We Can Rebuild It
From Big Picture Science | Part of the Big Picture Science series | 54:00
It’s human nature: when calamity strikes, we rebuild. Learn about the consequences of the biggest volcanic explosion in 5,000 years, and the reanimation of an African park destroyed by civil war. Also, reassembling the T. Rex, and how to reboot civilization, should the need arise.
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What goes up must come down. But it’s human nature to want to put things back together again. It can even be a matter of survival in the wake of some natural or manmade disasters.
First, a portrait of disaster: the eruption of Tambora in 1815 is the biggest volcanic explosion in 5,000 years. It changed the course of history, although few people have heard of it.
Then, stories of reconstruction: assembling, disassembling, moving and reassembling one of the nation’s largest T. Rex skeletons, and what we learn about dinos in the process.
Also, the reanimation of Gorongosa National Park in Africa, after years of civil war destroyed nearly all the wildlife.
And a handbook for rebuilding civilization itself from scratch.
Guests:
• Gillen D’Arcy Wood – Professor of English, University of Illinois, author of Tambora: The Eruption That Changed the World
• Patrick Leiggi – Museum of the Rockies, Bozeman, Montana
• Matt Carrano – Curator of dinosauria, National Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian Institution
• Greg Carr – Entrepreneur and philanthropist, president of Gorongosa National Park, in Mozambique
• Lewis Dartnell – Astrobiologist, University of Leicester, author of The Knowledge: How to Rebuild Our World from Scratch
Skeptic Check: Dubiology
From Big Picture Science | Part of the Big Picture Science series | 54:00
From earthquake-predicting cats to dangerous "pox parties" - instances of questionable biology and the history of American scientific literacy.
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There’s no harm talking to your houseplant, but will your chatter really help it grow? We look at various biological claims, from whether plants feel pain to the ability of cats to predict earthquakes. Feline forecasters, anyone?
Also, when does understanding biology have important implications for health and policy? The arguments for and against genetically modified foods, and the danger of “pox parties” as a replacement for childhood vaccination.
Plus, the history and current state of scientific literacy in the United States. When did we stop trusting science?
Guests:
• Andy Michael – Seismologist with the U.S. Geological Survey in Menlo Park, California
• Ron Lindsay – President of the Center for Inquiry, headquartered in Amherst, NY
• Steven Novella – Clinical neurologist and Director of General Neurology at Yale University School of Medicine; host of the Skeptics Guide to the Universe podcast
• Shawn Lawrence Otto – Author of Fool Me Twice: Fighting the Assault on Science in America
• Chelsea Specht – Professor, Department of Plant and Microbial Biology, University of California, Berkeley
To Earth and Back
From Big Picture Science | Part of the Big Picture Science series | 54:02
Meet the NASA officer whose task is to keep Earth, Mars - and the entire solar system - free of hitchhiking bacteria.
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We are all Martians … or could be, if, billions of years ago, Red Plant microbes fell to Earth and eventually evolved to us. Okay, that one’s a big “if.” But microbes can survive space travel. Meet the NASA officer whose task is to keep Earth, Mars – and the entire solar system –safe from hitchhiking bacteria.
And, even if we’re not Martians (darn!), did life once thrive on the Red Planet … and does it still today?
Plus, why meteorites may be happy habitats for life.
Guests:
• Catharine Conley – NASA planetary protection officer
• Chris McKay – Planetary scientist, NASA Ames Research Center
• Paul Davies – Director of the BEYOND: Center for Fundamental Concepts in Science at Arizona State University
• Aaron Burton – Astrobiologist, NASA Goddard Spaceflight Center
• Debbie Kolyer – Grants Manager, SETI Institute
Catch a Wave
From Big Picture Science | Part of the Big Picture Science series | 54:00
What your eye sees is but a narrow band in the electromagnetic spectrum. Discover what the rest reveals about the secrets of the universe.
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Let there be light. Otherwise we couldn’t watch a sunset or YouTube. Yet what your eye sees is but a narrow band in the electromagnetic spectrum. Shorten those light waves and you get invisible gamma radiation. Lengthen them and tune into a radio broadcast.
Discover what’s revealed about our universe as you travel along the electromagnetic spectrum. There’s the long of it: an ambitious goal to construct the world’s largest radio telescope array … and the short: a telescope that images high-energy gamma rays from black holes.
Also, the structure of the universe as seen through X-ray eyes and a physicist sings the praises of infrared light. Literally.
And, while gravity waves are not in the electromagnetic club, these ripples in spacetime could explain some of the biggest mysteries of the cosmos. But first, we have to catch them!
Guests:
• Anil Ananthaswamy – Journalist and consultant for New Scientist in London
• Harvey Tananbaum – Director of the Chandra X-Ray Center, located in Cambridge Massachusetts at the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory
• David Reitze – Executive director of the Laser Interferometer Gravitational Wave Observatory (LIGO), California Institute of Technology
• Albert Lazzarini – Deputy director, LIGO, California Institute of Technology
• Alan Marscher – Professor of astronomy at Boston University