Big Picture Science
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Big Picture Science
The surprising connections in science and technology that give you the Big Picture. Astronomer Seth Shostak and science journalist Molly Bentley are joined each week by leading researchers, techies, and journalists to provide a smart and humorous take on science. Our regular "Skeptic Check" episodes...
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Where the Wind Blows
It’s omnipresent on Earth and absent on the Moon. When it’s blowing sand in our eyes or frigid air down our necks, we may curse the wind, but living o...
Life in the Solar System
Spewing lava and belching noxious fumes, volcanoes seem hostile to biology. But the search for life off-Earth includes the hunt for these hotheads on...
Skeptic Check: Hypnosis
You 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? Hypnoti...
Beyond the Periodic Table
You interact with about two-thirds of the elements of the periodic table every day. Some, like carbon, oxygen, and nitrogen, make up our bodies and th...
Movie Mayhem
Science fiction movies force us to face a multitude of end-of-the-world scenarios. Whether the final curtain is dropped by rampaging aliens, killer ro...
The Best Things in Life are Tree(s)
While humans were leaving the Stone Age and entering the Bronze, some Bristlecone pine trees grew from seeds to sprouts. They’ve been growing ever sin...
A Real Gas
Just because something is invisible doesn’t mean it isn’t there. We can’t see gases in our atmosphere, such as carbon dioxide, oxygen, and nitrogen, b...
Amazing Amazonia
The Amazon is often described as an ecosystem under dire threat due to climate change and deliberate deforestation. Yet there is still considerable ho...
Flu the Coop
The worry about whether H5N1 will trigger a human pandemic has concealed a startling reality. Avian influenza has already taken an enormous toll on th...
Skeptic Check: String Theory
The idea that the universe is made of tiny vibrating strings was once the science theory du jour. String theory promised to unite the disparate theori...
Solar Good
In Brazil, leaders from across the globe are gathering for COP30, the premier climate summit in the world. For the first time, the U.S. is sitting it...
Katrina and the River
“The Mississippi River will always have its own way; no engineering skill can persuade it to do otherwise,” said Mark Twain. In this, our final episod...
The Decomposers
What happens to us after we die is as much a question for anthropology and ecology as it is for theology. Death and decay are not comfortable subject...
Shipwrecks
Shipwrecks are scenes of tragedy, but they are also bits of history frozen in time that can provide insights into events and ideas from long ago. That...
Mad About Mars
Long before Orson Welles provoked a panic with his 1938 radio broadcast of a Martian invasion in War of the Worlds, we were fascinated with the possib...
Skeptic Check: Health Fads
The tiny bean-shaped structures in your cells – mitochondria – are little powerhouses. Recent research suggests they may unlock overall good health, o...
Not Just a Phage
We’re hurtling towards a post-antibiotic world, as the overuse of antibiotics has given rise to dangerous drug-resistant bacteria. Can we fight back u...
Spare (Body) Parts
Strapped-on brass noses, frog skin grafts, human organs grown in pigs: The world of replaceable body parts is both amazing and a bit unsettling. But w...
Some Chemicals are Forever
As their name suggests, “forever chemicals” have extraordinary staying power. When these nearly indestructible compounds find their way into our soil...
Animal Alphabets
Have scientists discovered an alphabet in whale calls? As researchers try to decipher the series of clicks made by sperm whales, we ask whether these...
Aliens Now
We are closer than ever to finding aliens according to astrophysicist Adam Frank. He isn’t alone in his optimism. Over the last two decades, the tools...
Don't Lighten Up
A canopy of stars in the night sky is more than breathtaking. Starlight is also an important tool that astronomers use to study our universe. But the...
Katrina and the River
“The Mississippi River will always have its own way; no engineering skill can persuade it to do otherwise,” said Mark Twain. In this, our final episod...
Beyond the Standard Model
Ever heard of a beauty quark? How about a glueball? Physics is full of weird particles that leave many of us scratching our heads. But these tiny part...
Scoping Out the Universe
Telescopes are like light buckets. The bigger the telescope, the more light collected for astronomers to observe. With recent advances in technology,...
Leave it to Beavers
They are known for holding branches in their paws and gnawing on them like corn cobs. They build lodges and dams which occasionally flood roads. Cute,...
The Play's the Thing
Has children’s play become too safe? Research suggests that efforts to prioritize safety harms children’s mental and physical development during play...
Nuts and Bolts
How frequently do you think about fasteners like screws and bolts? Probably not very often. But some of them a storied history, dating back to Egypt i...
Coffee of the Future
Drinking 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 wor...
What Moves Us
What physical activity gives you joy? Whether it’s walking, running, dancing or swimming, your body evolved to do it. We are made for movement. But th...
The Rights of Rivers
Healthy rivers and riparian ecosystems are teaming with life, but should rivers themselves be considered alive? The question is central to the growing...
Lithium Valley
The 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...
Alien Says What?
Whales are aliens on Earth; intelligent beings who have skills for complex problem-solving and their own language. Now in what’s being called a breakt...
Hurricane Comms
A big challenge during a hurricane or other disaster is keeping lines of communication open when the power goes out. In this episode, the second in ou...
Hurricane Season
In the twenty years since Hurricane Katrina devastated the Gulf Coast, powerful hurricanes such as Sandy, Irma, Maria and Helene have caused immense p...
Touching a Nerve
Some call it your sixth sense. You refer to it when you have a “gut feeling.” With a vast fiber network running throughout your body, the vagus nerve...
NASA Under the Axe
The White House has proposed unprecedented cuts to NASA’s budget - the largest in the agency’s history. If approved, this withdrawal of funding would...
The Wrong Stuff
By 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...
Inside Planets
With 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 p...
Tech in Check
Worried 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 1...