Big Picture Science

Life nearby? We've not yet found any on our favorite planet, Mars. But even if Mars is sterile, could we ever change that by terraforming it? Or seeding it with life from Earth? The Red Planet is not the only game in town: A new NASA mission to a Jovian moon may give clues to biology on a world where, unlike Mars, liquid water still exists. Also, the promise of the James Webb Space Telescope and why the solar system's largest active volcano offers clues to the habitability of other worlds. Guests: Kate Craft EuropaJulie Rathbun Courtney DressingChris McKay

Declining biodiversity is a problem as fraught as climate change. Loss of habitat, monoculture crops, and the damming of waterways all lead to massive species extinction. They tear at life's delicate web, and threaten a balance established by four billion years of evolution. Can we reassess our relationship to Nature? We consider logging efforts that make elephants part of the work force, and how to leverage the cooperative behavior of trees. Becoming Nature's ally, rather than its enemy. Guests: Suzanne Simard Finding the Mother Tree: Discovering the Wisdom of the ForestCarl SafinaBecoming Wild: How Animal Cultures Raise Families, Create Beauty, and Achieve Peace Jacob ShellGiants of the Monsson Forest: Living and Working with Elephants

Does geoengineering offer a Plan B if nations at the U.N. climate meeting can't reduce carbon emissions? The Glasgow meeting has been called "the last best chance" to take measures to slow down global heating. But we're nowhere near to achieving the emission reductions necessary to stave off a hothouse planet. We consider both the promise and the perils of geoengineering, and ask who decides about experimenting with Earth's climate. Guests: Elizabeth KolbertThe New YorkerThe Sixth Extinction," and, most recently, of "Under a White Sky: The Nature of the FutureDavid KeithKim Cobb

Looking to boost your brainpower? Luckily, there are products promising to help. Smart drugs, neurofeedback exercises, and brain-training video games all promise to improve your gray matter's performance. But it's uncertain whether these products really work. Regulatory agencies have come down hard on some popular brain training companies for false advertising. But other brain games have shown benefits in clinical trials. And could we skip the brain workout altogether and pop a genius pill instead? In our regular look at critical thinking, we separate the pseudo from the science of commercial cognitive enhancement techniques. Guests: Caroline Williams– My Plastic Brain: One Woman's Yearlong Journey to Discover If Science Can Improve Her MindAdam Gazzaley– The Distracted Mind: Ancient Brains in a High Tech World Amy Arnsten– Kevin Roose– Leonard Mlodinow– Elastic: Flexible Thinking in a Time of Change Originally aired August 6, 2018

400 years ago, some ideas about the cosmos were too scandalous to mention. When the Dominican friar Giordano Bruno suggested that planets existed outside our Solar System, the Catholic Inquisition had him arrested, jailed, and burned at the stake for heresy. Today, we have evidence of thousands of planets orbiting other stars. Our discovery of extrasolar planets has dramatically changed ideas about the possibility for life elsewhere in the universe. Modern theories about the existence of the ghostly particles called neutrinos or of collapsed stars with unfathomable gravity (black holes), while similarly incendiary, didn't prompt arrest, of course. Neutrinos and black holes were arresting ideas because they came decades before we had the means to prove their existence. Hear about scientific ideas that came before their time and why extrasolar planets, neutrinos, and black holes are now found on the frontiers of astronomical research. Guests: Alberto Martínez –Burned Alive: Giordano Bruno, Galileo & the InquisitionAnne Schukraft – Ephraim Fischbach – Chris Impey – Einstein's Monsters: The Life and Times of Black Holes Originally aired February 18, 2019

Get ready for déjà vu as you listen to some of our favorite interviews from the past year. It’s our annual fundraising podcast. Come for the great interviews, stay for the great interviews. Lend us your support along the way. What’s for dinner? Maybe Soylent. Made by … people! We do a taste test. Then meet your gut microbes. They control your health and even your mood. Get tips on how to talk to aliens, why you should keep an eye on government surveillance, and the future of 3D printing human tissue. Also, why extraordinary beliefs persist – including Holocaust denial – despite the persistence of evidence to the contrary. And, global perspective: why Ebola won’t be the next big pandemic but sea level rise could wipe out coasts along Florida and Thailand. Plus, we imagine life hundreds of years ago for the renegades on the rough seas, and what the world would be like had the dinosaurs not gone extinct. All this and more on a special Big Picture Science podcast! Guests: • Bill Miller – Physician and author of The Microcosm Within: Evolution and Extinction in the Hologenome • Rob Rhinehart – CEO and founder of Soylent • Brian Fagan – Emeritus professor of anthropology, University of California, Santa Barbara, author of The Attacking Ocean: The Past, Present, and Future of Rising Sea Levels • David Quammen – Science journalist, contributing writer for National Geographic Magazine, author of Spillover: Animal Infections and the Next Human Pandemic. His Op Ed article about Ebola appeared in the New York Times. • Shari Wells-Jensen – Professor of English, Bowling Green State University • Susan Landau – Mathematician and engineer who works on cybersecurity, privacy and public policy at the Worchester Polytechnic Institute, author most recently of Surveillance or Security?: The Risks Posed by New Wiretapping Technologies • Will Storr – Journalist, author of The Unpersuadables: Adventures with the Enemies of Science • Ali Khademhosseini – Bioengineer, Harvard Medical School, Brigham and Woman’s Hospital

Get ready for déjà vu as you listen to some of our favorite interviews in the past year. It’s our annual fundraising podcast. Come for the great interviews, stay for the great interviews. Lend us your support along the way. What's for dinner? Maybe fried bugs. Listen as we do a taste test. Speaking of dinner, learn why saliva's acceptable as long as it's in our mouth. But dollop some into our own soup, and we push the bowl away. Hear adventures of space walking and of space hunting: what happens to the search for extrasolar planets now that the Kepler spacecraft is compromised, and an astronomy research project that takes our interviewer by surprise. Plus, the case for scrapping high school algebra. That's right: No more "the first train leaves Cleveland at 4:00 pm …" problems. Also … why "The Simpsons" is chock-a-block with advanced math. And, in a world where everyone carries GPS technology in their pockets, will humans ever get lost again – and what’s lost if we don’t. Plus, Mary Roach gives us a tour of our digestive systems. All this and more on a special Big Picture Science podcast. Guests: Hiawatha BrayYou Are Here: From the Compass to GPS, the History and Future of How We Find OurselvesChris HadfieldAn Astronaut’s Guide to Life on Earth: What Going to Space Taught Me About Ingenuity, Determination, and Being Prepared for AnythingGeoff MarcyAndrew Hacker“Is Algebra Necessary?”Simon SinghThe Simpsons and Their Mathematical SecretsMary RoachGulp: Adventures on the Alimentary CanalJill MikuckiMichael PollanCooked: A Natural History of TransformationThe Omnivore’s Dilemma: A Natural History of Four Meals The Intelligent Plant,"The New Yorker Descripción en español