Big Picture Science

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What Lies Beneath Nov 28, 2016

Show notes

What you can’t see may astound you. The largest unexplored region of Earth is the ocean. Beneath its churning surface, oceanographers have recently discovered the largest volcano in the world – perhaps in the solar system.

Find out what is known – and yet to be discovered – about the marine life of the abyss, and how a fish called the bristlemouth has grabbed the crown for “most numerous vertebrate on Earth” from the chicken.

Plus, the menace of America’s Cascadia fault, which has the potential to unleash a devastating magnitude 9 earthquake.

Follow Dr. Sager’s voyage back to Tamu Massif in Fall 2015.

Guests

• Bruce Robison – Deep sea biologist, Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute

• William Sager – Marine geophysicist, Earth and Atmospheric Sciences, University of Houston

• Chris Goldfinger - Marine geologist, geophysicist, paleo-seismologist, Oregon State University

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And To Space We Return Nov 07, 2016

Show notes

Earth may be the cradle of life, but our bodies are filled with materials cooked up billions of years ago in the scorching centers of stars. As Carl Sagan said, “We are all stardust.” We came from space, and some say it is to space we will return.

Discover an astronomer’s quest to track down remains of these ancient chemical kitchens. Plus, a scientist who says that it’s in our DNA to explore – and not just the nearby worlds of the solar system, but perhaps far beyond.

But would be still be human when we arrive? Hear what biological and cultural changes we might undergo in a multi-generational interstellar voyage.

Guests:

• Timothy Beers – Astronomer, University of Notre Dame

• Chris Impey – Astronomer, University of Arizona, author of Beyond: Our Future in Space

• Cameron Smith – Archaeologist, Portland State University

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Hidden History Oct 31, 2016

Show notes

Archaeologists continue to hunt for the city of Atlantis, even though it may never have existed. But, what if it did? Its discovery would change ancient history. Sometimes when we dig around in the past, we can change our understanding of how we got to where we are.

We thought we had wrapped up the death of the dinosaurs: blame it on an asteroid. But evidence unearthed in Antarctica and elsewhere suggests the rock from space wasn’t the sole culprit.

Also, digging into our genetic past can turn up surprising – and sometimes uncomfortable truths – from ancestral origins to genes that code for disease. But do we always want to know?

Guests:

• Mark Adams – author, Meet Me in Atlantis: My Obsessive Quest to Find the Sunken City

• David Morrison – Senior scientist, NASA Ames Research Center

• Peter Ward – Paleontologist, University of Washington, author of A New History of Life: The Radical New Discoveries about the Origins and Evolution of Life on Earth

• Christine Kenneally – Journalist and author of The Invisible History of the Human Race: How DNA and History Shape Our Identities and Our Futures

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Moral's Law Oct 24, 2016

Show notes

"If it bleeds, it leads” is the tried and true tenet of news. Indeed, headlines are often no more than a long list of moral atrocities. Yet one man argues that we’re living in the most civilized era in history. And he credits this to scientific thought and reason.

Hang on! Our executive function isn’t enough to promote ethical behavior, says a psychologist. The real fuel behind our drive to be good? Anger, compassion, pride: your emotions!

But whether or not you’re a pillar of the community, good intentions might all be for naught when future ethical decisions are made by our silicon successors. Get ready for moral machines. Or not.

Guests:

• Michael Shermer - Publisher of Skeptic Magazine, author of The Moral Arc: How Science and Reason Lead Humanity Toward Truth, Justice, and Freedom

• David DeSteno – Psychologist, Northeastern University, author of The Truth About Trust

• Colin Allen – Historian, philosopher of science and cognitive science, Indiana University. Co-author of Moral Machines: Teaching Robots Right From Wrong

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Skeptic Check: Science and the Election Oct 10, 2016

Show notes

This year’s election is divisive, but one subject enjoys some consensus: science and technology policies are important. So why aren’t the candidates discussing these issues? The answers might surprise you.

The organizer of Science Debate, who wants a live debate devoted to science and technology, describes one obstacle to meaningful discussion. He also shares how the candidates responded to probing questions about science.

Communication expert Kathleen Hall Jamieson looks back to the televised debate of Kennedy and Nixon to discern trends that have made productive discussion about science nearly impossible today (it didn’t start out that way!)

And, the unique situation in which the man at the top of one political ticket is flat out wrong about science: a physicist describes how Donald Trump’s anti-science position affects the election.

Guests:

Shawn Otto-co-founder of sciencedebate.org, and the author of “The War on Science: Who’s Waging It, Why It Matters and What We Can Do About It"
Lawrence Krauss-Professor of theoretical physics at Arizona State University, director of its Origins Project, and a member of sciencedebate.org
Kathleen Hall Jamieson-Professor of communication, University of Pennsylvania, director of the university’s Annenberg Public Policy Center. Author of more than a dozen books on politics and the media, and co-founder of factcheck.org that has a separate page for science: scifact.org

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Skeptic Check: Skeptic Seth Sep 26, 2016

Show notes

Are you skeptical? Sure, you raise an eyebrow when some Nigerian prince asks for your bank numbers, or when a breakfast cereal claims that it will turn your kid into a professional athlete overnight.

But what do you really know about the benefits of organic milk? Or the power of whitening ingredients in your toothpaste? How credible is what you read on Twitter?

Today, information overwhelms us, and the need to keep our skeptical wits about us has never been greater. We follow Seth around as he faces the daily onslaught of hype and hokum.

It’s Skeptic Check, our monthly look at critical thinking … but don’t take our word for it!

Guests:

• Steven Novella – Assistant professor of neurology at Yale University School of Medicine and host of the “Skeptic’s Guide to the Universe” podcast

• Guy P. Harrison – journalist and author. His latest book, Good Thinking: What You Need to Know to be Smarter, Safer, Wealthier, and Wiser, will be in bookstores in October 2015.

• Andrew Maynard – Professor in the School for Innovation in Society, Arizona State University

• Peter Adams – Senior vice president for educational programs with the News Literacy Project

• Daniel Armistead – Dentist, Palo Alto, California

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The Evolution of Evolution Sep 12, 2016

Show notes

Darwinian evolution is adaptive and slow … millennia can go by before a species changes very much. But with the tools of genetic engineering we can now make radical changes in just one generation. By removing genes or inserting new ones, we can give an organism radically different traits and behaviors. We are taking evolution into our own hands.

It all began with the domestication of plants and animals, which one science writer says created civilization. Today, as humans tinker with their own genome, is it possible we will produce Homo sapiens 2.0?

Also, what happens to those species who can’t control their destiny? How climate change is forcing the biggest genetic reshuffling in recorded history.

Guests:

• Richard Francis – Science writer, author of Domesticated: Evolution in a Man-Made World

• Juan Enriquez – Academic, businessman, author, founding director of the Life Sciences Project, Harvard Business School, managing director, Excel Venture Management, and author of Evolving Ourselves: How Unnatural Selection and Nonrandom Mutation are Changing Life on Earth

• Jessica Hellmann – Biologist, University of Notre Dame

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Asteroids! Sep 05, 2016

Show notes

Everyone knows that a big rock did in the dinosaurs, but smaller asteroids are millions of times more common and can also make a violent impact. Yet unlike the bigger asteroids, we’re not tracking them. Find out what we’d need to keep an eye on the size of space rocks such as that which exploded over Chelyabinsk, Russia. And how an asteroid whizzed by Earth in late August 2016, only hours after it had been spotted.

Asteroids are the one natural disaster we can defend against, but an economist explains why humans are reluctant to invest in protection against “low probability, high impact” threats.

Also, how to authenticate that chunk of asteroid that you found in a field and NASA’s first ever return mission to an asteroid. It plans to bring some fresh samples back to Earth.

Guests:

Peter Jenniskens – Senior Research Scientist, SETI Institute
David Morrison – Senior Scientist of the Solar System Exploration Research Virtual Institute, NASA Ames Research Center
Alex Tabarrok – Economist, George Mason University
Sharon Cisneros – Mineralogical Research Company, San Jose, California
J. L. Galache – Astronomer, Minor Planet Center, Harvard Center for Astrophysics
Christina Richey – NASA Planetary scientist, deputy program scientist, OSIRIS-Rex mission

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They Know Who You Are Aug 22, 2016

Show notes

You’re a private person. But as long as you’re on-line and have skin and hair, you’re shedding little bits of data and DNA everywhere you go. Find out how that personal information – whether or not it’s used against you – is no longer solely your own. Are your private thoughts next?

A security expert shares stories of ingenious computer hacking … a forensic scientist develops tools to create a mug shot based on a snippet of DNA … and from the frontiers of neuroscience: mind reading may no longer be the stuff of sketchy psychics.

Guests:

• Marc Goodman – Global security advisor, founder, Future Crimes Institute, author of Future Crimes: Everything Is Connected, Everyone Is Vulnerable and What We Can Do About It

• Susan Walsh – Forensic geneticist, Indiana University – Purdue University in Indianapolis

• Marvin Chun – Psychologist, Yale University

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Are We Over the Moon? Aug 15, 2016

Show notes

When astronaut Gene Cernan stepped off the moon in 1972, he didn’t think he’d be the last human ever to touch its surface. But no one’s been back. Hear astronaut Cernan’s reaction to being the last man on the moon, the reasons why President Kennedy launched the Apollo program, and why Americans haven’t returned.

Now other countries – and companies – are vying for a bigger piece of the space pie. Find out who – or what – will be visiting and even profiting. Will the moon become an important place to make money?

Plus, the moon landing was a great step for “a man,” and “men not machines” make space history. But what about women? More than a dozen were qualified for space flight in the early 1960s. Hear from one of these original “Mercury 13,” and find out why NASA grounded them.

Guests:

Gene Cernan – Retired American naval officer, former NASA Astronaut.
John Logsdon – Professor emeritus, Space Policy Institute, George Washington University
Al Hallonquist – Aerospace historian
Robert Richards – Founder and CEO of Moon Express
Sarah Ratley–Former pilot, member of the "Mercury 13"
Dan Durda–Planetary scientist, Southwest Research Institute.

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