Big Picture Science

What’s the difference between a bird call and the sound of a pile driver? Not much, when you’re close to the loudest bird ever. Find out when it pays to be noisy and when noise can worsen your health. Just about everyone eventually suffers some hearing loss, but that’s not merely aging. It’s an ailment we inflict on ourselves. Hear how a team in New York City has put sensors throughout the city to catalog noise sources, hoping to tame the tumult.And can underwater speakers blasting the sounds of a healthy reef bring life back to dead patches of the Great Barrier Reef?Guests: Mark Cartwright – Research Assistant Professor at New York University’s Department of Computer Science and Engineering Charles Mydlarz – Research Assistant Professor at New York University’s Center for Urban Science and Progress (CUSP) and the Music and Audio Research Lab (MARL) David Owen – Staff writer at The New Yorker, and author of Volume Control: Hearing in a Deafening World Jeff Podos – Professor in the Department of Biology, University of Massachusetts, Amherst Steve Simpson – Professor of Marine Biology and Global Change, Exeter University, U.K. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Get ready for compassionate computers that feel your pain, share your joy, and generally get where you’re coming from. Computers that can tell by your voice whether you’re pumped up or feeling down, or sense changes in heart rate, skin, or muscle tension to determine your mood. Empathetic electronics that you can relate to.But wait a minute – we don’t always relate to other humans. Our behavior can be impulsive and even self-sabotaging – our emotions are often conflicted and irrational.  We cry when we’re happy. Frown when we’re pensive. A suite of factors, much of them out of our control, govern how we behave, from genes to hormones to childhood experience. One study says that all it takes for a defendant to receive a harsher sentence is a reduction in the presiding judge’s blood sugar.So grab a cookie, and find out how the heck we can build computers that understand us anyway. Guests: Rosalind Picard – Professor at the MIT Media Lab and co-founder of the companies Affectiva and Empatica.  Robert Sapolsky – Professor of neuroscience at Stanford University, and author of Behave: The Biology of Humans at Our Best and Worst.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

You are your brain. But what happens when your brain changes for the worse – either by physical injury or experience? Are you still responsible for your actions?We hear how the case of a New York man charged with murder was one of the first to introduce neuroscience as evidence in court. Plus, how technology hooks us – a young man so addicted to video games, he lacked social skills, or even a desire to eat. Find out how technology designers conspire against his digital detox.Also, even if your brain is intact and your only task is choosing a sock color, are you really in control? How your unconscious directs even mundane behavior … and how you can outwit it. Guests: Kevin Davis – Author of The Brain Defense: Murder in Manhattan and the Dawn of Neuroscience in America’s Courtrooms Hilarie Cash – Co-founder and chief clinical officer of reSTART, an internet addiction recovery program Adam Alter – Assistant professor of marketing and psychology at New York University, Stern School of Business, and author of Irresistible: the Rise of Addictive Technology and the Business of Keeping Us Hooked Peter Vishton – Psychologist at the College of William and Mary in Williamsburg, Virginia Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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, 2018 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The stress of the holidays can make you want to hide under the covers with a warm cup of cocoa. From gift buying to family gatherings, the holidays can feel like being inside a pressure cooker. But don’t despair! Science can help make the holidays a little brighter, from some gift-giving tips from our animal friends to embracing pessimism before a challenging social event to stopping that annoying merry melody on repeat in your head.Guests: Adam South – Research assistant professor at the Cummings School of Veterinary Medicine at Tufts University Mitch Ratcliffe – CEO and publisher of Earth911 Julie Norem – Psychology professor at Wellesley College and author of “The Positive Power of Negative Thinking” Elizabeth Margulis – Music professor at Princeton University and author of “On Repeat: How Music Plays the Mind” Steve Ilardi – Clinical psychology associate professor at the University of Kansas. Read his paper on the effects of sugar here. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Why create more landfill? Perhaps you should resist the urge to toss those old sneakers, the broken ceiling fan, or last year’s smart phone. Instead, repurpose them! Global junk entrepreneurs are leading the way in turning trash to treasure, while right-to-repair advocates fight for legislation that would give you a decent shot at fixing your own electronic devices. And, if you toss food scraps down the drain as you cook, are you contributing to a “fatberg” horror in the sewer?Guests: John Love – Synthetic biologist at the University of Exeter Adam Minter – Author of Secondhand: Travels in the New Global Garage Sale Amanda Preske – Chemist and the owner of Circuit Breaker Labs Nathan Proctor – National campaign director for S. Public Interest Research Group – (PIRGS) Right to Repair campaign Kyle Wiens – CEO of I-Fixit, an Internet repair community Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

(repeat) We all may retreat to our protective shells, but evolution has perfected the calcite variety to give some critters permanent defense against predators. So why did squids and octopuses lose their shells? Find out what these cephalopods gained by giving up the shell game.Plus why Chesapeake Bay oyster shells are shells of their former selves. What explains the absence of the dinner-plate sized oysters of 500,000 years ago, and how conservation paleobiology is probing deep time for strategies to bring back these monster mollusks.Also, was the Earth once encased in a giant, continental shell? A new theory of plate tectonics. Land ho!Guests: Rowan Lockwood – Conservation paleobiologist at the College of William and Mary.  Al Tanner – Ph.D. student in paleobiology at the University of Bristol, U.K. Mike Brown – Professor of Geology, University of Maryland Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

(repeat) Fir tree needles embedded in carpet are a holiday headache. Why not decorate a genetically-modified, needle-retaining tree instead? It’s just another way that science is relevant to the holidays. We have more.How about science experiments on fruitcake? There’s a competition that includes launching it with a pneumatic device, running a heavy electric current though it, or blasting it with a blowtorch. Meanwhile, physics provides insight into those tricky how-does-he-do-it questions about Santa’s delivery rounds.  Finally, step away from the relatives and consider the implications of the winter solstice. Enjoy a better holiday through science!Guests: Jenna Gallas – Special Event Coordinator, Manitou Springs Chamber of Congress, Colorado Laura Kramer – Manager of Science Conductors, Science Museum of Virginia, Richmond Lilian Matallana – Research Associate, Department of Forestry and Environmental Resources, North Carolina State University, Raleigh Ben Orlin – Math teacher, and author of “Math with Bad Drawings: Illuminating the Ideas That Shape Our Reality” Ethan Siegel – Theoretical astrophysicist and owner of “Starts with a Bang!” blog Andrew Fraknoi – Astronomer and educator, author of “Introduction to Astronomy” Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Psychics may not be able to predict the future or sense your thoughts. Nonetheless, they rake in hundreds of millions of dollars every year. But the harm from pseudoscience can go far beyond your wallet – especially when it promotes unscientific treatments for serious disease. Find out what alarming discovery led one naturopath to quit her practice and why scientific ignorance is not bliss. It’s our regular look at critical thinking, but don’t take our word for it.Guests: Robert Palmer – Member of the Guerilla Skeptics on the Wikipedia editing team and columnist for the Skeptical Inquirer on-line magazine Lee McIntyre – Research fellow at the Center for Philosophy and History of Science at Boston University and lecturer on ethics at Harvard Extension School Britt Marie Hermes – Former naturopath doctor; now doctoral student in evolutionary genetics at the University of Kiel, Germany   Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

A new vaccine may help turn Ebola into a disease we can prevent, and a new drug may make it one we can cure. But the political crisis in the Democratic Republic of Congo has fueled violence against health workers and Ebola treatment centers. Find out why context matters in the efforts to stop Ebola, what new drugs and vaccines are on the horizon, and whether the world is prepared for the next infectious pandemic. Even if Ebola’s threat is diminishing, what about the next pandemic? Is the world prepared?Guests: Richard Preston – Journalist and author of “Crisis in the Red Zone: The Story of the Deadliest Ebola Outbreak in History.” Yap Boum – Regional representative for Africa for Epicentre, the research arm of Médecins sans Frontières (Doctors Without Borders) in Cameroon. Amy Maxmen – Senior reporter, Nature.  Her most recent piece is "Behind the Front Lines of the Ebola Wars." Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices