Sift

Series produced by Bishop Sand

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Sift sorts through deep topics with the help of people who routinely run into them. Ideas and stories run through physics, philosophy, psychology, neuroscience, economics, anthropology and common-sense.

Each episode breaks down the deeper ideas that shape our way of thinking about ourselves and the rest of the world. Both expert and non-expert guests are asked similar questions. Their answers are stitched together in a collage of discussion and sound. In between episodes, 'Sift Shorts'-- smaller independent pieces (5-15 minutes) that didn't make their way into the episode--are available .


24 Pieces

Order by: Newest First | Oldest First
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Chef Gift gives us a simple soup. Strangely, it's similar to a primordial soup.

Bought by KBCS 91.3 FM Community Radio and PRX Remix


  • Added: Nov 19, 2012
  • Length: 04:25
  • Purchases: 2
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Listen to peoples' first reaction to Saturn alongside astrophysicists who gaze up at the universe for a living. Learn the new techniques scientists...

Bought by KBCS 91.3 FM Community Radio and PRX Remix


  • Added: Oct 31, 2012
  • Length: 17:47
  • Purchases: 2
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The surprising history of the earth and life's impact on it. Also, a new perspective on the future of the planet: earth will likely be in constant ...

Bought by KAWC / Border Radio - KOFA, XRAY.fm, KUT, and PRX Remix


  • Added: Sep 26, 2012
  • Length: 14:32
  • Purchases: 4
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How to build life from scratch… seriously! Hear the various steps in the process. Warning: This episode is chemically intense.

Bought by PRX Remix


  • Added: Sep 26, 2012
  • Length: 09:43
  • Purchases: 1
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Life is everywhere and we have a tough time killing it when sending our spacecraft off to Mars. However, in the lab, life is elusive. We look at th...

Bought by KBCS 91.3 FM Community Radio and PRX Remix


  • Added: Aug 26, 2012
  • Length: 15:03
  • Purchases: 2
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We all want to explain our origins. Hear a greek origin myth alongside our modern scientific origin stories. Then take a step back to realize that ...

Bought by KBCS 91.3 FM Community Radio and PRX Remix


  • Added: Aug 10, 2012
  • Length: 17:31
  • Purchases: 2
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How small and how large can life be? Hear scientists consider various answers to these questions and even attempt to convince you that life can be ...

Bought by KBCS 91.3 FM Community Radio and PRX Remix


  • Added: Jul 19, 2012
  • Length: 10:49
  • Purchases: 2
From: Bishop Sand
Series: Sift
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What is life? In the first installment of our "origin of life" topic, hear various attempts to define life and ponder the life of the internet.

Bought by KBCS 91.3 FM Community Radio and PRX Remix


  • Added: Jul 09, 2012
  • Length: 14:59
  • Purchases: 2
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We stroll through the history of causal thought in medicine (and science) and entertain an alternative approach that is getting some traction in ph...

Bought by KBCS 91.3 FM Community Radio and PRX Remix


  • Added: Dec 30, 2011
  • Length: 12:08
  • Purchases: 2
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Why can’t you predict the weather in a few days in advance? In this short, we explore the fundamental unknowable nature of chaotic systems. Then we...

Bought by PRX Remix


  • Added: Dec 19, 2011
  • Length: 14:51
  • Purchases: 1
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Cause and effect seems so easy to grasp but is often slippery when we think about it in detail. In this show, we hang on to the slippery topic and ...

Bought by PRX Remix


  • Added: Nov 23, 2011
  • Length: 29:49
  • Purchases: 1
From: Bishop Sand
Series: Sift
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How engrained is cause in our psyche? ... and in our fields of study? Experts and experiments explain.

  • Added: Sep 30, 2011
  • Length: 28:06
From: Bishop Sand
Series: Sift
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In this episode we attempt to define causation - a concept that is central to the way we think.

Bought by KBCS 91.3 FM Community Radio


  • Added: Sep 14, 2011
  • Length: 13:46
  • Purchases: 1
ALS
From: Bishop Sand
Series: Sift
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We’ve all gone through some grief. Daniel faces a very different kind because his father has ALS (Lou Gehrig’s disease). Daniel talks about his tho...

Bought by PRX Remix


  • Added: Aug 29, 2011
  • Length: 15:55
  • Purchases: 1
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Michelle discovers Buddhism through a friend's death and tries to improve her mental control.

  • Added: Aug 12, 2011
  • Length: 08:18
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We consider an unusual understanding of death - a biological one. Prof. Tyler Volk describes organisms tuning their lifespan to their surroundings,...

Bought by KBCS 91.3 FM Community Radio


  • Added: Jul 22, 2011
  • Length: 08:05
  • Purchases: 1
From: Bishop Sand
Series: Sift
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A Vet describes a euthanasia and we wonder how we should consider human euthanasia.

Bought by PRX Remix


  • Added: Jul 08, 2011
  • Length: 09:11
  • Purchases: 1
From: Bishop Sand
Series: Sift
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In this short episode we hear about a terrifying phlebotomy experience and the callouses doctors must develop to protect themselves from death.

Bought by KBCS 91.3 FM Community Radio and PRX Remix


  • Added: Jul 08, 2011
  • Length: 06:16
  • Purchases: 2
From: Bishop Sand
Series: Sift
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How does death shape our behavior? Why do we grieve? How do we cope? What do we fear? and how can we accept our own exiting? Experts share their th...

Bought by PRX Remix


  • Added: Jul 08, 2011
  • Length: 42:30
  • Purchases: 1
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We dive into the Schrödinger's Cat paradox and ask what it reveals about the nature of quantum mechanics and physics in general.

Bought by KBCS 91.3 FM Community Radio and PRX Remix


  • Added: Jul 08, 2011
  • Length: 09:48
  • Purchases: 2