Big Picture Science
Episodes
Lithium Valley
19 Feb 2024
Contributed by Lukas
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?
12 Feb 2024
Contributed by Lukas
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 brea...
The Wrong Stuff
05 Feb 2024
Contributed by Lukas
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 ...
Skeptic Check: Hypnosis*
29 Jan 2024
Contributed by Lukas
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...
Inside Planets
22 Jan 2024
Contributed by Lukas
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 t...
Tech in Check
15 Jan 2024
Contributed by Lukas
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...
Your Mind on Movies
08 Jan 2024
Contributed by Lukas
By 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, activi...
Eclectic Company
01 Jan 2024
Contributed by Lukas
We 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 ...
Iron, Coal, Wood**
25 Dec 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Maybe 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 ...
The Ocean's Genome
18 Dec 2023
Contributed by Lukas
After 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 r...
Skeptic Check: Naomi Klein
11 Dec 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Our information age is increasingly the disinformation age. The spread of lies and conspiracy theories has created competing experiences of reality. F...
End of Eternity**
04 Dec 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Nothing 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 dea...
In Living Color
27 Nov 2023
Contributed by Lukas
The 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, a...
The T-Rex Files
20 Nov 2023
Contributed by Lukas
T-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 fi...
Neanderthal in the Family**
13 Nov 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Back 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 Pl...
Night Flight
06 Nov 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Owls 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’r...
Extraordinary Ordinary Objects
30 Oct 2023
Contributed by Lukas
“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 calcula...
Like Lightning*
23 Oct 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Every second, lightning strikes 50 to 100 times somewhere. It can wreak havoc by starting wildfires and sometimes killing people. But lightning also p...
Skeptic Check: Worrier Mentality*
16 Oct 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Poisonous snakes, lightning strikes, a rogue rock from space. There are plenty of scary things to fret about, but are we burning adrenaline on the rig...
Going Multicellular
09 Oct 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Imagine life without animals, trees, and fungi. The world would look very different. But while the first life was surely single-celled, we don’t kno...
How Hot is Too Hot?
02 Oct 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Extreme heat is taking its toll on the natural world. We use words like “heat domes” and “freakish” to describe our everyday existence. These ...
Skeptic Check: Near Death Experiences
25 Sep 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Near death experiences can be profound and even life changing. People describe seeing bright lights, staring into the abyss, or meeting dead relatives...
Into the Deep*
18 Sep 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Have you ever heard worms arguing? Deep-sea scientists use hydrophones to eavesdrop on “mouth-fighting worms.” It’s one of the many ways scienti...
What's a Few Degrees?
11 Sep 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Brace yourself for heatwave “Lucifer.” Dangerous deadly heatwaves may soon be so common that we give them names, just like hurricanes. This is one...
Building a Space Colony*
04 Sep 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Ready to become a space emigre? For half a century, visionaries have been talking about our future off-Earth – a speculative scenario in which many ...
Talk the Walk*
28 Aug 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Birds and bees do it … and so do fish. In a discovery that highlights the adaptive benefits of walking, scientists have discovered fish that can wal...
A Twist of Slime*
21 Aug 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Your daily mucus output is most impressive. Teaspoons or measuring cups can’t capture its entire volume. Find out how much your body churns out and ...
Granting Immunity*
14 Aug 2023
Contributed by Lukas
“Diversity or die” could be your new health mantra. Don’t boost your immune system, cultivate it! Like a garden, your body’s defenses benefit ...
Skeptic Check: UFO Conspiracy
07 Aug 2023
Contributed by Lukas
UFOs are back. This time they’ve landed on Capitol Hill in the form of a public, congressional hearing. We watched the hearing with great interest, ...
We'll Always Have Parasites
31 Jul 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Imagine tapeworms longer than the height of an adult human. Or microbes that turn their hosts into zombies. If the revulsion they induce doesn’t do...
Measure For Measure
24 Jul 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Whether in miles or pounds, meters or kilograms, we take daily measure out our lives. But how did these units ever come to be, and why do we want to c...
Fantastic-er Voyage*
17 Jul 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Thinking small can sometimes achieve big things. A new generation of diminutive robots can enter our bodies and deal with medical problems such as int...
Dinosaurs' Last Gasp*
10 Jul 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Do we have physical evidence of the last day of the dinosaurs? We consider fossilized fish in South Dakota that may chronicle the dramatic events that...
Allergy Reason
03 Jul 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Runny nose. Itchy, watery eyes. Sneezing. If you don’t have allergies, you probably know someone who does. The number of people with allergies, incl...
Made for Mars
26 Jun 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Do you have what it takes to survive on Mars? Beginning this month, four people will spend a year in a prototype Martian habitat meant to simulate li...
Skeptic Check: NASA UFO Study
19 Jun 2023
Contributed by Lukas
NASA is studying more than 800 sightings of unidentified objects in our sky as part of its investigation into the UFO phenomenon. We get an update on ...
The Ears Have It*
12 Jun 2023
Contributed by Lukas
What’s the difference between a bird call and the sound of a pile driver? Not much, when you’re close to the loudest bird ever. Find out when it...
Skeptic Check: The Body Electric
05 Jun 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Electricity plays an important role in our everyday lives, including allowing our bodies to communicate internally. But some research claims electrici...
Life in the Solar System
29 May 2023
Contributed by Lukas
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 ...
Let's Stick Together*
22 May 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Crowded subway driving you crazy? Sick of the marathon-length grocery store line? Wish you had a hovercraft to float over traffic? If you are itchin...
Skeptic Check: Shroom With a View*
15 May 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Magic mushrooms – or psilocybin – may be associated with tripping hippies and Woodstock, but they are now being studied as new treatments for depr...
Catching Fire*
08 May 2023
Contributed by Lukas
We have too much “bad fire.” Not only destructive wildfires, but the combustion that powers our automobiles and provides our electricity has gener...
Finding Endurance*
01 May 2023
Contributed by Lukas
In 1915, Endurance, the ship that took Ernest Shackleton to the Antarctic, was slowly crushed and sank. Shackleton, and the 28 men he brought with hi...
The Latest Buzz*
24 Apr 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Is your windshield accumulating less bug splatter? Insects, the most numerous animals on Earth, are becoming scarcer, and that’s not good news. They...
CRISPR Mosquitoes
17 Apr 2023
Contributed by Lukas
The editing tool CRISPR is already being tested on animal and plant cells. It has even been used on humans. How might this revolutionary tool change o...
Skeptic Check: Feeling Risky
10 Apr 2023
Contributed by Lukas
It’s not just facts that inform our decisions. They’re also guided by how those facts feel. From deciding whether to buckle our seat belts to addr...
Calling All Aliens
03 Apr 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Are we alone in the universe? Is there other intelligence out there? COSMIC, the most ambitious SETI search yet, hopes to answer that. We hear updates...
Make Space for Animals*
27 Mar 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Long before Yuri Gagarin became the first human to go into space, Laika, a stray dog, crossed the final frontier. Find out what other surprising speci...
Skeptic Check: Do Your Own Research*
20 Mar 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Scientists are increasingly finding their expertise questioned by non-experts who claim they’ve done their own “research.” Whether advocating Iv...
Flower Power
13 Mar 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Before everything could come up roses, there had to be a primordial flower – the mother, and father, of all flowers. Now scientists are on the hunt ...
Lady Parts*
06 Mar 2023
Contributed by Lukas
The Supreme Court’s ruling on Roe has ignited fierce debate about bodily autonomy. But it’s remarkable how little we know about female physiology....
Waste Not [rebroadcast]
27 Feb 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Why create more landfill? Perhaps you should resist the urge to toss those old sneakers, the broken ceiling fan, or last year’s smart phone. Instead...
Post Social Media
20 Feb 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Before you check your social media feeds today. And post. And post again. And get into an argument on Twitter, lose track of time and wonder where the...
Fungi Fear
13 Feb 2023
Contributed by Lukas
The 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 vulnerab...
Math's Paths [rebroadcast]
06 Feb 2023
Contributed by Lukas
If you bake, you can appreciate math’s transformative properties. Admiring the stackable potato chip is to admire a hyperbolic sheet. Find out why...
Wondery Presents: Frozen Head
01 Feb 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Hosted by Ash Kelley and Alaina Urquhart from the hit show Morbid. When 90-year-old Laurence Pilgeram drops dead on the sidewalk outside his condo, yo...
Skeptic Check: Understanding UAPs
30 Jan 2023
Contributed by Lukas
The newest Pentagon report on UAPs – or Unidentified Aerial Phenomenon – reflects long standing public interest about what’s in our skies. Now, ...
Vaccine Inequity
23 Jan 2023
Contributed by Lukas
A radical plan could solve a historic global health inequity. Countries in the global south who waited for more than a year for ample supplies of Cov...
Testing Your Metal (rebroadcast)
16 Jan 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Catalytic converters are disappearing. If you’ve had yours stolen, you know that precious and rare earth metals are valuable. But these metals are i...
Melting Down (rebroadcast)
09 Jan 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Climate change isn’t waiting for us to act. We’ve missed several deadlines to mitigate the dangers of this existential threat, which suggests we p...
Coming to Our Animal Senses (rebroadcast)
02 Jan 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Animals experience the world differently. There are insects that can see ultraviolet light, while some snakes can hunt in the dark thanks to their abi...
Webb Feat (rebroadcast)
26 Dec 2022
Contributed by Lukas
The James Webb Space Telescope has turned its golden eye on the cosmos. The largest, most sensitive telescope put in space since the Hubble Space Tele...
Skeptic Check: 5G (rebroadcast)
19 Dec 2022
Contributed by Lukas
5G, the latest mobile network standard, is coming. As new cell towers sprout around the world, do we know enough to confidently claim that this new te...
Tomb with a View
12 Dec 2022
Contributed by Lukas
A century ago, British archaeologist Howard Carter opened the only surviving intact tomb from ancient Egypt. Inside was the mummy of the boy king Tuta...
Keeping Humans in the Loop (rebroadcast)
05 Dec 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Modern technology is great, but could we be losing control? As our world becomes more crowded and demands for resources are greater, some people worr...
Is Life Inevitable [rebroadcast]
28 Nov 2022
Contributed by Lukas
A new theory about life’s origins updates Darwin’s warm little pond. Scientists say they’ve created the building blocks of biology in steaming ...
Vaccine Inequity
21 Nov 2022
Contributed by Lukas
A radical plan could solve a historic global health inequity. Countries in the global south who waited for more than a year for ample supplies of Cov...
Your Inner Tree (rebroadcast)
14 Nov 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Declining biodiversity is a problem as fraught as climate change. Loss of habitat, monoculture crops, and the damming of waterways all lead to massive...
Fuhgeddaboudit (rebroadcast)
07 Nov 2022
Contributed by Lukas
A thousand years ago, most people didn’t own a single book. The only way to access knowledge was to consult their memory. But technology – from ...
Lady Parts
31 Oct 2022
Contributed by Lukas
The Supreme Court’s ruling on Roe has ignited fierce debate about bodily autonomy. But it’s remarkable how little we know about female physiology....
Skeptic Check: AI Comes Alive
24 Oct 2022
Contributed by Lukas
When a Google software engineer claimed that a piece of chatbot software was sentient, it was a major story. Just like your dog is sentient, could it ...
The T-Rex Files
17 Oct 2022
Contributed by Lukas
T-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 fi...
Animals Being Jerks (rebroadcast)
10 Oct 2022
Contributed by Lukas
They’re cute and cuddly. But they can also be obnoxious. Science writer Mary Roach has numerous tales about how our animal friends don’t always bo...
Phreaky Physics (rebroadcast)
03 Oct 2022
Contributed by Lukas
It was a radical idea a century ago, when Einstein said space and time can be bent, and gravity was really geometry. We hear how his theories inspire ...
Skeptic Check: Data Bias (rebroadcast)
26 Sep 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Sexist snow plowing? Data that guide everything from snow removal schedules to heart research often fail to consider gender. In these cases, “refere...
De-Permafrosting
19 Sep 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Above the Arctic Circle, much of the land is underlaid by permafrost. But climate change is causing it to thaw. This is not good news for the planet. ...
Like Lightning
12 Sep 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Every second, lightning strikes 50 to 100 times somewhere. It can wreak havoc by starting wildfires and sometimes killing people. But lightning also p...
Coming to Our Animal Senses
05 Sep 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Animals experience the world differently. There are insects that can see ultraviolet light, while some snakes can hunt in the dark thanks to their abi...
Skeptic Check: Heal Thyself (rebroadcast)
29 Aug 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Do we still need doctors? There are umpteen alternative sources of medical advice, including endless and heartfelt health tips from people without me...
Platypus Crazy (rebroadcast)
22 Aug 2022
Contributed by Lukas
They look like a cross between a beaver and a duck, and they all live Down Under. The platypus may lay eggs, but is actually a distant mammalian cousi...
Rip Van Winkle Worm (rebroadcast)
15 Aug 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Your shower pipes are alive. So are your sinks, books, and floorboards. New studies of our homes are revealing just what species live there – in t...
Webb Feat
08 Aug 2022
Contributed by Lukas
The James Webb Space Telescope has turned its golden eye on the cosmos. The largest, most sensitive telescope put in space since the Hubble Space Tele...
Building a Space Colony
01 Aug 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Ready to become a space emigre? For half a century, visionaries have been talking about our future off-Earth – a speculative scenario in which many ...
Skeptic Check: Shared Reality (rebroadcast)
25 Jul 2022
Contributed by Lukas
One of the many shocking aspects of the Capitol attack was that it revealed how thoroughly the nation had cleaved into alternate realities. How did we...
Sci-Fi From the Future (rebroadcast)
18 Jul 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Are you ready to defer all your personal decision-making to machines? Polls show that most Americans are uneasy about the unchecked growth of artific...
Flush with Excitement (rebroadcast)
11 Jul 2022
Contributed by Lukas
The toilet: A ubiquitous appliance that dates to the time of Shakespeare. But billions of people around the world still lack modern sanitation infrast...
Feet Don't Fail Me (rebroadcast)
04 Jul 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Standing 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, f...
Skeptic Check: Hypnosis
27 Jun 2022
Contributed by Lukas
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...
Fantastic-er Voyage
20 Jun 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Thinking small can sometimes achieve big things. A new generation of diminutive robots can enter our bodies and deal with medical problems such as int...
Dinosaurs' Last Gasp
13 Jun 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Do we have physical evidence of the last day of the dinosaurs? We consider fossilized fish in South Dakota that may chronicle the dramatic events that...
DNA is Not Destiny (rebroadcast)
06 Jun 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Heredity was once thought to be straightforward. Genes were passed in an immutable path from parents to you, and you were stuck – or blessed – wi...
For the Birds (rebroadcast)
30 May 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Birds have it going on. Many of these winged dinosaurs delight us with their song and brilliant plumage. Migratory birds travel thousands of miles in...
End of Eternity (rebroadcast)
23 May 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Nothing 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 dea...
Neanderthal in the Family (rebroadcast)
16 May 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Back 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 Pl...
Catching Fire
09 May 2022
Contributed by Lukas
We have too much “bad fire.” Not only destructive wildfires, but the combustion that powers our automobiles and provides our electricity has gener...
Skeptic Check: Dr. Oz
02 May 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Dr. Oz’s personable and folky approach when talking about difficult health subjects has made him a trusted source for medical information. But some ...
Eclectic Company (rebroadcast)
18 Apr 2022
Contributed by Lukas
We 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 ...
Finding Endurance
11 Apr 2022
Contributed by Lukas
In 1915, Endurance, the ship that took Ernest Shackleton to the Antarctic, was slowly crushed and sank. Shackleton, and the 28 men he brought with hi...
Go With the Flow (rebroadcast)
04 Apr 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Solid materials get all the production credit. Don’t get us wrong, we depend on their strength and firmness for bridges, bones, and bento boxes. B...
The Latest Buzz
28 Mar 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Is your windshield accumulating less bug splatter? Insects, the most numerous animals on Earth, are becoming scarcer, and that’s not good news. They...