describes a number of fabled locales that claim to pulse with mysterious energy – perhaps prompting books to fly across the room or airplanes to vanish into thin air. But what’s the science behind it?
We examine spots marked with an X, for “extraordinary” – from a haunted house to the Bermuda Triangle – to sort out natural from supernatural phenomena.
Plus, what causes the aurora borealis… a haywire Russian space probe… and just what the heck is an “energy vortex,” anyway?
Guests:
• Phil Plait – Skeptic and keeper of Discover Magazine’s blog: badastronomy
• Mike Borg – Group Sales Coordinator, Winchester Mystery House
• Jim Underdown – Executive Director, Center for Inquiry, Los Angeles
• Peter Williams – Hydrodynamicist at Agilent Technologies
• Guy P. Harrison – Writer and business owner in Southern California, author of 50 Popular Beliefs That People Think Are True
• Rob Lillis – Space and Planetary Physicist, Space Sciences Laboratory, University of California, Berkeley
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Oh, Rats!
10 september 2012 · 54 min
Before you chase it with a broom, consider this – without the rat, we might miss critical insights into the nature of stress, cancer … and even love. These furry, red-eyed rodents have a unique role in medical research – and a ubiquitous companion to our urban lives.
Discover the origins of the albino laboratory rat … what rat laughter sounds like, and why these four-legged fur balls don’t fall victim to the pressure of the rat race … but we do.
Guests:
• Kelly Lambert – Behavioral Neuroscientist, Randolph-Macon College, Ashland, Virginia, author of The Lab Rat Chronicles: A Neuroscientist Reveals Life Lessons from the Planet’s Most Successful Mammals
• Michael Gould – Professor of Oncology and Medical Physics, University of Wisconsin, Madison
• Jaak Pankseep – Neuroscientist, Veterinary College, Washington State University, author of The Archaeology of Mind: Neuroevolutionary Origins of Human Emotions (Norton Series on Interpersonal Neurobiology)
• Pico Iyer – Writer, author of The Man Within My Head and the New York Times article The Joy of Quiet
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The Invisible In-Between
3 september 2012 · 54 min
To need air is human. Our lungs thank us for each breath we take. But air is more than a transporter of O2. It shapes our weather, keeps birds aloft and moves spores from here to there. A cubic foot of air is anything but “empty” (hot dog grease particles, anyone?).
The same goes for space (minus the hot dog grease). It’s a happening place. Discover why interstellar space is more than a whole lot o’ nothing; and what happens when the Voyager spacecraft leaves our solar system. Plus, catch a skydiver in action!
Guests:
• Mako Igarashi – Skydiving instructor, Skydive Hollister, Hollister, CA
• Rhett Allain – Physicist at Southeastern Louisiana University, blogger for Wired.com
• William Bryant Logan – Author of Air: The Restless Shaper of the World
• Robert Wagoner – Emeritus professor of physics, Stanford University
• Alex Filippenko – Astronomer, University of California, Berkeley
• Ed Stone – Physicist at CalTech, former Director of the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, project scientist for the Voyager mission
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Skeptic Check: Monsters, Magic, and Music
27 augustus 2012 · 54 min
If Bigfoot walks through a forest and no one sees him, does he exist? It’s the job of paranormal investigator Joe Nickell to find out! Discover whether eyewitness accounts are reliable when it comes to tracking down the hirsute big guy and other monsters.
Also, on the subject of “seeing is believing”: how magic fools the brain.
Plus, in our potpourri show: can music boost brain power? A new study says listening to music makes brains happy. Does this support the dubious “Mozart Effect,” that claims listening to Wolfie’s compositions boosts IQ?
And, skeptic Phil Plait on why the so-called “super moon theory” doesn’t predict devastating earthquakes.
It’s Skeptic Check… but don’t take our word for it.
Guests:
• Joe Nickell – Paranormal investigator and author of Tracking the Man-beasts: Sasquatch, Vampires, Zombies, and More
• Stephen Macknik – Director of the Laboratory of Behavioral Neurophysiology at the Barrow Neurological Institute in Phoenix, Arizona
• Susana Martinez-Conde – Director of the Laboratory of Visual Neuroscience at the Barrow Neurological Institute in Phoenix, Arizona
• Phil Plait – Astronomer, and author of the Bad Astronomy blog at Discover Magazine
• Valorie Salimpoor – Researcher at Montreal Neurological Institute, McGill University, Quebec, Canada
• Penny Glass – Developmental psychologist and associate professor of pediatrics at the George Washington University School of Medicine
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A.I. Caramba!
20 augustus 2012 · 54 min
When the IBM computer, Watson, snatched the “Jeopardy” title from its human competition, that raised the question of just how smart are machines? Could artificial intelligence ever beat humans at their own game… of being human?
Hear why an A.I. expert says it’s time to make peace with your P.C.; the machines are coming. Also, why technology is already self-evolving, and presenting its own demands. Find out what technology wants.
And, a man who went head-to-chip with a computer and says machines will never beat the human mind. Plus, we take a voyage into “2012: An Emotional Odyssey.”
Guests:
• Kevin Kelly – Editor-at-large at Wired and author of What Technology Wants
• Henry Lieberman – Research scientist at the M.I.T. Media Laboratory
• Brian Christian – Science writer, poet and author of The Most Human Human: What Talking with Computers Teaches Us About What It Means to Be Alive
• Horst Simon – Deputy Director, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory
• Shankar Sastry – Dean of Engineering, University of California, Berkeley
• Jean Paul Jacob – Scholar in Residence at U.C. Berkeley and IBM Researcher, Emeritus
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A Martian Curiosity
13 augustus 2012 · 54 min
We dig the Red Planet! And so does Curiosity. After a successful landing, and a round of high-fives at NASA, the latest rover to land on Mars is on the move, shovel in mechanical hand.
Discover how the Mars Science Laboratory will hunt for the building blocks of life, and just what the heck a lipid is. Plus, how to distinguish Martians from Earthlings, and the tricks Mars has played on us in the past (canals, anyone?).
Also, want to visit Mars firsthand? We can point you to the sign-up sheet for a manned mission. The catch: the ticket is one-way. Lees meerGuests:
• John Grotzinger – Geologist, California Institute of Technology, and project scientist, NASA Mars Science Laboratory mission
• Jennifer Heldmann – Research scientist at NASA Ames Research Center
• David Blake – Principal Investigator of CheMin, a mineralogical instrument that is included in the analytical laboratory of the Mars Science Laboratory mission
• Rachel Harris – Astrobiology student at the NASA Astrobiology Institute
• Stuart Schlisserman – Physician in Palo Alto, California
• Felisa Wolfe-Simon – NASA astrobiology research fellow, Lawrence Berkeley National Labs
• Bas Lansdorp – Founder, Mars One
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Fuel's Paradise
6 augustus 2012 · 54 min
You know the joke about the car and the snail. Look at that escargot? Well, snails may be the only thing not powering the automobiles of the future. Trees, grass, algae, even the garbage you toss on the sidewalk has potential for conversion into biofuel. What is America’s next top model fuel? Join us on a tour of the contenders.
Meet a man who’s mad about miscanthus … an astrobiologist’s attraction to algae… and the blueprint for building your own biofuel bugs.
Also, discover whether any of these next-generation fuel sources could take us to the stars. Put that in your rocket and burn it!
Guests:
• Madhu Khanna – Professor of Agriculture and Environmental Economics at the University of Illinois and at the Energy Biosciences Institute
• Stephen Long – Professor of Crop Sciences and Plant Biology at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
• Michelle Chang – Assistant Professor of Chemistry at the University of California at Berkeley
• Bret Stroegn – Graduate student researcher, Energy Bioscience Institute, University of California at Berkeley
• Jonathan Trent – Bioengineering Research Scientist at the NASA Ames Research Center and founder of Global Research into Energy and the Enviornment (GREEN )
• Richard Obousy – Physicist and co-founder and project leader for Project Icarus
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Olympics for the Rest of Us
23 juli 2012 · 54 min
Let the games begin! The mad dash to the phone … the sudden spring out of bed … the frantic juggling of car keys, grocery bags and a cell phone! Olympic athletes may have remarkable speed and strength, but it’s easy praise the extraordinary. Here’s to the extreme averageness of the rest of us. From beer bellies to aching backs, we’re all winners in the Darwinian Olympics just by virtue of being here.
Identify the one physical trait that you share with all Olympians – your head - and why it’s a remarkable human evolutionary achievement. Plus, the role of genes in putting on the pounds … and what event Spiderman would enter to win the gold.
Guests: Lees meerDaniel Lieberman - Professor of human evolutionary biology, Harvard University, author of The Evolution of the Human Head
Callum Ross - Professor of organismal biology and anatomy, University of Chicago
Kelly Brownell - Psychologist, director of the Rudd Center for Food Policy and Obesity at Yale University
Robert Peaslee - Assistant professor, College of Media and Communications, Texas Tech University and author of Web-Spinning Heroics: Critical Essays on the History and Meaning of Spider-Man
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Animal Instinct
9 juli 2012 · 54 min
Mooooove over, make way for the cows, the chickens … and other animals! Humans can learn a lot from our hairy, feathered, four-legged friends. We may wear suits and play Sudoku, but Homo sapiens are primates just the same. We’ve met the animal, and it is us.
Discover the surprising similarity between our diseases and those that afflict other animals, including pigs that develop eating disorders. Plus, what the octopus can teach us about national security … how monkeying around evolved into human speech … and the origins of moral behavior in humans.
Guests: Lees meerRafe Sagarin - Marine ecologist, Institute of the Environment, University of Arizona, author of Learning From the Octopus: How Secrets from Nature Can Help Us Fight Terrorist Attacks, Natural Disasters, and Disease
Barbara Natterson-Horowitz - Professor of cardiology, David Geffen School of Medicine, UCLA, and co-author of Zoobiquity: What Animals Can Teach Us About Health and the Science of Healing
Kathryn Bowers - Writer, co-author of Zoobiquity: What Animals Can Teach Us About Health and the Science of Healing
Asif Ghazanfar - Neuroscientist, psychologist, Princeton University
Christopher Boehm - Biological and cultural anthropologist at the University of Southern California, director of the Jane Goodall Research Center, author of Moral Origins: The Evolution of Virtue, Altruism, and Shame
Descripción en español
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Nano Nano
2 juli 2012 · 54 min
Think small to solve big problems. That, in a nutshell, is the promise of nanotechnology. In this barely visible world, batteries charge 100 times faster and drugs go straight to their targets in the body. Discover some of these nano breakthroughs and how what you can’t see can help you…
…or hurt you? What if tiny machines turn out to be nothing but trouble? We’ll look at the health and safety risks of nanotech.
Plus, scaling up in science fiction: why a Godzilla-sized insect is fun, but just doesn’t fly.
Guests: Lees meerBill Flounders - executive director of the Marvell Nanofabrication Laboratory at the University of California at Berkeley
Joseph DeSimone - professor of chemistry at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and chemical engineering at North Carolina State University
David Guston - political scientist at Arizona State University where he directs The Center for Nanotechnology in Society
Stan Williams - Senior Fellow and founding director of the Information and Quantum Systems Lab at Hewlett-Packard
Michael LaBarbera - Professor in organismal biology, anatomy and geophysical sciences, University of Chicago
Descripción en español
First released February 21 2011
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Seth's Storm Shelter
25 juni 2012 · 54 min
Expect the unexpected when we go digging in Seth’s storm shelter – who knows what we’ll find! In this cramped never-never land, tucked between piles of dehydrated food packets and old civil defense helmets, we stumble (but don’t step) upon marauding ants … a mission to Pluto…. “evidence” of a spaceship crash … the Apollo astronaut who shot the “Earth Rise” photograph … and Jonah Lehrer meditating on creativity.
Tune in, find out and, help move this box of canned soup, will you?
Guests: Lees meerMark Moffett - Entomologist, research associate at the Smithsonian Institution, author of Adventures among Ants: A Global Safari with a Cast of Trillions
John Spencer - Planetary scientist at the Southwest Research Institute in Boulder, Colorado, and member of the New Horizons science team
Joe Nickell - Paranormal investigator, Senior Research Fellow, Skeptical Inquirer Magazine
William Anders - Astronaut on Apollo 8, and photographer of “Earth Rise”
Jonah Lehrer - Author of Imagine: How Creativity Works
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Skeptic Check: OMG, GMO?
18 juni 2012 · 54 min
You are what you eat. But what does that mean if your food is genetically engineered? And the chances are good that it has been engineered if you munch down on corn or soybean. The prospect of eating GM food makes some folks afraid, but is their fear warranted?
Discover what experts say about the safety of genetically engineered foods … whether the technology delivers on the promised increase in yield … and the argument for and against labeling.
Also, why some say the issue is not food safety, but the unethical business practices of multinationals. A filmmaker reports from the fields of India.
Plus, GM crops off this planet: the role of synthetic biology in terraforming Mars.
It’s Skeptic Check … but don’t take our word for it.
Guests: Lees meerPamela Ronald - Professor in the department of Plant Pathology and the Genome Center at the University of California, Davis, co-author of Tomorrow's Table: Organic Farming, Genetics, and the Future of Food
Ronald Lindsay - President and Chief Executive Officer and Senior Research Fellow, Center for Inquiry, and author of Future Bioethics: Overcoming Taboos, Myths, and Dogmas
Micha Peled - Founder, Teddy Bear Films, and the filmmaker for “Bitter Seeds”
Doug Gurian-Sherman - Plant pathologist, senior scientist, Food and Environment Program, Union of Concerned Scientists
John Cumbers - Synthetic biologist, working in Northern California
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Can We Talk?
11 juni 2012 · 54 min
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: Lees meerMark 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 Michigan, specializing in Ojibwe, and director of the Comprehensive Studies Program
Descripción en español
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Better Mousetrap
4 juni 2012 · 54 min
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: Lees meerSteven 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 Development, The Tech Museum, San Jose
Descripción en español
Originally released February 7, 2011
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Mass Transits
28 mei 2012 · 54 min
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: Lees meerJay 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 Venus: 1631 to the Present
Andrea Wulf - Author of Chasing Venus: The Race to Measure the Heavens
David Grinspoon - Curator of Astrobiology at the Denver Museum of Nature and Science
Jon Jenkins - Lead analyst with the Kepler Mission and senior scientist with the SETI Institute
Descripción en español
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To Earth and Back
21 mei 2012 · 54 min
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: Lees meerCatharine 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
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That's So Random!
14 mei 2012 · 53 min
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: Lees meerLeonard 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
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Early Adapters
23 april 2012 · 54 min
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: Lees meerDickson 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
Descripción en español
First aired December 6, 2010
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Humans Need Not Apply
16 april 2012 · 54 min
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: Lees meerClifford 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, and professor of music theory at Baylor University in Texas
Kathy Abbott - Chief Scientific and Technical Advisor for Flight Deck Human Factors at the Federal Aviation Administration
Kristian Hammond - Co-founder, Narrative Science
Descripción en español
First aired November 22, 2010.
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Second That Emotion
9 april 2012 · 54 min
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: Lees meerRachel 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
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Found in Space
26 maart 2012 · 54 min
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: Lees meerJosh 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
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Seth's Cabinet of Wonders
12 maart 2012 · 54 min
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: Lees meerNeil 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
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Skeptic Check: Prog-Not-Stication
5 maart 2012 · 53 min
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: Lees meerPhil 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 Wilhite - Master Tarot card reader at East
West Bookstore in Mountain View, California
Descripción en español
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Skeptic Check: Saucer's Apprentice
20 februari 2012 · 52 min
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: Lees meerPhil 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 Mystery of UFOs
FIrst aired November 15, 2010.
Descripción en español
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Aware Am I?
13 februari 2012 · 52 min
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: Lees meerPaul 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
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Wired for Thought
16 januari 2012 · 54 min
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: Lees meerJan 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, director of the University of California Santa Barbara’s SAGE Center for the Study of the Mind, and author of Who's in Charge?: Free Will and the Science of the Brain
Bradley Voytek - Neuroscientist, University of California, San Francisco
Descripción en español
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Light, the Universe, and Everything
2 januari 2012 · 54 min
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: Lees meerSean 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
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Skeptic Check: Superstition
26 december 2011 · 53 min
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: Lees meerBruce 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 - Executive Director, Center for Inquiry, West - Los Angeles
Phil Plait - Astronomer, keeper of badastronomy.com, and author of Death from the Skies!: These Are the Ways the World Will End . . .
Descripción en español
First aired August 16, 2010
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Sensor Sensibility
19 december 2011 · 54 min
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: Lees meerFrank 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 Engineering and Computer Sciences (EECS), University of California, Berkeley
Barry Shell - Writer in Vancouver, Canada
Andy Huntington - Interaction designer, based in London
Sara Seager - Professor of planetary science and physics, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Planet hunters - Daryll LaCourse and Tom Jacobs, citizen scientists with Planet Hunters
Descripción en español
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Going Viral
12 december 2011 · 52 min
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: Lees meerNathan 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
Descripción en español
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Science's Alliances
5 december 2011 · 54 min
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: Lees meerBill 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, Seattle, Washington
Descripción en español
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Skeptic Check: Dubiology
28 november 2011 · 53 min
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: Lees meerAndy 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 - Professor, Department of Plant and Microbial Biology, University of California, Berkeley
Descripción en español
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We've Got You Made
21 november 2011 · 53 min
Wish you could ditch computers? There’s no escape button for that. Computers are not only a part of your daily grind, they may soon be a part of you. We’ll hear from the world’s first cyborg about why we should make nice in our arms race with machines.
Also, the secret behind the extraordinary breakthroughs that DARPA scientists are making – from building autonomous cars to wiring robotic surgeons.
Plus, making space for humans… and their bodily functions: the engineering tricks of toiletry. And, a carbon-based astronaut on the view of Earth from orbit.
Guests: Lees meerKevin Warwick - Professor of Cybernetics at University of Reading in the U.K.
Santiago Bilinkis - Student at the Singularity University
Mary Roach - Writer and author of Packing for Mars: The Curious Science of Life in the Void
Tom Jones - United States astronaut, space consultant, and veteran of four Space Shuttle flights
Michael Belfiore - Space and Technology writer, and author of The Department of Mad Scientists: How DARPA Is Remaking Our World, from the Internet to Artificial Limbs
Descripción en español
First aired August 23, 2010.
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Blame it on Bacterio
14 november 2011 · 54 min
Think small! Microbes are tinier than the dot at the end of this sentence, yet they can make humans sicker than dogs, dogs sicker than humans, jump from animal to human and keep scientists guessing when and where the next disease will appear.
Discover how doctors diagnosed one man’s mysterious infection, the role that animals play as hosts for disease, and why the rate of emerging diseases is increasing worldwide.
Also, why your kitchen is a biosafety hazard, and how the Human Microbiome Project will tally all the microbes on – and in - you.
Plus, the extreme places on Earth where microbes thrive and what it suggests for the existence of alien life. And, how one strain of bacteria helped a farmer grow a pumpkin the weight of a small car!
Guests: Lees meerPeter Hudson - Biologist, Director of Life Sciences at Penn State University
Peter Krause - Senior research scientist at the Yale School of Public Health
Durland Fish - Epidemiologist at the Yale School of Public Health. Information on his Lyme disease app
David Relman - Stanford University microbiologist and infectious disease clinician
Erich Fleming - Biologist, SETI Institute
O. Peter Snyder - Hospitality Institute of Technology and Management
John Raeside - Oakland, California
Frances Raeside - Oakland, California
Jennifer Kate Arnold - Infectious Disease Clinic, Kaiser Permanente Medical Group
Dave Stelts - Farmer, head of the Great Pumpkin Commonwealth
Neil Anderson - Owner, president of Reforestation Technologies International. Find retail products.
Descripción en español
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NASA or What?
7 november 2011 · 53 min
“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: Lees meerJames Oberg - former Space Shuttle Mission Control engineer, and space expert
Maria Zuber - Planetary scientist, Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Principal Investigator of NASA’s GRAIL mission
Joy Crisp - Geologist at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory and Principal Investigator on the Mars Science Laboratory, Curiosity
Massimo Stiavelli - Astronomer at the Space Science Telescope Institute, and Project Scientist for the James Webb Space Telescope
Dan Durda - Planetary scientist, Southwest Research Institute, Boulder, Colorado
More about the Next Generation Suborbital Researchers Conference
Descripción en español
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Bug Off!
31 oktober 2011 · 52 min
What 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: Lees meerSonia 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
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Happy Daze
17 oktober 2011 · 53 min
Calling 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: Lees meerFrank 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
David DiSalvo - Science and technology writer, author of What Makes Your Brain Happy and Why You Should Do the Opposite
Robin Ince - U.K.-based comedian
Jonathan Balcombe - Animal behavior scientist and author of The Exultant Ark: A Pictorial Tour of Animal Pleasure
Descripción en español
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Skeptic Check, Beast Of
3 oktober 2011 · 54 min
Zombies, 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: Lees meerPhil 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 Philadelphia, and author of Autism’s False Prophets: Bad Science, Risky Medicine, and the Search for a Cure
Stephen Schneider - Climate scientist, Stanford University
Brendan Riley - Assistant professor of English, Columbia College, Chicago
Descripción en español
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Rend Me Your Ears
26 september 2011 · 52 min
Shh - 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: Lees meerGeorge 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
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Seth's Tool Shed
5 september 2011 · 53 min
Anyone 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: Lees meerPhilip 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
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Into the Unknown
29 augustus 2011 · 54 min
During 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: Lees meerDava 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
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Home Brew Science
27 augustus 2011 · 52 min
The 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: Lees meerSpencer 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
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Swarm in Here... or Is It Just Me?
22 augustus 2011 · 52 min
An 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: Lees meerSteve 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
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Skeptic Check: Plotting Along
15 augustus 2011 · 52 min
It’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: Lees meerJonathan 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 Discover Magazine’s blog, badastronomy.com
Hugo Mercier - Postdoctoral researcher at the University of Pennsylvania
Darcia Narvaez - Psychologist at the University of Notre Dame
Ben Recht - Computer Scientist at the University of Wisconsin, Madison and author of the paper “On the Effectiveness of Tinfoil Hats”
Descripción en español
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Written in Code
8 augustus 2011 · 53 min
Genes – 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: Lees meerFrancis 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
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Cell! Cell!
2 augustus 2011 · 54 min
Live 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: Lees meerRebecca 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
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Water the Chances
25 juli 2011 · 52 min
Water, 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: Lees meerBrian 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
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Know Laughing Matter
18 juli 2011 · 53 min
Ha 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: Lees meerFrans 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
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The Big Picture
11 juli 2011 · 53 min
How 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: Lees meerMarc 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 juni 2011 · 54 min
They’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: Lees meerPaul 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
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