SETI: Science and Skepticism Podcast
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Seth Shostak and guests ponder the nature and prevalence of life in the Universe... and other topics
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Podcast Website:
http://podcast.seti.org/
AWA: Got Life? December 1 2008
arewealone@seti.org
Author: arewealone@seti.org
01 Mon,, Dec
"Spore" is the ultimate game of life. Play it wisely and you can evolve from a single-celled organism, swimming in salt water, to an intelligent being rocketing through the galaxy. It's survival of the cleverest - are you game?
Join us as we attend the "Spore" launch party. Hear how the game's primary author, Will Wright (of "SimCity" fame) simulated the arc of evolution; whether complex life is inevitable; and how SETI scientists inspired one of the most anticipated video games in history.
Also, why real human evolution is picking up the pace (did you know that blue eyes are relatively new?)... and a doctor's film about the meaning of life.
Click here to become a Spore-TeamSETI Member!
Guests:
Will Wright - Creator of "Spore" and "Sim City"
Howard Weiner - Neurologist, Harvard Medical School
John Hawks - Anthropologist, University of Wisconsin-Madison
 Download File - 34.7 MB
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AWA: First Contact! November 24 2008
arewealone@seti.org
Author: arewealone@seti.org
24 Mon,, Nov
From human settlers to alien visitors - when one society meets another, the results can be messy.
The Jamestown settlement may have kicked off the colonization of the New World. But, you'll hear how it also left an indelible mark on its ecosystem and the human landscape. Plus, why the Galapagos Islands haven't been the same since their most celebrated visitor set foot on their rocky shores more than a century ago.
Also: how a spider led the re-population of Krakatau after a devastating volcanic eruption... the "raining" threat of alien microbes... and one man's emergency plan for when Mars attacks.
Guests:
Charles C. Mann - author and journalist. His article "America Found and Lost" is in the May issue of National Geographic Magazine
Travis Taylor - author of An Introduction to Planetary Defense: A Study of Modern Warfare Applied to Extraterrestrial Invasion
Robert Whittaker - Professor of Biogeography at the University of Oxford
John Rummel - Senior Scientist for Astrobiology at NASA
Timothy Silcott - Director for Information and Development for the Charles Darwin Foundation based in Puerto Ayora, Galapagos Islands
Download File - 34.7 MB
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AWA: Skeptical Sunday: I'll Buy That! November 17 2008
arewealone@seti.org
Author: arewealone@seti.org
17 Mon,, Nov
Smoking is good for you! Doctors want you to light up! Discover how cigarette companies of the 1950s manipulated the media to peddle their tobacco - and why not much has changed since then. Also, what goes on in our brain when we buy; the results of a global neuroscience study.
Plus, our Hollywood Skeptic tests the purifying claims of Kinoki pads and Brains on Vacation debunks Carl Sagan ufology.
Guests:
Martin Lindstrom- Marketing expert and author of Buyology: Truth and Lies About Why We Buy
Robert Jackler - Associate Dean, Continuing Medical Education, Stanford University School of Medicine and organizer of the exhibition Not a Cough in a Carload: Images Used by Tobacco Companies to Hide the Hazards of Smoking
James Underdown - Executive Director, Center for Inquiry, Los Angeles
Phil Plait - Astronomer, author and keeper of badastronomy.com
Download File - 34.7 MB
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AWA: Time's Mysteries Part II: Warping Time November 10 2008
arewealone@seti.org
Author: arewealone@seti.org
10 Mon,, Nov
Ever since Einstein, we've known that time doesn't barrel willy-nilly into the future. Moving clocks tick at a different rates, and by riding a fast rocket, we can slow time to a crawl. Such tricks may give you a way to see the distant future, but can you go back in time?
Discover one man's quest to build a time machine. Also learn how to put the brakes on aging by getting near a black hole.
Plus, does your entire life really pass before your eyes if you jump off the Brooklyn Bridge? Our perception of time.
Guests:
Roy Gould - Astrophysicist, Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics
Ronald Mallett - Professor of Physics, University of Connecticut, and author of Time Traveler: A Scientist's Personal Mission to Make Time Travel a Reality
Simon Steel - Astrophysicist, Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics
David Eagleman - Neuroscientist at Baylor College of Medicine, and Director of the Laboratory for Perception and Action
Download File - 34.6 MB
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AWA: Time's Mysteries Part I: Marking Time November 3 2008
arewealone@seti.org
Author: arewealone@seti.org
03 Mon,, Nov
Time's a mystery, yet we've invented clever ways to capture it. From sundials to atomic clocks, trace the history of time-keeping. Also, discover the surprising accuracy of nature's dating schemes - from the decay of carbon to laying down tree rings.
Plus, why the "New York minute," stretches to hours in Rio de Janeiro: cultural differences in the perception of time.
Guests:
Chris Turney - Geologist at the University of Wollongong, Australia and the author of Bones, Rocks and Stars: The Science of When Things Happened
Demetrios Matsakis - Head of the U.S. Naval Observatory's Time Service
Steven Jefferts - Physicist at the National Institute of Standards and Technology in Boulder, Colorado
Robert Levine - Psychologist at California State University in Fresno and the author of The Geography of Time
Norman Mohr - Owner, Mohr Clocks, Mountain View, California
Download File - 34.5 MB
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AWA: War of the Worlds: Happy Anniversary! October 27 2008
arewealone@seti.org
Author: arewealone@seti.org
27 Mon,, Oct
It's been 70 years since malevolent Martians landed in Grover's Mill, New Jersey. Orson Welles described the dramatic events as they unfolded on CBS's Mercury Theater On The Air. Some listeners were so frightened, they became hysterical and fled their homes.
We revisit the famous radio adaptation of H.G. Well's novel and examine its cultural legacy. Also, what do modern invasion movies say about today's public fears?
Plus, the religious response to an alien invasion... how to protect Earth from Martian microbes... and, what Percival Lowell thought he saw on Mars.
Guests:
Aeon Skoble - Professor of Philosophy at Bridgewater State College
Kevin Schindler - Outreach Manager at the Lowell Observatory
Brother Guy Consolmagno - Astronomer at the Vatican Observatory
Margaret Race - Principal Investigator at the SETI Institute
John Gosling - Writer
Download File - 34.7 MB
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AWA: What Were You Thinking? October 20 2008
arewealone@seti.org
Author: arewealone@seti.org
20 Mon,, Oct
Say what you mean. That's difficult, if you don't know what you're thinking. But the neuromarketers do, and they'll be happy to tell Madison Avenue what's on your mind. Discover why this marketing strategy is wired for success.
Also, Steven Pinker on how language reveals private thoughts as well as why the big-brained Homo neanderthalensis couldn't out-compete Homo sapiens. And, we tease your gray matter with the "Monty Hall Problem."
Guests:
Steven Pinker - Psychologist, Harvard University and author, most recently, of The Stuff of Thought: Language as a Window into Human Nature
A. K. Pradeep - Founder and Chief Executive Officer of Neurofocus in Berkeley, California
Quentin Baldwin - Client Services Engineer at Neurofocus
Richard Klein - Paleoanthropologist at Stanford University
Deborah Bennett - Mathematician at New Jersey City University
Download File - 34.7 MB
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AWA: Senses Census October 13 2008
arewealone@seti.org
Author: arewealone@seti.org
13 Mon,, Oct
REPEAT Don't worry if you've lost your senses - we've found them. Find out why we've evolved taste, sight, hearing, touch, and smell the way we have, and why we don't sense our world through antennae or echolocation. Discover what part of the tongue recognizes anchovies and why cats can't taste candy. And, in need of some virtual surgery? Visit the robotics lab where computers are wired with the sense of touch.
Also, release yourself from the limits of your biology: from bionic limbs to infrared vision; join humans of the future who are enhanced with super-senses.
Now that you have a feel for the taste of this show by nosing about this blurb, you can see that it's worth a listen. Make sense?
Guests:
Tom Finger - Cell and Developmental Biologist at University of Colorado Medical School and Co-Director of the Rocky Mountain Taste and Smell Center.
Ken Salisbury - Computer Scientist in the Bio-Robotics Laboratory, Stanford.
James Hughes - Sociologist and Bioethicist at Trinity College in Hartford, Connecticut and Executive Director of the Institute of Ethics and Emerging Technologies.
Nina Jablonski - Anthropologist at Penn State University and author of Skin: A Natural History.
Download File - 34.7 MB
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AWA: Humans in Space... ace... ace October 6 2008
arewealone@seti.org
Author: arewealone@seti.org
06 Mon,, Oct
When the economy's down, will humans still be going up - into space, that is? We investigate the future of human spaceflight at the International Astronautical Congress in Glasgow, Scotland and find out whether sending Homo sapiens to the Moon and Mars is still a good idea. Also, the chief of Virgin Galactic is happy to send you into space on a private flight - but it may max out your credit card.
Plus, an Apollo astronaut's view from orbit... dining with South Korea's first astronaut... and one of Britain's great science fiction authors on how space science fuels the imagination.
Guests:
Rusty Schweickart - Former NASA astronaut and Chairman of the Board of the B612 Foundation
John Mankins - 25-year NASA veteran who managed the Agency's exploration technology activities
Sanjoy Som - Planetary scientist at the University of Washington, Seattle
Will Whitehorn - President of Virgin Galactic
Yi So-yeon - Biomechanical engineer and South Korean astronaut
Stephen Baxter - Science fiction author, most recently of Weaver
Download File - 34.7 MB
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AWA: Formula One: The Drake Equation September 29 2008
arewealone@seti.org
Author: arewealone@seti.org
29 Mon,, Sep
Show description
REPEAT When it comes to contacting ET, SETI scientists do the math. They've been filling in values for the Drake Equation ever since 1961. That's when Frank Drake proposed his simple formula for estimating the number of communicating civilizations in the galaxy. It's one equation that everyone can understand.
We'll talk about the current best estimates for the terms in Drake's famous formulation - from the number of Earth-size planets to the life expectancy of advanced civilizations. Also, with all this number crunching, why haven't we yet heard from ET?
Guests:
Frank Drake - Senior Scientist, SETI Institute
Charley Lineweaver - Astrobiologist at the Australian National University
Lori Marino - Behavioral Biologist at Emory University
J. Richard Gott - Physicist at Princeton University
Natalie Batalha - Professor of Physics and Astronomy, San Jose State University, and science team member, Kepler Mission
Download File - 34.7 MB
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AWA: Get Your Boson September 22 2008
arewealone@seti.org
Author: arewealone@seti.org
22 Mon,, Sep
What happens when particles collide? The answer may tell us the dark secrets of the cosmos. At least, that's the hope for the Large Hadron Collider, the world's largest particle accelerator. When it fires up this summer, colliding protons may produce the elusive Higgs Boson - the so-called God particle - and reveal the building blocks of the universe.
We talk to the Director of CERN, home of this massive device, about what happens when they throw the big switch. Also, what if black holes happen? Find out how these weird gravity pits are created, and whether they're actually two-way streets that allow information to escape after all.
Also, plans are already underway for the next particle accelerator, and playing with fire: a new fusion reactor in France.
Guests:
Robert Aymar - Director General of CERN in Geneva, Switzerland
Barry Barish - Physicist Emeritus, California Institute of Technology and Director of the International Linear Collider Global Design Effort
Norbert Holtkamp - Principle Deputy Director General of ITER and physicist at the Spallation Neutron Source at Oak Ridge National Laboratory
Simon Steel - Astronomer, Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics
Download File - 34.6 MB
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AWA: Skeptical Sunday: Bear Right in a Bull Market September 15 2008
arewealone@seti.org
Author: arewealone@seti.org
15 Mon,, Sep
When we're in love, we do some crazy things. And that's OK. But when we merge lanes on the highway, sign up for a credit card, or just order a book, we're as irrational as a teenager who's got a crush.
Find out why we're mad in money matters, why we're suckers for designer aspirin, are willing to believe in the paranormal, and anything but logical in traffic. It's Skeptical Sunday, but be rational - don't take our word for it!
Guests:
Tom Vanderbilt - Author of Traffic: Why We Drive the Way We Do (and What it Says About Us)
Dan Ariely - Professor of Behavioral Economics at Duke University, and author of Predictably Irrational: The Hidden Forces that Shape Our Decisions
James Underdown - Executive Director of the Center for Inquiry, Los Angeles
Phil Plait - Author of badastronomy.com
Michael Shermer - Founder of "Skeptic Magazine" and author, most recently, of The Mind of the Market: Compassionate Apes, Competitive Humans, and Other Tales from Evolutionary Economics
Download File - 34.7 MB
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AWA: TXT MSG: Behavior September 8 2008
arewealone@seti.org
Author: arewealone@seti.org
08 Mon,, Sep
From iPods to Google to Facebook - information swims at our fingertips and friends are just a txt msg away. Digital devices have re-defined what it means to be connected - but how else are they shaping behavior? Join us for the second of a two-part series on how the network is changing how we think and act.
Part II: Behavior: how computers compel us to interact with them... why your iPod may improve your health... why Facebook may leave you friendless... the unintended consequences of past innovation... and the growing threat of "videophilia."
Guests:
BJ Fogg - Experimental Psychologist and Director of Stanford University's Persuasive Technology Lab
James Levine - Professor of Medicine at the Mayo Clinic
Andrew Keen - Author of The Cult of the Amateur; How the Internet is Killing Our Culture and Assaulting our Economy
Patricia Zaradic - Conservation Ecologist with the Red Rock Institute
Edward Tenner - Writer and consultant on technology and culture at Princeton University and the University of Pennsylvania, and author of Why Things Bite Back: Technology and the Revenge of Unintended Consequences and, most recently, Our Own Devices: How Technology Remakes Humanity
Download File - 34.7 MB
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AWA: TXT MSG: Thought September 1 2008
arewealone@seti.org
Author: arewealone@seti.org
01 Mon,, Sep
From iPods to Google to Facebook - information swims at our fingertips and friends are just a txt msg away. Digital devices have re-defined what it means to be connected - but how else are they shaping behavior? Join us for the first of a two-part series on how the network is changing how we think and act.
Part I: Thought: whether Google is making us stupid... how the Internet is curtailing creativity... and the future of a hyper-networked world that does all our thinking for us.
Guests:
Nick Carr - Journalist and author of The Big Switch: Rewiring the World, From Edison to Google. His article "Is Google Making Us Stupid?" is the cover story of the July/August 2008 issue of Atlantic Monthly
Jonathan Grudin - Researches human-computer interaction at Microsoft Corporation
David Kirsh - Cognitive scientist, University of California, San Diego
Jonathan Zittrain - Author of The Future of the Internet and How to Stop It and co-founder of Harvard Law School's Berkman Center for Internet and Society
Download File - 34.7 MB
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AWA: Skeptical Sunday: Bigfoot Press Conference August 25 2008
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Author: arewealone@seti.org
25 Mon,, Aug
Finally, Bigfoot meets habeus corpus: three men claim they have the body of the elusive hirsute creature on ice, and throw a big press conference to prove it. Lots of journalists show up, as do the Bigfoot baggers. Days later the purported historic discovery turned out to be - gasp! - a hairy hoax. How did these men perpetuate the con - and why did the media, including Are We Alone?, bother to cover it?
Join us front row and center at this peculiar press event and for the post-mortem (sans body) of the latest chapter in the ongoing mythology that is Bigfoot.
Guests:
Lori Marino - Behavioral Biologist at Emory University
Jeff Meldrum - Professor of Anatomy at Boise State University, and author of Sasquatch: Legend Meets Science
Jerry Parrino - Owner of costume maker thehorrordome.com
James Underdown - Executive Director of the Center for Inquiry West in Los Angeles
Download File - 34.7 MB
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AWA: Seth's Attic August 18 2008
arewealone@seti.org
Author: arewealone@seti.org
18 Mon,, Aug
Why wait until the robins are bobbin' to do a bit of spring cleaning? Join Seth and Molly as they dare to enter the cobweb-cluttered confines of Seth's attic and sort out trash from treasure in his dusty collection. Find out which of these odds and ends are salvageable and which should be deep-sixed in the dumpster. Don't forget to bring the Hefty bags and a dust mop!
Guests:
Fred Sharpe - Principal Investigator at the Alaska Whale Foundation
Jeffrey Van Cleve - Engineer for NASA's Kepler Mission
Paul Hammond - Director, California State Railroad Museum
Norman Sleep - Professor of Geophysics, Stanford University
Download File - 34.7 MB
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AWA: From Mars to Eternity August 11 2008
arewealone@seti.org
Author: arewealone@seti.org
11 Mon,, Aug
The discovery of water on Mars has scientists asking whether they're could have once been life on the Red Planet. It's a big question - and it's prompted us to follow up with a few of our own, such as: what is our relationship to the cosmos? How do we find meaning in a universe that is destined to end?
Plus, in response to Seth's appearance on Larry King Live: have aliens visited Earth?
Any questions?
If you missed Seth on Larry King Live, check out our blog and watch the videos. You can read Seth's article about the experience here.
Guests:
Janice Bishop - Planetary Scientist at the SETI Institute and at NASA Ames Research Center
Roy Gould - Education Analyst at the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics
Download File - 34.6 MB
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AWA: Why We Do What We Shoo Be Do Be Do August 4 2008
arewealone@seti.org
Author: arewealone@seti.org
04 Mon,, Aug
We see a man laughing and we smile in response. Our heart goes out to the sad-looking woman on the train. Humans are empathetic creatures - we feel what others feel, even the emotions of strangers. And it may be due to brain cells that researchers have only recently discovered: mirror neurons. Find out how these mimicking cells help us survive cocktail parties, keep society humming, and even give rise to the concept of self.
Also, are humans born with a moral code? And, if human behavior is hard-wired - whatever becomes of free will?
Guests:
Marc Hauser - Evolutionary psychologist and biologist at Harvard, author of Moral Minds: How Nature Designed Our Universal Sense of Right and Wrong
Take Marc's Moral Sense Test
Marco Iacoboni - Psychologist and neuroscientist at UCLA and the author of Mirroring People: The New Science of How We Connect With Others
Allen Stairs - Philosopher at the University of Maryland
John-Dylan Haynes - Neuroscientist, Bernstein Center for Computational Neuroscience, Berlin
Download File - 34.7 MB
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AWA: Skeptical Sunday: Risky Business July 28 2008
arewealone@seti.org
Author: arewealone@seti.org
28 Mon,, Jul
REPEAT Airplanes falling out of the sky! Lethal bird flu! Killer rocks from space! There's a lot that can do us in, and it would seem you have good reason to worry. Except that you're worried about the wrong things! Many of our fears are misplaced. It's more likely you'll die from food poisoning or falling out of bed than in an airplane crash. And, the odds that an asteroid impact will ruin your entire weekend? Oh, about a billion to one.
Find out why we worry about all the wrong things and don't fret enough about things that really are a threat, as we examine the science - and psychology - of risk.
Also, why sword-swallowing is bad for your health... and how well lab rats can recognize Dutch spoken backwards: meet the winners of this year's Ig Nobels.
Plus, our Hollywood skeptic raises an eyebrow at monkey feng shui, and Phil Plait investigates claims that the world is on "tilt". It's Skeptical Sunday... but don't take our word for it!
Guests:
Phil Plait - author of badastronomy.com
David Ropeik - consultant in risk communication, co-author of Risk: A Practical Guide for Deciding What's Really Safe and What's Dangerous
John Adams - Emeritus Professor, Geography Department, University College London
Marc Abrahams - editor, Annals of Improbable Research
James Underdown - Executive Director of the Center for Inquiry, Los Angeles
Download File - 34.4 MB
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AWA: Genes That Fit July 21 2008
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Author: arewealone@seti.org
21 Mon,, Jul
Remember Mr. Potato Head? You changed his look by snapping in plastic mustaches, googly eyes and feet. Now imagine doing the same with a living cell: inserting the genes you want to create the organism you want. Welcome to the world of synthetic biology. It has potential to create new bio-fuels and life-saving drugs. It also ushers in a host of ethical and safety concerns. We examine both when we discuss this emerging science of mix and match genes.
Plus, does doing an end run around Mother Nature challenge the essence of life itself?
Guests:
Jay Keasling - professor of chemical engineering and biological engineering at UC Berkeley and founder of Amyris Biotechnologies
Jonathan Eisen - biologist at UC Davis
Jim Thomas - researcher at ETC group in Ottawa, Canada
Ed Regis - science writer and author of What Is Life: Investigating the Nature of Life in the Age of Synthetic Biology
Michael Dosmann - curator of Living Collections at the Arnold Arboretum of Harvard University
Download File - 34.6 MB
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- Published:
2002
- LearnOutLoud.com Product ID:
S007038
Science
Astronomy
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