Big Picture Science

GroupAccount image

Big Picture Science is a one-hour radio show and podcast that connects ideas in surprising and humorous ways to illuminate the origins, the behavior, and the future of life—and  technology—on Earth.

What came before the Big Bang?  How does the brain work? Will our descendents be human or machine?  What’s the origin of humor?  We ponder these questions daily... and expound on them weekly.

But, wait!  There’s more!

Are you a doubting Thomas?  Good.  Join us as we separate science from pseudoscience—and facts from the phony—in Skeptic Check, our monthly episode devoted to critical thinking.

Whether it’s astrology, Bigfoot, or just the incessant onslaught of UFOs, we take it all on, wielding the skeptical scalpel of solid science.

It’s Skeptic Check... but don’t take our word for it!

 

Pieces

Caption: Getting a Spacelift, Credit: Seth Shostak
The future of spaceflight, why humans should go to Mars, the techno-wizardry needed to get there, working on an asteroid, and a space tourist’s pri...

Bought by KREV-LP and KSJD


  • Added: Feb 06, 2012
  • Length: 00:54:00
  • Purchases: 2
Caption: Material Whirl, Credit: Seth Shostak
The future of man-made materials from 3D printers to artificial skin. Also, why ancient Roman concrete was better than ours.

Bought by Yellowstone Public Radio


  • Added: Jan 30, 2012
  • Length: 00:54:30
  • Purchases: 1
Caption: Skeptic Check: Energy Vortex, Credit: Seth Shostak
The science behind “mysterious energy,” from magnetic poles to haunted houses, and just what the heck is an “energy vortex” anyway?

Bought by WRST-FM Oshkosh


  • Added: Jan 23, 2012
  • Length: 00:54:00
  • Purchases: 1
Caption: Wired for Thought, Credit: Seth Shostak
A cup of coffee can leave you wired for the day, but a chip in your brain could wire you to a machine forever; the future of brain-machine interfaces.

Bought by Yellowstone Public Radio and KUNM


  • Added: Jan 16, 2012
  • Length: 00:54:00
  • Purchases: 2
Caption: Cosmos: It's Big, It's Weird, Credit: Seth Shostak
It’s all about you. And you, and you, and you and you … that is, if we live in parallel universes. Physicist Brian Greene’s case for multiverses.

Bought by WRST-FM Oshkosh, KUNM, and KREV-LP


  • Added: Jan 09, 2012
  • Length: 00:54:00
  • Purchases: 3
Caption: Light, the Universe, and Everything, Credit: Seth Shostak
Universe, cosmology, technology, invention, Big Bang, dark matter, dark energy, time

Bought by Yellowstone Public Radio


  • Added: Jan 02, 2012
  • Length: 00:54:03
  • Purchases: 1
Caption: Skeptic Check: Superstition, Credit: Seth Shostak
From fears of Friday the 13th to shattered mirrors - find out why our brains are wired for supernatural belief.

Bought by KREV-LP and WRST-FM Oshkosh


  • Added: Dec 26, 2011
  • Length: 00:54:00
  • Purchases: 2
Caption: Sensor Sensibility, Credit: Seth Shostak
“Ubiquitous sensing” aims to blanket the world in tiny sensors, the out-of-this world detection system that discovered a possibly Earth-like planet...

  • Added: Dec 19, 2011
  • Length: 00:54:00
Caption: Going Viral, Credit: Seth Shostak
Discover how viruses go from birds to pigs to you, how fossil viruses got into your genome, whether E.T. might be a virus, and what it takes for id...

  • Added: Dec 12, 2011
  • Length: 00:54:01
Caption: Science's Alliances, Credit: Seth Shostak
A particle physicist-turned-U.S. Congressman, Muppets teach toddlers engineering, and other unique science pairings.

Bought by KREV-LP


  • Added: Dec 05, 2011
  • Length: 00:54:00
  • Purchases: 1
Caption: Skeptic Check: Dubiology, Credit: Seth Shostak
From earthquake-predicting cats to dangerous "pox parties" - instances of questionable biology and the history of American scientific literacy.

  • Added: Nov 28, 2011
  • Length: 00:54:00
Caption: We've Got You Made, Credit: Seth Shostak
Computers are not only a part of your life, they may soon be a part of you - We’ll hear from the world’s first cyborg as to why we should make nice...

  • Added: Nov 21, 2011
  • Length: 00:54:00
Caption: Blame it on Bacterio, Credit: Seth Shostak
Think small! Microbes are tinier than the dot at the end of this sentence, yet they can make humans sicker than dogs, dogs sicker than humans, jum...

  • Added: Nov 14, 2011
  • Length: 00:54:00
Caption: NASA or What?, Credit: Seth Shostak
NASA in motion: the GRAIL mission takes us back to the moon, and – can you dig it? The rover Curiosity can. It’ll hunt for evidence of Martian lif...

  • Added: Nov 07, 2011
  • Length: 00:54:01
Caption: Bug Off!, Credit: Seth Shostak
Humans have been battling viruses and bacteria since the beginning of time; stories from the frontier of epidemiology.

  • Added: Oct 31, 2011
  • Length: 00:54:00
Caption: Anthropocene and Heard, Credit: Seth Shostak
Biololgy, evolution, climate science, sociology, economics, civilization, archaeology

  • Added: Oct 24, 2011
  • Length: 00:54:00
Caption: Happy Daze, Credit: Seth Shostak
Calling all pessimists – discover why your brain is wired for optimism, the evolutionary advantage of thinking positive and other research into th...

Bought by KREV-LP


  • Added: Oct 17, 2011
  • Length: 00:54:00
  • Purchases: 1
Caption: What's Your Poison?, Credit: Seth Shostak
“Aspirin and Old Lace?” Okay, you’d need a bottle of pills in a cup of elderberry wine, but aspirin can be deadly – hear why dose is key in toxicol...

  • Added: Oct 10, 2011
  • Length: 00:54:00
Caption: Skeptic Check, Beast Of, Credit: Seth Shostak
Zombies, aliens, Bigfoot, oh my - we've covered - or rather uncovered - them all and more on Skeptic Check, our monthly look of critical thinking, ...

Bought by WRIR


  • Added: Oct 03, 2011
  • Length: 00:54:00
  • Purchases: 1
Caption: Rend Me Your Ears, Credit: Seth Shostak
Our buzzing, humming, whirling, machine-driven world is a poster child for technological progress, and has driven one man to search for silence; we...

Bought by WRIR


  • Added: Sep 26, 2011
  • Length: 00:54:00
  • Purchases: 1