Big Picture Science

You are one-of-a-kind, unique, indispensible… oh, wait, never mind! It seems that computer over there can do what you do … faster and with greater accuracy.Yes, it’s silicon vs. carbon as intelligent, interactive machines out-perform humans in tasks beyond data-crunching. We’re not only building our successors, we’re developing emotional relationships with them. Find out why humans are hard-wired to be attached to androids.Also, the handful of areas where humans still rule… as pilots, doctors and journalists. Scratch that! Journalism is automated too – tune in for a news story written solely by a machine.Guests: Clifford Nass - Social psychologist at Stanford University and Director of the Communication Between Humans and Interactive Media Lab Tom Jones - United States astronaut, space consultant, and veteran of four Space Shuttle flights Chris Ford - Business director at Pixar Animation Studios Eric Van De Graaff -Cardiologist at Alegent Health James Bennighof - Vice Provost for Academic Affairs, and professor of music theory at Baylor University in Texas Kathy Abbott - Chief Scientific and Technical Advisor for Flight Deck Human Factors at the Federal Aviation Administration Kristian Hammond - Co-founder, Narrative Science Descripción en español Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

If a tree fell on another planet, would we be able to detect it? Not quite yet – but we might be able to tell if the planet was habitable. A living-planet is the promise of newly-discovered Gliese 581g. But does the planet exist at all?Discover how we learn a planet’s geology and chemistry from afar. Also, what we learn about a civilization from what it discards, beginning with our own sloppy habits.Plus, the hunt for derelict alien spaceships… and a man who sketches alien creatures for a living - based on real science.Guests: Lisa Kaltenegger - Astronomer, Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics Brad Bebout - Biologist, NASA Ames Research Center Robin Nagle - Anthropologist, New York University Robin Hanson - Economist, George Mason University Joel Hagen - Computer graphics instructor, Modesto Junior College Descripción en español Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Humans have not gone unnoticed on this planet. We’ve left our mark with technology, agriculture, architecture, and a growing carbon footprint. But where is this trajectory headed?In the second of a two-part series: what we’ll lose and what will last in 1000 years or more.Discover what the planet might look like to geologists of the far-off-future… the stubborn longevity of plastic and radioactive waste... human civilization in space… and postcards from the galactic edge; crafting interstellar messages to E.T.Guests: Charles Moore - Sea Captain and founder of Algalita Marine Research Foundation Jan Zalasiewicz - Geologist, University of Leicester and author of The Earth After Us: What Legacy Will Humans Leave in the Rocks? Matthew Wald - Reporter for the New York Times and author of the article “Is There a Place for Nuclear Waste?” in the August 2009 issue of Scientific American Doug Vakoch - Director of Interstellar Message Composition at the SETI Institute David Korsmeyer - Chief of the Intelligent Systems Division at NASA Ames Research Center Descripción en español Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Humans have not gone unnoticed on this planet. We’ve left our mark with technology, agriculture, architecture, and a growing carbon footprint. But where is this trajectory headed?In the first of a two-part series: what will be lost and what will still be around 100 years from now? James Lovelock says a hotter planet will prompt mass migrations. And Cary Fowler urges us to save our seeds – the health of future farms may depend on it.Plus, from antibiotics to sewage systems: why human ingenuity ultimately saves the day.And, sure, humans will be around in a century, but – with bionic limbs and silicon neurons – would we recognize them?Guests: James Lovelock - Independent scientist and author of The Vanishing Face of Gaia Cary Fowler - Executive Director of the Global Crop Diversity Trust Russell Blackford - Philosopher, writer, and editor-in-chief of the “Journal of Evolution and Technology.” Descripción en español Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Watch out, the moon is full… of intrigue. Our lovely satellite is blamed for all sorts of Earth-bound mischief – from robberies to shape-shifting to general nutty behavior. It’s also the setting for more than one loony tale. In this hour, as NASA spacecraft return to the moon, a look at the mythology it inspires.Discover the true correlation between crime and a full moon… the 1835 reports of unicorns and man-bats living on moon… and, our favorite hair-raising howler: the werewolf! Also, why some still insist the Apollo moon landing is a hoax.Plus, space travel – boxed and bundled.Guests: Phil Plait - Keeper of the skeptical website badastronomy.com and author of Death from the Skies!: These Are the Ways the World Will End . . . Matthew Goodman - Author of The Sun and the Moon: The Remarkable True Account of Hoaxers, Showmen, Dueling Journalists, and Lunar Man-Bats in Nineteenth-Century New York Jim Underdown - Executive Director for the Center for Inquiry West, Los Angeles and keeper of the blog Hollywood Reality Check June Pulliam - English professor, Louisiana State University Cynthia Phillips - Scientist at the SETI Institute and author, most recently, of Space Exploration For Dummies (For Dummies (Math & Science)) Paul Spudis - Senior scientist at the Lunar and Planetary Institute Descripción en español Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Are humans unique or do we just do some things a little better than other species? In the second of our two-part series – how our ability to adapt has shaped our evolution.Find out how throwing a burger on the grill has transformed our species… the 1% genetic difference that separate us from chimps… why we’re poorly adapted and stressed out … and why human evolution is not only on the move, but picking up the pace. Richard Wrangham - Biological anthropologist at Harvard University and author of Catching Fire: How Cooking Made Us Human Katherine Pollard - Biostatistician at the Gladstone Institutes at the University of California, San Francisco Robert Sapolsky - Biological scientist at Stanford University and neurologist at Stanford’s School of Medicine. Author of Why Zebras Don't Get Ulcers, Third Edition and, more recently, Monkeyluv: And Other Essays on Our Lives as Animals Gregory Cochran - Anthropologist at the University of Utah and co-author of The 10,000 Year Explosion: How Civilization Accelerated Human Evolution Descripción en español Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Are humans unique or do we just do some things a little better than other species? In the first of our two-part series on the nature of humanity: how the influence of others has shaped our evolution.Find out how baby talk gave root to human language and why social isolation can make us sick. Plus, the joke’s on us – new research says we’re not the only laughing species: meet your giggling gorilla cousins.And, what a writer’s visit to a chimp retirement center revealed about human discomfort with our animal ancestry. Dean Falk - Anthropologist at Florida State University and author of Finding Our Tongues: Mothers, Infants, and the Origins of Language John Cacioppo - Director of the Center for Cognitive and Social Neuroscience at the University of Chicago and co-author of Loneliness: Human Nature and the Need for Social Connection Lori Marino - Biologist at Emory University Kathryn Denning - Anthropologist at York University Charles Siebert - Author of The Wauchula Woods Accord: Toward a New Understanding of Animals Marina Davila-Ross - Psychologist at the University of Portsmouth in the U.K. Descripción en español Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

There’s no escape from the chattering classes – they talk, squawk, squeal and sing all around us. Every animal communicates in some form – it’s essential for survival. They’ve evolved to understand each other … but do we understand them?Find out what’s coded in humpback whale song and whether human-cetacean dialogue is possible… how information theory reveals communication patterns within the animal kingdom… how plants call out to animals to protect them… and why only humans evolved language.Guests: Douglas Carlton Abrams - Author of Eye of the Whale: A Novel Laurance Doyle - Scientist at the SETI Institute Douglas Vakoch - Director of Interstellar Message Composition at the SETI Institute David DeGusta - Anthropologist at Stanford University Descripción en español Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Medicine’s back.. and this time it’s personal. Get ready to have your genome read… your brain scanned… and undergo a chemical analysis so detailed, it’ll reveal the Twinkie you had for lunch. Everyone’s different, and reading those differences at the level of the gene may provide a more accurate profile of health and how to treat disease. But are you ready to know what’s wrong with you?Discover the future of personalized medicine with biologist Craig Venter, as well as a man who turned his body over to the new science. Learn what his tests revealed.Plus, why stem cell research really is a horse race. And, why getting sick is sometimes the best thing.Guests: Craig Venter - Genome scientist Frank McCormick - Director of the Helen Diller Comprehensive Cancer Center at the University of California, San Francisco David Ewing Duncan - Journalist and author of Experimental Man: What One Man's Body Reveals about His Future, Your Health, and Our Toxic World Sharon Moalem - Neurogeneticist and Evolutionary Biologist at the Mount Sinai School of Medicine and author of Survival of the Sickest Sean Owens - Director of the Regenerative Medicine Laboratory at the University of California, Davis Julie Burges - Animal Health Technician, Regenerative Medicine Laboratory, University of California, Davis Descripción en español Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

“Aspirin and Old Lace?” Okay, it would take a bottle full of pills in a glass of elderberry wine to really harm you, but aspirin can be deadly. So can too much of anything, including water. Dose is key in toxicology, after all, but there are some poisons that can do deadly work in tiny amounts. Hear about the chemistry of poisons … why Botox may freeze your emotions as well as your face… which animal is most lethal to humans… and how 19th-century poisoners got away with murder – until the birth of forensic science.Guests: Deborah Blum – Pulitzer Prize-winning science writer, author of The Poisoner’s Handbook: Murder and the Birth of Forensic Medicine in Jazz Age New York Martyn Smith – Toxicologist, University of California, Berkeley Joshua Ian Davis – Psychologist, Barnard College, New York Jamie Seymour – Venom biologist, director of The Tropical Australian Stinger Research Unit, School of Marine Tropical Biology, James Cook University, Cairns, Australia Big Picture Science is part of the Airwave Media podcast network. Please contact advertising@airwavemedia.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