Big Picture Science

During the great age of exploration men risked their lives to set foot upon unknown lands, whether in the humid jungles of Peru or on the barren ice cap of the South Pole. We'll hear those dramatic tales…… but also where modern exploration is taking us. Could it be to the deepest, darkest part of the sea?Or to space? Discover how to build a space suit that will let you move like an athlete on Mars. Also, why some say that the ultimate frontier requires no packing and no travel: voyages into the human brain.Guests: Dava Newman - Professor of Aeronautics and Astronautics Engineering Systems, MIT David Eagleman - Neuroscientist, Baylor College of Medicine and author of Incognito: The Secret Lives of the Brain Mark Adams - Author of Turn Right at Machu Picchu Edward Larson - Author of An Empire of Ice: Scott, Shackleton and the Heroic Age of Antarctic Science Liz Taylor - President, Deep Ocean Exploration and Research, Alameda, CA Descripción en español Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The recipe for being a scientist was easy in the old days… just be born into a rich family, have an interest in nature and plenty of time to indulge yourself. But are the days of gentlemen scientists over? Maybe not.We go to the Maker Faire and check out how small-scale projects have big-scale ambitions.Also, how everyday experience often tells us something profound about the universe.Guests: Spencer Weart – Former director of the Center for the History of Physics, at the American Institute of Physics Tim Russ – Actor, and the character Tuvok on Star Trek Voyager Marcus Chown – Science writer and author of The Matchbox That Ate a Forty-Ton Truck: What Everyday Things Tell Us About the Universe Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

An ant … can’t … move a rubber tree plant… but the colony can. As a group, ants are an efficient, organized, can-do bunch. And a model for humans trying to manage complex systems.Find out about the eerie collective intelligence of animals, and how an MIT researcher is hoping to put humans to work collaboratively to solve problems like climate change.Also … hear how research into flocking behavior helps Hollywood film a herd of stampeding dinosaurs.Guests: Steve Strogatz - Applied mathematician at Cornell University and author of Sync: How Order Emerges From Chaos In the Universe, Nature, and Daily Life Craig Reynolds - Senior researcher for Sony Computer Entertainment Thomas Malone - Director of the Center for Collective Intelligence at MIT Iain Couzin - Biologist at Princeton University Descripción en españolOriginally aired June 21, 2010 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

It’s been ten years since the fall of the Twin Towers, but some still believe that the attack was an inside job. They’re not the only ones to buy into a conspiratorial view of world events. Others deny President Obama’s American birth… link autism with vaccines… and even claim that the fluoride in our drinking water is there to control our minds. Is it the truth - or the fringe groups - that are “out there?”Find out why some tinfoil hat ideas never go away. Also, the roots of rational argument: did our brains evolve to seek the truth… or just win arguments?It’s Skeptic Check… but don’t take our word for it!Guests: Jonathan Kay - Managing editor of National Post in Canada and author of Among the Truthers: A Journey Through America’s Growing Conspiracist Underground Michael Shermer - Founding Publisher of Skeptic Magazine and author of The Believing Brain: From Ghosts and Gods to Politics and Conspiracies – How We Construct Beliefs and Reinforce Them As Truths Phil Plait - Skeptic and keeper of Discover Magazine’s blog, badastronomy.com Hugo Mercier - Postdoctoral researcher at the University of Pennsylvania Darcia Narvaez - Psychologist at the University of Notre Dame Ben Recht - Computer Scientist at the University of Wisconsin, Madison and author of the paper “On the Effectiveness of Tinfoil Hats” Descripción en español Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Genes – what are they good for? Absolutely… something. But not everything. Your “genius” genes need to be turned on – and your environment determines that. Find out how to unleash your inner-Einstein, and what scientists learned from studying the famous physicist’s brain.Also, the bizarre notion that your children inherit not just your genes, but also the consequences of your habits – smoking, stress, diet, and other behaviors that turn the genes on.Plus Francis Collins on affordable personal genomes, and a man who decoded his own DNA in under a week.Guests: Francis Collins - Geneticist, Director of the National Institutes of Health David Shenk - Journalist, and author of The Genius in All of Us: Why Everything You’ve Been Told About Genetics, Talent and IQ is Wrong Stephen Quake - Biophysicist, Stanford University Dean Falk - Anthropologist and Senior Scholar at the School For Advanced Research in Santa Fe, New Mexico Descripción en español Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Live forever? Both cancer cells and stem cells can make a claim to immortality. Left unchecked, tumors will grow indefinitely. And stem cells offer the promise of non-stop rejuvenation.We’ll find out whether the surprising discovery of stem cells in the brain really can keep our thinking organ young. And we’ll hear the remarkable story of Henrietta Lacks, the woman who unwittingly donated tissue to science in 1951, and whose cancer cells are still grown in laboratories around the world today.Guests: Rebecca Skloot - Journalist and author of The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks Fred Gage - Neurobiologist at the Salk Institute Randy Schekman - Molecular and cell biologist at the University of California, Berkeley Descripción en español Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Water, water everywhere. But most of it is sea water - you can’t drink it. Discover the most promising technologies for desalination and why solar cells are key. Also, how astronauts filter “water-closet water” to drink it, and how to turn a salt pond back to a wetland.Plus, from Roman aqueducts to modern-day pumps: a history of quenching human thirst. And, why NASA strives to “follow the water.”Guests: Brian Fagan - Anthropologist at the University of California, Santa Barbara, author of Elixir: A History of Water and Humankind John Bourgeois - Biologist and Executive Project Manager, South Bay Salt Pond Restoration Project Michael Meyer - Lead scientist for the Mars Exploration Program Farouk El-Baz - Geologist and Director of the Center for Remote Sensing, Boston University Michael Flynn - Principal investigator for NASA’s advanced life support branch, Ames Research Center Descripción en español Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha. It’s nearly impossible to fake a laugh. Yet, humans will laugh even if something isn’t funny. Discover the evolutionary function of cracking up and meet the other species that love to giggle (and monkey around).Also, hilarious science comedy. Yes, science comedy. Plus, teaching machines to write punch lines… and stretching – and splitting – your sides with laughter yoga.Guests: Frans de Waal - Primatologist, Emory University and the Yerkes Primate Center in Atlanta, Georgia Brian Malow - Science comedian Robert Provine - Neuroscientist, University of Maryland, Baltimore, author of Laughter: A Scientific Investigation Tony Veale - Computer scientist and natural language processing researcher. University College, Dublin, Ireland Tommy Westerfield - Instructor, We Are Laughter Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

How did life begin? What’s the universe made of, and what’s the nature of consciousness?These are truly some of the biggest puzzlers in science, but answers are in the offing.We consider the modern-day hunt for life beyond Earth, as well as a new theory of consciousness: could it be merely an illusion to entertain us and make our lives more worthwhile?Also, after thousands of years of examining the heavens, are we finally learning the true nature of the cosmos?Guests: Marc Kaufman - Reporter for the Washington Post, and author of First Contact: Scientific Breakthroughs in the Hunt for Life Beyond Earth Carolyn Porco - Planetary scientist and leader of the Cassini Imaging Team Michael Russell - Research Scientist at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory Nicholas Humphrey - Theoretical psychologist and author of Soul Dust: The Magic of Consciousness Saul Perlmutter - Physicist at the University of California, Berkeley and senior scientist at Lawrence Berkeley National laboratory Descripción en español Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

They’re heeeere! Yes, aliens are wreaking havoc and destruction throughout the land. But these aliens are Arizona beetles, and the land is in California, where the invasive insects are a serious problem.And what of space-faring aliens? We have those too: how to find them, and how to protect our planet – and theirs.From Hollywood to SETI’s hi-tech search for extraterrestrials, aliens are invading Are We Alone?Guests: Paul Davies - Physicist and author of The Eerie Silence: Renewing Our Search for Alien Intelligence Frank Drake- Senior Scientist, SETI Institute Andy Ihnatko - Journalist and tech blogger Margaret Race - Biologist and Principal Investigator at the SETI Institute Margaret McLean - Director of bioethics at the Markkula Center for Ethics, Santa Clara University Mark Hoddle - Biological Control Specialist at the University of California, Riverside Vanessa Lopez - Graduate student in entomology, University of California, Riverside Descripción en español Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices