Big Picture Science

"I feel your vibe!” Well, that describes a number of fabled locales that claim to pulse with mysterious energy – perhaps prompting books to fly across the room or airplanes to vanish into thin air. But what’s the science behind it?We examine spots marked with an X, for “extraordinary” – from a haunted house to the Bermuda Triangle – to sort out natural from supernatural phenomena.Plus, what causes the aurora borealis… a haywire Russian space probe… and just what the heck is an “energy vortex,” anyway?Guests:• Phil Plait – Skeptic and keeper of Discover Magazine’s blog: badastronomy• Mike Borg – Group Sales Coordinator, Winchester Mystery House• Jim Underdown – Executive Director, Center for Inquiry, Los Angeles• Peter Williams – Hydrodynamicist at Agilent Technologies• Guy P. Harrison – Writer and business owner in Southern California, author of 50 Popular Beliefs That People Think Are True• Rob Lillis – Space and Planetary Physicist, Space Sciences Laboratory, University of California, Berkeley Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Before you chase it with a broom, consider this – without the rat, we might miss critical insights into the nature of stress, cancer … and even love. These furry, red-eyed rodents have a unique role in medical research – and a ubiquitous companion to our urban lives.Discover the origins of the albino laboratory rat … what rat laughter sounds like, and why these four-legged fur balls don’t fall victim to the pressure of the rat race … but we do.Guests:•  Kelly Lambert – Behavioral Neuroscientist, Randolph-Macon College, Ashland, Virginia, author of The Lab Rat Chronicles: A Neuroscientist Reveals Life Lessons from the Planet’s Most Successful Mammals•  Michael Gould – Professor of Oncology and Medical Physics, University of Wisconsin, Madison•  Jaak Pankseep – Neuroscientist, Veterinary College, Washington State University, author of The Archaeology of Mind: Neuroevolutionary Origins of Human Emotions (Norton Series on Interpersonal Neurobiology)•  Pico Iyer – Writer, author of The Man Within My Head and the New York Times article The Joy of Quiet Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

To need air is human. Our lungs thank us for each breath we take. But air is more than a transporter of O2. It shapes our weather, keeps birds aloft and moves spores from here to there. A cubic foot of air is anything but “empty” (hot dog grease particles, anyone?).The same goes for space (minus the hot dog grease). It’s a happening place. Discover why interstellar space is more than a whole lot o’ nothing; and what happens when the Voyager spacecraft leaves our solar system. Plus, catch a skydiver in action!Guests:•  Mako Igarashi – Skydiving instructor, Skydive Hollister, Hollister, CA•  Rhett Allain – Physicist at Southeastern Louisiana University, blogger for Wired.com•  William Bryant Logan – Author of Air: The Restless Shaper of the World•  Robert Wagoner – Emeritus professor of physics, Stanford University•  Alex Filippenko – Astronomer, University of California, Berkeley•  Ed Stone – Physicist at CalTech, former Director of the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, project scientist for the Voyager mission Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

If Bigfoot walks through a forest and no one sees him, does he exist? It’s the job of paranormal investigator Joe Nickell to find out! Discover whether eyewitness accounts are reliable when it comes to tracking down the hirsute big guy and other monsters.Also, on the subject of “seeing is believing”: how magic fools the brain.Plus, in our potpourri show: can music boost brain power? A new study says listening to music makes brains happy. Does this support the dubious “Mozart Effect,” that claims listening to Wolfie’s compositions boosts IQ?And, skeptic Phil Plait on why the so-called “super moon theory” doesn’t predict devastating earthquakes.It’s Skeptic Check… but don’t take our word for it.Guests:•  Joe Nickell – Paranormal investigator and author of Tracking the Man-beasts: Sasquatch, Vampires, Zombies, and More•  Stephen Macknik – Director of the Laboratory of Behavioral Neurophysiology at the Barrow Neurological Institute in Phoenix, Arizona•  Susana Martinez-Conde – Director of the Laboratory of Visual Neuroscience at the Barrow Neurological Institute in Phoenix, Arizona•  Phil Plait – Astronomer, and author of the Bad Astronomy blog at Discover Magazine•  Valorie Salimpoor – Researcher at Montreal Neurological Institute, McGill University, Quebec, Canada•  Penny Glass – Developmental psychologist and associate professor of pediatrics at the George Washington University School of Medicine Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

When the IBM computer, Watson, snatched the “Jeopardy” title from its human competition, that raised the question of just how smart are machines? Could artificial intelligence ever beat humans at their own game… of being human?Hear why an A.I. expert says it’s time to make peace with your P.C.; the machines are coming. Also, why technology is already self-evolving, and presenting its own demands. Find out what technology wants.And, a man who went head-to-chip with a computer and says machines will never beat the human mind. Plus, we take a voyage into “2012: An Emotional Odyssey.”Guests:•  Kevin Kelly – Editor-at-large at Wired and author of What Technology Wants•  Henry Lieberman – Research scientist at the M.I.T. Media Laboratory•  Brian Christian – Science writer, poet and author of The Most Human Human: What Talking with Computers Teaches Us About What It Means to Be Alive•  Horst Simon – Deputy Director, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory•  Shankar Sastry – Dean of Engineering, University of California, Berkeley•  Jean Paul Jacob – Scholar in Residence at U.C. Berkeley and IBM Researcher, Emeritus Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

We dig the Red Planet! And so does Curiosity. After a successful landing, and a round of high-fives at NASA, the latest rover to land on Mars is on the move, shovel in mechanical hand.Discover how the Mars Science Laboratory will hunt for the building blocks of life, and just what the heck a lipid is. Plus, how to distinguish Martians from Earthlings, and the tricks Mars has played on us in the past (canals, anyone?).Also, want to visit Mars firsthand? We can point you to the sign-up sheet for a manned mission. The catch: the ticket is one-way.Guests:•  John Grotzinger – Geologist, California Institute of Technology, and project scientist, NASA Mars Science Laboratory mission•  Jennifer Heldmann – Research scientist at NASA Ames Research Center•  David Blake – Principal Investigator of CheMin, a mineralogical instrument that is included in the analytical laboratory of the Mars Science Laboratory mission•  Rachel Harris – Astrobiology student at the NASA Astrobiology Institute•  Stuart Schlisserman – Physician in Palo Alto, California•  Felisa Wolfe-Simon – NASA astrobiology research fellow, Lawrence Berkeley National Labs•  Bas Lansdorp – Founder, Mars One Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

You know the joke about the car and the snail. Look at that escargot? Well, snails may be the only thing not powering the automobiles of the future. Trees, grass, algae, even the garbage you toss on the sidewalk has potential for conversion into biofuel. What is America’s next top model fuel? Join us on a tour of the contenders.Meet a man who’s mad about miscanthus … an astrobiologist’s attraction to algae… and the blueprint for building your own biofuel bugs.Also, discover whether any of these next-generation fuel sources could take us to the stars. Put that in your rocket and burn it!Guests:•  Madhu Khanna – Professor of Agriculture and Environmental Economics at the University of Illinois and at the Energy Biosciences Institute•  Stephen Long – Professor of Crop Sciences and Plant Biology at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign•  Michelle Chang – Assistant Professor of Chemistry at the University of California at Berkeley•  Bret Stroegn – Graduate student researcher, Energy Bioscience Institute, University of California at Berkeley•  Jonathan Trent – Bioengineering Research Scientist at the NASA Ames Research Center and founder of Global Research into Energy and the Enviornment (GREEN )•  Richard Obousy – Physicist and co-founder and project leader for Project Icarus Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Let the games begin! The mad dash to the phone … the sudden spring out of bed … the frantic juggling of car keys, grocery bags and a cell phone! Olympic athletes may have remarkable speed and strength, but it’s easy praise the extraordinary. Here’s to the extreme averageness of the rest of us. From beer bellies to aching backs, we’re all winners in the Darwinian Olympics just by virtue of being here.Identify the one physical trait that you share with all Olympians – your head - and why it’s a remarkable human evolutionary achievement. Plus, the role of genes in putting on the pounds … and what event Spiderman would enter to win the gold.Guests: Daniel Lieberman - Professor of human evolutionary biology, Harvard University, author of The Evolution of the Human Head Callum Ross - Professor of organismal biology and anatomy, University of Chicago Kelly Brownell - Psychologist, director of the Rudd Center for Food Policy and Obesity at Yale University Robert Peaslee - Assistant professor, College of Media and Communications, Texas Tech University and author of Web-Spinning Heroics: Critical Essays on the History and Meaning of Spider-Man Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Mooooove over, make way for the cows, the chickens … and other animals! Humans can learn a lot from our hairy, feathered, four-legged friends. We may wear suits and play Sudoku, but Homo sapiens are primates just the same. We’ve met the animal, and it is us.Discover the surprising similarity between our diseases and those that afflict other animals, including pigs that develop eating disorders. Plus, what the octopus can teach us about national security … how monkeying around evolved into human speech … and the origins of moral behavior in humans.Guests: Rafe Sagarin - Marine ecologist, Institute of the Environment, University of Arizona, author of Learning From the Octopus: How Secrets from Nature Can Help Us Fight Terrorist Attacks, Natural Disasters, and Disease Barbara Natterson-Horowitz - Professor of cardiology, David Geffen School of Medicine, UCLA, and co-author of Zoobiquity: What Animals Can Teach Us About Health and the Science of Healing Kathryn Bowers - Writer, co-author of Zoobiquity: What Animals Can Teach Us About Health and the Science of Healing Asif Ghazanfar - Neuroscientist, psychologist, Princeton University Christopher Boehm - Biological and cultural anthropologist at the University of Southern California, director of the Jane Goodall Research Center, author of Moral Origins: The Evolution of Virtue, Altruism, and Shame Descripción en español Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Think small to solve big problems. That, in a nutshell, is the promise of nanotechnology. In this barely visible world, batteries charge 100 times faster and drugs go straight to their targets in the body. Discover some of these nano breakthroughs and how what you can’t see can help you……or hurt you? What if tiny machines turn out to be nothing but trouble? We’ll look at the health and safety risks of nanotech.Plus, scaling up in science fiction: why a Godzilla-sized insect is fun, but just doesn’t fly.Guests: Bill Flounders - executive director of the Marvell Nanofabrication Laboratory at the University of California at Berkeley Joseph DeSimone - professor of chemistry at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and chemical engineering at North Carolina State University David Guston - political scientist at Arizona State University where he directs The Center for Nanotechnology in Society Stan Williams - Senior Fellow and founding director of the Information and Quantum Systems Lab at Hewlett-Packard Michael LaBarbera - Professor in organismal biology, anatomy and geophysical sciences, University of Chicago Descripción en españolFirst released February 21 2011 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices