Big Picture Science

(repeat) Dinosaurs are once again stomping and snorting their way across the screen of your local movie theater. But these beefy beasts stole the show long before CGI brought them back in the Jurassic Park blockbusters. Dinosaurs had global dominance for the better part of 165 million years. Compare that with a measly 56 million years of primate activity. We bow to our evolutionary overlords in this episode. Our conversation about these thunderous lizards roams freely as we talk with the paleontologist who discovered Dreadnoughtus – the largest land lizard unearthed to date.  Kenneth Lacovara asks that we please stop using the term “dinosaur” to refer to something outmoded, when in fact the dinos were among the most well-adapted, long-lived creatures ever.Plus, intriguing dino facts: if you like eating chicken, you like eating dinosaurs, and how T-Rex’s puny arms helped him survive. Also, with dozens of new species unearthed every year – nearly one a week – why we’ve entered the golden age of dinosaur discovery.Guest: Kenneth Lacovara– Paleontologist who unearthed the largest land dinosaur known: Dreadnoughtus. He is also founding dean of the School of Earth and Environment at Rowan University, director of the Jean and Ric Edelman Fossil Park, and author of “Why Dinosaurs Matter.”  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

DecodeHerThey were pioneers in their fields, yet their names are scarcely known – because they didn’t have a Y chromosome. We examine the accomplishments of two women who pioneered code breaking and astronomy during the early years of the twentieth century and did so in the face of social opprobrium and a frequently hostile work environment.Henrietta Leavitt measured the brightnesses of thousands of stars and discovered a way to gauge the distances to galaxies, a development that soon led to the concept of the Big Bang.Elizabeth Friedman, originally hired to test whether William Shakespeare really wrote his plays, was soon establishing the science of code breaking, essential to success in the two world wars. Also, the tech industry is overwhelmingly male. Girls Who Code is an initiative to redress the balance by introducing girls to computer programming, and encouraging them to follow careers in tech. Guests: Jason Fagone – Author of “The Woman Who Smashed Codes: A True Story of Love, Spies, and the Unlikely Heroine Who Outwitted America’s Enemies” Lauren Gunderson – Playwright of Silent Sky, which is being performed all over the world, form the First Folio Theatre to the Repertory Philippines Reshma Saujani – Founder and CEO of Girls Who Code, and the author of "Brave, Not Perfect: Fear Less, Fail More, and Live Bolder”   Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

(repeat) There’s no place like “ome.” Your microbiome is highly influential in determining your health. But it’s not the only “ome” doing so. Your exposome – environmental exposure over a lifetime – also plays a role.Hear how scientists hope to calculate your entire exposome, from food to air pollution to water contamination.Plus, new research on the role that microbes play in the development of neurological diseases such as Parkinson’s, and the hot debate about when microbes first colonize the body. Could a fetus have its own microbiome?Also, choose your friends wisely: studies of microbe-swapping gazelles reveal the benefits – and the downsides – of being social.And, why sensors on future toilets will let you do microbiome analysis with every flush.Guests:Rob Knight – Professor of Pediatrics, Computer Science and Engineering, and Director of the Center for Microbiome Innovation at the University of California, San DiegoVanessa Ezenwa – Ecologist at the University of GeorgiaIndira Mysorekar – Microbiologist at Washington University in St. Louis, MissouriGary Miller – Professor of public health at the Rollins School of Public Health and director of the HERCULES Exposome Research Center at Emory University. After August 2018, his lab will be at Columbia University. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

(repeat) Hundreds of thousands of scientists took to the streets during the March for Science. The divisive political climate has spurred some scientists to deeper political engagement – publicly challenging lawmakers and even running for office themselves.  But the scientist-slash-activist model itself is contested, even by some of their colleagues.Find out how science and politics have been historically intertwined, what motivates scientists to get involved, and the possible benefits and harm of doing so. Is objectivity damaged when scientists advocate?Plus, how Michael Mann became a reluctant activist, whether his “street fighter” approach is effective in defending climate science, and the price he and his family paid for speaking out.Also, how the organization 314 Action is helping a record number of scientists run for Congress. But will the group support only Democratic contenders?Guests:                         Robert Young – Geologist, Western Carolina University Douglas Haynes – Historian of medicine and science, University of California, Irvine Michael Mann – Professor, atmospheric science, Director, Earth System Science Center, Penn State University Shaugnessy Naughton – Founder and President, 314 Action Alex Berezow – Senior fellow of biomedical science at the American Council on Science and Health Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

(repeat) Stephen Hawking felt gravity’s pull. His quest to understand this feeble force spanned his career, and he was the first to realize that black holes actually disappear – slowly losing the mass of everything they swallow in a dull, evaporative glow called Hawking radiation. But one of gravity’s deepest puzzles defied even his brilliant mind. How can we connect theories of gravity on the large scale to what happens on the very small? The Theory of Everything remains one of the great challenges to physicists.Also, the latest on deciphering the weirdness of black holes and why the gravitational wave detector LIGO has added colliding neutron stars to its roster of successes.Plus, a fellow physicist describes Dr. Hawking’s extraordinary deductive abilities and what it was like to collaborate with him. And, a surprise awaits Molly when she meets a local string theorist to discuss his search for the Theory of Everything.Guests: Leonard Mlodinow– physicist and author of “The Grand Design” with Stephen Hawking, and most recently, “Elastic: Flexible Thinking in a Time of Change.”  Janna Levin– Physicist and astronomer, Barnard College, Columbia University, and the author of, “Black Hole Blues and Other Songs from Outer Space.”  Richard Camuccio– Graduate research assistant at the University of Texas Rio Grande Valley Center for Gravitational Wave Astronomy, a LIGO collaborator.  Wahltyn Rattray – Grad-student, the University of Texas Rio Grande Valley Center for Gravitational Wave Astronomy. Raphael Bousso– Physicist, Berkeley Center for Theoretical Physics, University of California-Berkeley.   Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

(repeat) "The moon or bust” is now officially bust. No private company was able to meet the Lunar X Prize challenge, and arrange for a launch by the 2018 deadline. The $30 million award goes unclaimed, but the race to the moon is still on. Find out who wants to go and why this is not your parents’ – or grandparents’ – space race.With or without a cash incentive, private companies are still eyeing our cratered companion, hoping to set hardware down on its dusty surface. Meanwhile, while the U.S. waffles about a return to the moon, India and China are sending a second round of robots skyward. And a proposed orbiting laboratory – the Lunar Orbital Platform-Gateway – may literally put scientists over, and around, the moon.The moon continues to entice sci-fi writers, and Andy Weir’s new novel describes a vibrant lunar colony. Its premise of colonists launched from Kenya is not entirely fiction: the nation is one of many in Africa with space programs.Guests: Andy Weir – Author of “The Martian” and, most recently, “Artemis” Allen Herbert – Vice President of Business Development and Strategy for NanoRacks, LLC and author of an article about emerging space programs in Africa Greg Schmidt – Deputy director of the Solar System Exploration Research Virtual Institute at NASA Ames Research Center Jason Crusan – NASA Director of Advanced Exploration Systems for Human Space Flight Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

(repeat) Will virtual reality make you a better person? It’s been touted as the “ultimate empathy machine,” and one that will connect people who are otherwise emotionally and physically isolated. The promise of the technology has come a long way since BiPiSci last took a VR tour. Find out why researchers say virtual reality is no longer an exclusive club for gamers, but a powerful tool to build community.Seth puts on a VR headset for an immersive experience of a man who’s evicted from his apartment. Find out why researchers say the experience creates empathy and sparks activism to address homelessness.Also, why our spouses will love our avatars as much as they do us, the dark side of VR as a space for unchecked harassment, and consider: what if you’re already living a simulation created by your brain?Guests: Peter Rubin – Editor for Wired, author of “Future Presence: How Virtual reality is Changing Human Connection, Intimacy, and the Limits of Ordinary Life” Jeremy Bailenson – Professor of Communication at Stanford University, founding director of the Virtual Human Interaction Lab, and author of “Experience on Demand: What Virtual Reality Is, How It Works, and What It Can Do” Carolina Cruz-Neira – Director of the Emerging Analytics Center at the University of Arkansas, Little Rock Thomas Metzinger – Philosopher of Mind and Cognitive Science, at Johannes Gutenberg University of Mainz, Germany Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The fault is in our stars. And according to astrology, so is our destiny, our moods, and our character. Mars may be in retrograde, but interest in the ancient practice of astrology is rising. The fact that it is not science is irrelevant to those who claim “it works.” Find out why “what’s your sign” is replacing “what do you do?” as an icebreaker, the historical roots of astrology and whether its truth-value matters today, and what conclusions we can draw from the many studies examining the full moon’s influence on human behavior.It’s our monthly look at critical thinking, but don’t take our word for it!Guests: Banu Guler – CEO and co-founder of Co-Star Astrology Andrew Fraknoi – Astronomy professor at the Fromm Institute at the University of San Francisco and The Osher Lifelong Learning Institute at San Francisco State University. Eric Chudler – Research associate professor, department of bioengineering, University of Washington, Seattle, and curator of a collection of studies about the moon and behavior.   Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

(repeat) Move over Roomba. Café robots are the latest in adorable automation. And they may be more than a fad. As robots and artificial intelligence enter the workforce, they could serve up more than machine-made macchiato. Digital workers are in training to do a wide variety jobs. Will humans be handed the mother of all pink slips?We sip lattes in a robot café and contemplate the future of work. Some say the workplace will have more machines than people, while others maintain that A.I. will augment, not replace, human workers.Meanwhile, future intelligent automation may not come from Silicon Valley. Why China wants to become the global center for A.I.  Plus, NASA’s first bipedal humanoid robot - Valkyrie, a prototype of a construction worker for use on Mars - teaches us that moving like a human is not as easy as it looks.Guests: Martin Ford – Futurist who writes about the impact of robots and artificial intelligence on society; author of “The Rise of the Robots: Technology and the Threat of a Jobless Future” Peter Norvig – Director of research, Google Owen Churchill – Journalist; his article “China’s AI dreams” appeared in Nature, January 18, 2018  Kimberly Hambuchen – Aeronautics engineer; the principal technologist of robotics at NASA’s Johnson Space Center Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

(repeat) Insect populations are declining. But before you say “good riddance,” consider that insects are the cornerstone of many ecosystems. They are dinner for numerous animal species and are essential pollinators.  Mammals are loved, but they are not indispensable. Insects are.Meanwhile, marvel at the extraordinary capabilities of some insects. The zany aerial maneuvers of the fly are studied by pilots. And, contrary to the bad press, cockroaches are very clean creatures. Also, take a listen as we host some Madagascar hissing cockroaches in our studio (yes, they audibly hiss).Plus, how insects first evolved … and the challenges in controlling lethal ones. Are genetically-engineering mosquitoes the best way to combat malaria?Guests: Erica McAlister – Entomologist, Senior Curator of diptera in the Department of Entomology, Natural History Museum in London, author of “The Secret Life of Flies” Jessica Ware – Evolutionary biologist and entomologist at Rutgers University Anthony James – Vector biologist, University of California, Irvine Lauren Esposito – Arachnologist, California Academy of Sciences, San Francisco Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices