Big Picture Science

Latest Episodes:

Talk the Walk Oct 05, 2020

Show notes

Birds and bees do it … and so do fish. In a discovery that highlights the adaptive benefits of walking, scientists have discovered fish that can walk on land. Not fin-flap their bodies, mind you, but ambulate like reptiles.

And speaking of which, new research shows that T Rex, the biggest reptile of them all, wasn’t a sprinter, but could be an efficient hunter by outwalking its prey.

Find out the advantage of legging it, and how human bipedalism stacks up. Not only is walking good for our bodies and brains, but not walking can change your personality and adversely affect your health.

Guests:

Hans Larsson – Paleontologist and biologist, and Director of the Redpath Museum at McGill University in Montréal.
Shane O’Mara – Neuroscientist and professor of experimental brain research at Trinity College Dublin. He is the author of “In Praise of Walking.”
Brooke Flammang – Biologist at the New Jersey Institute of Technology.

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

Mycology Education Sep 28, 2020

Show notes

Beneath our feet is a living network just as complex and extensive as the root systems in a forest. Fungi, which evolved in the oceans, were among the first to colonize the barren continents more than a half-billion years ago. They paved the way for land plants, animals, and (eventually) you.

Think beyond penicillin and pizza, and take a moment to consider these amazing organisms. Able to survive every major extinction, essential as Nature’s decomposers, and the basis of both ale and antibiotics, fungi are essential to life. And their behavior is so complex you’ll be wondering if we shouldn’t call them intelligent!

Guest:

Merlin Sheldrake – Biologist and the author of Entangled Life: How Fungi Make our Worlds, Change our Minds and Shape our Futures.

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

Hubble and Beyond Sep 21, 2020

Show notes

The universe is not just expanding; it’s accelerating. Supermassive black holes are hunkered down at the center of our galaxy and just about every other galaxy, too. We talk about these and other big discoveries of the Hubble Space Telescope, now in orbit for 30 years.

But two new next-generation telescopes will soon be joining Hubble: the Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope and the James Webb Space Telescope. Hear what cosmic puzzles they’ll address. Plus, life in a clean room while wearing a coverall “bunny suit”; what it takes to assemble a telescope.

Guests:

Meg Urry – Professor of physics and astronomy, Director of the Yale Center for Astronomy and Astrophysics, Yale University
John Grunsfeld – Former NASA Associate Administrator, and astronaut
Kenneth Harris – Senior Project Engineer, Aerospace Corporation

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

Life on Venus? Sep 14, 2020

Show notes

Have scientists found evidence of life on Venus? Known for its scorching temperatures and acidic atmosphere, Earth’s twin hardly seems a promising place for living things. But could a discovery of phosphine by researchers at MIT point to a high-altitude biosphere on this nearby world?

Guests:

Clara Sousa–Silva - Research scientist in MIT's Department of Earth, Atmospheric and Planetary Sciences. She and Sara Seager co-authored a paper in January 2020 titled, “Phosphine as a Biosignature Gas in Exoplanet Atmospheres”
Sara Seager - Professor of physics and planetary science, Massachusetts Institute of Technology and author of “The Smallest Lights in the Universe”
Nathalie Cabrol - Planetary Scientist and Director of the Cal Sagan Center at the SETI Institute
David Grinspoon - Senior Scientist at the Planetary Science Institute, author of “Earth in Human Hands”

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

Space: Why Go There? (rebroadcast) Sep 07, 2020

Show notes

It takes a lot of energy and technology to leave terra firma. But why rocket into space when there’s so much to be done on Earth? From the practical usefulness of satellites to the thrill of exploring other worlds, let us count the ways.

The launch of a NOAA weather satellite to join its twin provides unparalleled observation of storms, wildfires, and even lightning. Find out what it’s like to watch hurricanes form from space.

Meanwhile, more than a dozen countries want their own satellites to help solve real-world problems, including tracking disease. Learn how one woman is helping make space accessible to everyone.

Plus, now that we’ve completed our grand tour of the Solar System, which bodies are targets for return missions and which for human exploration?

Guests:

Sarah Cruddas – Space journalist, broadcaster, and author based in the U.K.
Jamese Sims – GOES-R Project Manager at NOAA
Danielle Wood – Assistant professor, MIT Media Lab, Director of the Space Enabled Research Group
Jim Green – NASA Planetary Science Division Director

Originally aired March 5, 2018

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

Home Invasions Aug 31, 2020

Show notes

As we struggle to control a viral invader that moves silently across the globe and into its victims, we are also besieged by other invasions. Murder hornets have descended upon the Pacific Northwest, threatening the region’s honeybees. In Africa, locust swarms darken the sky. In this episode, we draw on a classic science fiction tale to examine the nature of invasions, and what prompts biology to go on the move.

Guests:

Peter Ksander– Associate professor at Reed College in the Department of Theater. Producer of the spring 2020 production of War of the Worlds
Eva Licht – A senior at Reed College, and producer and director of War of the Worlds
Chris Looney– Entomologist with the Washington State Department of Agriculture, where he manages its general entomology laboratory
Nipun Basrur– Neurobiologist at The Rockefeller University
Amy Maxmen– Reporter at the journal Nature, in which her story about pandemic war games appeared.

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

The X-Flies (rebroadcast) Aug 24, 2020

Show notes

Insect populations are declining. But before you say “good riddance,” consider that insects are the cornerstone of many ecosystems. They are dinner for numerous animal species and are essential pollinators. Mammals are loved, but they are not indispensable. Insects are.

Meanwhile, marvel at the extraordinary capabilities of some insects. The zany aerial maneuvers of the fly are studied by pilots. And, contrary to the bad press, cockroaches are very clean creatures. Also, take a listen as we host some Madagascar hissing cockroaches in our studio (yes, they audibly hiss).

Plus, how insects first evolved … and the challenges in controlling lethal ones. Are genetically-engineering mosquitoes the best way to combat malaria?

Guests:

Erica McAlister – Entomologist, Senior Curator of diptera in the Department of Entomology, Natural History Museum in London, author of “The Secret Life of Flies”
Jessica Ware – Evolutionary biologist and entomologist at Rutgers University
Anthony James – Vector biologist, University of California, Irvine
Lauren Esposito – Arachnologist, California Academy of Sciences, San Francisco

Originally aired March 19, 2018

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

Skeptic Check: Worrier Mentality (rebroadcast) Aug 17, 2020

Show notes

Poisonous snakes, lightning strikes, a rogue rock from space. There are plenty of scary things to fret about, but are we burning adrenaline on the right ones? Stepping into the bathtub is more dangerous than flying from a statistical point of view, but no one signs up for “fear of showering” classes.

Find out why we get tripped up by statistics, worry about the wrong things, and how the “intelligence trap” not only leads smart people to make dumb mistakes, but actually causes them to make more.

Guests:

Eric Chudler – Research associate professor, department of bioengineering, University of Washington, Seattle and co-author of “Worried: Science Investigates Some of Life’s Common Concerns”
Lise Johnson – Director of the Basic Science Curriculum, Rocky Vista University, and co-author of “Worried: Science Investigates Some of Life’s Common Concerns”
Willie Turner – Vice President of Operations at the Hiller Aviation Museum in San Carlos, CA
Charles Wheelan – Senior Lecturer and Policy Fellow, Dartmouth College, and author of “Naked Statistics”
David Robson – Commissioning Editor for the BBC and author of “The Intelligence Trap: Why Smart People Make Dumb Mistakes”

Originally aired May 27, 2019

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

Math's Paths (rebroadcast) Aug 10, 2020

Show notes

If you bake, you can appreciate math’s transformative properties. Admiring the stackable potato chip is to admire a hyperbolic sheet. Find out why there’s no need to fear math - you just need to think outside the cuboid. Also, how nature’s geometric shapes inspire the next generation of squishy robots and an argument for radically overhauling math class. The end point of these common factors is acute show that’s as fun as eating Pi.

Guests:

Eugenia Cheng – Scientist in Residence at the School of the Art Institute in Chicago, tenured at the School of Mathematics and Statistics at the University of Sheffield, and author of “How to Bake Pi”
Shankar Venkataramani – Professor of math at the University of Arizona
Steven Strogatz – Professor of applied mathematics at Cornell University and author of “Infinite Powers: How Calculus Reveals the Secrets of the Universe”
Daniel Finkel – Mathematician and founder and director of operations at “Math for Love”

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

On Thin Ice (rebroadcast) Aug 03, 2020

Show notes

Water is essential for life – that we know. But the honeycomb lattice that forms when you chill it to zero degrees Celsius is also inexorably intertwined with life.

Ice is more than a repository for water that would otherwise raise sea levels. It’s part of Earth’s cooling system, a barrier preventing decaying organic matter from releasing methane gas, and a vault entombing ancient bacteria and other microbes.

From the Arctic to the Antarctic, global ice is disappearing. Find out what’s at stake as atmospheric CO2 threatens frozen H2O.

Guests:

Peter Wadhams- Emeritus Professor of Ocean Physics at Cambridge University in the U.K. and the author of A Farewell to Ice: A Report from the Arctic
Eric Rignot- Earth systems scientist, University of California, Irving, senior research scientist, NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory
Åsmund Asdal- Biologist, Nordic Genetic Resource Center, coordinator for operations and management of the Svalbard Global Seed Vault, Svalbard, Norway
John Priscu-Polar biologist, Montana State University