Big Picture Science

Do we still need doctors? There are umpteen alternative sources of medical advice, including endless and heartfelt health tips from people without medical degrees. Frankly, self-diagnosis with a health app is easier and cheaper than a trip to a clinic. Since we’re urged to be our own health advocate and seek second opinions, why not ask Alexa or consult with a celebrity about what ails us?Find out if you can trust these alternative medical advice platforms. Plus, lessons from an AIDS fighter about ignoring the findings of medical science.  And, if AI can diagnose better than an MD, will we stop listening to doctors altogether?It’s our monthly look at critical thinking … but don’t take our word for it!Guests: Katherine Foley – Science and health reporter at Quartz, and author of the article “Alexa is a Terrible Doctor” Paul Offit – Professor of pediatrics at the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia and the Perlman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania, and author of “Bad Advice: Or Why Celebrities, Politicians, and Activists Aren’t Your Best Source of Health Information” Richard Marlink – Director Rutgers Global Health Institute. Shinjini Kundu – Research Fellow, University of Pittsburgh Medical Center Stuart Schlisserman – Internist, Palo Alto, California  originally aired September 24, 2018A special offer to Big Picture Science listeners: Receive 60% off the first month of a MEL Physics, MEL Chemistry or MEL STEM subscription. Just go to MELscience.com and use the promo code BPS or follow this link: https://melscience.com/sBI3/.Big Picture Science is part of the Airwave Media podcast network. Please contact sales@advertisecast.com to inquire about advertising on Big Picture Science.You can get early access to ad-free versions of every episode by joining us on Patreon. Thanks for your support!   Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

They look like a cross between a beaver and a duck, and they all live Down Under. The platypus may lay eggs, but is actually a distant mammalian cousin, one that we last saw, in an evolutionary sense, about 166 million years ago.Genetic sequencing is being used to trace that history, while scientists intensify their investigation of the habits and habitats of these appealing Frankencreatures; beginning by taking a census to see just how many are out there, and if their survival is under threat.Guests:  Josh Griffiths – Senior Wildlife Ecologist at Cesaar Australia. Jane Fenelon – Research fellow, University of Melbourne Paula Anich – Professor of Natural Resources, Northland College Wes Warren – Professor of Genomics, University of Missouri Phoebe Meagher – Conservation Officer, Taronga Conservation Society, Australia Originally aired August 2, 2021Featuring music by Dewey Dellay and Jun MiyakeA special offer to Big Picture Science listeners: Receive 60% off the first month of a MEL Physics, MEL Chemistry or MEL STEM subscription. Just go to MELscience.com and use the promo code BPS or follow this link: https://melscience.com/sBI3/. You like science, that’s why you listen to Big Picture Science. So why not check out MEL science for your kids?Big Picture Science is part of the Airwave Media podcast network. Please contact sales@advertisecast.com to inquire about advertising on Big Picture Science.You can get early access to ad-free versions of every episode by joining us on Patreon. Thanks for your support!  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Your shower pipes are alive. So are your sinks, books, and floorboards. New studies of our homes are revealing just what species live there – in the thousands, from bacteria to flies to millipedes. Meanwhile, life keeps surprising us by popping up in other unexpected places: the deep biosphere houses the majority of the world’s bacteria and the Arctic tundra has kept worms frozen, but alive, for 40,000 years.We embrace the multitude of life living on us, in us, and – as it turns out – in every possible ecological niche. Most of it is harmless, some is beneficial, and it’s all testament to the amazing diversity and adaptability of life. In addition, the hardiest organisms suggest where we might find life beyond Earth.Guests: Rob Dunn – Professor of applied ecology at North Carolina State University and at the Natural History Museum at the University of Copenhagen. Author of “Never Home Alone: From Microbes to Millipedes, Camel Crickets, and Honeybees, the Natural History of Where We Live.” Lynn Rothschild – Astrobiologist and synthetic biologist at the NASA Ames Research Center. Karen Lloyd – Environmental microbiologist and associate professor at the University of Tennessee. Originally aired January 21, 2019Featuring music by Dewey Dellay and Jun MiyakeA special offer to Big Picture Science listeners: Receive 60% off the first month of a MEL Physics, MEL Chemistry or MEL STEM subscription. Just go to MELscience.com and use the promo code BPS or follow this link: https://melscience.com/sBI3/. You like science, that’s why you listen to Big Picture Science. So why not check out MEL science for your kids?Big Picture Science is part of the Airwave Media podcast network. Please contact sales@advertisecast.com to inquire about advertising on Big Picture Science.You can get early access to ad-free versions of every episode by joining us on Patreon. Thanks for your support!  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The James Webb Space Telescope has turned its golden eye on the cosmos. The largest, most sensitive telescope put in space since the Hubble Space Telescope is already producing new photos of far-off galaxies and other cosmic phenomena.In this episode: astronomers share their reactions to these stunning images, the project scientist on JWST describes how infrared cameras capture phenomena that are invisible to shorter wavelengths, and a plan to investigate the very stardust that created everything, including you and me.Guests:Néstor Espinoza – Assistant astronomer, Space Telescope Science Institute, principal investigator for exoplanet atmospheric physics, James Webb Space TelescopeAlyssa Pagan – Science Visuals Developer at the Space Telescope Science InstituteJohn Mather – Nobel Prize-winning NASA astronomer and Senior Project Scientist for the James Webb Space TelescopeAlex Filippenko – Professor of Astronomy at the University of California, BerkeleyFeaturing music by Dewey Dellay and Jun MiyakeA special offer to Big Picture Science listeners: Receive 60% off the first month of a MEL Physics, MEL Chemistry or MEL STEM subscription. Just go to MELscience.com and use the promo code BPS or follow this link: https://melscience.com/sBI3/. You like science, that’s why you listen to Big Picture Science. So why not check out MEL science for your kids?Big Picture Science is part of the Airwave Media podcast network. Please contact sales@advertisecast.com to inquire about advertising on Big Picture Science.You can get early access to ad-free versions of every episode by joining us on Patreon. Thanks for your support!  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Ready to become a space emigre? For half a century, visionaries have been talking about our future off-Earth – a speculative scenario in which many of us live in space colonies. So why haven’t we built them? Will the plans of billionaire space entrepreneurs to build settlements on Mars, or orbiting habitats that would be only minutes away from Earth, revive our long-held spacefaring dreams? And is having millions of people living off-Earth a solution to our problems… or an escape from them?Guests:Marianne Dyson – Author and former NASA flight controllerEmily St. John Mandel – Author, most recently of “Sea of Tranquility”John Adams – Deputy Director, Biosphere 2, University of ArizonaFeaturing music by Dewey Dellay and Jun MiyakeBig Picture Science is part of the Airwave Media podcast network. Please contact sales@advertisecast.com to inquire about advertising on Big Picture Science.You can get early access to ad-free versions of every episode by joining us on Patreon. Thanks for your support!  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

One of the many shocking aspects of the Capitol attack was that it revealed how thoroughly the nation had cleaved into alternate realities. How did we get to this point? How did misinformation come to create beliefs embraced by millions? In this episode, experts in social media, cults, and the history of science join us for a discussion about how these alternative realities formed, why people are drawn to them, and the benefits of a shared reality. Guests: Joan Donovan – Research Director of the Shorenstein Center on Media, Politics and Public Policy in the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University, and leader of the Technology and Social Change Project. Lee McIntyre – Research fellow at the Center for Philosophy and History of Science at Boston University, Instructor in Ethics at Harvard Extension School, and author of “Post – Truth.” Steven Hassan – Mental health counselor who has written on the subject of mind control. Former member of the Unification Church, and author of “The Cult of Trump.” Originally aired January 25, 2021Featuring music by Dewey Dellay and Jun MiyakeBig Picture Science is part of the Airwave Media podcast network. Please contact sales@advertisecast.com to inquire about advertising on Big Picture Science.You can get early access to ad-free versions of every episode by joining us on Patreon. Thanks for your support!   Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Are you ready to defer all your personal decision-making to machines? Polls show that most Americans are uneasy about the unchecked growth of artificial intelligence. The possible misuse of genetic engineering also makes us anxious. We all have a stake in the responsible development of science and technology, but fortunately, science fiction films can help.The movies Ex Machina and Jurassic Park suggest where A.I. and unfettered gene-tinkering could lead. But even less popular sci-fi movies can help us imagine unsettling scenarios regarding over-population, smart drugs, and human cloning. And not all tales are grim. The 1951 film, The Man in the White Suit, weaves a humorous story of materials science run amok.  So, grab a bowl of popcorn and join us in contemplating the future of humanity as Hollywood sees it!Guest: Andrew Maynard – Physicist and professor at the School for the Future of Innovation in Society at Arizona State University, and author of Films from the Future: The Technology and Morality of Sci-Fi Movies.Featuring music by Dewey Dellay and Jun MiyakeBig Picture Science is part of the Airwave Media podcast network. Please contact sales@advertisecast.com to inquire about advertising on Big Picture Science.You can get early access to ad-free versions of every episode by joining us on Patreon. Thanks for your support!  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The toilet: A ubiquitous appliance that dates to the time of Shakespeare. But billions of people around the world still lack modern sanitation infrastructure. And the incentive to modernize includes the possibility that recycling human waste could help with conservation efforts, energy generation, and even medicine.Also, a sixth-grader puts lipstick on cats’ bottoms to map places their tush has touched, and in Michigan, why peeing on the peonies can be a good thing.Guests: Kaeden Henry – Sixth grade student in Tennessee. Kerry Griffin – Mother of Kaeden Henry; holds a doctorate in animal behavior. Yvette Johnson-Walker – Clinical Instructor in Veterinary Clinical Medicine, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Chelsea Wald – Science and environmental journalist, and author of Pipe Dreams: The Urgent Global Quest to Transform the Toilet. Nancy Love – Professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering, University of Michigan Originally aired Featuring music by Dewey Dellay and Jun MiyakeBig Picture Science is part of the Airwave Media podcast network. Please contact sales@advertisecast.com to inquire about advertising on Big Picture Science.You can get early access to ad-free versions of every episode by joining us on Patreon. Thanks for your support!  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Standing on your own two feet isn’t easy. While many animals can momentarily balance on their hind legs, we’re the only critters, besides birds, for whom bipedalism is completely normal. Find out why, even though other animals are faster, we’re champions at getting around. Could it be that our upright stance made us human? Plus, why arches help stiffen feet, the argument for bare-footin’, and 12,000-year old footprints that tell a story about an Ice Age mother, her child, and a sloth. Guests: Daniel Lieberman – Professor of human evolutionary biology at Harvard University. Jeremy DeSilva – Professor in the departments of anthropology and biological sciences, Dartmouth College, and author of “First Steps: How Upright Walking Made Us Human.” Madhusudhan Venkadesan – Professor of mechanical engineering and materials science, Yale University School of Engineering. David Bustos – Chief of Resources at White Sands, National Park, New Mexico. Sally Reynolds – Paleontologist at Bournemouth University, U.K. Originally aired May 24, 2021Featuring music by Dewey Dellay and Jun MiyakeBig Picture Science is part of the Airwave Media podcast network. Please contact sales@advertisecast.com to inquire about advertising on Big Picture Science.You can get early access to ad-free versions of every episode by joining us on Patreon. Thanks for your support!  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

You are getting sleeeepy and open to suggestion. But is that how hypnotism works? And does it really open up a portal to the unconscious mind? Hypnotism can be an effective therapeutic tool, and some scientists suggest replacing opioids with hypnosis for pain relief. And yet, the performance aspect of hypnotism often seems at odds with the idea of it being an effective treatment. In our regular look at critical thinking, Skeptic Check, we ask what part of hypnotism is real and what is an illusion. Plus, we discuss how the swinging watch became hypnotism’s irksome trademark.Guests:David Spiegel – Professor of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at the Stanford University School of MedicineDevin Terhune – Reader in the Department of Psychology, Goldsmiths University of LondonFeaturing music by Dewey Dellay and Jun MiyakeGraphic by Shannon Rose GearyBig Picture Science is part of the Airwave Media podcast network. Please contact sales@advertisecast.com to inquire about advertising on Big Picture Science.You can get early access to ad-free versions of every episode by joining us on Patreon. Thanks for your support!  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices