Inquiring Minds

Latest Episodes:

61 George Church - Hacking Mosquitoes to Fight Malaria Nov 21, 2014

Show notes

On the show this week guest host Cynthia Graber talks to George Church—a professor of genetics at Harvard Medical School and the author of Regenesis: How Synthetic Biology Will Reinvent Nature and Ourselves. Church explains how, using cutting-edge genetic manipulation techniques, we may be able to help eradicate some of the world's worst diseases.
Cynthia and Church also talk about everything from HIV/AIDS research to efforts to engineer an animal that will closely resemble the long-extinct woolly mammoth.
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60 Paul Bloom - Babies and the Origins of Good and Evil Nov 14, 2014

Show notes

On the show this week we talk to cognitive scientist Paul Bloom about the morality of babies. Most of us think of babies as selfish, impulsive, and for the most part out of control. We tend to think of their morality as shaped by experience—by society, by their parents, by early childhood events. But Bloom and his collaborators at Yale have some pretty compelling evidence that at least some parts of our moral compass are innate—that is that babies are born with the capacity to tell good from bad just as they are born with a capacity to develop motor or language skills. And by understanding how our morality develops throughout childhood, we can gain some insight into how our own gut feelings and biases shape our moral lives as adults.
We also welcome guest-host Kishore Hari, director of the Bay Area Science Festival, to talk about, among other things, a recent study involving brains and spiders.
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59 David Grinspoon - The Science of Interstellar Nov 07, 2014

Show notes

On the show this week we welcome guest host David Corn, political journalist and Washington bureau chief for Mother Jones. Corn interviews astrobiologist David Grinspoon about the science behind Christopher Nolan’s new movie, Interstellar—what it gets right, and what it gets wrong.
Corn also talks to Indre about what the recent elections mean for those of us who value science. Spoiler: it’s not looking great.
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58 Adam Savage - Live on Stage in San Francisco Oct 31, 2014

Show notes

On the show this week Indre talks to Adam Savage about the future of science communication (and why it’s terrifying TV networks), why he’s worried Elon Musk might become a Marvel supervillain, and why it’s so important to him that women be better represented in his field.

Indre also talks to host of The Story Collider, Ben Lillie, about the Antares Rocket explosion, flavonols, and Ben explains why he's fascinated by institutional review boards.

This episode was recorded live on stage in San Francisco as part of the 2014 Bay Area Science Festival.

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57 William Gibson - The Future Will View Us as a Joke Oct 24, 2014

Show notes

On the show this week we talk to author William Gibson about time travel, cronuts, and his new 22nd century novel.
We also talk to infectious disease doctor and co-founder of Wellbody Alliance, Dan Kelly, who is currently in Sierra Leone fighting the Ebola outbreak. Kelly explains what the situation looks like from the ground, what work he’s doing there, and what we can do to help.
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56 Steven Johnson - Innovations That Made the Modern World Oct 17, 2014

Show notes

On the show this week we talk to Steven Johnson, author of the new book How We Got to Now: Six Innovations That Made the Modern World. In it, Johnson argues that seemingly mundane scientific breakthroughs have changed our world in profound ways—impacting everything from life expectancy to women's fashion.
We also welcome guest host Cynthia Graber who talks about a recent article she wrote for Nova on the “Diseaseome”; and Indre wonders if you are, in fact, smarter than a kindergartner.
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55 Daniel Levitin - The Organized Mind Oct 10, 2014

Show notes

On the show this week we talk to cognitive psychologist, neuroscientist, musician, and writer Daniel Levitin about his new book The Organized Mind: Thinking Straight in the Age of Information Overload. We also talk to microbiologist Siouxsie Wiles about the Ebola virus—what the risks really are, and why many people might be overreacting. Also, Chris has a huge announcement.

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54 Steven Pinker - The Science Behind Writing Well Oct 02, 2014

Show notes

San Francisco! Come see us interview Adam Savage live on Oct. 28!
http://www.bayareascience.org/event/im-story-collider/
On the show this week we talk to celebrated Harvard cognitive scientist and psycholinguist Steven Pinker about his new book The Sense of Style: The Thinking Person's Guide to Writing in the 21st Century.
Pinker explains how to write in clear, "classic" prose that shares valuable information with clarity (but never condescension). He also tells us why so many of the tut-tutting grammar "rules" that we all think we're supposed to follow—don't split infinitives, don't use the passive voice, don't end a sentence with a preposition—are just nonsense.
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53 Naomi Klein - Climate Changes Everything Sep 26, 2014

Show notes

Come see us interview Adam Savage live in San Francisco on Oct. 28!
http://www.bayareascience.org/event/im-story-collider/
On the show this week we talk to author and social activist Naomi Klein about her new book This Changes Everything: Capitalism vs. the Climate. In it, Klein argues that we are past the time when incremental change can get us to where we need to be to properly address the challenge of climate change—we’re in a situation, she says, where no non-radical choices are left.
This episode also features a discussion on new research that suggests gut bacteria could be affecting our minds, and a study that examines the cross-species influence of a babies’ cries.
iTunes: itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/inquiring-minds/id711675943
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Support the show: https://www.patreon.com/inquiringminds

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52 Al Gore - The Politics of Climate Change Sep 17, 2014

Show notes

On the show this week we talk to former Vice President Al Gore. He shares his thoughts on President Obama's global warming record, the upcoming United Nations climate meeting, the impact of fracking, and China's plans for a massive carbon market.
This episode also features a discussion inspired by an article written by Cailin O’Connor at Slate on the often overlooked influence of random noise on our cells—and its influence on genetics.
http://www.slate.com/articles/health_and_science/science/2014/09/random_noise_in_biology_why_genetically_identical_twins_aren_t_identical.html
iTunes: itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/inquiring-minds/id711675943
RSS: feeds.feedburner.com/inquiring-minds
Stitcher: stitcher.com/podcast/inquiring-minds

Support the show: https://www.patreon.com/inquiringminds

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

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