Big Picture Science

Series produced by Big Picture Science

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Big Picture Science is a weekly one-hour science magazine that connects ideas in surprising and humorous ways to illuminate the origins and evolution of life and technology on this planet… and beyond.

From free-thinking robots... to the recipe for dark matter... to the mix-and-match genes of synthetic biology, we have it all! One episode a month, Skeptic Check, is devoted to critical thinking.

Produced at the SETI Institute and hosted by Seth Shostak and Molly Bentley.

Big Picture Science can be found on iTunes and other podcast sites. Radio stations carrying the program are listed on our "listening" page at radio.seti.org

The program is freely available to radio stations for broadcast.

The show began with the title Are We Alone? in 2002.


91 Pieces

Order by: Newest First | Oldest First
A Martian Curiosity
From: Big Picture Science
Series: Big Picture Science
Caption: A Martian Curiosity, Credit: Seth Shostak
The hard part is over: we landed on Mars (again!). Let the science begin. Here’s the latest in the hunt for evidence of life off Earth, and one m...

Bought by KREV-LP and KVSC


  • Added: Aug 13, 2012
  • Length: 54:14
  • Purchases: 2
Fuel's Paradise
From: Big Picture Science
Series: Big Picture Science
Caption: Fuel's Paradise, Credit: Seth Shostak
From corn to algae to garbage: the race is on to find a fuel source that can replace petroleum.

Bought by KREV-LP


  • Added: Aug 06, 2012
  • Length: 54:14
  • Purchases: 1
Skeptic Check: Follywood Science
From: Big Picture Science
Series: Big Picture Science
Caption: Skeptic Check: Follywood Science, Credit: Seth Shostak
From Prometheus to 2001: the ratio of science to fiction in sci-fi, the most accurate science fiction film; and why messing with medical facts in f...

Bought by KVSC and KREV-LP


  • Added: Jul 30, 2012
  • Length: 54:02
  • Purchases: 2
Olympics for the Rest of Us
From: Big Picture Science
Series: Big Picture Science
Caption: Olympics for the Rest of Us, Credit: Seth Shostak
It’s easy to praise the extraordinary abilities of the athletes. Let’s celebrate the extreme averageness of the rest of us. From beer bellies to...

Bought by WRIR, WRST-FM Oshkosh, KHEN-LP, KVSC, and KREV-LP


  • Added: Jul 23, 2012
  • Length: 54:01
  • Purchases: 5
Do the Math
From: Big Picture Science
Series: Big Picture Science
Caption: Do the Math, Credit: Seth Shostak
Fun puzzles for your next urban hike, why brains are wired to count on fingers, and the world’s most famous equations (after e=mc2).

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


  • Added: Jul 16, 2012
  • Length: 54:03
  • Purchases: 3
Animal Instinct
From: Big Picture Science
Series: Big Picture Science
Caption: Animal Instinct, Credit: Seth Shostak
What humans can learn from our hairy, feathered, four-legged friends; we may wear suits and play Sudoku, but Homo sapiens are animals all the same.

Bought by WZEN.org, WRST-FM Oshkosh, and KREV-LP


  • Added: Jul 09, 2012
  • Length: 54:02
  • Purchases: 3
Nano Nano
From: Big Picture Science
Series: Big Picture Science
Caption: Nano Nano, Credit: Seth Shostak
"Think small to solve big problems" is, in a nutshell, the mantra of nanotechnology - we’ll look at the promise and the peril of this new science.

Bought by KREV-LP and WRST-FM Oshkosh


  • Added: Jul 02, 2012
  • Length: 54:02
  • Purchases: 2
Seth's Storm Shelter
From: Big Picture Science
Series: Big Picture Science
Caption: Seth's Storm Shelter, Credit: Seth Shostak
A mélange of surprising subjects from why humans are more like ants than are chimpanzees … to Jonah Lehrer on the creative brain.

Bought by KREV-LP and WRST-FM Oshkosh


  • Added: Jun 25, 2012
  • Length: 54:02
  • Purchases: 2
Skeptic Check: OMG, GMO?
From: Big Picture Science
Series: Big Picture Science
Caption: Skeptic Check: OMG, GMO?, Credit: Seth Shostak
You are what you eat – the science –and the controversy - of genetically engineered foods, plus synthetic biology on Mars.

Bought by KREV-LP and WRST-FM Oshkosh


  • Added: Jun 18, 2012
  • Length: 54:02
  • Purchases: 2
Can We Talk?
From: Big Picture Science
Series: Big Picture Science
Caption: Can We Talk?, Credit: Seth Shostak
The evolution of language, “Dr Bugs” on chemical messaging among ants, and mirror neurons that communicate with other brains without you saying a w...

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


  • Added: Jun 11, 2012
  • Length: 54:02
  • Purchases: 3
Better Mousetrap
From: Big Picture Science
Series: Big Picture Science
Caption: Better Mousetrap, Credit: Seth Shostak
How inventors get their ideas, what happens when their creations spawn entire new industries, and how the inventor of a squirt gun might just have ...

Bought by WRST-FM Oshkosh and KREV-LP


  • Added: Jun 04, 2012
  • Length: 54:01
  • Purchases: 2
Mass Transits
From: Big Picture Science
Series: Big Picture Science
Caption: Mass Transits, Credit: Seth Shostak
On June 5, our sister planet Venus will slowly slide across the face of the sun, the last transit of Venus until 2117; join us for a special episod...

Bought by WRST-FM Oshkosh and KZYX


  • Added: May 28, 2012
  • Length: 54:03
  • Purchases: 2
To Earth and Back
From: Big Picture Science
Series: Big Picture Science
Caption: To Earth and Back, Credit: Seth Shostak
Meet the NASA officer whose task is to keep Earth, Mars - and the entire solar system - free of hitchhiking bacteria.

Bought by KREV-LP and WRST-FM Oshkosh


  • Added: May 21, 2012
  • Length: 54:02
  • Purchases: 2
That's So Random!
From: Big Picture Science
Series: Big Picture Science
Caption: That's So Random!, Credit: Seth Shostak
We crave order in things, but we can’t iron out every chaotic crease, nor would we want to: from brain cell activity to the evolution of species, ...

Bought by KREV-LP and WRST-FM Oshkosh


  • Added: May 14, 2012
  • Length: 54:03
  • Purchases: 2
Group Think
From: Big Picture Science
Series: Big Picture Science
Caption: Group Think, Credit: Seth Shostak
If two is company and three a crowd, what’s the ideal number for to write a play or invent a new operating system? Experts disagree whether creati...

Bought by WRST-FM Oshkosh and KREV-LP


  • Added: Apr 30, 2012
  • Length: 54:02
  • Purchases: 2
Early Adapters
From: Big Picture Science
Series: Big Picture Science
Caption: Early Adapters, Credit: Seth Shostak
How Homo sapiens can wield technology to adapt to the onslaught of climate change, a growing population, and the blitz of hi-tech.

Bought by WRST-FM Oshkosh and KREV-LP


  • Added: Apr 23, 2012
  • Length: 54:02
  • Purchases: 2
Humans Need Not Apply
From: Big Picture Science
Series: Big Picture Science
Caption: Humans Need Not Apply, Credit: Seth Shostak
It’s silicon vs. carbon as intelligent, interactive machines out-perform humans in tasks beyond data-crunching – find out what jobs are left for hu...

Bought by KREV-LP


  • Added: Apr 16, 2012
  • Length: 54:03
  • Purchases: 1
Second that Emotion
From: Big Picture Science
Series: Big Picture Science
Caption: Second that Emotion, Credit: Seth Shostak
Why flies in milk gross you out and other voyages through human emotion.

Bought by KREV-LP


  • Added: Apr 09, 2012
  • Length: 54:02
  • Purchases: 1
Life Back Then
From: Big Picture Science
Series: Big Picture Science
Caption: Life Back Then, Credit: Seth Shostak
Time keeps on ticking, ticking … and as it does, evolution operates to produce remarkable and transformative changes in species.

Bought by KREV-LP


  • Added: Apr 02, 2012
  • Length: 54:01
  • Purchases: 1
Found in Space
From: Big Picture Science
Series: Big Picture Science
Caption: Found in Space, Credit: Seth Shostak
From Google to GPS – how modern mapping is reshaping our world view.

Bought by KREV-LP


  • Added: Mar 26, 2012
  • Length: 54:02
  • Purchases: 1

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