Latest Astrobiology Podcast Episodes
Fungi Fear*
Big Picture Science - April 08, 2024 17:10 - 54 minutes ★★★★★ - 858 ratingsThe zombie eco-thriller “The Last of Us” has alerted us to the threats posed by fungi. But the show is not entirely science fiction. Our vulnerability to pathogenic fungi is more real than many people imagine. Find out what human activity drives global fungal threats, including their menace to f...
Coffee of the Future
Big Picture Science - April 01, 2024 04:05 - 54 minutes ★★★★★ - 858 ratingsDrinking a cup of coffee is how billions of people wake up every morning. But climate change is threatening this popular beverage. Over 60% of the world’s coffee species are at risk of extinction. Scientists are searching for solutions, including hunting for wild, forgotten coffee species that ar...
When the Moon Hits Your Eye
Big Picture Science - March 25, 2024 04:05 - 54 minutes ★★★★★ - 858 ratingsThe Great North American Solar Eclipse will trace a path of shadow across Mexico and 13 U.S. States on April 8th. Phil Plait, also known as The Bad Astronomer, joins the show for an extended interview covering a wide-range of topics, such as his excitement about the eclipse, the Pentagon’s most r...
Skeptic Check: Asteroid Mining
Big Picture Science - March 18, 2024 04:05 - 54 minutes ★★★★★ - 858 ratingsAsteroids are rich in precious metals and other valuable resources. But mining them presents considerable challenges. We discuss these, and consider how these spinning, rocky resources might be the key to a space-faring future. But an economist points out the consequences of bringing material bac...
Feet Don't Fail Me
Big Picture Science - March 11, 2024 04:05 - 54 minutes ★★★★★ - 858 ratingsStanding on your own two feet isn’t easy. While many animals can momentarily balance on their hind legs, we’re the only critters, besides birds, for whom bipedalism is completely normal. Find out why, even though other animals are faster, we’re champions at getting around. Could it be that our up...
Lady Parts**
Big Picture Science - March 04, 2024 08:05 - 1 hour ★★★★★ - 858 ratingsThe Supreme Court’s ruling on Roe has ignited fierce debate about bodily autonomy. But it’s remarkable how little we know about female physiology. Find out what studies have been overlooked by science, and what has been recently learned. Plus, why studying women’s bodies means being able to say w...
Tomb with a View*
Big Picture Science - February 26, 2024 08:05 - 54 minutes ★★★★★ - 858 ratingsA century ago, British archaeologist Howard Carter opened the only surviving intact tomb from ancient Egypt. Inside was the mummy of the boy king Tutankhamun, together with “wonderful things” including a solid gold mask. Treasure from King Tut’s crypt has been viewed both in person and virtually ...
Lithium Valley
Big Picture Science - February 19, 2024 08:05 - 55 minutes ★★★★★ - 858 ratingsThe discovery of a massive amount of lithium under the Salton Sea could make the U.S. lithium independent. The metal is key for batteries in electric vehicles and solar panels. But the area is also a delicate ecosystem. We go to southern California to hear what hangs in the balance of the balloon...
Alien Says What?
Big Picture Science - February 12, 2024 08:01 - 55 minutes ★★★★★ - 858 ratingsWhales are aliens on Earth; intelligent beings who have skills for complex problem-solving and their own language. Now in what’s being called a breakthrough, scientists have carried on an extended conversation with a humpback whale. They share the story of this remarkable encounter, their evidenc...
The Wrong Stuff
Big Picture Science - February 05, 2024 08:05 - 1 hour ★★★★★ - 858 ratingsBy one estimate the average American home has 300,000 objects. Yet our ancient ancestors had no more than what they could carry with them. How did we go from being self-sufficient primates to nonstop shoppers? We examine the evolutionary history of stuff through the lens of archeology beginning w...
Skeptic Check: Hypnosis*
Big Picture Science - January 29, 2024 16:27 - 54 minutes ★★★★★ - 858 ratingsYou are getting sleeeepy and open to suggestion. But is that how hypnotism works? And does it really open up a portal to the unconscious mind? Hypnotism can be an effective therapeutic tool, and some scientists suggest replacing opioids with hypnosis for pain relief. And yet, the performance aspe...
Inside Planets
Big Picture Science - January 22, 2024 05:05 - 54 minutes ★★★★★ - 858 ratingsWith planets and moons, it’s what’s inside that counts. If we want to understand surface features, like volcanoes, or their history, such as how the planet formed or whether it’s suitable for life, we study their interiors. Astronomer Sabine Stanley takes us on a journey to the centers of Venus, ...
Tech in Check
Big Picture Science - January 15, 2024 05:05 - 54 minutes ★★★★★ - 858 ratingsWorried that AI will replace you? It may not seem like the Hollywood writers’ strike has anything in common with the Luddite rebellion in England in 1811, but they are surprisingly similar. Today we use the term “Luddite” dismissively to describe a technophobe, but the original Luddites – cloth w...
Your Mind on Movies
Big Picture Science - January 08, 2024 05:05 - 54 minutes ★★★★★ - 858 ratingsBy one estimate we spend a fifth of our lives watching movies or TV. In fact, we consume entertainment almost as habitually as we eat or sleep, activities that receive scientific scrutiny and study. So why not consider the effects that watching movies and TV have on our minds and bodies too? When...
Eclectic Company
Big Picture Science - January 01, 2024 05:05 - 54 minutes ★★★★★ - 858 ratingsWe present a grab bag of our favorite recent science stories – from how to stop aging to the mechanics of cooking pasta. Also, in accord with our eclectic theme – the growing problem of space junk. Guests: Anthony Wyss-Coray – Professor of neuroscience at Stanford University Oliver O’Reilly –...
Iron, Coal, Wood**
Big Picture Science - December 25, 2023 05:00 - 54 minutes ★★★★★ - 858 ratingsMaybe you don’t remember the days of the earliest coal-fired stoves. They changed domestic life, and that changed society. We take you back to that era, and to millennia prior when iron was first smelt, and even earlier, when axe-handles were first fashioned from wood, as we explore how three ess...
The Ocean's Genome
Big Picture Science - December 18, 2023 05:00 - 54 minutes ★★★★★ - 858 ratingsAfter helping to sequence the human genome more than twenty years ago, biochemist Craig Venter seemed to recede from the public eye. But he hadn’t retired. He had gone to sea and taken his revolutionary sequencing tools with him. We chatted with him about his multi-year voyage aboard the research...
Skeptic Check: Naomi Klein
Big Picture Science - December 11, 2023 05:00 - 55 minutes ★★★★★ - 858 ratingsOur information age is increasingly the disinformation age. The spread of lies and conspiracy theories has created competing experiences of reality. Facts are often useless for changing minds or even making compelling arguments. In this episode, author Naomi Klein and science philosopher Lee McIn...
End of Eternity**
Big Picture Science - December 04, 2023 08:00 - 54 minutes ★★★★★ - 858 ratingsNothing lasts forever. Even the universe has several possible endings. Will there be a dramatic Big Rip or a Big Chill–also known as the heat death of the universe–in trillions of years? Or will vacuum decay, which could theoretically happen at any moment, do us in? Perhaps the death of a tiny p...
In Living Color
Big Picture Science - November 27, 2023 08:00 - 54 minutes ★★★★★ - 858 ratingsThe world is a colorful place, and human eyes have evolved to take it in – from vermillion red to bright tangerine to cobalt blue. But when we do, are you and I seeing the same thing? Find out why color perception is a trick of the brain, and why you and I may not see the same shade of green. Or...
The T-Rex Files
Big Picture Science - November 20, 2023 08:00 - 54 minutes ★★★★★ - 858 ratingsT-Rex is having an identity crisis. Rocking the world of paleontology is the claim that Rex was not one species, but actually three. It’s not the first time that this particular dino has forced us to revise our understanding of the past. The discovery of the first T-Rex fossil in the 19th century...
Neanderthal in the Family**
Big Picture Science - November 13, 2023 05:05 - 54 minutes ★★★★★ - 858 ratingsBack off, you Neanderthal! It sounds as if you’ve just been dissed, but maybe you should take it as a compliment. Contrary to common cliches, our Pleistocene relatives were clever, curious, and technologically inventive. Find out how our assessment of Neanderthals has undergone a radical rethinki...
Night Flight
Big Picture Science - November 06, 2023 05:05 - 54 minutes ★★★★★ - 858 ratingsOwls are both the most accessible and elusive of birds. Every child can recognize one, but you’ll be lucky to spot an owl in a tree, even if you’re looking straight at it. Besides their camouflage and silent flight, these mostly nocturnal birds, with their amazing vision and hearing, are most at ...
Extraordinary Ordinary Objects
Big Picture Science - October 30, 2023 04:05 - 54 minutes ★★★★★ - 858 ratings“To live is to count and to count is to calculate.” But before we plugged in the computer to express this ethos, we pulled out the pocket calculator. It became a monarch of mathematics that sparked a computing revolution. But it’s not the only deceptively modest innovation that changed how we wor...
Like Lightning*
Big Picture Science - October 23, 2023 04:05 - 54 minutes ★★★★★ - 858 ratingsEvery second, lightning strikes 50 to 100 times somewhere. It can wreak havoc by starting wildfires and sometimes killing people. But lightning also produces a form of nitrogen that’s essential to vegetation. In this episode, we talk about the nature of these dramatic sparks. Ben Franklin establi...
Skeptic Check: Worrier Mentality*
Big Picture Science - October 16, 2023 04:05 - 54 minutes ★★★★★ - 858 ratingsPoisonous snakes, lightning strikes, a rogue rock from space. There are plenty of scary things to fret about, but are we burning adrenaline on the right ones? Stepping into the bathtub is more dangerous than flying from a statistical point of view, but no one signs up for “fear of showering” clas...
Going Multicellular
Big Picture Science - October 09, 2023 04:05 - 55 minutes ★★★★★ - 858 ratingsImagine life without animals, trees, and fungi. The world would look very different. But while the first life was surely single-celled, we don’t know just how it evolved to multicellular organisms. Two long-term experiments hope to find out, and one has been running for more than 35 years. Hear a...
How Hot is Too Hot?
Big Picture Science - October 02, 2023 04:05 - 57 minutes ★★★★★ - 858 ratingsExtreme heat is taking its toll on the natural world. We use words like “heat domes” and “freakish” to describe our everyday existence. These high temperatures aren’t only uncomfortable - they are lethal to humans, animals, and crops. In search of an answer to our episode’s question, we discuss t...
Skeptic Check: Near Death Experiences
Big Picture Science - September 25, 2023 04:05 - 56 minutes ★★★★★ - 858 ratingsNear death experiences can be profound and even life changing. People describe seeing bright lights, staring into the abyss, or meeting dead relatives. Many believe these experiences to be proof of an afterlife. But now, scientists are studying these strange events and gaining insights into the ...
Into the Deep*
Big Picture Science - September 18, 2023 04:05 - 54 minutes ★★★★★ - 858 ratingsHave you ever heard worms arguing? Deep-sea scientists use hydrophones to eavesdrop on “mouth-fighting worms.” It’s one of the many ways scientists are trying to catalog the diversity of the deep oceans — estimated to be comparable to a rainforest. But the clock is ticking. While vast expanses of...