Big Picture Science

We could choose not to pay income tax and suffer the consequences. But we can’t avoid death. The biological functions of all organisms eventually cease. But why should this be? Find out why animals die and meet one creature that is biologically immortal.Plus, a trip to the Body Farm where decaying bodies help science…how we might cheat the Big Sleep with drugs… why Mexican cemeteries look like villages… and a doctor’s fight against one of the world’s deadliest diseases.Guests: Bill Bass - Forensic Anthropologist, founder of the University of Tennessee Forensic Research Facility. Author of Beyond the Body Farm: A Legendary Bone Detective Explores Murders, Mysteries, and the Revolution in Forensic Science and fiction, written under the pen name, Jefferson Bass. The latest: Bones of Betrayal: A Body Farm Novel. Stanley Brandes - Cultural Anthropologist, University of California, Berkeley, author of Skulls to the Living, Bread to the Dead: The Day of the Dead in Mexico and Beyond Matt Kaeberlein - Pathologist, University of Washington Ross Donaldson - Doctor and author of The Lassa Ward Descripción en español Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

A new herbal supplements is on the shelf, and it claims to improve memory. Should you take it? It’s not easy to sort through the firehose of health and nutrition advice that comes at us daily. Find out how to get healthy about health advice, plus hear the story of Bernarr Macfadden, the eccentric who kicked off America’s fitness craze; he believed that eating less was good for you, but he didn’t believe germ theory.Plus, our Hollywood skeptic spills his guts and other entrails for a phony class for nurses and Phil Plait gives us the latest lapse in critically-thinking brains.It’s Skeptic Check… but don’t take our word for it.Guests: Phil Plait - Author, badastronomy.com and Death from the Skies!: These Are the Ways the World Will End . . . Mark Adams - writer and editor, and author of Mr. America: How Muscular Millionaire Bernarr Macfadden Transformed the Nation Through Sex, Salad, and the Ultimate Starvation Diet Jim Underdown - Executive Director, Center for Inquiry, West - Los Angeles Steven Novella - Assistant professor of neurology at Yale School of Medicine Descripción en español Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

It’s always a surprise to go digging in Seth’s garage – who knows what we’ll find! In this impressive heap of paraphernalia, tucked between boxes of old radio tubes and hydraulic jacks, we stumble upon the secrets to our galaxy’s central black hole… witness the dance of the PhD theses… uncover the genome of milk (while moo-ving boxes) and … hey? Who’s that crunching numbers in the corner? It’s astrophysicist Mario Livio addressing the mathematical mysteries of universe.Guests: Andrea Ghez - Astronomer at University of California, Los Angeles Kathryn Denning - Professor of Anthropology at York University Mario Livio - Senior Astronomer at the Hubble Space Telescope Science Institute and author of Is God a Mathematician? John Bohannon - Gonzo Scientist and Contributing Correspondent for Science Katrien Kolenberg - Astrophysicist, University of Vienna Danielle Lemay - Nutrition Scientist at the University of California, Davis Descripción en español Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

We should award frequent travel miles to your brain. After all, it’s evolved a long way from the days of guiding brachiation from tree-to-tree to become the three pounds of web-surfing, Sudoku-playing powerhouse it is today. But a suite of technologies may expand human brains further still.From smart pills to nano-wires: discover the potential – and peril – of neuro-engineering to repair and enhance our cognitive function.Also, how our brains got so big in the first place: a defense of the modern diet.Guests Bill Leonard - department chairman and professor of Anthropology at Northwestern University Michael Gazzaniga - neuroscientist and director of the University of California – Santa Barbara’s SAGE Center for the Study of the Mind. Author of Human: The Science Behind What Makes Us Unique Ian Pearson - futurologist at Futurizon Steven Rose - biologist and director of the Brain and Behavior Research Group at the Open University in London. Author of The Future of the Brain: The Promise and Perils of Tomorrow's Neuroscience Ed Boyden - neuroscientist at MIT’s Media Lab and Department of Biological Engineering Descripción en español Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

There are a lot of scientific claims out there – how do you separate the good from the bad and the outright fraudulent? Experts failed to do so for years in the case of a physicist whose published papers claimed the invention of a new bio-based transistor. Plus, other stories of deceit – such as the scientist who stooped to coloring mouse fur with markers.Also, why climate science is solid, but its scientists need to be more open with the public.And, from the undersea “bloop” to the Denver airport conspiracy theory. Why urban myths are so popular.Plus, Phil Plait describes someone’s plans to meditate away the Gulf of Mexico oil spill.It’s Skeptic Check… but don’t take our word for it!Guests: Phil Plait - Astronomer, keeper of badastronomy.com, and author of Death from the Skies!: These Are the Ways the World Will End . . . Eugenie Samuel Reich - News reporter and author of Plastic Fantastic Michael Shermer - Publisher of Skeptic Magazine and columnist for Scientific American Sheila Jasanoff - Professor of science and public policy at Harvard University Brian Dunning - Science journalist and producer of the podcast Skeptoid Descripción en español Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Dr. Robot, I presume? Your appendix may be removed by motor-driven, scalpel-wielding mechanical hands one day. Robots are debuting in the medical field… as well as on battlefields. And they’re increasingly making important decisions – on their own. But can we teach robots right from wrong? Find out why the onslaught of silicon intelligence has prompted a new field of robo-ethics.Plus, robo-geologists: NASA’s vision for autonomous robots in space.Guests: P.W. Singer - Director of the 21st Century Defense Initiative at the Brookings Institution, and the author of Wired for War: The Robotics Revolution and Conflict in the 21st Century Wendell Wallach - Chair of a technology and ethics working group for Yale University’s Interdisciplinary Center for Bioethics, and the co-author of Moral Machines: Teaching Robots Right from Wrong Pablo Garcia - – Principal engineer working on medical robotics at SRI International, Menlo Park, California Robert Anderson - Planetary geologist, NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory Robyn Asimov - Daughter of author Isaac Asimov Descripción en español Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

With more water than land on this planet, Earth is more aptly-named “Ocean” or “Water.” The oceans have been here for billions of years, and make all life possible. Yet, it’s taken less than a century for humans to deal some serious blows to the watery cradle of our existence. Discover how our oceans are changing and the worrisome increase in their acidity from the maker of the documentary film, A Sea ChangeAlso, hear how hope is bubbling up for ocean recovery from famed oceanographer Sylvia Earle. Learn about her record-breaking voyages underwater and how her reprimand to a Silicon Valley entrepreneur gave birth to Google Ocean. Plus, farming the seas for new antibiotics.Guests: Sylvia Earle - Oceanographer, National Geographic Explorer-in-Residence, founder of DeepSearch Foundation, and author of Ocean: An Illustrated Atlas (National Geographic Atlas) Sven Huseby - Co-producer of the documentary A Sea Change Peter Moeller - Toxin and Natural Products Chemist at NOAA Pacific Ocean - Largest oceanic division of the world, overlay of the Pacific Plate Descripción en español Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

We place sharks in aquariums and elephants in zoos – to observe and conserve. But what if aliens have done the same to us? We’ll hear from Stephen King on a doomed result of a domed experiment - hatched by off-Earth beings, and why captivity may actually save some species on this planet.Plus, you’re entering the Habitable Zone: which is the best bet for life elsewhere in the Solar System - Europa, Enceladus or Mars?Guests: Stephen King - Novelist, author of Under the Dome: A Novel Jim Kasting - Geoscientist, Penn State University and author of How to Find a Habitable Planet (Science Essentials) Oliver Morton - Journalist, author of Eating the Sun: How Plants Power the Planet John Fraser - Director for the Institute for Learning Innovations and Adjunct Assistant Professor at Hunter College CUNY Amanda Hendrix - Planetary Scientist, NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory Bob Pappalardo - Planetary Scientist, NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory Descripción en español Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

It’s always a surprise to go digging in Seth’s crawl space – who knows what we’ll find! In this cramped never-never land, tucked between piles of spilled cat litter and old clarinet reeds, we stumble upon the language of whales … the future of technology … the secret to plant power … and the answer to whether photographic memory exists. Tune in, find out and, grab a broom, will you?Guests: Larry Squire - Professor at the University of California San Diego School of Medicine and a scientist at the V.A. Medical Center in San Diego Nathan Myhrvold - CEO of Intellectual Ventures Oliver Morton - Journalist and author of Eating the Sun: How Plants Power the Planet Fred Sharpe - Executive Director and Principal Investigator at the Alaska Whale Foundation Descripción en español Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The Apollo moon landing is a hoax! 9-11 was an inside job! Our government keeps alien bodies racked and stacked in an underground bunker! And as for the evidence … well … put on your tin hats, folks, we’re going deep, deep, deep into conspiracy with journalist David Aaronovitch.Also – the truth is out there, but it’s ignored. Jonah Lehrer on why scientists can overlook evidence.Plus, money for meters and your spooks for free: ghost detectors hit the market.And Hollywood Reality Check and Phil Plait on bogus bomb detectors.It’s Skeptic Check… but don’t take our word for it!Guests: Phil Plait - Astronomer, keeper of badastronomy.com, and author of Death from the Skies!: These Are the Ways the World Will End . . . David Aaronovitch- Columnist with the Times newspaper of London and author of Voodoo Histories: The Role of the Conspiracy Theory in Shaping Modern History Jonah Lehrer - Contributing editor at Wired magazine and author of How We Decide Matt Lowry - High school physics teacher and keeper of the Skeptical Teacher web site Jim Underdown - Executive Director, Center for Inquiry, West - Los Angeles Descripción en español Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices