Science Talk

Latest Episodes:

Monsters: Not Just for Halloween Oct 25, 2017

Show notes

Stephen Asma, professor of philosophy at Columbia College Chicago and author of On Monsters: An Unnatural History of Our Worst Fears, talks about our enduring fascination with monsters.

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Maryn McKenna's <i>Big Chicken,</i> Part 2 Oct 18, 2017

Show notes

Award-winning journalist Maryn McKenna talks about her latest book, Big Chicken: The Incredible Story of How Antibiotics Created Modern Agriculture and Changed the Way the World Eats. (Part 2 of 2)

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Maryn McKenna's <i>Big Chicken,</i> Part 1 Oct 17, 2017

Show notes

Award-winning journalist Maryn McKenna talks about her latest book, Big Chicken: The Incredible Story of How Antibiotics Created Modern Agriculture and Changed the Way the World Eats. (Part 1 of 2)

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Nobel Prize Explainer: Catching Proteins in the Act Oct 04, 2017

Show notes

The 2017 Nobel Prize in Chemistry was awarded jointly to Jacques Dubochet, Joachim Frank and Richard Henderson for developing cryo-electron microscopy that can determine high-resolution structures of biomolecules in solution.

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Nobel Prize Explainer: Gravitational Waves and the LIGO Detector Oct 03, 2017

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The Nobel Prize in Physics was awarded today to Rainer Weiss, Barry Barish and Kip Thorne for their contributions to the LIGO detector and the observation of gravitational waves.

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Nobel Prize Explainer: Circadian Rhythm's Oscillatory Control Mechanism Oct 02, 2017

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The Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine was awarded today to Jeffrey Hall, Michael Rosbash and Michael Young for discoveries of molecular mechanisms controlling circadian rhythms.

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Does Evolution Repeat Itself? Sep 27, 2017

Show notes

Jonathan Losos, biology professor at Harvard and curator of herpetology at the university’s Museum of Comparative Zoology, talks about his latest book, Improbable Destinies: Fate, Chance and the Future of Evolution.

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The Great American Eclipse Aug 08, 2017

Show notes

In advance of the big solar eclipse on August 21, author and journalist David Baron talks about his new book American Eclipse: A Nation's Epic Race to Catch the Shadow of the Moon and Win the Glory of the World.

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Curiouser and Curiouser Aug 01, 2017

Show notes

Astrophysicist and author Mario Livio ventures deep into the human mind in his new book, Why? What Makes Us Curious.

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The Shark That Conquered the Whorl Jul 21, 2017

Show notes

Journalist and author Susan Ewing talks about her new book Resurrecting the Shark: A Scientific Obsession and the Mavericks Who Solved the Mystery of a 270-Million-Year-Old Fossil. (And we'll discuss how Helicoprion is not technically a shark, but it's really close!)

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