Are you ready to defer all your personal decision-making to machines?Polls show that most Americans are uneasy about the unchecked growth of artificial intelligence. The possible misuse of genetic engineering also makes us anxious. We all have a stake in the responsible development of science and technology, but fortunately, science fiction films can help. The moviesEx MachinaandJurassic Parksuggest where A.I. and unfettered gene-tinkering could lead. But even less popular sci-fi movies can help us imagine unsettling scenarios regarding over-population, smart drugs, and human cloning. And not all tales are grim.The 1951 film,The Man in the White Suit, weaves a humorous story of materials science run amok. So, grab a bowl of popcorn and join us in contemplating the future of humanity as Hollywood sees it! Guest: Andrew Maynard–Physicist and professor at the School for the Future of Innovation in Society at Arizona State University, and author ofFilms from the Future: The Technology and Morality of Sci-Fi Movies. Featuring music byDewey DellayandJun Miyake Big Picture Science is part of theAirwave Mediapodcast network.Please contactsales@advertisecast.comto inquire about advertising on Big Picture Science. You can get early access to ad-free versions of every episode by joining us onPatreon. Thanks for your support! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
The toilet: A ubiquitous appliance that dates to the time of Shakespeare. But billions of people around the world still lack modern sanitation infrastructure. And the incentive to modernize includes the possibility that recycling human waste could help with conservation efforts, energy generation, and even medicine. Also, a sixth-grader puts lipstick on cats’ bottoms to map places their tush has touched, and in Michigan, why peeing on the peonies can be a good thing. Guests: Kaeden Henry– Sixth grade student in Tennessee. Kerry Griffin– Mother of Kaeden Henry; holds a doctorate in animal behavior. Yvette Johnson-Walker– Clinical Instructor in Veterinary Clinical Medicine, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Chelsea Wald–Science and environmental journalist, and author ofPipe Dreams: The Urgent Global Quest to Transform the Toilet. Nancy Love– Professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering, University of Michigan Originally aired Featuring music byDewey DellayandJun M...
Standing on your own two feet isn’t easy. While many animals can momentarily balance on their hind legs, we’re the only critters, besides birds, for whom bipedalism is completely normal. Find out why, even though other animals are faster, we’re champions at getting around. Could it be that our upright stance made us human? Plus, why arches help stiffen feet, the argument for bare-footin’, and 12,000-year old footprints that tell a story about an Ice Age mother, her child, and a sloth. Guests: Daniel Lieberman–Professor of human evolutionary biology at Harvard University. Jeremy DeSilva–Professor in the departments of anthropology and biological sciences, Dartmouth College, and author of “First Steps: How Upright Walking Made Us Human.” Madhusudhan Venkadesan–Professor ofmechanical engineering and materials science, Yale University School of Engineering. David Bustos–Chief of Resources at White Sands, National Park, New Mexico. Sally Reynolds– Paleontologist at Bournemouth University, U.K. Originally aired May 24, 2021 Featuring music byDewey DellayandJun Miyake Big Picture Science is part of theAirwave Mediapodcast network.Please contactsales@advertisecast.comto inquire about advertising on Big Picture Science. You can get early access to ad-free versions of every episode by joining us onPatreon. Thanks for your support! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
You are getting sleeeepy and open to suggestion. But is that how hypnotism works? And does it really open up a portal to the unconscious mind? Hypnotism can be an effective therapeutic tool, and some scientists suggest replacing opioids with hypnosis for pain relief. And yet, the performance aspect of hypnotism often seems at odds with the idea of it being an effective treatment. In our regular look at critical thinking,Skeptic Check, we ask what part of hypnotism is real and what is an illusion. Plus, we discuss how the swinging watch became hypnotism’s irksome trademark. Guests: David Spiegel– Professor of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at the Stanford University School of Medicine Devin Terhune– Reader in the Department of Psychology, Goldsmiths University of London Featuring music byDewey DellayandJun Miyake Graphic byShannon Rose Geary Big Picture Science is part of theAirwave Mediapodcast network.Please contactsales@advertisecast.comto inquire about advertising on Big P...
Thinking small can sometimes achieve big things. A new generation of diminutive robots can enter our bodies and deal with medical problems such as intestinal blockages. But do we really want them swimming inside us, even if they’re promising to help? You might change your mind when you hear what else is cruising through our bloodstream: microplastics! We take a trip into the human body, beginning with the story of those who first dared to open it up for medical purposes. But were the first surgeons really cavemen? Guests: Ira Rutkow– Surgeon and writer, and author of “Empire of the Scalpel: The History of Surgery” Dick Vethaak– Emeritus professor of ecotoxicology, water quality and health at the Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam (Free University, Amsterdam) in The Netherlands Li Zhang– Professor in the Department of Mechanical and Automation Engineering, The Chinese University of Hong Kong Michael LaBarbera– Professor in organismal biology, anatomy and geophysical sciences, Univer...
Do we have physical evidence of the last day of the dinosaurs? We consider fossilized fish in South Dakota that may chronicle the dramatic events that took place when, 66 million years ago, a large asteroid slammed into the Gulf of Mexico and caused three-quarters of all species to disappear. Also, what new discoveries have paleontologists made about these charismatic animals, and the director of Jurassic World: Dominion talks about how his film hews to the latest science. Hint: feathers! It’s deep history, as we look at what happened as terrestrial life experienced its worst day ever. Guests: Colin Trevorrow–Director ofJurassic World: Dominion Riley Black–Science writer and author of “The Last Days of the Dinosaurs” Anusuya Chinsamy-Turan–Paleontologist at the University of Cape Town, South Africa This episode brought to you in part byDRAGON BALL Z: KAKAROTand Hero Wars. Learn more about Hero Wars athero-wars.com Big Picture Science is part of theAirwave Mediapodcast network....
Heredity was once thought to be straightforward.Genes were passed in an immutable path from parents to you, and you were stuck – or blessed – with what you got. DNA didn’t change. But now we know that’s not true. Epigenetic factors, such as your environment and your lifestyle, control how your genes are expressed.Meanwhile, the powerful tool CRISPR allows us to tinker with the genes themselves.DNA is no longer destiny. Hear the results from the NASA twin study and what happened to astronaut Scott Kelly’s DNA after a year on the International Space Station.Plus, whether there’s evidence that epigenetic changes can be passed down.And, if we can wipe out deadly malaria by engineering the mosquito genome for sterility, should we do it? Guests: Scott Kelly–Former military test pilot and astronaut and author of “Infinite Wonder” Carl Zimmer–Columnist forThe New York Times,author of “She Has Her Mother’s Laugh: The Powers, Perversions, and Potential of Heredity" Christopher Mason–Associate professor of genetics and computational biology at Weill Cornell Medicine Michael Snyder–Chair of the genetics department and director of the Center for Genomics and Precision Medicine at Stanford University Nicole Gladish–PhD candidate, department of medical genetics, University of British Columbia Originally aired October 15, 2018 This episode brought to you in part by Hero Wars. Learn more about Hero Wars at hero-wars.com Featuring music byDewey DellayandJun Miyake Big Picture Science is part of theAirwave Mediapodcast network.Please contactsales@advertisecast.comto inquire about advertising on Big Picture Science. You can get early access to ad-free versions of every episode by joining us onPatreon. Thanks for your support! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Birds have it going on. Many of these winged dinosaurs delight us with their song and brilliant plumage.Migratory birds travel thousands of miles in a display of endurance that would make an Olympic athlete gasp. We inquire about these daunting migrations and how birds can fly for days without rest. And what can we do to save disappearing species? Will digital tracking technology help? Plus, how 19th century bird-lovers, appalled by feathered hats, started the modern conservation movement. Guests: Scott Weidensaul– Ornithologist and naturalist and author of “A World on the Wing: the Global Odyssey of Migratory Birds.” Kassandra Ford– Doctoral candidate in evolutionary biology at the University of Louisiana at Lafayette. Michelle Nijhuis– Science journalist and author of “Beloved Beasts: Fighting for Life in an Age of Extinction.” Originally aired May 10, 2021 Featuring music byDewey DellayandJun Miyake Big Picture Science is part of theAirwave Mediapodcast network.Please contactsales@advertisecast.comto inquire about advertising on Big Picture Science. You can get early access to ad-free versions of every episode by joining us onPatreon. Thanks for your support! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Nothing lasts forever.Even the universe has several possible endings. Will there be a dramatic Big Rip or a Big Chill–also known as the heat death of the universe–in trillions of years?Or will vacuum decay, which could theoretically happen at any moment, do us in?Perhaps the death of a tiny particle – the proton – will bring about the end. We contemplate big picture endings in this episode, and whether one could be brought about by our own machine creations. Guests: Anders Sandberg– Researcher at the Future of Humanity Institute at the University of Oxford Katie Mack–Assistant professor of physics at North Carolina State University, and the author of “The End of Everything, Astrophysically Speaking.” Brian Greene– Brian Greene, professor of physics and mathematics at Columbia, and author of “Until the End of Time: Mind, Matter, and Our Search for Meaning in an Evolving Universe” Originally aired May 3, 2021 Featuring music byDewey DellayandJun Miyake Big Picture Science is part of theAirwave Mediapodcast network.Please contactsales@advertisecast.comto inquire about advertising on Big Picture Science. You can get early access to ad-free versions of every episode by joining us onPatreon. Thanks for your support! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Back off, you Neanderthal! It sounds as if you’ve just been dissed, but maybe you should take it as a compliment. Contrary to common cliches, our Pleistocene relatives were clever, curious, and technologically inventive. Find out how our assessment of Neanderthals has undergone a radical rethinking, and hear about the influence they have as they live on in our DNA. For example, some of their genes have a strong association with severe Covid 19 infection. Plus, how Neanderthal mini-brains grown in a lab will teach us about the evolution ofHomo sapiens. Guests: Svante Pääbo– Evolutionary geneticist and Director of the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology. Doyle Stevick– Associate professor of educational leadership and policies at the University of South Carolina. Beverly Brown– Professor emerita of anthropology, Rockland Community College, New York. Rebecca Wragg Sykes– Paleolithic anthropologist, author of “Kindred: Neanderthal Life, Love, Death and Art.” Alysson Muotri– Neuroscientist and professor of pediatrics, cellular and molecular medicine at the University of California San Diego School of Medicine Featuring music byDewey DellayandJun Miyake Big Picture Science is part of theAirwave Mediapodcast network.Please contactsales@advertisecast.comto inquire about advertising on Big Picture Science. You can get early access to ad-free versions of every episode by joining us onPatreon. Thanks for your support! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices